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When you head into the woods during spring turkey season, you expect a gobbler to come strutting in.
But don’t forget you’re not the only species in the woods that likes to eat turkeys.
Just ask 19-year-old Wisconsin hunter Carson Bender, whose now-viral video shows a routine morning hunt turning into something straight out of a nature documentary.
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A bobcat is seen during the first round of the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass 2026 at Whirlwind Golf Club in Wild Horse Pass on March 26, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Bender was set up on private land near Nekoosa, Wisconsin, working a textbook turkey hunt. He had decoys out in a hay field, birds gobbling from multiple directions, and several turkeys already moving his way.
"I had gobbling from a couple directions," Bender told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "And before long, birds were in the field, working their way toward me."
Then things got weird.
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Instead of turning around and risking spooking the turkeys, Bender raised his phone and flipped on the camera to check behind him.
Bad idea… or maybe the best idea, considering what he caught on video.
"I pan over with the phone and the bobcat is just staring at me," he said. "I was like, uh-oh."
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The bobcat — later estimated at around 25 pounds — crept closer, clearly locked in on what it thought might be an easy meal. For nearly a minute, it studied Bender, trying to figure out exactly what it was dealing with.
Then it made its move.
The cat lunged, grabbed Bender’s arm, and just as quickly, the hunter shook it off, and the animal bolted.
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"Found out I’m good at calling cats and turkeys!" Bender wrote on Instagram. "Missed a bird three minutes later at 35 yards, then headed to the doctor’s office. Just a few scratches on the shoulder."
Bobcat (Lynx rufus) is a North American mammal of the cat family Felidae, appearing during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago, Kalispell, Montana. With a kitten. (iStock)
Wildlife experts note that while predators like bobcats will occasionally investigate turkey calls, actual contact like this is extremely rare. In most cases, the animal figures out something isn’t right and backs off.
Not this time.
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And thanks to Bender thinking quickly enough to hit record, we’ve got one of the wildest turkey hunting clips you’ll see all season.
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