Sticky Hawk ID

A local photographer/birder Jason, a guy I have run into here and there around town, sent me an email yesterday about a hawk he saw.

This bird was eating from a fresh deer carcass at the entrance of Caesar Creek State Park. At first, he thought it was a juvenile red tailed hawk. Some others chimed in and disagreed. They thought it was a juvenile red shouldered hawk. I looked at it, and the more I looked, the less I was sure.

(Jason's photo) (and if you want to be jealous, go look at his Flickr photos)

At first glance, I thought, "Oh, that's a young RT." But then I looked at the eyes. Those are dark eyes, not the light eyes you would see on a juvenile. The streaking on the chest and flanks of the bird are consistent with a juvenile RS.

Let's look at a red shouldered hawk (photo by me):

The tail of this bird (an adult) is banded in black and white. A juvenile has dark and light brown bands.

And we all know what an adult red tail looks like (my photo):

That's fairly unmistakable.

Let's look at the tail again (Jason's photo):












The tail of this bird has bands that are thinner than what you would expect on a juvenile RS. And the tail of a juvenile RT has wide light brown bands with thin dark brown bands. And that reddish tinge to the feathers...both on the tail and the shoulders.

An interesting-looking bird, huh? Reminds me of a bird posted about on Birdchick.
My strongest impression is that this is a red shouldered hawk, but I still see a lot to wonder about that. The tail is what is sticking with me.
Give us your thoughts!