Well, my morning could have been a sitcom episode. I decided to shoot that fox that keeps eating my chickens. The truck is sitting there loaded up with hay, so I get up early, and after letting all the dogs & pups out, don some KW-1 camo, grab my 12 gauge and my .38 spl and climb into the truck bed, hiding in the hay.

Well, I usually feed the chickens in the morning so when they see me, they usually chase me down. Next thing you know, there are chickens landing in the hay all around me, clucking, scratching, getting into everything The more I try to shoo them the more commotion they make. Then the goats come down from the barn, see the chickens and start climbing on the side of the truck, trying to see what the commotion is all about. I try to shoo off the goats cuz they're scratching up the fenders with their hooves and one of the Anatolians sees the bed of the truck 'acting funny', so he starts barking. That makes all the other Anatolians start barking, which sets off the Labs. Disgusted, I climb down, throw some hay out for the goats to lure them away, the sheep and horses catch wind of this, so they all start making noise. Grrrrrr!!!!

So I throw food at all of them, then climb back in the truck bed only to have the goats show up about 20 minutes later. By now, the chickens have set themselves up as perfect bait, pecking at the ground right in front of the thicket that runs the length of the property, where the fox usually hides before he pounces on a chicken. So, I'm in the bed, down in the hay, gun pointed, waiting for the fox to appear. Next thing I know, the goats line up in front of me, looking at me, then the thicket, like "Whazzup, Boss? What are we looking for?" Arrrggghhhh!!!! Go AWAY!!!!! But they won't.

No way I can shoot the fox without taking out a dairy goat or two, so I decide to set a chicken in a cage on an angle where I can safely shoot, then throw feed off to the side for the goats. I snatch a hen off her nest, get pecked and scratched the whole way, holding the angry hen and dragging a wire dog crate, to set my trap. I put her in the crate and boy howdy, she is making a racket! This gets the dogs all riled up so they all start barking again.

I figure I'll just climb back in the truck bed and eventually everything will settle down. Then I hear the back door slam... It's my son. He heard all the barking, figured it was time to feed the dogs and now we're gonna go thru at least 20 minutes of barking while he feeds. So, I ask him to also throw more grain up near the barn to lure the goats over there so I can have a clear shot. He does this after feeding all the dogs and it works. GOOD!

FINALLY able to settle in and wait for that fox. Just then, I catch movement off to my right... YES! Here he comes... I peek over the hay and..... What?! One of the Anatolians is loose and sniffing around. OK, the fox is NEVER gonna show up with HIM on the loose! I guess all the commotion got him too concerned and he decided to climb over his fence to check things out. So, I call my son out to put the Anatolian up, climb BACK in the truck bed and wait for everything to get quiet again. Everything, that is, except for the angry hen. She does a great job or creating a stir and the other chickens are pecking all around and sitting on top of ther crate. Good! NOW that fox will come!

So, I settle in yet again and just as everything seems to look like same ol', same ol'.... it starts pouring down rain and the chickens take off looking for cover. *sigh* By then, it was after 10:00 am. Maybe another morning...

You outfoxed yourself. The fox was probably about 50 yards away laughing his @#$ off.

Great story. Lol!

Thanks for sharin those "best laid plans".

Good story. Better luck next time..

Great story of a not so great morning! I feel ya! Sometimes it bees that way! Better luck next time! @ moe cowbell - I like your sig & pic, I wish my dog had that same wisdom and patience!!

As Robert Burns penned, the best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley.

Hopefully you have better luck next time!

Sorry to hear it Iron. It always seems like the harder you try to make it work the worse it gets. Maybe tomorrow.

Well, at least you had a plan...

Sounds like an Elmer Fudd expedition.

"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions!"

I know how you feel. But usually it's my dang horses that foul me up!

That is one helluva story. Made me laugh my azz off.

You'll get him. Funny story though.

Haha, it sounds like some mornings around our place. The animals are just a little too much help. I got up early one morning, got to a perfect setup for calling yotes, and proceeded to blow my first call. No more than 30 seconds after I finish, the landowner's donkey starts hee-hawing about 100 yds away in the brush.. He moves in and stands 10 yds from me and continues to carry on. After trying to run him off 3 or 4 times, I finally give up and leave. Sometimes plans just don't pan out the way we hoped....