Night before last we were having dinner with friends and the wind blew our chicken coop door shut before they got in to roost. We got home late and the wife found a skunk hauling off one and two others were killed by larger varmints. So I got to do predator patrol last night.

Put one of the chicken carcasses out back and got her 22-250 and a nice strong light and went out every few minutes to check. At about 11pm this guy shows up where I feed corn to my pet deer. Probably 200# mostly Russian. I was way undergunned but tried to put one in his brain. Missed mark so he spins around, squeals and comes running at the light. Put another round in him and he turned away about 15 feet away. I was glad I was on the porch!

Went and got a bigger gun and put him down.

He's not what killed the chickens, but he won't be eating any fawns this spring either.

Atta boy!

Looks like he's been eating your fence or tools or something.

Ha! I stuck a stick in his mouth to show more of his cutters. He's got some nice ones he's just got big lips.

I see. He's eating your trees.

I'd show those teeth off, too.

Nice pig. Need to get a varmint call to work on the varmints... see dogcatcher on this site for some good mouth calls.

I bet you had a fox in the henhouse. Lots of them down that way. They can't resist a platinum fox call on the Foxpro.

Fox is very probable as well as coons. It carried one over an 8' fence so I know it can climb. Could have been a bobcat too.

I'm headed out in a few to set some snares. I need to get some decent calls.

Good work on the hog!

Big En

If you saw the skunk there I'd bet it was the varmint to do it. We used to have the problem with them on my grandmothers layer farm. They were always around by the pits and if they did get inside then they would kill several chickens. Box traps are what we used. Just tie about 30' of nylon cord to the top handle and the other end to something else. When you catch it, drag it out away from the area, cage and all, shoot it and empty the cage. They generally will not spray and will be too busy trying to get out of the cage as you take it away. Eggs are what we used for the bait. Canned cat food worked well too but we just used eggs since that was what was attracting them in the first place. Skunks and raccoon's were such a nuisance.

Good job there Rusty Should a had a 223, I hear they kill anything!

BTW, look around for Owl feathers, good bet they check on the chickens nightly.

Yeah Curtis, I think it was a combination of animals though. I know for a fact one was killed by something that could climb an 8' fence with it because we found one partially eaten chicken in a pen about 150 yards away.

These chickens are used to being locked up save and sound in a coop at night. We let them roam during the day and leave the door of the coop open. They put themselves up at night and we shut the gate. They were stuck outside and are dumb as stumps when they're roosting. Easy pickings on the ground.

Oh, and we made a semi pet out of a skunk a year and a half ago. I couldn't even shoot that skunk that had killed the chicken. If I catch one one in my live trap I'll have to figure out some way to "re-locate" it...

Ted told me the exact same thing about the .223. Ha!

Owls might have gotten one because we haven't found carcass or feathers from one. Caught a skunk hauling one away, the other was 150 yards away over an 8' fence.

Our coop is varmint proof when we are here and the chickens get in the coop. Even with the door open. We eat at these friends house quite often and don't shut the door until 10 or 11 quite often. The difference is they were outside and couldn't get in. I'll bet they were fussing a lot. Calling predators.

What's funny is our gsd was sitting on the porch while this was taking place. She doesn't like the chickens so she was probably rooting the varmints on !!

That pig is in my favorite state - dead!

That's a goodun too.

Why is Dusty Hill in the pic?

You didn't see the cheap sunglasses?

way to go

He does look a little like Billy don't he, without all the jewelry

Rusty, if you get a skunk in a live trap, walk up slowly with a tarp held in front of you and lay it over the cage and tote it off, I have done that I don't know how many times and never had a skunk "spray".

You don't even need a tarp. Just go slow, and everything will be just fine. You could even take video, you know, just to prove that it works.

Y'all are funny..