Chicks attacked in five days.....

[mudmarlin70]

Well, i knew it wouldnt take too long...But the chicks are actually in an elevated rabbit hutch for god sakes..

I was in the basement last night and heard a commotion. I turned on the light and had a red on the patio jumping up at the hutch. He spooked out after I yelled at him.

All appeared quiet for the next couple hours. this morning I go out and find two dead with heads missing and one with two toes missing....still in the hutch. 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch mesh on the bottom and 1" by 2" meshing on the sides of the outside portion of the hutch. Thinking had to be a coon that came later on. DOnt know how a red could have killed em and then maneuvered them to the edge where it was able to eat heads off...the hutch is about three feet off the ground. Gonna set a cam on the hutch tonight. Guess the birds are gonna be blocked into the house portion of the hutch after dark from now on. Unbelievable...I've been talking about an awful lot of canines up here, but this is gettin unblelievable. Guy i work with has lost over a dozen guinea hens and the other morning a red crashed his laying hens in his yard and took seven of 21 hens right in the yard.

[ub1243]

heads pulled off sounds like coon. they can grab like us, they just don't get the concept that a chicken won't fit through the mesh.
greys can pull to, but not reds.

you are in red heaven up there. your numbers compare to lancaster county. if phil can catch 1100 reds in a season so can you. :D

better get more boards.

[mudmarlin70]

you are in red heaven up there. your numbers compare to lancaster county. if phil can catch 1100 reds in a season so can you. :D

better get more boards.

LOL, Think I'd be doing great to get 10. But we do have what seems like a ridiculous number the past couple years. With more people getting into backyard chickens with the economy, there seems to be alot more conflict. Just got back from the house of the guy I work with. feather piles less than fifteen feet from the front of his house. 30 birds between him and a neighbor since April.. Set three. all target specific on trails of feathers. His place wil be good come december whether i take this one out or not.

Off to build a sliding door on the hutch and set a cam and a box trap..

[ub1243]

i just got back from taking the .17hmr for a walk. saw one hog, running like hell from me.
looked for arrow heads for a little while. we have a lot of indian stuff on the streams and in the dirt. i can never find any, but it's here. i walked a few fields that were just bottom plowed, nothing.
did see a huge gobbler with two hens in some apple trees. huge beard.
windy as heck down here in the flat land fields. cancelled my drum trip for tomorrow, 25knt winds.

not one k9 track found. deer all over, turkey all over. :huh:

[mudmarlin70]

not one k9 track found. deer all over, turkey all over. :huh:

Wish I could give you some of ours UB...they're killin us! You'd be alot better at snaring em than me!!

Sliding door is done... box traps in place, just waiting to bait em with chick bodies after kids go to bed... camera is next.

[ub1243]

now the wait!

if you cage a red, UPS his ass down here. :D



seems like your getting the trapping bug bad. it happens. i thought i'd never stop deer hunting till the last day of the season. now i find myself bailing out after the first full week in january. i run a short line from opening day. but i'm hitting it hard even with deer still open. but after 85 deer hunts last year, it was time for a new chess game.

[mudmarlin70]

we'll see. how into it I get remains to be seen. Always been a big canine calling guy, so some of it comes naturally. I like the idea of staying out and about all winter. I could use the exercise in the winter. some of the places i'm getting are pretty brutal terrain. But i can get the kids on their way to school and then head out for a few hours each day I'm not working.
As for the deer seasons, I dont really gun hunt em so I'm done usually by early december except for culling does when the numbers get crazy in January bow...some years i do it, some years I dont have to.

Hoping the box connects on the coon. i dont think there's any way the red i saw killed those birds in the hutch. Camera should tell the story. But if i get a red in the cage, I'll wrap em up in a box and ship em to you!!! Send the Mrs and the kids out to the store and unwrap in your basement. Shake the box good and hard before opening.....enjoy!!!!:fight:

[mudmarlin70]

Closing the kids chicks inside the solid portion of the hutch worked out good. nothin in the box, and the camera I've gotta download.

My buddy from work called..one of the three connected on his chickenkiler UB...He says real nice red right on the trail off his front yard.....gonna send me pics.

[mudmarlin70]

He was back at first light this morning....pretty bold red!!!

http://www.myfishpix.com/gallery/data/500/fox_resize.JPG

[BLACKCLOUD]

That's a nice red. Usually the fox I see are almost hairless from mange this time of the year.

[ub1243]

lots of frosting on the rump. not going to get top dollar in the winter, he needs to go.:)

my sister in law called me today. groundhog in a cage trap. had to go grab it and relocate were i can unleash the .17hmr on him. she's got four under the shed, well know three.

i was up your way today working. old boss called and asked for help. ortho on rt202. nice seeing the hill country of nj every now and then.

[mudmarlin70]

lots of frosting on the rump. not going to get top dollar in the winter, he needs to go.:)

i was up your way today working. old boss called and asked for help. ortho on rt202. nice seeing the hill country of nj every now and then.

Naah...hes safe..just a fox being a fox.

That's still a little south of me, but still in the good red country. My den cam is south of there a ways still....gotta go check that and move it to the deer plot..

Hope you can find the time to get up this way next fall/winter Ub..Could use another set of eyes/perspective I'm sure and the pred hunting will hopefully still be good.

And the other chickenkiller had less frosting...one night soak there too.!:)

ps. snare them hogs!!

[mudmarlin70]

Gonna have to fortify things I think..... Got this this am and then I went out with my cup of coffee this morning after the kids went to school....He came out and ran right up to the hutch at 0845 this morning and I had to yell at him.

Frosting looks the same, but this pic makes him look a little more mature.....if it's the same dog or a bigger one. ??????????
http://www.myfishpix.com/gallery/data/500/trouble.JPG

[JimGiven]

i just got back from taking the .17hmr for a walk. saw one hog, running like hell from me.:huh:

Wow....hogs. Hear the state says you can hunt them this yr during deer season.

Have you trapped any yet?? They do down south. Pics??

Would love to get my bow on them.

OK JUST CAUGHT ON TO WHAT YOU MEANT BY HOGS. KNEW THERE WERE REAL HOGS DOWN IN SOUTHERN NJ, BUT GROUND HOGS ARE EVERYWHERE.

Jim

[ub1243]

ground hogs, is what we were talking about.

but we have the hogs your thinking also. the state was trapping them and putting collars on them to find out were they are hiding. not sure how that went. they are having big problems with them, but it's in a small area.
the problem has been here for 15-20 years, now the state got involved. now they want them checked in, then they want to know where it came from, then they want to come on your land and trap them, then...... the state shouldn't be involved in a nongame animal, that is mostly on private land.

[JimGiven]

Yeah...took me a minute to catch on. My brother lives down by you in Galloway....says he sees them by the mall. I grew up on LBI, and we saw one in the pine barrons while dirt biking in Warren Grove back in the late 70's. Most are taken by my old Piney buddies out there.

Jim