The last 2 nights when I went to let the dogs out I’ve been finding the outside cat water stirred up and wet tracks on the deck. It’s next to the cats dry food bowl. I know a possum was working the bowl a few weeks ago I caught her by the tail and released her then but she never messed with the water dish like this.

Dry food and water so I'm thinking a coon, I swear I heard a coon chatter last night coming from the old chicken coop behind the house. The dogs have been barking a lot at nothing lately but that could be anything around here we get a parade of ducks and cats coming from the neighbors place everyday. We mow a few trails the cats and ducks use to get to the lake plus we feed the ducks with the bird feed we put out for the local birds. The cats hunt the lake and our dry cat dish often.

Putting out a game cam tonight to see what’s visiting us the last couple nights but I’m betting it’s a coon. I went to cage a possum next to the house years back and ended up catching a badger that was a surprise a couple feet from the front deck.

Will post a pic if I catch something.

Please do!

Neighbors ducks have been coming around I was thinking maybe they were eating the cats food and messing up the water but then I figure the cat water dish would have way less water if the ducks got in it. Plus the cat food if a chicken proof box so it was unlikely.

Pulled the chip and it looks like Female coon with 3 pups.

To bad it's to late to turn their tails in for the bounty.

Keith

I’m surprised how big the pups are ya the tail bounty is closed now 51K plus turned in this year.

Soo cute.

Backyard chicken forum has a predator forum that runs 100 miles deep and 95% of it amounts to "whodunit".........almost all of which could be resolved the same way.........yet most never do.

Seems so simple. What to do about it maybe not........at least for those guys.........but the whodunit easy enough.

They get down right nasty if you bring up a realistic solution some have state laws they hide behind or move the problems to a new place so others have to deal with their problems. Here coons have no protection most egg eaters are considered vermin open all year.

Iowa has an open season on coon year long. Allows coon removal all year around. Follow the SSS rule.

That’s the most coons I’ve seen in several years at one time. I can’t remember seeing any driving out to go turkey hunting the last few years their numbers are definitely down from past years.

Looks like 7 so far my neighbor should be happy he’s got free range ducks and a coop full of young chickens that he worries about. We don’t get many coons here even with being right next to a lake we seldom see a coon and never a mink not sure why.

I ending up trapping a couple and treed the rest I’d rather they never showed up here to begin with but it is what it is real world.