Got a call a couple of weeks back from a somewhat local pheasant rearing operation. They had been experienceing multiple kills nightly. It was a large enclosure and had several areas of possible entry for predators. Ground level and squeeze thru potential in the netting in some areas.

He had put up some game cams and caught a large mink in one photo, a fisher, oppossum and some coon. With the all the birds noise/calls and the odor from about 1500 birds I could see it was a calling card for all predators both by land and air

He had lost 100 or more birds before calling someone. He tried trapping but couldn't seem to stop the killing. It was nightly. I went over and caught a few coon and did a night watch one nite until the early morning hours. In an attempt to shoot the animal(s). I was using my TC pistol .410 due to the close range shooting and the pen was filled with large thick growing sunflower plants and Milo. Visibility was not good with regards to long shots.

End of story, I caught a few coon with their hands in the cookie jar, he had to remove a great horned owl that bit through his over head netting and got in. The mink never returned to the pen. I had snares set up for him but I may have spooked it during my night watch and it never returned as of yet.

The killing stopped after the coon catches but the operation suffered heavy losses. Many repairs and modifications to the pen were made.

So far, so good as they say. Heading to pull my equipment this week.

Good job at getting the coon and scaring the rest for now. I admire people who raise pheasants and people like you who catch the killers. Keep up the good work to YOU BOTH.

Lot of critters take the blame for coon shenanigans.
Got a GHO on daylight shift here patrolling mast drop.

The big old boar coon I caught acted like I was the first human he laid eyes on. He was very docile, quiet, fat and old. He had many years under his belt it appeared by his size and condition. The other females were very aggressive and let you know not to get too careless.

a friend has a run of thanksgiving turkeys in an outdoor enclosure

started trapping 2 weeks before they went to the outdoor pens a few hundred birds

25 coons and 4 possum in and they are almost ready to go to butcher

I will let you know if we have any losses

we have caught a fox on camera 2x 2 weeks apart , so far the added hot wire at about 9 inches off the ground outside the electro poly netting he hasn't tried to get in

we had 13 in the first week then it has been one every 3-4 days
5 the first night then 2 days and 5 more , then one here two there

that many birds and you can't not draw them in for over a mile

I think coons kill more poultry than other land based predators combined. If you’re free ranging chickens, hawks and owls will also put a dent into your flock.

I bet that mink and fisher won't forget where all those groceries are living.

Between my 2 neighbors and our farm all totaled, 11 chickens and 7 ducks have been killed middle of the day. All by a young bear just kicked out by the sow. Frustrating as our fencing has not been sturdy enough.

Chris

The weirdest one I had was a Lion living under a womans porch, killed all her cats and skunks. I set some traps and got a coon first night then nothing, found out later a G&F warden shot and missed, the cat took off and wound up getting shot in a road ditch few miles away. It was about 1 1/2- two years old and starving fur had burrs and was poor condition, didn't have enough fat in it's tail to fry it's ears!

I'm kind of surprised they didn't resort to poison. Lot of that here. Glad they called you instead Bob.

One of the farms i trap used to have a neighbor that free-ranged turkeys, ducks and chickens, lots of them. The tractor lanes on that farm gave up 20-25 red fox a season.

Then the neighbor got rid of his poultry and moved to Maine.I still trap the farm but it's good for only 6-8 fox a season anymore.

house cats can also be pretty bold in those situations we found that to be when my boys were young we raised pheasents in a 20 by 40 coop we had built with a solar fencer just off the ground took out many ferel cats one year
had a cross over 2 by 6 to support the roof netting used 4 nails to cleat a 220 on the beam 14ft off the ground and took a big male red fox another time the farm where we had been buying (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) birds from called and said they had a bunch of birds missing so when i got there and went around the perimeter the corners had gaps the size of a chain link fence with bigger openings just off the ground
so i went back my truck to grab cages to cover the gaps i noticed feathers at the bottom of a giant sliding door headn thru his barn 30ft away as we investigated we found at least 12 birds many with the heads missing packed in the crease of that door
so i set 6cages and 3days later took a big male mink caught him using no bait just mink gland

I was made aware that some of the lethal liquid had been used in the past. I cautioned them on its use and the downside as to the legal part if caught. We have that going on here also.

Maybe those hot wires need to be a lot hotter!

Yes it's a shame.

I agree they need hotter electric fences too.

I worked at a bird farm my younger teenage years. Weasels were usually the culprits there, but there were cage traps maintained daily to keep coon pretty well thinned down.

WTG!!!!