I hear a Fisher Cat out there!

[mudhen]

Boy am I glad the girls are safely in their coop!
It's about 1 am, just let the dogs out for their ...ahem... last chance before going to bed.
A couple minutes later, I hear them barking and think, there goes that deer herd across the front yard or the back field again.
Open the back door and the corgi (Murphy Brown) comes running in...she wants none of what's out there. The Aussie (Merlin) is doing his silent run back and forth in their yard (creepy, he is absolutely silent when he is serious!), but he come in after a short moment.
Then I hear it. Not a fox, not deer, not racoon. I know it, its a Fisher Cat. It has a weird scream call bark like sound. SCARY!
The border collie mix (Obi)won't come in and they are exchanging barks from opposite sides of the fence. That thing is close.
I came in to shut the PC off, saw the screen still on BYC and had to post.
Hope the thing is gone now...gonna try and see if I can get the goofy dog inside...

 

[Chicken_Addict]

is that like a bob cat? never heard of it before!

 

[MTchick]

Not really. They are more like giant weasels. Here in the Western US we call them just "Fishers."

-MTchick

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Coolest site ever! Check this out:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-FisherCat.html

 

[Chicken_Addict]

WOW their kinda cute lol hope ur chickies are safe tonight good luck to you!!

 

[ozark hen]

wow, from their picture they look kind of like badgers. Scary. Talk about scary-the local paper had a picture of a black bear in someone's backyard. Here I was just worried about hawks and bobcats!

 

[mudhen]

The sound is like a scream, it really is creepy. They can be nasty creatures. Not often seen, but have no problem taking on a 30lb dog. They have little fear of humans too which is frightening.
They survive on just about anything and I have had the priviledge of seeing one run across a field in February this year.

check out this thread from around that time:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2202

 

[ozark hen]

Oh, my she shouldn't have had to go through such a horrible ordeal! I am keeping a loaded shotgun for any intruders...doesn't matter if they are "protected" or not when they attack on our property and is a very dangerous animal.

 

[chickenfeathers]

We had them kill some of our cats, while living in Maine.

They are *very* nasty critters!!!

 

[ozark hen]

you would think there would be enough wild rabbits for these predators? Now don't get me worried about the rabbits missing, too.