Animal screams coming from the woods

[Noellereagan]

You have cougar and bobcat. Cougars in heat give an eerily woman-in-distress like scream. The YouTube videos are downright chilling. Listen to one of those and compare.

I live in southeast Wisconsin. Around here, I've not heard of any cougar or bobcat. I know they've been caught on camera in recent months north and northwest of here. If given a chance, wouldn't both species hunt her domestic animals? Or is that a mountain lion I'm thinking of? Here, we are absolutely infested with coyote. I've heard awful screams accompanying their pack "kill cries". I'm wondering if your 12 shepards (do you breed shepards?) Are housed together? If so, I'm not sure what kind of beast would take on a pack of twelve big dogs. You may be safe there. But it's my belief that poultry is the low hanging fruit for most predatory animals. And we all know they tend to be savvy breaking-and-entering artists! Unfortunately... Good luck to you. Try and record the sound with your phone if it happens again.

 

[happyfrenchman]

DNR or no DNR, you should be able to see what kind of tracks they are leaving and if it is a Felis Concoloris, (by any other name included) it should be fairly obvious. Killing a bull sounds like it is at least a lion. That is something Tigers do. It would have to be a large cat.

 

[Kessel23]

Thanks for all the help everyone! I do breed German Shepherds happyfrenchman, I do not keep them all in the same pen though because the studs will fight to the death if they get the chance. I have three studs and 3 large kennels, I keep one stud in each kennel and then the unrelated females that he breeds are kept in that kennel with him. Then the old, retired, dogs stay in the house. Each kennel has at least 3 dogs in it so hopefully that is enough to keep a big cat away.
Razzy101, the Blue Jay is a member of the corvid family, along with crows, magpies, and others, corvids will raid other bird's nests and eat the chicks and eggs. Corvids usually have pretty complex social structures and are very intelligent birds. Crows are much larger than Blue Jays and will kill young chickens and steel chicken eggs, I have not heard of Blue Jays doing this but I wouldn't be surprised if they ate an egg or killed a small chick, they should be no threat to an adult hen though, or even younger birds. Blue Jays can be annoying if you have songbird nests around that you like because they will hunt for the nests to eat what is inside, some of their favorite bird nests to raid are American Robins and open nesting finches and sparrows. They usually avoid dove nests, Oriole nests, cavity nesters, and swallows.

 

[llombardo]

I have 3 GSDs
Breaking up fights is not fun so we try to avoid them here too.

 

[Nardo]

Hey. Do you guys know if blue jays can do any damage to hens?? It’s totally off topic but I just saw one perch on the edge of the coop!

Others may comment but all I notice about the Blue Jays is their 'early warning' system for hawks. The hens run like mad for cover when the jays start scolding. But the hens are not afraid of the jays themselves.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

The CT DEEP will insist that cougar don't live in Ct anymore, but I've known people who've run into them face to face. Then one year, somebody hit one with their car. The DEEP still insisted it must be a migrant, that his DNA is from North Dakota...
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/06/11/connecticut.mountain.lion/index.html

 

[ChirpyChicks1]

We have stories of the wildlife department re-introducing large predators in our area as well, mostly cougars to control the deer. There are many sightings. A coworker was at a friends house and a cougar was attacking their cattle so they shot at it. Afterward the wildlife department showed up and told them to stop, they must be tracking them somehow.

 

[mowin]

I'm in NY. I've SEEN a Mt lion in Columbia county. I know a guy that has seen a pair, and shortly after, two DEC officers parked down the road and went into the woods. He asked them when they returned if they were looking for the Mt lions. There response, "sir theres no Mt lions in NYS." I Was told the same thing when I told a DEC officer I seen one. He actually suggested I seen a bob cat. Umm.... a bob cat with a 2' tail.. lol. I believe they are releasing Mt lions to control the deer population. Our area is full of city people buying up large tracks of land posting the property and not allow hunting. Yet, they complain to DEC about the thousands of $$$ in damage the deer did to there shrubs and bushes.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

I'm in NY. I've SEEN a Mt lion in Columbia county. I know a guy that has seen a pair, and shortly after, two DEC officers parked down the road and went into the woods. He asked them when they returned if they were looking for the Mt lions. There response, "sir theres no Mt lions in NYS." I Was told the same thing when I told a DEC officer I seen one. He actually suggested I seen a bob cat. Umm.... a bob cat with a 2' tail.. lol. I believe they are releasing Mt lions to control the deer population. Our area is full of city people buying up large tracks of land posting the property and not allow hunting. Yet, they complain to DEC about the thousands of $$$ in damage the deer did to there shrubs and bushes.

Yep, its the same here... Officially there are no Mountain Lions in Ct. Oh, except the one that migrated here. I don't think so.