Last my wife woke me up because she heard the chickens squawking. I went outside with the dog, a flashlight and a shotgun, and a large blackbear sow and three cubs were sniffing around the coop. They weren't alarmed at all by either me yelling or the dog barking, but finally they wandered off. About an hour later, they came back. I had some birdshot shells with me this time because I wanted to pepper the sow and teach her to be afraid of humans, and she just stood and watched me as I unloaded the first round of buckshot and reloaded with birdshot, with the dog barking like crazy behind me. I walked around her in a semi-circle to get a better angle, and peppered her ass from about 25 yards with 7 1/2 shot. There was surprisingly little reaction. I know their fur is very thick, and they probably haven't even shed out completely yet, but I would have thought that even just the noise and blast would make her skeddadle. She just lumbered off slowly, and the cubs went up a tree. I took this pic from the front deck of our house (the coop is underneath the deck):
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