Coon Attack ~or~ No Chicken for You!

[goldtopper]

At 12:30 last night I hear clang clang clang. I laid there, thought about it and realized it was a feed pail lid hitting the concrete. I jumped out of bed and looked for a flashlight. I have a 17 yr old boy, and being a boy, ALL of my flashlights are gone. I found a small LED clip on light, loaded up my high powered break-barreled pellet rifle and flicked on the flood light. 4 coons were next to the coop! I put the peep sight betwen the eyes of one of the smaller ones and squeezed the trigger. 1 down. I reloaded. 2 down.
The mother and other smaller one made a break for the Oak in the back of my yard and went up the tree. I loaded and shined the light up the trunk. About 25 feet up, two sets of eyes glowed back at me. I laid the clip light on top of the barrel, put the peep sight between one set of eyes. 3 down. This one fell right into my compost bin, dead. I then put the sight on the other set of eyes, squeezed the trigger and crash crash crash through the braches came a screaming coon, right at me. I turned and ran, slipping on a pile of dog crap and landed on my side. Thank God there wasn't a video! I got up and there lay momma, a huge coon, dead.
I went out this morning and the back yard looked like a massacre. I am so glad I listened to advice on this board and only used hardware cloth. If I hadn't, all my girls would be dead.

 

[aprophet]

Good shooting . happy hunting !

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

Coons are so cute but so deadly...good job! Love the avatar pic, btw!

 

[1livelychick]

Great job protecting your chickies! ....... Bummer about the dog crap though

well...at least it washes off.

 

[mjuenem]

Thats some good shooting. What make and model of air rifle?

 

[goldtopper]

Quote:
It's a Beeman S1, made in Spain.

 

[CupOJoe42]

Excellent shooting!! Raccoons are hard to kill (they have small brains), and often take a good head shot to knock off. So glad you went with the hardware cloth and were alert enough to stop them.

 

[Oldfort_mailman]

Are you guys using the 1/4 in by 1/4 in hardware cloth or the 1/2 in by 1/2 in opening hardware cloth?

 

[goldtopper]

Quote:
I use 1/2".

 

[Oldfort_mailman]

I have that on the bottom to let poop through but I have 1/2 by 1in on the sides. Unfortunately for me even though the wire is thicker it allows the coons to get enough paw in to mangle the little ones who get too close. They bit some toes off through
The half by half on the bottom, though, so I guess i will have to hire me a beeman sniper or get a guard dog.