Coons n Possums n Dogs

[OhZark Biddies]

Okay. Preaching, whatever... I'm detecting a pot stir-er.

https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/scrap-trap-when-evicting-wildlife

https://www.discoverwildcare.org/wildlife-resources/trapping-and-relocating-wildlife/

http://icwdm.org/wildlife/euthanasia/Relocation.aspx

No good studies... but that a great question! I'll look into it.

Pot stirrer? Sure, hand me that big spoon, lol

The whole idea of “educating” someone who did not ask a question, because we assume they are wrong or just ignorant is kinda gross to me is all... well intentioned or not, it comes across as preachy.

Someone here on BYC who themselves is very knowledgeable about critter control, recently pointed out to me that there are a lot of predator threads where people just want to share their story about their exciting interaction with a wild creature... and they’re not really looking for solutions...

This thread is a good example of that... but if you watch, there will be a new one tomorrow or the day after... maybe not with the same word craft this one has, or as entertaining, but it’ll just be someone’s story of a chicken eater, eating their chickens, not much more... but if history is any indication the replies will get pretty preachy, pretty quickly

As for the relocation sermon though, I’d suggest just leaving out the part about the poor unadaptable critter always inhumanly starving or whatever, as it doesn’t pass the sniff test....

...maybe instead punch up the part about spreading disease, and bang the pulpit hard just to wake up the back row... then pass the collection plate, have the choir do one more song, and then we all go have pot roast at grandmas house

 

[BreanneRN]

Pot stirrer? Sure, hand me that big spoon, lol

The whole idea of “educating” someone who did not ask a question, because we assume they are wrong or just ignorant is kinda gross to me is all... well intentioned or not, it comes across as preachy.

Someone here on BYC who themselves is very knowledgeable about critter control, recently pointed out to me that there are a lot of predator threads where people just want to share their story about their exciting interaction with a wild creature... and they’re not really looking for solutions...

This thread is a good example of that... but if you watch, there will be a new one tomorrow or the day after... maybe not with the same word craft this one has, or as entertaining, but it’ll just be someone’s story of a chicken eater, eating their chickens, not much more... but if history is any indication the replies will get pretty preachy, pretty quickly

As for the relocation sermon though, I’d suggest just leaving out the part about the poor unadaptable critter always inhumanly starving or whatever, as it doesn’t pass the sniff test....

...maybe instead punch up the part about spreading disease, and bang the pulpit hard just to wake up the back row... then pass the collection plate, have the choir do one more song, and then we all go have pot roast at grandmas house

Sounds great! Your Grandma or mine? Will yours be serving possum? Seriously, too funny!

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Sounds great! Your Grandma or mine? Will yours be serving possum? Seriously, too funny!

Better make it yours, we planted mine in the ground many years ago

 

[EggSighted4Life]

As for the relocation sermon though, I’d suggest just leaving out the part about the poor unadaptable critter always inhumanly starving or whatever, as it doesn’t pass the sniff test....

I can appreciate what you are saying... and it's even fun to read like the OP was.

I don't believe every relocated creature starves. I think some do some dehydrate, some get attacked from being in another animals territory, some babies get left behind to POSSIBLY starve. Some will wreak havoc on their new location, and others will thrive without much impact to them or where they were relocated to.

Relocating is not or may not ALWAYS be inhumane. My whole point is that it CAN be, and many people don't realize it. They are trying to do the kindest thing. I've seen nature, it's brutal and not really much kind about it. If it ain't passing a sniff test, maybe your sniffing the wrong area?

The whole idea of “educating” someone who did not ask a question, because we assume they are wrong or just ignorant is kinda gross to me is all...

We all got issues. Guess I don't care if I was asked. Thanks for the input.


Either way, I am here to learn, to share, and to grow... and I will take this opportunity to consider my wording and efforts in the future.

Yes, I realize many folks just join forums to be able to put their opinion out their. I have a true desire to learn and to share knowledge. It's kind of like the whole rooster calcium/kidney thing, share the info and fear mongers jump to the ALWAYS scenario. I don't think I said those *possibilities* were an always thing. Every single situation is unique. I might go back and see if I said it's "always" inhumane... and definitely switch it up to be more rounded as to the *possibilities* instead of any assumption in future posts I make.

 

[roosterhavoc]

I cringed at the HSUS link!! That dog won’t hunt. Animal rights ninja opinions don’t count. Buncha weasels.

 

[BreanneRN]

Nothing more inhumane than nature, which forces creatures to duke it out for resources and breeding rights, in order to pass on their genetic profile as a successful organism... It can get ugly. All they get in the cycle of life is a slim chance. That's what is going on when they go after your farm animals... And that's what will go on where they are relocated. If they are shot and killed by humans you eliminate that chance forever and they never even get to take the test. So, everyone can manage things as they think best and have their opinion, but don't glorify it with a bunch of PC rhetoric served up with guilt trips for all. Just because it is your way (or my way), doesn't necessarily make it better or more humane. And that's my opinion. To each their own.

 

[guineapeeps]

You dirty sinner ... you need some preaching to get yourself right, lol

I’m just teasing you, I just get a kick out of the way folks on BYC feel compelled to tell others how to be.

View attachment 1843064

Love the sign!

 

[aart]

Yes, I realize many folks just join forums to be able to put their opinion out their.

And many just like to juggle alter-egos and spark chaos.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

I can appreciate what you are saying... and it's even fun to read like the OP was.

I don't believe every relocated creature starves. I think some do some dehydrate, some get attacked from being in another animals territory, some babies get left behind to POSSIBLY starve. Some will wreak havoc on their new location, and others will thrive without much impact to them or where they were relocated to.

Relocating is not or may not ALWAYS be inhumane. My whole point is that it CAN be, and many people don't realize it. They are trying to do the kindest thing. I've seen nature, it's brutal and not really much kind about it. If it ain't passing a sniff test, maybe your sniffing the wrong area?


We all got issues. Guess I don't care if I was asked. Thanks for the input.


Either way, I am here to learn, to share, and to grow... and I will take this opportunity to consider my wording and efforts in the future.

Yes, I realize many folks just join forums to be able to put their opinion out their. I have a true desire to learn and to share knowledge. It's kind of like the whole rooster calcium/kidney thing, share the info and fear mongers jump to the ALWAYS scenario. I don't think I said those *possibilities* were an always thing. Every single situation is unique. I might go back and see if I said it's "always" inhumane... and definitely switch it up to be more rounded as to the *possibilities* instead of any assumption in future posts I make.

It sounds like you’ve given this inhumane relocation subject a more nuanced look

I should point out that I didn’t intend to single you out or suggest that you specifically said “always” , etc. I was speaking more generally about the subject and the way that it is “preached” about... your posts just presented the opportunity for me to goof on the relocation topic in general

I’m not familiar with the “calcium rooster kidney” thing, but I bet we could come up with a list of similar things that are repeated on BYC that are of that ilk....

....things that get accepted and repeated without nuance by some folks that mean well... but are often “speaking at” someone they consider ill informed or uninformed... rather than “speaking with” that someone to first understand what they know and/or think.

It often comes down to the difference between “earned knowledge” which comes from experience... and “unearned knowledge”, which comes from reading something or being told of something...

Experience or “Earned knowledge” tells us what we know, what we don’t know, and what we thought we knew....

“Unearned knowledge” tells us what someone else knows or thinks they know, or of their experience ... it is often misapplied or stripped of nuance because without actual experience to compare it to, there is often no way to really understand the thing being repeated...

There are a lot of folks on BYC that are sharing their earned knowledge, gained from experience... and it makes this site worth the visit...

But there are also a lot of folks on BYC handing others unearned knowledge.... likely without even realizing that they might be misapplying, misstating, or just over simplifying the things they are attempting to inform others about.

In any case BYC has it all in this regard!

 

[CLovesDucks]

I lost 8 hens and 3 roosters to neighborhood dogs last year. The area is divided between the neighbors who refuse to contain their k9s and the neighbors who have to deal with it. The county animal control reccomended to me personally, "next time, shoot it and bury it and save a phone call. $0.35 for your hollow point is a better deal than wasting your time or mine." So I did.

Then I built a run yard. A 6' tall run yard. I'm in a very wooded area but with lota of neighbors. The run yard solved the dog problem preventatively. My nextdoor neighbor has had chickens for the past 11 years. 6 foot fence, no roof or netting, and never had a real problem other than feral cats stealing his chicks. I started out this spring with 21 chicks and 3 ducks. Chicks disappeared here and there and I attributed it to feral cats because the chicks were good escapers. We dwindled down to 18 hens and lost one duck.

About a month ago I started losing them left and right and didn't know why. Vanishing chickens with feathers and blood leading up one side of the pen and down the other, then off into the woods. I thought it was a possum at first. So I caught one licking his chops while ogling my hens one night and sent two rounds through him. But the disappearances continued. I set box traps and the imp pulled the bait through the wires from outside the trap. I set a jaw trap atop the preferred fence post of entry, which routinely turned up baitless but untriggered. I set 5 snares on the same post. The hens and ducks continued to disappear and the feather trail was on the same post as the snares. I began securing the hens back in their old coop from which we had not lost any of them since they grew too large to escape. Somehow they kept disappearing. I became desperate.

You ever have those impulses that you know you can't act out? Yeah... My impulse? Assassinate every uncontained mammal with front facing eyes within 3 acres and napalm every ground burrow and hollow tree in that area, then as the neighbors searched for their missing pets and their kids cried, and the woods rose in black smoke and glowing embers, I would blare highland bagpipes from the loudest bluetooth speaker I could find...

But in reality, I began a series of steakouts. These severely affected my daytime efficiency, but I did enjoy sitting up all night with a 22 plinkster, a flashlight, and a sugar cane knife tucked in my pajama pants. My pangs were fruitless.

Finally I began to work smarter instead of harder. I got me a baby monitor and hooked it up at the coop. This seemed to magically pause the attacks, until I went back to night shift. Then I was out of town for two nights. In those two nights I lost two more hens.

6 hens. Thats all I had to show for it. The only real bight side was that I still had my easter egger. I needed an electric fence. I needed a roof on my run yard. I needed to bury wire around the perimeter. I needed a game camera. I needed better traps and a motion alarm. I needed money. I was broke. I was just going to have to improvise with what I had.

The other morning I came home from work and my fancy white and grey hen with fluffy cheeks ( I don't remember what it's called, just that it was expensive) had gotten got. I had a clear trail of feathers to follow, so follow them I did. The blood was still warm. I traced the feathers and blood a good 68 yards into a wisteria thicket. I found bones. Warm, wet bones. This was not the work of some lone varmint. This was the work of a mother and some tiny somethings with lots and lots of teeth. I searched extensively for burrows but found none.

I tweaked my traps, added bait, made a pot of coffee, and turned the baby monitor up. "They wont come with it raining," my wife said. I had faith though that this would be the night. I made several patrols, beat around the brush, and urinated on the fence posts several times to let that demon know who was the alpha in this pack. I waited. I drank coffee. Just normal noises and thunder and lightening.

Then I heard it: a couple of sqwawks, some banging noises, and then silence. I grabbed the rifle and flashlight, and dashed out into the drizzles in my crocks and jocks. I sprinted up to the coop, snapped up into a ready position, and frantically scanned the perimeter of the pen. Nothing. Woodline - nothing. Treetops - nothing. I counted my birds and all 6 were still present. I looked at my plump buff orpington who was pacing in the mud and said, "Sarge, you fat cults. Don't fall off the roost again and scare me like that or I might shoot you instead." I went back inside.

Then I heard it: squawks, banging on the wire, a bit of commotion - but I heard a different sound this time. I heard wings flapping. I reinacted the same drill, except this time I did have on some pants. As ai neared the coop, I saw my hens all on the ground. The roost had cane dislodged from the wall and was lying beside them. A brief moment of relieved disappointment poked its head around the back corner of my mind. Then I frantically realized that there were 5 hens standing on the coop floor. I snapped back into kill mode. I went straight to the favorite fence post and, behold, the banded bandit himself: procyon lotor. I took aim for his T box, and noticed that she had a live hostage (my expensive easter egger). "You devil..." I muttered under my breath as the pouring rain ran down my face, highlighting my nose in my peripheral vision with every flash of lightening. I immediately took the largest available arternative target, which was the coon's ham on the starboard side of the post. My shot struck true, and the ravenous rat fell from head level. Still grasping my hen, she broke for the woods. I sent 5 more rounds through her back as she ran. She and my egger disappeared into the thick underbrush. I tracked her a short distance, heard her fall from a tree and begin running again, then heard her cough and cry out. Movement ceased. After some silence I began to call my hen. She came to me limping from the thicket. I took her up, provided care, and returned her to the coop.

Yes, I literally created this entire post just to vent. This has no educational value.

I’m so sorry about the raccoon and other pests for your chickens...

But HOLY SMOKES; the way you write! Please keep it coming! I was on the edge of my seat and felt like I was right there with you! It’s awesome!