They haven't gotten to my chickens because the girls get locked up in their coop every night but they have become annoying. Two nights ago I was awoken at 1:48AM by the sound of a couple of light thumps on the tin roof over our addition. A minute or two later there was another thump. I am very wary about people sneaking around our lot so I sleep light and check on most sounds that I hear. The sounds continued and before long I was slipping out the side door with my .22 rifle. I suspected that it was a opossum or raccoon otherwise I'd have taken some larger hardware. When I get out to the corner of the house where I had heard the noise I thought that I had seen a raccoon running off by the neighbors. I realized that the sound was mulberries falling onto the roof. The noises ended and after another hour or so I was able to get back to sleep.
Last night the same thing happened at 11:30PM. This time I was more cautious and when I got to the tree with pellet gun in hand I noticed a branch swaying back and forth. With no flashlight I wasn't able to spot the culprit but the branch stopped swaying and I figured that whatever it was had slipped to another tree and was gone. About 3:00AM another visitor decided to feast on the mulberries. This time I had my pellet gun and flashlight. It took seconds to spot the raccoon and the little bugger got stung by a BB. It was only a couple of pumps and I'll give it credit for not making a peep. But it figured that enough was enough and it opted to leave the tree at 32ft/s^2 which made a sound similar to that of a bag of wet cement hitting the ground.
So I am very very tired at work once again but at least have the satisfaction of knowing that there is a raccoon out there in the world nursing a welt.
Sorry that this didn't involve a chicken attack. Just a stung coon.
Last night the same thing happened at 11:30PM. This time I was more cautious and when I got to the tree with pellet gun in hand I noticed a branch swaying back and forth. With no flashlight I wasn't able to spot the culprit but the branch stopped swaying and I figured that whatever it was had slipped to another tree and was gone. About 3:00AM another visitor decided to feast on the mulberries. This time I had my pellet gun and flashlight. It took seconds to spot the raccoon and the little bugger got stung by a BB. It was only a couple of pumps and I'll give it credit for not making a peep. But it figured that enough was enough and it opted to leave the tree at 32ft/s^2 which made a sound similar to that of a bag of wet cement hitting the ground.
So I am very very tired at work once again but at least have the satisfaction of knowing that there is a raccoon out there in the world nursing a welt.
Sorry that this didn't involve a chicken attack. Just a stung coon.
