Drat it all! It's a daylight fox raid

[TexasTurkeyMama]

We lost a chicken last week to a daylight raid. It was unknown what grabbed my silkie rooster or how it got over (or under) the wire of the fence. We
followed the feather trail and placed a live trap in a nice shady spot, plenty of camouflage. We have been trapping for a week now, keeping all the flocks
inside, "starving" the predator in to the trap. Unfortunately, the neighbors' chickens were playing under their tree, and I just saw from my drive a "doglike" critter
grab a chicken and drag it off. In case it was a domestic dog I started across the yard yelling and waving. I remember a long tail and a golden brown coat. And a trail of feathers. They have no fence and it ducked into the brush and scrub.

DH thinks it could also be a coyote. Either beast will be difficult to lure into the livetrap. Setting the game camera for some intelligence gathering.

 

[hayley3]

I hope the neighbor knows to put his chickens up too.
Good luck with the camera. Normally I have both coyotes and foxes, so it's hard to know which exactly grabs a chicken out in the open.

 

[TexasTurkeyMama]

Follow on: neighbor says he followed the trail of feathers to the abandoned carcass of chicken and found a bonepile against the ranch property fence. The fox has been upgraded to coyote.

 

[cmom]

It could have been a fox or a coyote. My problem was a fox but we have coyotes too. I couldn't get the coyote in a trap but was after a fox I'm sure was doing the killing. I was seeing it during the day. I put out some traps and baited them for a few days and let the dox take the bait then set the traps and caught the fox. Since I have seen other fox on my cameras.

 

[TexasTurkeyMama]

It could have been a fox or a coyote. My problem was a fox but we have coyotes too. I couldn't get the coyote in a trap but was after a fox I'm sure was doing the killing. I was seeing it during the day. I put out some traps and baited them for a few days and let the dox take the bait then set the traps and caught the fox. Since I have seen other fox on my cameras.
View attachment 2186604View attachment 2186606View attachment 2186612

Is this third pic from the night shot a coyote?

 

[TexasTurkeyMama]

How many traps did you set, and what did you use when you were training the fox to go in the trap?

 

[cmom]

Is this third pic from the night shot a coyote?

Yes

 

[cmom]

How many traps did you set, and what did you use when you were training the fox to go in the trap?

I set a smaller trap for the fox and a hog trap for coyote. We had processes a lot of birds and a couple of pkgs found their way to the bottom of the freezer so I used the frozen chicken as bait. I cut it up i pieces and would put some in the traps every day and after a few days set the traps and caught the fox. I had been seeing the fox during the day and even though I was outside the fox grabbed a bird, my favorite.

 

[Howard E]

We lost a chicken last week to a daylight raid. It was unknown what grabbed my silkie rooster or how it got over (or under) the wire of the fence. We
followed the feather trail and placed a live trap in a nice shady spot, plenty of camouflage. We have been trapping for a week now, keeping all the flocks
inside, "starving" the predator in to the trap. Unfortunately, the neighbors' chickens were playing under their tree, and I just saw from my drive a "doglike" critter
grab a chicken and drag it off. In case it was a domestic dog I started across the yard yelling and waving. I remember a long tail and a golden brown coat. And a trail of feathers. They have no fence and it ducked into the brush and scrub.

DH thinks it could also be a coyote. Either beast will be difficult to lure into the livetrap. Setting the game camera for some intelligence gathering.

To the OP, what type of traps have you been setting? If cage traps....which one exactly.....brand name and size? Under the right conditions, some cage traps may work for a fox. Seldom if ever for a coyote. In both cases, if you are open to it, you may want to investigate coil spring foot traps or if conditions allow for it, snares or collar restraints. Either of those in the right hands will be more effective for coyotes or a fox. There is a learning curve, but it is doable.

And if have not already done so, it would help you to set a trail / game camera up......and point it down the fence line where you think your varmint made his entry. That will tell you what and where and you can proceed from there.

If you are working with your neighbor, they should do the same. But be advised, if neighbor is allowing birds to free range, varmint will probably wipe them out (easy pickings!) before it comes back to you......so you have a few days to get ready.

 

[cmom]

I have used leg traps in the past but now more and more people are buying property around me and building and I have seen more dogs and cats than I have in the past. Now I'm only using live traps. I haven't caught a dog but have caught some cats and fox. The cats may have been feral. In the past since we are quite rural on a dead end road we have been the recipients of other's relocations. Some of the cats may have been dropped off. The ones that I caught were not nice cats and acted like they wanted to kill me but when I released them they took off.