FINALLY, I GOT HIM! ... And then someone else got him

This past Spring, we set out a trap to catch a fox that had killed several full-grown large fowl hens. We had seen him on many occasions, and once with a dead hen in tow. So out went the trap.

What we got instead, was a raccoon, a few possums, each of our cats exactly once (never twice or more), my alpha roo, and lots and lots of bugs that eat the bait. I have not even SEEN the fox at all since we set the trap up.

The raccoon was one that we relocated, then set the trap back up again, thinking that was the end of him. But this past weekend, my very last Buff Polish hen was attacked in my "breeding pen" and killed. She was torn up pretty bad. Parts of her were missing, but you could still tell which one it was. And it was MORE devstating because she was the very last one out of 7, and I had just put my second-to-last one down after she got a broken thigh bone (from three roosters trying to pin her at once).

I couldn't understand it though, because the pen was chain link but had been reinforced with chicken wire at the bottom to make the spaces smaller, and to stop predators from digging in. It had a canvas top, but plywood was stacked up to keep that from splitting or tearing. And the gate was shut and latched all night, and stayed that way until I found her too.

I was too upset to move her, but I moved the roo out of the pen he shared with her, and left the rest alone. The next day, her body had been moved across the pen, and up against the chain link side. It looked like something started to pull her body through the wire, tore out even more feathers, and then gave up. And then on Day 3 (today) her body was completely gone.

Well as luck would have it, I had a lady stopping by to buy frizzle chicks. While she was here, she noticed I had caught a raccoon in the trap. Upon closer inspection, it was the SAME raccoon that we had caught before! He somehow found his way back (about 50 miles) and that's probably what had attacked my polish hen! I recognized the scar on his front left leg!

But the woman who was visiting to buy chicks, wanted to take him. It worked for me - I wouldn't have to relocate him, animal control wouldn't have to be called to put him down (they put all raccoons down, as carriers of rabies), and he'd leave my chickens alone. Especially since....

My visitor planned to add him to her Thanksgiving menu. I guess her young son will probably also get a coon-skin cap for Christmas.



Best. Pest-control. Ever.

And justice for my hens!

 

Apparently relocating him didn't matter anyway. Humane or not, he found his way right back home!

 

Unfortunately, this trap probably wouldn't fit in a drum. It's HUGE. Big enough for a coyote. My large-fowl roo can stand completely up in it AND crow without hitting the top. Not only that, but we have no 55G drums. We also didn't have a shotgun, spear, or anything similar she could have used. But after explaining that, she was fine putting him in the animal carrier that she brought for the chicks, and putting the chicks in a box that I supplied.

 

That's one I wouldn't know about. I've tasted darn near everything from Alligator to Camel and Zebra, but never raccoon.