I caught my fox! UPDATED.. now with the VIDEO!

Well, the fox was back and killed 3 more of my birds. Today the leg traps are going out.I saw the fox and took a shot at it and knew it was a long shot. It came back a few minutes later and I shot at it again and this time it ran off and didn't come right back but i'm sure it will be back. I have the dead birds to use as bait and of course it went into the pen by digging under the gate of the pen where I had the game camera before I moved it. Here is a video taken through a screen in the front of our house.

An old farmer here told me if we ever had foxes that outsmarted the electric fencing and killed a bird, to wrap the bird up in the hot wire (with it off of course for your safety) and crank the conductor up to the highest setting possible. Either you'll fry his tail, or he'll get a nasty enough shock that he won't come back. I know this works for family dogs that decide to kill chickens; my parents had to do this with a prize hen years ago with our dog - and he NEVER went near the birds again. I don't know that this will work for your fox, but it may be an option to try if you're still having problems. I hope you shoot the rascal and turn him into a nice fur. Foxes are gorgeous creatures, for sure - but they are not friends to our birds.

Our biggest issue here where we live is coyotes and hawks. Since the coyotes only come out at night around here, and the birds will be cooped at night - I'm thinking this is a non-issue. It's the hawks during the daylight hours when our birds will be out in their respective pastures that worry me. A neighbor a few miles down the road took video of a hawk actually pulling LOOSE the poultry fencing that covered his girls' run so he could get in. Once he got inside, he decimated about 1/4 of his flock before the guy was able to get off a good shot with a .22 to take him out. That hawk now graces his wall in his den.
 
Quote: That is an excellent Idea. The pen the fox dug under the gate is actually wired. I'm going hunting early in the morning as that is when I have seen both the owl and the fox. I have the dead birds to use as bait as the fox came back a couple of minutes later after the first shot for a carcase this morning. I'm sure they will both be back. Went to get more ammo today. I went to two stores and they didn't have what I wanted so, I will have to make due with what I have.
 
Well, I got both the fox and the owl this morning. They were in the traps. I thought I might get the fox but didn't expect to get the owl. That owl sure is bigger than it looked on the video. In the past three weeks they have killed 11 birds.
 
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Good for you.
And look at all the lessons you learned.
After all, what else is there?
 
Congrats! I don't normally advocate killing/hunting anything (pretty thick Cherokee/Shawnee heritage here), but when they're preying on our pets and our own food sources, something has to be done - especially when we've done all we can do to deter them and protect our investment.
 
I have a 22 and a 410. I don't kill needlessly unless my flock is being threatened after loosing 11 birds in the past three weeks and trying everything I could think of.
 
I had to pop off a .22 round last night into the midst of about 30 coyotes that were chasing my tom cat into our back yard. I didn't intend to hit one (and didn't) but they sure scattered quickly. .22's are great varmint guns and with a scope, you've got a close to 100% accuracy every time if you have to take a kill shot. My other gun is a .3006 - I use it primarily for deer hunting (one every 2 years lasts us) but we've had Fish & Wildlife confirm a possible mountain lion/puma attack of a black bear about 3 miles down from us over the winter (homeowner had his dog freak out and break the chain and run off up the mountain; found a juvenile black bear carcass in the tree about 28 feet up in the air). Needless to say, both guns stay handy for us.
 
I've tried shooting to scare predators off too, but it seems once they discover the chickens they come back. I even have electric around my pens.
 

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