losing a pheasant a day to a ghost-strange

[proappspro]

I have a 20x40 flight pen had 28 pheasant now have 17. losing 1-2 a night. it is made of buried chicken wire 6 feet high with a zip tie to attach a net on top. no holes in fence. no way to pull a pheasant through a chicken wire hole. I keep finding a few wings and the green peepers just on the outside of the fence. i zip tied more of the netting as to not have a space more than 6 inches and it is tight. The fencing is not disturbed and it does not look like any digging has occurred. the main post are 4x4 and i see squirrels climb the post to get in under the netting. Yesterday i added electric fence and lost 2 more. no evidence is left inside and only a wing or two left outside. Any ideas? This is east texas or i would say weasel. BTW- the wings or evidence is found just on the outside of the fence in different areas. It is like they are very smart getting in capturing pheasant getting out and eating them right there.

Any suggestions- these critters see smart ant tear nothing up.

Thanks

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I'm guessing raccoons. Weasels only take the head and neck. It has to be something that can climb and carry a bird.
A fox can climb and get into a small hole but usually carry the whole bird away.
Zip ties, chicken wire and 6" gaps is no protection from predators.
I only had raccoons/possums and dogs as predators before so no hole larger than 1 1/2". Turns out I now have weasels for the first time in my life and lost 45 birds in the last few days.

You need hardware cloth and wire to secure it.

 

[proappspro]

Yes I think its a raccoon; its crazy I found a wing and part of a head. Today redoing electric but electric dose not seem to work. I guess I'll put more ties closer together.

 

[olfart]

Does your electric fence have a good ground rod? Lacking a good ground rod, you might connect the ground side of the charger to the chicken wire fence. Did you put it at the bottom or the top of the wire fence? If you have a climbing predator, a hot wire around the mid-height of the fence may discourage him. The electric wire should be no more than about 2" out from the fence (standard electric fence insulators).