setting traps on my fenceline

[Deerhunter1995]

Hey guys i have been finding smaller chickens with their heads missing and ripped up, so i took a dead chicken today and set four of my traps i use for fur trapping and made four sets in verious spots around the fence, do you think this will work or do you think that whatever is getting thru or climbing the fence would rather have live meals, ive cought coon and fox before and i dont think this is the work of either.

 

[groundpecker]

heads missing is usually a sign of a hawk or owl from my experience.. Owl if it happens late evening into the night, a hawk if it happens early morning to late evening. The hawk or owl could be using the fence as a trap for your birds.
It could be other predators depending on your location.

 

[sourland]

heads missing is usually a sign of a hawk or owl from my experience.. Owl if it happens late evening into the night, a hawk if it happens early morning to late evening. The hawk or owl could be using the fence as a trap for your birds.
It could be other predators depending on your location.

X 2 Feathers plucked and scattered around the carcass is also typical of a raptor kill. The predator may very well return to the kill.

 

[bigoledude]

If you are a fur trapper, you have a huge advantage over most of us. I use the DP traps mostly because of their safety around our dogs. If there is no danger of non-targeted animals, the sky is the limit. Foot-hold and conibears are great. Snares are cheap and very effective. The cage type traps have been the least effective for us.

I've had terrible problems with raccoons and possums pulling the heads through the fencing and eating the heads off. Any member of the weasel family will eat the heads only and then come back for the rest of the carcass later. There are dozens of posts here where a predator has eaten the heads off of chickens. And, just about every predator out there has been found guilty. Use your trapping skills to catch and kill the perpetrator!