Something gnawed at and bent chain link fence last night

[CapricornFarm]

Any tracks?

 

[eggbert420]

Any tracks?

x2

 

[RUNuts]

Inquiring minds want to know...

 

[CapricornFarm]

I am afraid he went out there to look for tracks, and the bear got him!

 

[eggbert420]

 

[Folly's place]

Bears and cougars and wolves are very interesting critters--- at a distance! Definitely the OP needs to add electric, whether it's dogs, or bears, or whatever. There's been a recent siting of a cougar in the next county here, and I've got very mixed feelings about it. Must be more careful in the woods! Mary

 

[CapricornFarm]

Yes, we had a cougar sighted next door when we lived in TN! The wild life is out there, whether you see them or not!

 

[jeria]

FyI My Boston Terrier mix who loves to escape and play in the neighborhood bent some of my chain link. She could get to it on the bottom of the fence.

 

[SavageChicken]

I am afraid he went out there to look for tracks, and the bear got him!

LOL, I am actually kind of concerned about going out in the yard early in the morning or at night now because I've been imagining a similar scenario! I am sorry I kept you guys waiting for an update. No tracks of any kind seen this morning, but more bite marks and bent links in the fence were found. We have a wide brick edging that surrounds the lower bar of the fencing, so I am wondering if this thing just uses the edging as a walkway to the same area of fence that it attacked previously. What is even more worrisome now is that the bite marks are located higher on the links now, as though this thing has figured out that it can climb up the height of the fence (we do have the top covered with chain-link as well.) I will go out and take some photos in the morning to better illustrate the layout and show where the damage is being done. With or without tracks, I'm ready to call the county animal control to see if they may be able to trap whatever this thing is, as it triggered and flipped over our medium-sized racoon trap that we set out for it.

Again, I apologize for not updating sooner - I will post again tomorrow with pics and an update of any tracks if we find any. I think I am also going to stay up most of the night tonight to look out the lower window and watch for this thing in the hopes that I can at least identify it for the county people to possibly help us.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Glad you are unharmed! Too bad you don't have a game camera. I am going to see about getting one myself. And a fence charger. I have waited outside with a gun in hand more than once in TN. There was a pack of dogs running loose that killed every chicken in the tractor just before they reached laying age. That was before i knew that chicken wire keeps chickens in but does not keep predators out. I found out who owned the dogs and told her she needed to keep them tied or penned up. She said she didn't care anything about them, one wasn't hers but she had been feeding it for a year! What? I told her if they came back to my house to kill more animals, they would not be back to see her. I love dogs, but i am not going to have them killing livestock. After they broke in through hardware cloth and ate or chased off all my quail, they mysteriously disappeared. You may think it harsh, but no one would respond to repeated calls to animal control. I also had goats to protect, i sort of figured they might be next. I hope you can get this problem sorted out. Considering using chain link for my runs now. I used chicken wire on the inside of 2x4s, and welded fence for the outside. Didn't see bears there, but it did keep the foxes and coyotes out and the coons arms are not long enough to reach through both layers of wire. Keep us posted, we are rooting for you to keep your flock safe.