Critter thread. Birds, Raccoons, Deer?

[treesaver]

I agree that excluding wildlife is the best way....untill that don't work. That will take care of the problem most of the time. I had to catch and kill a coon this morning, as yesterday, went down to feed the ducks, guineas, and chickens. Two dead guineas half pulled through the fencing, and one with a bloody foot. They had not bothered for several years, but when one strays, he is gonna die around here. There are bad apples in every bunch!
Oh yeah, here is in Ks!

 

[Dennis Griffith]

I had to dispatch a coon as well last year. He had gotten to smart for his own good and had figured out how to avoid the electric while climbing the gate. Dog found him and the battle ensured. It looked like the dog was losing for the first time (he is getting older), so I separated them and did the coon in.

 

[treesaver]

For their size, I would place coons as one of the toughest critters on the planet. A 25 pound coon has no fear of anything when cornered, and will take on all comers! They have twenty small daggars (claws) and a mouthful of teeth, and those dang rear feet turn 180 degrees from normal, so they can hang on about anything! Them and coyotes are my two favorite critters, and both are survivors!,

 

[Masbustelo]

A coon had a fatal accident here last night. I'm being proactive.

 

[treesaver]

WTG bud! I guarantee you won't hurt the population!

 

[wood1954]

Where I live central Wisconsin, my main problem is the deer herd. I had an electric fence up but broke one of the insulators off the fence post and unplugged the unit and forgot to plug it back in after I fixed the broken insulator. Needless to say the deer came through that night, ate about 1/2 the grape flowers. Took down the electric fence and put up 6 ft of chicken wire topped at 7 ft with another wire. I have 60 vines so I still have a crop this year. My dogs take care of most other mammals

 

[Dennis Griffith]

You can always lean that fence a little to one side. Deer will not jump something they can not gauge to be safely jumped. As for deer running through the electric, used to have that problem when I had horses. A deer running full bore will go through a weak fence, even the 1.5 inch electric tape. The threat of electric will stop a horse dead in his tracks. Not so for deer as they will not pat attention to the typical 5kv electric fence. But the 8kv+ models WILL make them pay attention. Just be careful not to test it yourself. I use 5 foot welded wire fence with electric at the top and again at 7 foot. This keeps the deer out fairly well. And coons climbing that five foot fence decide it's a bad choice once they grab the top wire.

 

[Dennis Griffith]

We have a regular guy at the bird feeder. He doesn't cross the electric ever, so he's safe. He must of got a handful of something shocking one time. They are smart and have a good memory.

 

[treesaver]

Sounds like you got it figured out, Dennis. Gotta love /hate trash pandas! They are survivors, like most of our wildlife in this country. The worst thing you can do for any wildlife is fail to manage it wisely!

 

[Dennis Griffith]

We enjoy watching the wild life here. We just look out the window and see an assortment of animals. As long as you understand them, you can avoid nasty consequences. Even the rabbits, which are almost like a biblical plague (here).

 

[Masbustelo]

I'm fortunate to have red tailed hawks, coyotes, and foxes here to keep the rabbits and squirrel populations down.

 

[Desolus]

We used to have a squirrel problem, we got two working line german shepherds, now we have a different squirrel problem... there are squirrel bits all over my lawn!

 

[Dennis Griffith]

I have all of those as well, plus great horned owls (who perch on our roof watching for dinner). But they are not keeping up. The coyotes come and go. I suspect someone is hunting them.

 

[Desolus]

around here there is a bounty on coyotes. which is understandable given the threat they pose to livestock.

 

[Dennis Griffith]

Bounty comes and goes here, depending on the money the department of natural resources has.