GJgo
Member
So never being short of things to do around the farm, for the last couple months I've been hunting a pair of foxes that have been paying nightly visits to our chickens. Normally I would leave them alone since the birds are locked up at night, but in the last two months they have come in during daylight twice when the flock is free-ranging & killed some hens. We sell eggs, so I can't have this going on. I have hundreds of game cam pics of the predators- they literally come in every night.
I tried luring them into the live trap (hidden under hay bales now) but they'll have nothing to do with it. I did catch a feral cat one night, and I have pics of the fox staring at the cat in the trap. Busted! So, I decided to start sitting out there late & early to hunt them. They came at a different time every night so it proved to be difficult. The recent snow has been nice for tracking them, though.
Last week about 5:30 AM I finally got a shot off, 2 foxes came in while it was snowing. One turned broadside at 35 yds & I let one fly from a scoped 17 HMR. I thought there was no way I missed as the shot was clean, but after tracking the prints for quite a ways without seeing a drop of blood I figured I must have missed. These things are small targets and it was dark, but still- who knows. I was upset at the thought of wounding & losing an animal so hopefully I did miss..?
I did a little reading & while snares & leg trapping are not legal in CO, you can get a private land 30 day permit to trap with these methods if the animals are damaging a commercial interest. Since I sell eggs through the farm, and the foxes are killing my chickens, this qualifies. So I got the permit & set out to trap some fur. After about a week of figuring out what I did wrong while setting the traps, the other night I got it right! Or got lucky I suppose.. I came out in the morning to check the traps and what do you know- I had one fox in a leg trap & one in a snare! Can you spot them? It was a pair of males.
Not wanting them to suffer any more than they have I set out to put them down, and my 22 short quickly resolved the situation. It was the first time I've put an animal down like this & let me tell you the lights go out the moment the lead hits the brain, I'm glad it's that fast.
So, now my chickens are a little safer- at least until the replacements take over the territory. Such is country life, I suppose.
My next task is to find a buyer for the pelts, my plan is to use the money to build a fenced in run for the chickens so I don't have to worry about them when they're out during the day. I'm no pro but I think the wintertime fur looks great.
My wife is glad they're finally caught LOL, because now I can stop thinking about it get back to the other things she wants me to do.
I tried luring them into the live trap (hidden under hay bales now) but they'll have nothing to do with it. I did catch a feral cat one night, and I have pics of the fox staring at the cat in the trap. Busted! So, I decided to start sitting out there late & early to hunt them. They came at a different time every night so it proved to be difficult. The recent snow has been nice for tracking them, though.
Last week about 5:30 AM I finally got a shot off, 2 foxes came in while it was snowing. One turned broadside at 35 yds & I let one fly from a scoped 17 HMR. I thought there was no way I missed as the shot was clean, but after tracking the prints for quite a ways without seeing a drop of blood I figured I must have missed. These things are small targets and it was dark, but still- who knows. I was upset at the thought of wounding & losing an animal so hopefully I did miss..?
I did a little reading & while snares & leg trapping are not legal in CO, you can get a private land 30 day permit to trap with these methods if the animals are damaging a commercial interest. Since I sell eggs through the farm, and the foxes are killing my chickens, this qualifies. So I got the permit & set out to trap some fur. After about a week of figuring out what I did wrong while setting the traps, the other night I got it right! Or got lucky I suppose.. I came out in the morning to check the traps and what do you know- I had one fox in a leg trap & one in a snare! Can you spot them? It was a pair of males.
Not wanting them to suffer any more than they have I set out to put them down, and my 22 short quickly resolved the situation. It was the first time I've put an animal down like this & let me tell you the lights go out the moment the lead hits the brain, I'm glad it's that fast.
So, now my chickens are a little safer- at least until the replacements take over the territory. Such is country life, I suppose.
My next task is to find a buyer for the pelts, my plan is to use the money to build a fenced in run for the chickens so I don't have to worry about them when they're out during the day. I'm no pro but I think the wintertime fur looks great. My wife is glad they're finally caught LOL, because now I can stop thinking about it get back to the other things she wants me to do.
