Backyard predator night hunting

Something has been raiding my poultry at night. We have chickens and ducks. We have seen a fox during the day last week, and one of the chickens went missing. Over the weekend i built a new run for them. Six foot fence tight to the ground. I finished up last night around 8 pm, closed the chickens up in the coop, and left the ducks out in the run thinking they were safe. By 11:30 i had two dead ducks. One dead one had no visible damage, the other one had its neck ripped to pieces.  There were no dig marks under the fence. I dont know if it was the fox, or something else.  According to the internet it could be raccoons, or weasels, or fox, or coyotes, but im skeptical about coyotes because i dont think it could get in there.  Anyway im going hunting tonight. Any tips? My wife doesnt want me leaving the ducks out as bait. I do have some beef thats been in the freezer too long, i was thinking i would put that out. Should i spotlight it, or would no light be better to keep it from running off before i can get a shot? Will the bait work? So far live traps havent been successful. 

Game camera. Shotgun. Patience.

You can get cheap IR cameras that attach to the input on your TV at Lowes. Set it up and hunt from the couch.

I have not heard of raccoons being predators like that. If your eggs were disappearing then I would tend to suspect raccoons. Do they really kill ducks?

Fox is my likely suspect.

Racoons will do that, I've had them kill chickens and issues with ducks in the past.

Fox and coyotes don't generally leave behind animals that they kill unless they're disturbed so I'd lean in the racoon direction as they're basically cats with hands and a bad attitude.

Other than that if you have a large enough spotlight, or bright enough flashlight, that'll generally get them to freeze for a second so you can shoot them. Lights attached to a weapons rail system are good for that.

id say racoons, some coke and liquid fly bait would work well also. 

HonestSpeedShop said:

id say racoons, some coke and liquid fly bait would work well also. 

I don't know if I would want raccoons on coke running around. 

@evanB there wont be any running after 

Raccoons on coke .......wasn't there a song ....White punks on dope........oh never mind. Blast away peta be damned!!!

Raptors?

Opossums perhaps......

Seems like overkill for hunting in your own back yard, but hey - have at it.

Best time for coon hunting is at night.

While there's all kinds of cheaper ways to protect your flock and/or, trap, prevent, euthanize whatever is attacking, I'd take this opportunity to make my best pitch to SWMBO that we need to buy some night vision.  Mostly because I've wanted a night vision scope for about as long as I've known that they exist, but never been able to justify the price, and never had a real need.

Seems to me that you could really use something like the ATN X-Sight

But if it's coons, some peanut butter on some vanilla wafers in a Havahart/live trap, will catch them probably on the first night.

Raccoons are easy.

Drill a hole in a log, 3 inches deep 1-1.5 inches in diameter. Put an aluminum foil ball in the bottom of the hole. Drive nails in at an angle with the tips pointing to the foil ball and really close together, but not too close.

They'll reach in and grab the foil because ooo shiny, but won't let go of it to get their paw back out, so while they may be angry when you find them, they'll be easy targets. 

Sure there may be more humane ways to go about it, but they started it killing your delicious ducks. 

Coon or 'possum is my guess, based on my experience and that of my neighbor.  We have fox and coyote here too, but the coon and possum were what killed the most.  He eventually gave up on his fowl because of them.  I suggest the humane live traps, then kill the motherberkeleyers.  If they are too smart to go into a live trap, a hand-hold trap is the way to go.  Had a coon recently that obviously had been in the live traps more than once.  Would not go near the opening, but would reach in from the sides and grab the bait.  She did not know how the hand hold traps worked, though, and bought a bullet.

In reply to bigdaddylee82 :

I own a couple guns, but im not a "gun enthusiast". I have to admit that scope is fully badass.

We caught a possum in the live trap last night. It is smaller and we think it probably isnt our perpetrator. My wife wants to go dump it somewhere. She much more soft hearted than I. We do have a place a couple miles away that has a creek, a woods, and a good half mile to any houses. We might do that and keep setting the traps at night.

I had one Duck in a pen disappear in the night.  The only possible candidates were Fox and Raccoons, and I am pretty sure it was a Raccoon based on how often I see them (very) versus Fox (once).  Raccoons tend to work and area, so killing the culprit usually solves the problem.  They also have traps for Raccoons, but you have to move them VERY far away.  

gearheadmb said:

In reply to bigdaddylee82 :

I own a couple guns, but im not a "gun enthusiast". I have to admit that scope is fully badass.

We caught a possum in the live trap last night. It is smaller and we think it probably isnt our perpetrator. My wife wants to go dump it somewhere. She much more soft hearted than I. We do have a place a couple miles away that has a creek, a woods, and a good half mile to any houses. We might do that and keep setting the traps at night.

Don't release it there.  That's too close. They have a remarkable ability to find their way home, up to about ten miles.

I can tell you 100% that possums kill ducks.  Two years ago my wife went out to collect eggs from the hen's nest box (mid-afternoon) and discovered a possum sleeping in the nest box with a half eaten duck.  That one didn't bother anymore of my ducks/hens

I have battled this for years. Take it with a grain of slat, I currently do not have any birds left... My issue was foxes and an owl. The owl is a non issue nothing you can do about them except full time enclosure with a top net. The foxes are a damn pain though. I have trapped 4-5 and shot 4-5. The only thing that has made the population drop is me not having any more birds for them to eat...

Night time shooting with a call or bait is the only way to do it. Otherwise you are sitting there waiting. or checking traps constantly. 

22 subsonics through a supressor and you wont wake a soul or draw attention to your self. 

 I have really been missing my birds lately. Was thinking of some Guinnea Hens as well, apparently they are a great security system for other birds. I want a turkey as well. 

Ross

You need a llama to keep the predators away. No, really: Guard Llama

dculberson said:

You need a llama to keep the predators away. No, really: Guard Llama

I went to the link and got to the line about "attempted copulation". Now i have a mental image of a llama in my backyard trying to bang my ducks. 

gearheadmb said: I went to the link and got to the line about "attempted copulation". Now i have a mental image of a llama in my backyard trying to bang my ducks. 

No charge, my friend. No charge.

Woody said:

Raptors?

that's my thought. We have a hawk around here that tried taking my mom's chihuahua

gearheadmb said:

dculberson said:

You need a llama to keep the predators away. No, really: Guard Llama

I went to the link and got to the line about "attempted copulation". Now i have a mental image of a llama in my backyard trying to bang my ducks. 

that's one way to keep all your ducks in a row