Wife needs to stop sending me to town

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Did it eat the whole thing or just the tender parts? If it didn't eat the whole thing, and you didn't dispose of the remains yet, you have primo bait to try and get it when it comes back. Can you set up a large live trap? Make sure the bait is well attached to the trap so the critter has to go inside and definitely hit the trip to access the bait.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Hopefully these two were the extra drakes, I hate losing hens and you needed to get rid of the extra drakes anyways.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Agreed, live trap might be your best bet. Pen the rest up, put the body in the trap, and put lots of grass so the animal does not have to step on the bare wire grid on the bottom. Of course, you'll need to be sure the pressure plate moves freely. Yeah, ducks are... sitting ducks. They are even more vulnerable than chickens.

 

[CrealCritter]

It's a red fox, I seen it

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I wish you lots of luck with that. IMO, fox are near impossible to kill. They move too fast for me to shoot. They are too smart for a live trap. You might have luck with a leg hold trap. And, they are smart. I had a fox decimate my flock one year, in the middle of the day. She killed 4 birds, wounded a few more. She'd have killed all of them if we hadn't come home in the middle of the afternoon. Dead and dying birds laying all over the place. Brazen, evil creature. Would come back all hours of day and night, knew where the buffet was, continued to try our defenses even after we closed everything behind electronet. She'd hang out under the bedroom window where I had a dead body staked, and at one time, she was within 10' of me, staring me down. I was never able to get gun sighted on her in a safe place to shoot.

 

[CrealCritter]

I wish you lots of luck with that. IMO, fox are near impossible to kill. They move too fast for me to shoot. They are too smart for a live trap. You might have luck with a leg hold trap. And, they are smart. I had a fox decimate my flock one year, in the middle of the day. She killed 4 birds, wounded a few more. She'd have killed all of them if we hadn't come home in the middle of the afternoon. Dead and dying birds laying all over the place. Brazen, evil creature. Would come back all hours of day and night, knew where the buffet was, continued to try our defenses even after we closed everything behind electronet. She'd hang out under the bedroom window where I had a dead body staked, and at one time, she was within 10' of me, staring me down. I was never able to get gun sighted on her in a safe place to shoot.

Ducks are in the barn, safe from red fox. My only option is to trap the fox and turn it loose a long ways away from here. Working on a plan... Fox are clever, fast and skittish. Going to talk to county animal control tomorrow and see what they have to say. But I know what I saw, most definitely a red fox and not big foot with a pocket knife

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[farmerjan]

Why would you move it "a long ways away" to be a menace to someone else? Plus, displacement like that is often just a death sentence to them anyway. Trap it and dispose of it. It will not stop and will harass someone else somewhere, if it does relocate.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Trapping and relocating is the worst thing you can do. This animal has become accustomed to free-loading. Has no fear of human habitation. If you trap it, it will now be "trap wise". And, if you relocate such an animal, it will then become an even greater threat to someone else. Either kill it if you are good enough with a gun, or trap and kill, or realize that you have a killer, and put all of your animals in Fort Knox security.

 

[CrealCritter]

Well I guess I fall to see why trapping and relocating a red fox is being frowned upon so heavily? I live close to the shawnee national forest. That's where this menice needs to be. My moral code is I don't kill a animal unless I'm going to eat it or it tries to attack me or my wife. There is one exception to the rule... If it's a triangle shaped headed snake.

Is that wrong? I don't think it is :

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Lazy Gardener]

IMO, You can't get anywhere by foot or road that won't release that fox into territory where other people live. Also, in most if not all states/regions, it's illegal to trap and release because of all the issues mentioned in FJ and my posts. Perhaps that killer fox was released INTO your yard from someone else's back yard.