# Bobcat meals



## MildredClariceHeidi (Aug 1, 2013)

Hi everyone! We had 3 beautiful fluffy hens. (A golden one a striped barred rock and a nice reddish hen) they're in a very secure coop we shut and lock every night and in morning they wonder around inside the pen(picture included) the fence is at least 5 feet tall and has wire from dirt to the top. There are no holes at the bottom or gaps in the wire. 
A bobcat comes down in broad daylight and attacks and takes a chicken at a time. First the barred rock (he pushed under the fence but we have since fixed it) and now our fat blonde girl. I heard and ran out. I saw him trotting up the mountain but don't know where he got in. 

Advice on keeping our one remaining/future hens safe?! The pen is too big to cover. 

Thank you!


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

Shoot it! Or call the DNR to trap it.


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## MildredClariceHeidi (Aug 1, 2013)

We have tried to get it with a pellet gun but we are always too late!


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## rob (Jun 20, 2012)

if its taking your hens then i say shoot it.


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

A pellet gun will do nothing to a bobcat. You need a MUCH larger gun.


My bad I typed cougar instead of bobcat. Either way your not going to do a thing to a bobcat with a BB gun.


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## kjohnstone (Mar 30, 2013)

Bobcat and cougar are much different sizes. I suggest an electric fence, maybe 2-3 feet outside the existing pen fence, where it will walk into it Before it tries to leap over or crawl under.

(Cougars will take people for food, especially children, I haven't heard about bobcats taking humans for food.)


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

Adopt a nice dog or two from the pound of a large breed and put them in a wireless electric containment system around your coop. Keep them there 24/7. Works for me. Gives a couple of dogs a good home and something to do for a living..it's a win/win. 

If not wanting to have more dogs, you can invest in electric poultry netting at about a $1 a foot and watch the fun when the bobcat tries to go under it, through it or over it.  Pop some popcorn and sit back for the one time it takes for him to test the fence...take a video so you can laugh at it later. 

It will also work for all the other predators you will have and keep your hens inside the fence as well. Chicken is on everyone's menu..if you have them, they will come.


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## kjohnstone (Mar 30, 2013)

Bee said:


> Adopt a nice dog or two from the pound of a large breed and put them in a wireless electric containment system around your coop. Keep them there 24/7. Works for me. Gives a couple of dogs a good home and something to do for a living..it's a win/win.
> 
> If not wanting to have more dogs, you can invest in electric poultry netting at about a $1 a foot and watch the fun when the bobcat tries to go under it, through it or over it. Pop some popcorn and sit back for the one time it takes for him to test the fence...take a video so you can laugh at it later.
> 
> It will also work for all the other predators you will have and keep your hens inside the fence as well. Chicken is on everyone's menu..if you have them, they will come.


(chuckle)


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## bkwilmott (Aug 13, 2013)

where there is 1 there are more. You can shoot it but more will soon arrive to take its place as the food getter. Murray McMurray sells a preditor control which is cheap its solar powered at night it shows 2 red dots flickering making preditors believe there is a preditor present scares them off and no matter what time day or night if an animal gets within the zone if flashes a white light at them to scare them off and should that not work so long as the preditor has been in zone for 5 seconds or longer it sends an ear piercing alarm only animals can hear which hurts them. They have to run off and wont likely return.


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## MildredClariceHeidi (Aug 1, 2013)

Awesome! I will look that up! Sounds like it might be the solution for us right now. Thank you!


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## powderhogg01 (Jun 4, 2013)

Post a friendly add in the paper or on Craigslist suggesting some trappers come and handle it. 
I visit at least one house a week on predator patrol. ***** are the most common, I would jump at the opportunity for a bobcat. 
There are people with technology and expertise to actually call the animals and take only the target critters. Some take time, some don't.. 
Good luck with the predator. And remember, a bobcat can mortally wound a house pet like a small dog or cat, and when cornered they are a force to be feared. 
My suggestion is eliminate this animal, as it has turned to humans for food. Any predator caught within a mile of my house is destined for the skinning room, too many wild places for them to be in to tolerate their presence close to my home.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

Amen! They can come to my home if they dare the Jake and the .22. If they are hunting my birds they are poaching my food supply and I will protect that like any other predator would.


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## MildredClariceHeidi (Aug 1, 2013)

Arggg!!!! Lost our 3rd chicken this month always between 8-10am when my husband (w the shotgun) is at work!! He reinforced gate around a tree we think the bob cat was climbing and hopping in. Will the Murray McMurray system work during the day?? Our last resort will be the electric fence. We are also thinking of calling animal control to trap it?? Our property backs right into a state park...so it's hard to control predators. We can't cover the whole area because it's too big and would collect oak leaves.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

MildredClariceHeidi said:


> Arggg!!!! Lost our 3rd chicken this month always between 8-10am when my husband (w the shotgun) is at work!! He reinforced gate around a tree we think the bob cat was climbing and hopping in. Will the Murray McMurray system work during the day?? Our last resort will be the electric fence. We are also thinking of calling animal control to trap it?? Our property backs right into a state park...so it's hard to control predators. We can't cover the whole area because it's too big and would collect oak leaves.


Insulators, a spool of electric fence wire, a $30 electric charger....place one strand of hot wire at the top of your fence. He'll only try climbing in one more time. Work smarter, not harder.






Keep in mind, I just showed you this video to show you the insulators and a simple single strand electric hot wire...the system discussed in the video isn't necessary and you won't need fancy electrical hookups, sirens or lights...this man is wiring for human intruders.

Just a place to plug in your electric fence charger~or you could go for a solar charger~a ground rod, insulators and the wire.


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## MildredClariceHeidi (Aug 1, 2013)

Well we were in the kitchen when we saw the bobcat Inside the pen with our chickens who had JUST been let out this morning!!!! Ran up there my brother managed to peg it with a rock and it didn't get any hens. Now we know it just leaps right over the 6 ft fence. Since I have a toddler I don't want to do electric around the entire thing but perhaps the answer is around the top!


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

Yep....light him UP. Y'all need a gun if you are going to live in that area...a rock is just not going to cut it.


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## powderhogg01 (Jun 4, 2013)

Bee said:


> Yep....light him UP. Y'all need a gun if you are going to live in that area...a rock is just not going to cut it.


AMEN. 
You yourself may benefit from learning the ropes with the old shotgun. If it was me, that critter would be quickly dispatched, boiled and fed back to the birds it's been preying on.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

If he were at my place and dared coming into the perimeter, ol' Jake would have him lying dead for me in the yard when I went out in the morning. That's usually how it goes here...I walk out to feed the dog and I'll find a possum, a ****, etc. You name it, he'll kill it. The rest just do not venture into his territory, though we have the full range of preds here...fox, bobcat, coyote and black bear.

Guns are nice to have when raising livestock...invaluable, actually.

My predator protection system looks a bit like this....my ol' ma and her trusty .16 gauge and an old brown cur.


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