Fumbling around in the dark to find your gun and magazine is no darned good. :(

[Jstpssng]

As a raccoon is gnawing through the poultry box outside, to grab yet another turkey. GRRR. I didn't think that he could get through the 2x4" cage wire, but somehow he did. As I finally got loaded and snapped the light on, I heard him running off through the bushes. So far the count is 12 chickens, 3 turkeys. Tomorrow when I'm downstate a couple of dog proof traps are on my list... and I WON'T be relocating them to be somebody else's problem.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Put up an electric fence charger. I have a little $35 Tractor Supply one, I put insulators all around a tobacco barn over to large garage, it's about 4" up. No more critters of any kind.
You could use those inexpensive plastic posts, a wire close to ground and loop back up a couple feet. We did that around garden for rabbits, deer, etc.

 

[Einthewoods]

That sucks for sure. Hope you are able to get rid of them. No use for them at all.

Having a loaded or unloaded gun in the house is every persons choice of course. Would never suggest someone keep one that isn't comfortable with it. But, loaded and ready sure makes them more useful. Unless you are a really good aim at throwing them.

 

[oosik]

I simply do not understand your situation there - Jstpssng. Do you have young children in your house. Now I have a bevy of guns strategically located around the house for defense and for the rare varmint. Every single one is fully loaded - all the time. When I grab a tool - it had darn well better be ready to operate at that exact moment.

 

[Jstpssng]

Put up an electric fence charger. I have a little $35 Tractor Supply one, I put insulators all around a tobacco barn over to large garage, it's about 4" up. No more critters of any kind.
You could use those inexpensive plastic posts, a wire close to ground and loop back up a couple feet. We did that around garden for rabbits, deer, etc.

I have everything I need to put one up, just never thought that he could get through that fence. Regular chicken wire on the other hand is useless, they go through like it's a spider web.

That sucks for sure. Hope you are able to get rid of them. No use for them at all.

Having a loaded or unloaded gun in the house is every persons choice of course. Would never suggest someone keep one that isn't comfortable with it. But, loaded and ready sure makes them more useful. Unless you are a really good aim at throwing them.

If it was a frequent problem, I would do things differently- my father had a 12 guage mounted over his door. All of my guns except one are locked in a cabinet; with that last allegedly at arms reach. Until you can't find it because you dropped a newspaper on it...

 

[CalG]

I thought I had coons in the corn last fall.

Had the rifle set and the flashlights handy. The rustle in the stalks woke my sleep and I got ready.

It was a trio of SKUNK! and I wan't about unleash that near the house.

This year, we didn't seed any sweet corn.

But the loaded rifle is just outside of arm's reach from the bed.... just in case!

 

[Fuddy1952]

String chicken wire around those insulated posts if you have extra, connect that to your charger. Watch him climb through THAT.
Wife's uncle puts electric wire around his garden with strips of aluminum foil along it, peanut butter on them to light up the deer antlers.

 

[TractorGuy]

I have everything I need to put one up, just never thought that he could get through that fence. Regular chicken wire on the other hand is useless, they go through like it's a spider web.



If it was a frequent problem, I would do things differently- my father had a 12 guage mounted over his door. All of my guns except one are locked in a cabinet; with that last allegedly at arms reach. Until you can't find it because you dropped a newspaper on it...

My Grandfather's shotgun, a Remington 11-48, hangs on the wall on my side of the bed with 4 in the mag and the chamber empty.

 

[Alan W.]

The electric fence solved my predator problem in the coop as well. I got tired of the loss and worry. Mine is a 12 volt running off a large battery to which I attached a charge controller and a solar panel.

 

[Einthewoods]

We have coons come to the bird feeders at night once in a while. They steal the food of course but haven't done any real damage ever. The other night I was on our screened in deck enjoying the quiet of the night (15 feet or so from the bird feeders) and heard them come through the woods and in the dark I could see one of the feeders moving. I flipped on the outdoor light and was a bit surprised to see a black bear running off.

Bird feeders are taken down for a while for sure.

Since I am hijacking this thread with my irrelevant story, here is a picture I took the other day of a hairless red squirrel. DNR says it must be mange. Weirdest dang thing I've seen.