Possum getting away

[jinman]

They have switched to using live rabbits for bait to try to keep possums from setting off the traps. We will see how that works.

The good part is that we have gotten rid of most of the possum in the area.

The first thing that goes through my mind is that you'd better not be checking the trap in the dark and not looking where you are stepping. A trapped rabbit sounds like perfect bait for a BIG snake.

 

[Mace Canute]

The foxpens in our area are large tracts, one is about 800 acres, that are hunting leases for owners of fox hounds. They have 8' tall fences with a hotwire at the top and bottom and a cleared spot on each side of the fence.

They run their fox hounds for pleasure or competition in these pens. They do not fox hunt on horses. Foxes are very scarce in our area so they supplement them with coyotes.

Animals are not usually killed in these chases though it sometimes happens. The fox usually winds up safe in it's burrow and the hunt is concluded. The unlucky slow, sick or injured fox will usually have a swift death.

It's one thing for that to happen in the wild...it's nature and not much we can do about it and we shouldn't, but to pen animals up for a fox hunt is not much different than staging dog fights. That "swift death" is being torn apart by a pack of hunting dogs. Setting up a situation where that is allowed is disgusting. Penning them up to prevent them from killing livestock I agree with, but if you aren't prepared to give the old sick ones a quick and merciful death, like a bullet to the brain, then shoot them immediately once you catch them.

 

[Rod in Forfar]

I just got a better photo last night. WHAT IS IT??????

That's a young coyote.

 

[Car Doc]

I just got a better photo last night. WHAT IS IT??????

Shoot it and bury it and then shoot the rest start calling them in that works the best they are waaay waaay too smart for a live trap never heard of that. good luck and I whole heatedly agree with mace canute.

 

[tallyho8]

I realize that there are many people in the world who are totally against hunting or fishing or even eating meat. Many others hunt, fish and even butcher their own hogs or cattle and believe there is nothing wrong with this as long as they do as little as they can to make the animal suffer.

People hunting coyotes with dogs are not intentionally making the animal suffer and those who hunt them in foxpens that are several square miles large rarely ever have a dog catch one. The old or sick ones that the dogs catch would be eventually caught and killed by the other coyotes if the dogs didn't get them first.

I respect others who do not want to hunt or fish or are vegetarians and I do not want to try to change their feelings or their ways but they may try to understand that many people in the world feel differently than they do and God alone is the one who will judge us in the end for what we have done.

If you do not believe in a higher power then you must realize that the huge majority of people on earth who have different beliefs than you should be respected for what they believe.

I do not wish to turn this thread into a hunting/anti-hunting thread and hope others will respect my wishes.

 

[tallyho8]

The first thing that goes through my mind is that you'd better not be checking the trap in the dark and not looking where you are stepping. A trapped rabbit sounds like perfect bait for a BIG snake.

Luckily we don't have big snakes like you have in Texas, especially the big ones I have seen in Big Bend. All we have are big alligators. And if the snake can get into the cage to eat the rabbit, then he will be too big to get out.

 

[dcyrilc]

They have switched to using live rabbits for bait to try to keep possums from setting off the traps. We will see how that works.

The good part is that we have gotten rid of most of the possum in the area.

Since the title of your thread and your origional issue was possums, I'd have to say that you got the upper hand on that part of it.:laughing:

 

[tallyho8]

I forgot to post the photo we took the other night when he tried to get in one of the smaller traps but couldn't fit. We have 3 larger traps out now but he hasn't been in the back in the last couple of nights.

Last night he was in my front yard about midnight about 10 feet from the front door. I loaded up the shotgun and eased the front door open then gently pushed on the glass storm door to open it and it just clicked. The wife had it locked. The click sent the coyote running and before I could find the door lock in the dark he was out of range.

Maybe tonight................

 

[texasjohn]

tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in its......and still the coyotes are too wiley

 

[jinman]

I loaded up the shotgun and eased the front door open then gently pushed on the glass storm door to open it and it just clicked. The wife had it locked. The click sent the coyote running and before I could find the door lock in the dark he was out of range.

Maybe tonight................

:laughing::laughing::laughing: So your wife does that too, huh? At 3:00 AM this morning I heard a coyote howling down in my gullies. He would howl a couple of times and then a bunch of dogs from surrounding neighbors would come back with a chorus of howls and barks. I just smiled while thinkin' of this thread and gently dozed back off to sleep with a lullaby of nighttime sounds of the country.