Chicken Thief?

[204cat]

Not sure if I will get any predator but if I do I will post some pictures.

[204cat]

Small update.

This time in the middle of the day about 4pm whatever it was tore out a board and got another chicken. That leaves five remaining chickens. There was feathers everywhere. I heard the chicken scream and got some clothes on fast. Ran out to see nothing but feathers. With in a few minutes I found a track and followed it. It went in the water tank then I found the exit trail. Whatever it is getting these chickens is dog like. I followed the trail. Every fifty yards there was a clump of feathers. After three hundred yards I lost the tracks. No sign of anything. I had been going out nights before this and after.

I took a look at the other website of the drawings of coyote prints and fox prints. They seem to show crooked toes while the picture shows straight toes and longer. Not sure if the prints that were in the water tank are the same of that of the predator that got the chickens.

Yesterday it tried again at noon. I heard the chickens scream. Ran out to see two chickens out and boards down. None were taken this time.

[Wiiings12]

Well, That's a tough one! What I would do personally is get a foothold trap or two and some chicken feathers, or something from small game like that. I often use the tail from a squirrel, and let me tell ya that works flawlessly every time. Anyway, You said you followed where the animal took the last chicken. More than likely that is where it comes from every time, So what I would do is put the trap as close as I could to where it comes from. Why walk all the way to your chicken coop when there is something just as tasty wandering around so much closer? If you are interested in trying this.. and don't know much about trapping, let me know! I can tell you everything you need to do to catch this thief!

And about the scratches on your bullet casings. Correct me if I am wrong, but it looks like you have a remington 700 in that picture. I have one too! and mine use to do the same exact thing. What was happening in my situation, was the magazine box was sticking up just a few mm's too far, and opposed to the bullet sliding up into the chamber on that smooth incline, it would grind on the sharp edge of my magazine box and eventually slip into place. I just took everything apart, and did some light grinding on the front part of magazine box with a dremel. Worked like a charm and made things a lot smoother.

Hope that helps!
-Graham

[Arizona Hunter]

My cousin lives in a rural area (Eastern AZ) with his land up against a mostly dry creek and National forest land, and he has given up keeping egg layers around-bobcats are always killing them! Bobcats more so than coyotes, perhaps because they can jump the fences better.

He shoots and traps many each year but there is no end to them........

[204cat]

I will look in to the cage type traps. As I recall the largest one I have seen locally is raccoon size. Not sure if that will be big enough for coyote. Went to hunter warehouse in hopes of finding a larger cage type trap. It was closed. Nothing left. Gone. I will try the other places.

I have a Remington 700 sps that has the spring with a plate. No magazine clip. I ran my finger under the top. It was fairly smooth. When I took the bolt out it looked like the head scraped the case when drawn back and then again when shut. I decided to use it as a single shot and not use the bottom case holder. Loading one in at a time is not problem.

[Wiiings12]

I know very little about the cage traps, I usually go for footholds, or connibear type traps.

Yeah, same thing I have. It's not actually a clip. But a box, that rests in the stock. Where the extra shells are held. The edge of the box sometimes sticks up, and gets in the way of the extra shells when you slide them into the chamber. That's where the scratches are coming from. I am trying to get a picture of what I am talking about but can't find one. I guess your solution works just as well!

[204cat]

I know what you are talking about a picture is not necessary. Thank you anyway. I originally wanted a single shot 204. The only one I found like that had the loading and ejection port on the left side. Was not comfortable with that so I did not purchase that. When I saw the Remington in the catalogue I knew that was the one I wanted.