Owls, coons, and ducks
Last week we had a bit of excitement around here.
On Wednesday night, we lost a duck to an owl (we think, based on the lack of carnage at the scene). It was around 2AM and the distraught quacking of the ducks got us out of bed. My fears were confirmed when I found only four ducks swimming excitedly on their little kiddie pool. We looked around but found no evidence of a struggle, carcass, not even any blood or torn out feathers. This is an owl's M.O. They silently swoop down and kill their prey on impact, then grab them and fly off with the whole thing to consume back in the forest. We have a lot of owls around here, you can hear them hooting all night. We rounded up the four survivors and put them into a recycled rabbit hutch for safekeeping.
The duck's pen is made of pallets spiked together to form a fence, then lined with heavy duty wire fencing (looks like chicken wire, but much thicker). Since it backs up against the house, we didn't think we'd need to put netting over the top, but it looks like we will need to if they are to stay out in their pen overnight.
The next incident happened the next night at around 1:30 AM. We had worked late and were unwinding with ice cream in front of the TV when Wendy heard the alarm quack, so I went running out to see what was going on. This time it was a big raccoon! She has her arm through the wire of the hutch the ducks were in and had one of them by the throat. I flicked on the floodlight and she glared at me as if to say "damn human, don't bother me I'm busy trying to tear this stupid duck's head off" then she let go of the duck and started trying to open the latch to the hutch.
I ran to get my Ruger .22 pistol. The Ruger has an aimpoint scope, a 32 oz trigger, Wolff springs, Voltquartson grips and I can show you a target with a dime sized group on it shot a 50', offhand. Did I hit the coon? Nope. Maybe because I was so pissed at it, or maybe because I took a two-handed stance, but at 15' I missed a big 'ol coon. How embarassing. She skedaddled into the woods, but I knew she'd be back soon.
A few minutes later, she came brazenly down the hill out of the woods. This time I was ready with my 12-guage. I didn't miss this time!
OK, so the pelt has a 1" hole in the side, but it's still a pelt. I also got 6lbs of coon meat out of the deal. This was a pretty big critter.
I keep the pump 12-ga loaded with an alternating assortment of shot, buckshot, and slugs because you just never know what you'll run into in the middle of the night. For instance, let's say I am putting the chickens to bed and run into a possum raiding the coop. Buckshot would overkill, so the first round is going to be a #4 game load. If it's a coyote, the #4 will just wound it unless it is at really close range, hence the buckshot. If it happens to to be a bear, the third round is a slug.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't how I would load it for hunting. This system is just for predator defense. For now, I carry my maglite in my left hand, which also works the slide. It's kind of awkward, so I plan to get another maglite and mount it to the barrel forward of the magazine tube so it will illuminate a target with less fumbling.
I chuckle to myself every time I take my 12-ga with me out to the coop at night, because I imagine that it isn't much different than what the settlers did here 250 years ago. Sure, they had coons, coyotes, wolves and bears, but they also had Abenakis waiting to ambush them as well. Having had a chance to shoulder the Stevens fowler that is currently in the possesion of the Charlestown Historical Society (in season, it is on display in the gift shop at Fort #4), I wonder what Captain Stevens would have thought of my pump shotgun.
On Wednesday night, we lost a duck to an owl (we think, based on the lack of carnage at the scene). It was around 2AM and the distraught quacking of the ducks got us out of bed. My fears were confirmed when I found only four ducks swimming excitedly on their little kiddie pool. We looked around but found no evidence of a struggle, carcass, not even any blood or torn out feathers. This is an owl's M.O. They silently swoop down and kill their prey on impact, then grab them and fly off with the whole thing to consume back in the forest. We have a lot of owls around here, you can hear them hooting all night. We rounded up the four survivors and put them into a recycled rabbit hutch for safekeeping.
The duck's pen is made of pallets spiked together to form a fence, then lined with heavy duty wire fencing (looks like chicken wire, but much thicker). Since it backs up against the house, we didn't think we'd need to put netting over the top, but it looks like we will need to if they are to stay out in their pen overnight.
The next incident happened the next night at around 1:30 AM. We had worked late and were unwinding with ice cream in front of the TV when Wendy heard the alarm quack, so I went running out to see what was going on. This time it was a big raccoon! She has her arm through the wire of the hutch the ducks were in and had one of them by the throat. I flicked on the floodlight and she glared at me as if to say "damn human, don't bother me I'm busy trying to tear this stupid duck's head off" then she let go of the duck and started trying to open the latch to the hutch.
I ran to get my Ruger .22 pistol. The Ruger has an aimpoint scope, a 32 oz trigger, Wolff springs, Voltquartson grips and I can show you a target with a dime sized group on it shot a 50', offhand. Did I hit the coon? Nope. Maybe because I was so pissed at it, or maybe because I took a two-handed stance, but at 15' I missed a big 'ol coon. How embarassing. She skedaddled into the woods, but I knew she'd be back soon.
A few minutes later, she came brazenly down the hill out of the woods. This time I was ready with my 12-guage. I didn't miss this time!
OK, so the pelt has a 1" hole in the side, but it's still a pelt. I also got 6lbs of coon meat out of the deal. This was a pretty big critter.
I keep the pump 12-ga loaded with an alternating assortment of shot, buckshot, and slugs because you just never know what you'll run into in the middle of the night. For instance, let's say I am putting the chickens to bed and run into a possum raiding the coop. Buckshot would overkill, so the first round is going to be a #4 game load. If it's a coyote, the #4 will just wound it unless it is at really close range, hence the buckshot. If it happens to to be a bear, the third round is a slug.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't how I would load it for hunting. This system is just for predator defense. For now, I carry my maglite in my left hand, which also works the slide. It's kind of awkward, so I plan to get another maglite and mount it to the barrel forward of the magazine tube so it will illuminate a target with less fumbling.
I chuckle to myself every time I take my 12-ga with me out to the coop at night, because I imagine that it isn't much different than what the settlers did here 250 years ago. Sure, they had coons, coyotes, wolves and bears, but they also had Abenakis waiting to ambush them as well. Having had a chance to shoulder the Stevens fowler that is currently in the possesion of the Charlestown Historical Society (in season, it is on display in the gift shop at Fort #4), I wonder what Captain Stevens would have thought of my pump shotgun.
posted by MVTCoPete | 10:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home