Frecs":1u9s6otw said:
Dagnabitall...Grumpy, I was hoping you were in the Carolinas...for some reason I thought you were...I could use a little help and thought of you...well, I'll toss it out there and see what you can tell me...
I live on the coast of NC, right at the NC/SC border....mostly rural but populated..I like to call it "subrural"...I know that in more rural areas of Brunswick County, NC there are bobcat and fox and boar and other wild critters. In fact, folks have killed boar not 3 miles from me. But, until this past week, I've been "wild critter free"...or so I thought...
2 of my mother's silkies were pilfered with nothing left behind except scattered feathers. I'd like to believe the predator was a possum or coon but since only feathers were left...that isn't their usual MO. (I did catch a possum in a trap the night after the pilfering but it was on the small side so I am sure it wasn't what took 2 silkies.) My pastor is concerned that it might be the work of either a fox or, worse, a bobcat.
My set-up: chicken coop is open on two sides, those sides leading to two separate chicken yards, fenced but only partly covered above--mostly a discouragement to hawks....additional fencing around that as our backyard "animal yard'. This additional fencing recently was added. It is 4ft chainlink. I have not yet gotten the 1x6 board I need to close the gap between the end posts and the house. The gap is at most 4-6 inches wide. A small fox could squeeze through...of course a bobcat can leap over.
So...thoughts on what I might be dealing with? if it is a bobcat, what then? My pastor said the Wildlife folks won't come help unless I actually see a bobcat...as if...
Use a relaxing cable restraint....and guard the gap with it.
Cable restraints are basically snares that
don't lock down.
They'll close shut on an animal but not lethally.
When the animal relaxes, so does the tightness of the cable restraint.
Sort of like a choke-chain on a dog.
You can Google the words and get tons of info on "how" to use them.
Trying to explain the methods and techniques are nearly impossible
without visual aids.
Cats won't jump unless they have to. If they can fit their head
through an opening.....they can get the rest of their body through it.
You'd be amazed at the tight places they can wiggle through.
grumpy.<br /><br />__________ Sat Sep 28, 2013 8:29 pm __________<br /><br />
Kyle@theHeathertoft":1u9s6otw said:
WELL DONE Grumpy!!!!
Not everyone can trap or shoot a nuisance predator...kudos for being just that skilled!!!!
I too wonder, what do you do with them? If you were to salt a raw bobcat pelt, would you consider selling or trading it away? :mrgreen:
I scrape the excess fat off of the hide and put it on a stretcher.
Using salt would ruin a pelt for "me". They've got to be dried and stretched.
Buyers ship them all over the world. Russia and China are two of
the major buyers of international wild furs.
What I sell is called "finished-fur".
Some sell "raw" fur...meaning the skin's been frozen and thawed just before sale.
"In the round" means the skin is still on the carcass.
And sold that way for a much lower price than "finished-fur".
grumpy.
