Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Trapping Coons - Need a Nudge

That reminds me of issues we had in a pole building that included a chicken coop and chicken yard off the back of the building. Something was regularly eating the chicken feed by burrowing under the walls. I started putting out poison, thinking it might be rats. Each day this critter would consume a packet of D-Con. That went on for nearly a month. I got some rat traps, and they disappeared. Whatever it was, it ate the gas line on my tractor, and it ate the spouts off my gas cans. I'm not sure if it drank the gasoline, or not. I put out one of my old Victor weasle/mink traps, secured with the type of earth staples I'd always used. It disappeared too.

All I knew was that I didn't think I wanted to meet this critter. It did eventually quit coming back. I never did figure out what it might have been, as it never harmed the chickens, nor stole any eggs.

I have no problem killing animals, but at the same time I hate to see them suffer. I'd much rather trap and shoot than see them die a slow death by rabies, mange, distemper, etc.

I dislike using poison because of the possibilities of secondary animal control (killing whatever eats the poisoned animal).

I learned my lesson the hard way one year by poisoning the mice that were eating the pheasant's food. Within a week all the pheasants were dead. At first, I couldn't figure out why - I KNEW they couldn't get to the poison. It wasn't until I saw a pheasant carrying around a dead mouse before they started to eat it that I found the answer. <$10 of poison killed over $500 worth of pheasants.