Friday, December 11, 2009

Chickens, Raccoons, and Dogs--Oh My

Yesterday afternoon A. let a few of the sheep out of the pasture to wander around and graze on whatever grass they could find. Later in the afternoon, he went out to put them back in their pasture. I stayed inside, because the wind was blowing at a sustained 40 miles an hour and I didn't want to leave my warm chair.

Helpful? Yup, that's me.

Next thing I know, there's the sound of pounding feet on the back stairs. I could not imagine what A. might need to herd his sheep that was located upstairs, and was that urgent. But still, I was too lazy to leave my warm chair. Two minutes later, A. came crashing through the door announcing he had shot a raccoon in the ram pasture. He spotted the coon near the chicken coop, where it had undoubtedly been snacking on the chicken food. Luckily, the chickens had run off, because it was definitely big enough to kill a chicken.

A., knowing how vicious raccoons can be, and also knowing that there is a strong likelihood that a raccoon out in the daytime is rabid, elected to not go after it with a stick. Smart man. So he raced back to the house, upstairs, where he grabbed his gun and ran back to the ram pasture. There he found that the dogs had treed the coon. And then he shot it out of the tree.

Some of you may think raccoons are cute. You would not think they were cute if you could see what they will do to chickens if given the opportunity. Without going into the gory details, I'll just say that coons don't just kill chickens. So it was really best that this coon was killed, especially given the possibility that it was rabid. That said, I was not particularly enthused about viewing the coon, but A. wanted me to see it, so I dutifully trooped up the pasture. I agreed that yes, it was very large, and yes, the dogs were very good dogs for helping in the hunt. Then I ran back inside because my face was freezing off in the wind.

You just never know what a day at Blackrock will bring.

15 comments:

Phoo-D said...

Wow! Now that is real excitement. Good for the dogs for earning their keep and good for A. for taking care of the intruder! I've always thought raccoons are nasty.

Anonymous said...

'Coons also eat eggs. And that one may have had little ones feasting on your egg supply with the rat....falalalala..lalala...laaaah
there must be a blackrock 12 days of christmas song??

word verification ' coiddloe '

token operated stringed/wind instrument

Alyssa said...

Yes! A song.... On the first day of Christmas, true love showed to me a raccoon he shot from the tree.

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me 2 salted pelts and a raccoon he shot from the tree.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 3 bags of walnuts, 2 salted pelts and a raccoon he shot from the tree.

On the 4th day of Christmas, my true love showed to me 4 large cut trees, 3 bags of nuts, 2 salted pelts and a raccoon he shot from the tree.

On the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me Satan's chicken wire! 4 large cut trees, 3 bags of nuts, 2 salted pelts and a raccoon he shot from the tree...

OK, so it's a quick shot - pretty sing-able, no?

Bonnie said...

I'm sad to hear your news, yes I'm sure it was hunger motivated and looking for a chicken dinner. I love Raccoons, I've raised and released more than 40 of the abandoned baby orphans and have never had a problem with any of them. Ours are always out during the daylight hours, they come to the door and ask for food. I'm not judging you, you did what you had to do to protect your animals. I'm just sad that it happened. Bonnie

Alyssa said...

Not really sure where to respond to your comment to me (new at all of this and totally unaware of the etiquette).

Maybe we can get together some time over the break and finish the song over a dinner - J. is SO CLOSE to being finished for the semester. Will give a call...

Link it if you'd like :)

Seren Dippity said...

Alyssa,

Not so sure if it is etiquette but I have found that it is common practice to respond to a comment on the blog which that comment was published.

The purpose of comments in general are to continue the conversation, give encouragement, or thank the person for their link or thoughts.

Normally, Kristin would probably have thanked you for the song in the comment stream for this blog entry. But instead she clicked on your profile and noticed you had started a blog and spontaneously posted there. (So you see, there are no hard and fast rules.) But for clarity's sake keeping it all in one comment stream makes it easier for the other readers to follow.

Hope that helps.

Drew @ Cook Like Your Grandmother said...

Raccoons are nasty sonzabitches. And smart. Unlike possum which are nasty and dumb as a stump. My father-in-law caught a possum on his deck eating the grapes that were almost ripe enough to pick. He went after it with a Wiffle bat -- because his son had left it next to the door. He beat on that thing for five minutes and it barely stopped eating long enough to look up and see what all the commotion was.

Now lets see ...

On the 6th day of Christmas my true love gave to me ... 6 rotten cabbage, Satan's chicken wire! 4 large cut trees, 3 bags of nuts, 2 salted pelts and a raccoon he shot from the tree...

On the 7th day of Christmas my true love gave to me ... 7 floppy woodchucks, 6 rotten cabbage, Satan's chicken wire! 4 large cut trees, 3 bags of nuts, 2 salted pelts and a raccoon he shot from the tree...

On the 8th day of Christmas my true love gave to me ... BAAAAAAAAAAATS! 7 floppy woodchucks, 6 rotten cabbage, Satan's chicken wire! 4 large cut trees, 3 bags of nuts, 2 salted pelts and a raccoon he shot from the tree...


Word verification: tograr -- exclamation when you see a hot chick in a toga.

jean said...

The raccoons don't bother me (of course I don't have chickens so there's that). Instead I hate, hate the squirrels. They are evil little creatures that make my life hell. Of course, when the hawk raided their nest yesterday and killed one I cheered and did not feel an ounce of guilt. I did feel stupid when the neighbor spotted me. I was in my robe at the time.

Drew @ Cook Like Your Grandmother said...

OMG I almost forgot: 12 Days of Christmas by JJ's Pawn Shop.

Mia said...

does A have any ;middle age single relatives? Just sayin'.

FinnyKnits said...

What adventure! Just a few face freezing yards away!

Glad A. got him. Those f*ckers are trouble.

CountryMidwife said...

Did the racoon, um, get any snacks before he met his maker? Hope not.

I used to be wholly unable to harm a single living thing, until sparrows took to killing my bluebirds (and I learned the evil truth about sparrows). Last summer I trapped and killed DOZENS - with glee. Racoons ARE cute but you gotta do what you gotta do. What do you do with the ... remains?

Mayberry Magpie said...

Mr. Mom is a coon killer from way back. Before we lived in Mayberry, we lived in a rural area, and our dogs would "fence" one a couple times a week. (The coons walked our privacy fence and the dogs would bark and the coon would freeze up mid-fence.) Mr. Mom created a special spear that he used to kill them, then he dumped the carcass on the neighbor's side of the fence. (What can I say? We didn't live in Mayberry and weren't nearly as neighborly back then.)

By the way, best bumper sticker EVER viewed in Oklahoma: Coonhunters for Christ.

Daisy said...

Even in the city, raccoons are pests. We found one in our garbage can one day. I went to drop in a bag of trash, and there it was, sleeping in the bottom of the warm black bin. Shocked me!

rls said...

One of my favorite books when I was little was "Rascal" by Sterling North. *sigh*