Monday, May 17, 2010

We're gonna get you!

Something has been visiting us for the past few weeks. And it's getting old.

It all started earlier this spring. Every so often, the grain bins in the barn would be knocked over when we'd go out to feed the animals. We didn't know what was doing it, so we assumed it was our dog, Sunny, for some reason. Shortly after the first time, the bins were bungee tied to the wall and their covers were securely snapped in place. Then it happened again, with the huge 33 gallon bin knocked over while 2/3 full. Hmmmm, maybe it's not the dog. As a matter of fact, I remember her barking in the middle of the night...

The bins were re-secured, with some extra reinforcements, and we set up a live trap. That first night we caught...a cat. Poor Coonie was so upset and didn't talk to us for a day. He's since recovered, but there's still something getting into our grain bins. It was in there 3 or 4 nights last week. We honestly have no idea what it is. We're assuming raccoon(s) but there's a very real possibility it's also a small bear recently kicked out of mom's den. And it could still be the dog, though we've never seen her have a desire to eat the grain any other time. It's driving us crazy and costing us money.


I got a brainiac idea and asked Andy's cousin if we could borrow their trail-camera. They came over for a family play date and the men set up the camera. We were certain we'd catch the bugger, if not in the trap, at least on camera so we knew what we were dealing with.

Well, it didn't quite work that way...





I know the pics are hard to make out, but take a look at a couple details with me. In the first photo, it shows the time as 0:35, which means 12:35 am. The live trap is nicely situated right next the bags of grain (which the critter thankfully hasn't touched!) The camera flashes and still doesn't get a pic of whatever it is. 5 mins later, at 12:40, (the soonest the camera will take a pic) it takes another shot and you see that when the camera flashed the first time, it apparently scared the animal, causing the live trap to go rolling across the barn. Each time, no animal is in the picture that's obvious. If you look closely, it looks like there may be a leg on the left edge of the photo--a yellowish leg (which may account for the huge white spot in the center) But even if it is Sunny in that photo, since it's the second pic and taken 5 mins later, I don't immediately deduce it was her that knocked things over. After all, this is her property and she's very protective. If she heard a noise that she didn't make and wasn't normal, she most certainly would go investigate. Grrrr It's motion activated, so something caused the camera to take the photos. Grrrr Obviously, it was also too close to the area since it's all so bright and distorted from the flash (and they aren't meant for indoor photos, but I. Don't. Care.) Grrrr
So we still have some work to do. The visitor didn't strike last night, so maybe the flash scared it off for awhile. We can hope. But just in case, the trap is set and the camera is in (a new) place.

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