Robert Carter lives west of Reserve Street near Kelly Island. (Sometimes he leaves the area and returns.)
Last weekend, a bobcat made a tasty meal out of his chickens. He reported and photographed the aftermath of the incident.
Fat and happy, eh?
“I found her (above) trapped in the chicken coop when I went to check on them this morning,” Carter wrote of the chickens. “The fox must have heard about the carnage and came looking for scraps, not finding any he took a little snooze near our fence.”
Obviously, he awoke, and I think he has a thing for the camera.
“We had 4 chickens, now we have none. Over the past three years the fox has gotten about a dozen chickens and four young turkeys. We also lost two small bantam chickens to a skunk this summer.
“Before I put up chicken wire, we had a great horned owl in the pen twice last winter! One of the chickens we had was named ‘Stitch’ because the fox caught her about three years ago, but I saw him grab her and I ran out and scared him off. We put 56 stitches in her, but she did great after that.
“There’s really no excuse for me to lose chickens from the chicken pen or the coop – I have a hole that I have yet to patch. The tough part is when the fox comes for a visit in the middle of the day when the chickens are out and about in the yard. …..
“While I love to hunt, it’s my own fault that I occasionally lose chickens since I’m not interested in killing the local predators. I think they are a fact of living here on the rural fringe of Missoula, plus we enjoy seeing them around.
“I think it’s up to me to do my best to outsmart them – but occasionally they do the outsmarting!”
More from Carter another time. But if that bobcat pleads innocent in court, I’m in trouble.
— Keila Szpaller