Barn Guests

[Pony Soldier]

Last fall while were skinning and cleaning elk quarters, we would trim the edges of the quarters and drop the scraps on the floor for the barn cats.
They are employees and you have to supplement their protein base during the winter when they have exhausted the rodent population.

Anyway as I turned around I noticed a large fluffy skunk about ten feet from where I was standing. Just sitting there trying to decide if he was brave enough to line up for food.

I had been wondering how a couple of 10+ year old cats had been eating as much food as I was putting out - now the answer was looking at me. It was in front of a storage bay in the barn and could quickly disappear if I broke the eye contact so I called to my partner to grab my pistol out of the truck. He turns, sees the skunk and starts to point out the hazards of shooting a skunk in the barn. I can't smell anything anyway so I had nothing to lose. He had everything to lose and continue to discuss possible ramifications of my selfish decision. He got my pistol and I dispatched the skunk as he crawled under my stockpile of cat rollers. Now granted a 45 lc is a bit much for a skunk but I have been known to put in a finishing nail with a single jack so what's new. The elk quarters were wrapped and stored in a sealed room by then so risk was minimized. By the time we finished hanging meat the skunk had relaxed and the barn was taking on a whole new flavor. The horses were in their stalls blowing snot with wide eyes and my partner was outside trying to get his eyes to stop watering so he could see so I got a piece of baling twine so I could take Mr Skunk for a walk - down wind. I still couldn't smell anything.

In forty years I had never had anything in my barn beyond an occasional packrat that I knew of. We left the barn doors open for a few days and it aired out enough to be tolerable by the end of the week or so everyone told me.

I live on top of a ridge with limited wildlife. We see elk in the spring and coyotes in the summer and fall but have had limited exposure to barn visitors. Just out of curiosity - what kind of adventures have you folks encountered over the years.

 

[wyosteve]

My 'barn' is 3 sided so not enclosed. I've had raccoons, cats, skunk and magpies get in the live trap!

 

[wymtnpounder]

This guy and I had a pretty tense standoff in the barn one day.

 

[hiker270]

Got a lot of skunks around my place, other than eating my outside cats food and digging a few holes in my yard looking for insects I just let them alone and they leave my alone. Same with the Opossum's and Raccoon's they also like cat food.

 

[Pony Soldier]

I had a friend that had a horse that took a particular offense to visiting moose. She would run them off of her property. Early on when my barn was under construction, an occasional moose would stop by for a snack and my horses would just move over and welcome them to the party. I haven't seen that for a number of years.

A number of years ago I cut the neighbors hay on shares and they would have me leave their share where they could watch the moose feed on it.

Moose tend to be posessive and shortly after the moose dicovered the pile, it took ownership of the property. They had to run to the car or sprint to the barn with a moose hot on their heels. The next year they told me to just take it all. They had learned their lesson.

 

[rayporter]

possums are about the worst because of EPM. i trap a couple per year, because of the cat food.

this year was unusual, as i got 6 skunks. but i can smell em, so i drown them in the live trap.

 

[Rich M]

We used to have a lot of skunks around, they aren't the sharpest stick.

Next time use a live trap baited with white bread and mayo pieces (break the bread up). Towel over the top and take him out to dispatch or live release. They won't spray if you cover the trap.