Taking a moment to freak out....

[mpete]

ok... moments passed
Need help figuring this one out. How does a hen get blood and guts all over her without being injured?
Now that I have your attention let me explain the storyshortened version)
3 am I wake up. I check the fires, computer, etc. At 4 I am at the kitchen sink when a hen hits the window. I flew open the door(hen right there) which is right by the window and (stupid me) runs outside yelling/growling to scare what (I thought to be a coyote) away(about 25 ft.). I turn around and the hen is GONE. I run back to my room & grab the closest gun (my 9mm), run back out and not seeing anything (except feathers EVERYWHERE) I fired 2 shots into the hill to scare it away. I ran inside and start looking for my good flashlight and get ***grrr*** because I can't find one (I am always hiding things from my husband so he doesn't take it), and my girls(13 & 16) had been awaken when I yelled, so we start looking for the hen in the driveway. Finally find a light that "will do" (shines about 25 feet). Went looking in the direction that I have seen the tracks go before and we FREEZE... right there in front of us (about 20 ft) are a set of HUGE EYES glowing back(I thought blue but girls say yellow)... the light is not good enough to illuminate the animal... & I have never shot before without knowing what I am shooting at... my girls & I are talking (normal voices) ... I am telling them to hold the light & I started doubting that it was an animal because it didn't run, but then it blinked. I went ahead and lined up and fired, I don't think I hit it, we took about 10 steps and there it was again, so I fired again. At this point the bushes are so thick, bad light I make the decision to not put ourselves in any more danger.
Back at the house I am on the phone with my hubby (he is a truck driver) and I am telling him the story when I SEE THE HEN under the table!!!! She is COVERED in blood all on one entire leg and part of the other leg. I told him I need to take care of her & get off the phone. As I am washing her up, I am thinking she is nothing but bait because I am finding pieces of organ tissue, but then I make a discovery: She has nothing wrong with her. she's not weak (she was still fighting me), which was very odd with the amount of blood so then I asked myself "how?" ... then it dawned on me... ALL of the blood and tissue was on the OUTSIDE of the feathers and even on the bottom of her feet. I know there is another hen missing and so I only have to guess its from her, but HOW??? The hens were roosting fine (about 9 feet up) next to the roof of their pen (but on the outside), so whatever it was had to climb or jump.
I am scared for my small kids (they are 4,6 & 8) and also my goats. I hate loosing hens but honestly if I didn't have them I am certain that it would've been a goat (well maybe not now with my LGD).
So what kind of predator is this? It's been 2 hours and it's still not light enough to go see... My FIL will hopefully be out soon to help track...

[Suzyq2u]

No advice, but how scary!! Let us know what you find.

[southerngurl]

Perhaps a dog since it doesn't sound like it was afraid of you. I would not shoot something I had not identified.

[Alice In TX/MO]

You shot at something in the DARK, and you didn't know what it was? You also don't shoot well enough to HIT what you are shooting at.

SORRY, well, no I'm not. Put the guns away and don't ever touch them until you take classes in gun handling.

[Strange Bear]

Could be a raccoon. I have lost enough hens from them

[Lazydaisy67]

How creepy! Sounds like a zombie apocalypse movie! Doubt you're going to see whatever critter it was that was looking at you, which is the scariest part. I would freak out not knowing what that thing was. We have mountain lions around here, almost every farmer has a story of seeing one, but if you call the state they say they have no knowledge of them. One farmer shot one that had attacked and eaten a calf. Hung it up in his shed and called the game warden. Before he could go back out to his shed, they were pulling up in his yard RIGHT to the shed the cat was in. Seemed odd. The game warden said they were there to get their tracking device. UM really? Instead of lowering the price of deer licenses, they release mountain lions to control the deer population. I think the person that decided that should be fired.

[Backfourty,MI.]

Could have been a coyote or maybe a mountian lion but I will agree you should not be out there shooting at an object that you don't know what it is & also you should practice so you'll become a good shot that way you can protect your animals or family the next time. For your own protection especially. Very dangerous shooting at an animal like that in the dark but I know your adrenaline was probly through the roof.

[mpete]

yes, I agree that I should not have shot... I have never done that before, but I had to make that decision... this thing has been getting animals off my property for weeks, and I am tired of it breaking into the pens. In the past I had a mountain lion stalk my "house" for months... it got lots of peoples dogs and of course, house cats and a few hoofed animals, but everytime I had seen it, I did not have a weapon. The F&G wouldn't do anything because "we live in its territory" ...
What spooked me about the encounter is that it did not run... just like before.
Now in the daylight, we have found tracks, the vultures are hanging around a couple of different areas. When my FIL gets here, we will go look around.
I am thinking that the cougar had a dead bloody hen in its mouth and wanted seconds and jumped up to get the second hen and thats how she got the blood and tissue all over her. It's just so weird how I was talking with my girls and it didn't run.... it didn't run after the first 2 warning shots.... I wonder if it was sizing us up?????

[Backfourty,MI.]

Let us know what you find after you go out tracking it. Let the FIL carry the gun, a wounded animal is dangerous so be careful. So glad you & the girls are OK too.

[mpete]

Well back from our little excursion. Definitely a cougar. Definitely not human shy. We are going to watch for vultures for a couple of days to see if we can find it. FIL thinks that cat devoured the whole chicken then went after the second one like I had been thinking a little while ago. He said cats are messy when eating..
I was excited because I had gotten my horse trailer yesterday, but now I am in "protect my possessions" mood... at least we can camp out in the trailer in comfort and safety and not freeze! I had spent many nights on the porch with the shot gun, rifles to catch it in the act and I got soo cold even with blankets on. My horse trailer is almost all enclosed so it is pretty safe and lots of room to quietly move around.
My poor husband feels terrible because he is not here to protect me... well, when he married me I was an independant single working mom with a farm and I am now just a married work at home mom with a farm and more animals to protect so "DEAL WITH IT HONEY" lol

[LFRJ]

I walked right up to a cougar once in the dark. All i could see was the eyes from the house. It was sitting in the pasture eyeing our geese. It apparently moved out of sight once it saw me approaching since the glowing eyes disappeared. I thought it was our house cat sitting on a stump and was literally calling it, "here kitty, kitty, time to come inside for the night. Call me MR Magoo.... when I got within 6 feet, the cougar slowly leaned around the stump to face me square in the eye. Wrong cat! It didn't pounce, it didn't saunter off, it just sat there staring at me, as I kept the flashlight on it and steadily backed off. Suffice to say, I know what my heart tastes like

So no, they do not necessarily run when they see you coming.
I would contact the authorities. It was explained to me that Wildlife Fish & Game don't take it too lightly when a cat begins predating on livestock, particularly when it comes close to human and residential areas. Hopefully they will be as concerned about your predicament. I'd definitely let someone else do the shooting though. Taking down a big cat is probably going to require some skill. Best defense is locking everyone in at night, and getting help to deal with the problem. They do roam though, and I think they circle back, so the scenario ebbs and flows. It's an ever present worry after your first encounter though. I know. It haunts me every night. I learn to live with it, and trust my dogs.

[KrisD]

I had a cougar rip the canopy door off my truck to get my baby goats that were inside. I was in the house for maybe 5 min when my dogs started barking I went out to see what the commotion was and there was one dead mauled goat on the ground and one bloody buy not dead yet baby in the pasture, this was broad daylight. Dang cat also killed all of my chickens in one night! I went out and there was nothing but feathers and all the hens were gone. I found a few feet, wing tips etc but that was it. I started letting all my dogs out in a pack to patrol the property. The cougar never came back after I let the dogs out all hours of the day and night together.

What I learned from F and G is that it is usually young cougars that approach houses and people. Apparently they don't have good enough hunting skills so they go longer between catches and are hungry. They then get bold because it is get hurt or starve. Older cougars rarely attack near people because they are more adept at hunting so it is not worth the risk.

good luck and be safe!

[Oat Bucket Farm]

If something was outside my window at that time of morning killing chickens, I would have shot at it too. You may have hit it for all you know. Heck my husband shot a possum at point blank range with a .40 caliber and the thing jumped and hissed at him but didn't run. Figured it would die so we went in for a little bit. Went out about thirty minutes later with a shovel to scoop it out of the chicken pen and the thing was gone. It didn't even leave a blood trail. Maybe your cougar is related to our undead vampire possum.