Last year was a good year as far as predator control was concerned, with surrounding farmers all playing their part, albeit with cages, gin traps, hounds, predator callers and even a team effort with a helicopter.
Over the last few months we seem to have developed an increasing problem with them. Not only have they become more skelm (sly), but they have become even more brave, catching lambs within 200 - 300 metres from my house. You hear them call before sunset and after sunrise.
The last two weeks have been spent reinforcing fences around the animal pens, setting gin traps ( they get checked every morning), cages and calling at night with the FoxPro. I made a bait out of 1/3 animal blood, 1/3 animal brains and 1/3 fish meal, which I mixed together and left covered with gauze (so that the flies don't get hold of it) in the sun to ripen, which I smear a foot above the traps and inside the cages. Man, does it smell!
Last week we where lucky and shot a big female lynx while calling with the Foxpro (opportunistic, she was spotted while driving from one calling spot to another. She was pregnant with three cubs. Two hundred metres from my Lodge!
Last evening we caught an old male black back jackal on the goat pen fence line.
Hopefully this will give us a breather for some time, although there is still a big male lynx that is patrolling the area,
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The damage they do
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Lynx we shot at night.
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Jackal caught in goat pen.
