Damn diggers have moved in thick. Raisin' all sorts of hell... have been pushing their way in through loose spots in teh wire of my birds pens, eating quail eggs, eating quail food...

Then... chewed a hole through a soft mesh cage to get more food...subsequently releasing about 35 near adult birds...

Then chewed a bunch of holes through the large aviary here at work to get food...THEN, the sumbitche$ killed and carted off all the week old baby pheasants one of my hens had jsut hatched and was actually caring for herself. I've never had one actually sit on a clutch through incubation, hatch, and then care for it's young, and this one was doing great, until last night! (It's a 4' wall of concrete around the base of the circular, so I know they didn't just run off.)

I hate these damn vermin! And they're totally on to me, you never get more than a split second glance before they are headed down a borrow, or into the blackberries...

I've got poison blocks out, and a few live catch traps out...gun is by the door...

.17 HMR is hell on gray diggers.

Went all Barbarosa on this Sumbitch with my new fangled Hawkin

Flushed him out of my back yard into the neighbors chicken coop. Bipods down, I lay in wait...
After stuffing his face with chicken feed (that part is for you Dogfish), he crept up a fence post for a little look-see. Bad move...

Nice! Now HE looks like chicken food.

Digger Numero Dos.

Digger Math: 40 ballistic tip + 38.5 gr. Varget. + Digger / 4008 fps. = Chunks

Sweet! Couple more and you'll have enough for STAM to eat

.22-250?

Twitch-
Nice shooting, I would like to see some pics of your game bird pens set up.

Other than the gray diggers what sort of predators are you up against? I am free ranging 40 layers over 2 unfenced acres currently am loosing birds to a couple of coyotes that I have been unable to draw a bead on. However they are becoming less warry so I expect to get a crack at one of them pretty soon. (There was a good article in Outside a couple months back about Coyotes, which I made copies of and destrbuited to my neighbors, now there are several of us that are on the hunt)

Over the last few years, the biggest problem was a Sharp Shinned or perhaps Coopers Hawk that killed over a dozen birds.

However we do have a Bald Eagle that comes by for a visit once in awhile as well as a couple of Racoons.

Odd, at 4008fps and you shooting inside 100 yards you shouldn't even be able to find any of the squirrel left.. You'd think it would be completely vaporized...

I know my .22-250 is loaded with 55grain ballistic tips and shoots 3852 fps and it smokes them......

Keith

all hatchery diggers must Die

Wonder if these guys hire out:
Digger Militia