What the heck did this? [Warning: Graphic photos]!

[soarwitheagles]

Would be a real shame if you have to give up on your dream because of this. So sorry...

I may have to scale back and postpone some of my dream for now LS...

I hate to mention it, but If it was humans, and your area is like mine, the carnage will continue and the game cams will be the first thing stolen. If they can eat it, drink it, or sell it, they'll take it.

I suppose our area is different than yours...most people are terrified of coming out here and messing with people or property because this is a red neck part of California and a lot of the neighbors are heavily armed and some of them are far too "shoot first and ask questions later" orientated. Our entire front part and sides of the property are covered with the HD IP IR cameras 24/7. Motion detectors with push notifications, etc. We have posted the signs with the penal codes and utter commitment to fully prosecute. Heck, even professionals, if they do their scanning work correctly realize from the set up this is the wrong place to trespass. So to be honest with you, I am not much worried about the 2-legged predators. I do not say this out of pride or arrogance. I know well how to set up a security zone. But the back forested acreage is an entirely different story...and this is now the challenge.

I just purchased the camo cams. The cams will be difficult to find and steal unless you are scanning well and are a professional, and are very, very desperate. And to be honest with you, I don't think there is a person on the planet that desperate for our sheep. Nearby ranchers have far more and far better quality sheep than we do.

Hot wire would be on my list of things to install too. And greybeard is right...you need to try and hide the cameras.

Yes, but that is a lot of wire to install. For now, it is not an option.

The Night Guard seems real practical and capable.

I can't imagine living in a state that so heavily regulates firearm use, possession, etc. I have fears the whole country could end up in that kind of mess.

I recently bought a Rossi. 44mag lever action carbine rifle for coyotes, other big predators, or two-legged varmint. When we finally get our own place, I plan to have it readily available.

I thank God I live in a state that retains its freedoms. Maybe you should get an Indiana teaching license. I pray you can discover and eradicate your predator.

You are a Pastor and you write so lightly and flippantly about taking a human life with your 44 mag over a simple lamb or two? Wow! Please do not invite us to your "church"!

Perhaps you can scale back to what the "safe" land will carry until you get a couple of pups raised up and ready to go to the woods.

Bay, your statement on scaling back is the exact plan for now. Thank you!

CA doesn't really have outrageous gun control laws unless there are some counties that do and I don't know about them. My county is still pretty red-neck so we are good. But we do have to be registered to buy ammo.

Yes, we still have some of our freedoms...but more and more are being eroded and stripped away on a consistent basis.

To me, that's pretty outrageous.

I agree...

 

[greybeard]

As a kid I can remember buying .22 and shotgun shells from a forgotten named version of 7-11 store we had in our small town, stacked out in the open right next to the hot beer and wine, which itself was just one thin plywood wall away from where you got the blasting caps, det cord and dynamite.
Times have changed lot.

 

[soarwitheagles]

As a kid I can remember buying .22 and shotgun shells from a forgotten named version of 7-11 store we had in our small town, stacked out in the open right next to the hot beer and wine, which itself was just one thin plywood wall away from where you got the blasting caps, det cord and dynamite.
Times have changed lot.

LOL! And those truly were the good old days! My dad grew up in Texas in those days...the other day he told me how he would grab his old .22 rifle, walk for an hour down the railroad tracks, shoot 3 jack rabbits, give one to an elderly man, skin, cook and eat the other, and bring the last one home to his mother. He received top honors as a marksman in the military during the Korean war but he really learned how to shoot when he was just a kid in the backwoods of good ol' Texas. He grew up near Laredo...

 

[greybeard]

And if he lived in the right county during the right years, he could also take the jackrabbit's ears to the local feed store and get paid the state bounty on 'em.

 

[greybeard]

I suppose our area is different than yours...most people are terrified of coming out here and messing with people or property because this is a red neck part of California and a lot of the neighbors are heavily armed and some of them are far too "shoot first and ask questions later" orientated.

45 minutes away from Houston, in the middle of a Nat'l Forest, we have a LOT of meth heads here. East Texas rednecks are about as primitive as they come...woodfolk I call them. They're too stupid to be afraid.
We frequently shoot here as well, but the downside to that is if a would be thief is looking to steal firearms, they know there are some here. Most likely will get what comes out of the muzzle of one instead, at my place.

Don't be too hard on Pastor Dave. As a former LEO, but now a pastor, he knows there are times he might have invoke Luke 22:36..

 

[Baymule]

As our preacher once said, being a Christian doesn't mean that you have to take bad treatment from others and smile like you like it, when you don't. He also goes armed and believes in protecting his family and flock.

 

[Baymule]

How long do you have until retirement? Do I need to start looking for you a place?

 

[Bruce]

We are keeping them in a pen with lights on! A friend recommended we also turn on a radio...

Not sure the radio would do anything. I was out behind the barn late at night a bit over a year ago. My small flashlight brought up two red spots a good 120' away, other side of the enclosing fence I'd put up a couple of weeks earlier. I walked to the fence with the light on those spots that got brighter and turned into the eyes of a fox (fox attached of course). It brazenly sat on a large rock not 30' from me then wandered off after a minute or so.

I hope you don't lose any more lambs but the cameras shed light on what may have killed them.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

You are a Pastor and you write so lightly and flippantly about taking a human life with your 44 mag over a simple lamb or two? Wow! Please do not invite us to your "church"!

I am baffled by this post...as what being a man of God have to do with protecting his wife, children and their food/clothes/home? As a Pagan we understand that even following the law of "to harm none" doesn't apply to those who bring harm to you and yours.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Wow! So many responses to my reply regarding shooting two legged varmints...perhaps I could have worded it a little more differently...I sincerely apologize if I have offended anyone here.

I suppose we all have different value systems and need to respect one another's belief systems.

For me, I would never shoot a person for stealing one of my sheep. Heck, if the thief was truly hungry and desperately needed a meal, I would be more prone to feed him and send him merrily on his way after warning him not return in an uninvited manner. To be honest with you, I might even give him a lamb for free!

For me personally, I have gone through extensive training to do my very best to avoid armed confrontation...and only resort to lethal force if there is a genuine threat of death or major bodily harm. Example: the recent shooter in Texas...if I was there and had actually seen him shoot people and I had an opportunity to stop the threat, I wouldn't hesitate for even an instant. Two taps to the thoracic cavity, two taps to the cranial cavity, threat is over. Period. Both my wife and I have been highly trained in weapons,tactics and self defense. LEO's tell us our training places us at a level more "qualified" than 99% of both police and military. So we don't really worry a whole lot when it comes to neutralizing a genuine threat. I say this with humility and gratitude, not with pride and arrogance. Again, please notice I did not say I AM MORE QUALIFIED/TRAINED THAN 99% OF POLICE/MILITARY. Both law enforcement and military personnel have told us this and it becomes very obvious at the range and in simulated real life simulations [IDPA], etc.

But to shoot someone [two legged varmint] taking one of my sheep? So sorry, but that does not reflect who I am.

As stated at the beginning, I suppose it is obvious we all have different value systems...