Home Defense vs Farm Defense

[MustangGal]

Last night we had quite a lesson in Home Defense vs. Farm Defense. We were outside, after dark, sitting out on the patio at the other house when we heard the chickens freaking out. We hadn't been locking them up at night, but this past week we lost two hens to midnight raiders. We thought racoons were the most likely suspects. Anyway, we hadn't locked them up yet, when we heard them pitching a fit. I took off for the chicken house at a run and DH ran to the house to get the shotgun. In the confusion, neither of us got a flashlight. It was like the keystone cops. :o

At first we couldn't find anything that might be upsetting them, so DH set the shotgun down so we could move the birds that had roosted in the barn rafters to the coop. Then I spotted it, a coon. I started yelling and pointing, of course DH didn't have the gun and had to go grab it - several steps away. I chased it around behind the coop and DH tried to head it off at the rabbits, though I didn't give too close of chase. I really didn't want to be shot! lol It escaped the enclosure, but we kept looking and found four eyes staring up at us. Heck! It was a whole herd of racoons! DH blasted one, and grunted. 00 Buck. The second one ran up the tree. We scanned the tree and saw more eyes. DH shot the second one. A slug. And a third. 00 buck. Somewhere in there he missed a shot or two and was out of ammo. He went back for some lighter load and we finally found number four still lurking. No 7 for him.

Kinda funny story, but what does this have to do with Home Defense vs. Farm Defense? 00 Buck and Slugs did the trick, but they were definitely overkill. So, now I am thinking, perhaps we should keep two shotguns out. One for home defense and one for farm defense. :D

Racoons - 2
Mustang Family - 4

[Greg B.]

MustangGal,
A lifetime ago, in 'nam, my loadout was just the reverse of yours. My Remington's first bite was a slug. My main armament was a twin mount M60, but that shotgun was handy as all get out. I don't remember OVERkilling anything, but, I am getting on....

[BioG8r]

We keep our .22/.410 at the ready for varmits and the Mossy twelve for Home Renovation!! Like you, alternating, .00 and slugs.

Farm Defense is a real topic of conversation for us, We feel we have the house and 4 legged bandits under control with good barriers and secure, In a PAW type situation we feel LOST. We don't have the manpower to post reasonable guard over the whole operation. We have setup our livestock over too wide an area, need to consolidate the "overnight areas" AND get a good outdoor guardian.
We have two border collies but they have to be kept inside at night. They alert at flies passing gas during the night. I have gone out numerous times to the dogs barking at what I thought was a treed coon to find a squirrel repositioning in his nest, Deer walking the fence line, neighbors cows bellering in the distance. Adrenalin at 2am isn't conducive with a good nights sleep. Too high strung to handle the overnight duties. They are great partners for moving and controlling the animals during the day and guarding the house at night, started them out wrong,,,,I guess.

[Grand58742]

Or...

One shotgun with a side saddle loaded with anti-coon round of choice (I would imagine a #2 would work well) and have your HD rounds loaded in the tube. That way you can unload quickly and reload for the pesky varmints without having to worry about which shotgun you grabbed. Just an idea and cheaper than buying a whole new gun. But then again, buying a new gun is always fun as well lol

Also, invest in a light mounted to your shotgun. Magpul makes a fore end for the 870 that drops in. $30 for the new fore end, $6 for one of the rails and you are ready to mount a flashlight and (hopefully lol) be better armed in the dark.

Just a couple of cost effective measures for your problems.

[MustangGal]

Grand, we wouldn't have to invest in a new shotgun. We each have a 12 gauge and I have a single shot 20 gauge too. We've never put a light on our guns from a people hunting perspective - it makes you an easy to see target, but we could mount a light on one - then we wouldn't have to even think about which gun to grab. I like that idea! Thanks!

Greg B. We picked up the two we could find yesterday (one fell in a huge thicked of blackberry canes and the biggest poison ivy I have ever seen!). One of them was nearly torn in half! It was over kill.

We live in a small town (less than 400), so we need to use the shotguns. I would hate to accidentally shoot something or someone else. Fortunately, we are backed up to a large hayfield and then there is open land to our east in back too.

I don't really like living in town, but we were certain the sheriff's deputy would be there. Our neighbors we asked if we bothered the next day never heard anything, and no one called the police. So, I guess we have mroe privacy than I imagined. lol

[MustangGal]

We keep our .22/.410 at the ready for varmits and the Mossy twelve for Home Renovation!! Like you, alternating, .00 and slugs.

Farm Defense is a real topic of conversation for us, We feel we have the house and 4 legged bandits under control with good barriers and secure, In a PAW type situation we feel LOST. We don't have the manpower to post reasonable guard over the whole operation. We have setup our livestock over too wide an area, need to consolidate the "overnight areas" AND get a good outdoor guardian.
We have two border collies but they have to be kept inside at night. They alert at flies passing gas during the night. I have gone out numerous times to the dogs barking at what I thought was a treed coon to find a squirrel repositioning in his nest, Deer walking the fence line, neighbors cows bellering in the distance. Adrenalin at 2am isn't conducive with a good nights sleep. Too high strung to handle the overnight duties. They are great partners for moving and controlling the animals during the day and guarding the house at night, started them out wrong,,,,I guess.

We are small, simply because we don't have enough land to be anything else! lol In a PAW, I believe our neighbors would pull together, if for no other reason, than they would realize protecting our livestock might be their only means of survival.

[rice paddy daddy]

I always have a handgun strapped on my hip here at The Ol' Homestead whenever I'm outside, day or night. It's a Ruger Single Six loaded with 22 magnums. If I go out back to where our property butts up to the woods, the 22 mag gets swapped out for someting bigger.
We have our chickens behind 6 foot high chainlink fence, and at night I put them into my homemade hootches, which are inside 6 foot chainlink dog kennels, which are inside the 6 foot chainlink general area.
My usual long gun is either a 410 SXS double barrel, or if it's real late and the chickens are raising a ruckus and the horses sound nervous it's a 20 ga SXS double.
I like 2 trigger doubles over pumpguns for farm use for two reasons - I can keep bird shot in one pipe and buck shot in the other to suit whatever creature I encounter; and I can hold my two D cell Maglite (w/zenon bulb) in my off hand scanning for beady little predator eyes, and can then fire by holding both light and forearm at the same time. Hard to work a pump while holding the light.
At one time all we could afford was a 12 ga single shot, but things have gotten better.
I also have pumpguns in 12 and 20 ga, and a couple of single shots.

[SeldomSeenSlim]

I have a pack of bear/lion dogs and that works for most things. I fenced the dogs away from the chickens. Anything else that wants in has to go through them. Unless Godzilla shows up those chickens are safe. Even then I'd give it 50/50. :)

Being on the border the variety of things traveling around here range from rattlesnakes to drug smugglers. I can usually tell what's outside just by which dogs are barking and what they sound like. If it's anything but a people bark I grab a lever action .22lr. People bark I grab an AR-15. I'm not a big fan of shotguns other than bird hunting. They just don't have the range. I keep a pistol and flashlight on anytime I have pants on.

For home defense, most folks think to grab a gun and a phone and lock themselves in a room. In the city I'd say that's a wise choice. In the sticks 911 are the folks you call to clean up the mess after it happens.

[blackhawk]

I agree with seldomseen in the country it can take 40 min. for the sheriff to even find you, thats to long . for me its a combo of the two ar and ruger 9mm or shootgun and 9mm
with handheld light. I have had more people broke down in front of my property . i have walk up to them any where from 5 feet to 10 feet and they still dont see me until i speak now thats fun.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Good stuff
#4 buck might be a better compromise for both personal defense and critter eradication. The spread and pellet count is better and overpentration isnt so much a factor and it is a good load when you need to limit the distance and lethality at distances.
The flashlight can be real cheap such as a figure 8( http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/2-ADVSMC1100 )and a wallieworld led for under $20 and is an extremley vaulable tool and I cant see not having one unless it is a dedicated hunting gun and even then i have just unscrewed mine and placed it in the pack.
For people hunting outside of all out war the light is needed for quick proper identification not to be turned on and just walking around with like on tv. The pushbutton or pressure switch pad is best so it can be flashed for positve id and then either a bang or yell to stand down preferably from behind cover (solid object that stops bullets). It's a tool
mmm chicken, it taste like ... well chicken

[Grand58742]

For people hunting outside of all out war the light is needed for quick proper identification not to be turned on and just walking around with like on tv. The pushbutton or pressure switch pad is best so it can be flashed for positve id and then either a bang or yell to stand down preferably from behind cover (solid object that stops bullets). It's a tool

This. And I might suggest this light as a companion

http://www.lapolicegear.com/pem6lifl1.html

I've been carrying them on duty and on deployment for five years now and they are tough. Super bright as well. And they've stood up to the beatings of a weapon mounted light. Just as good as a Surefire at half the cost.

[SeldomSeenSlim]

To add on. The reason I grab a .22lr instead of the 5.56 for critters is because of bullet splash. If there's a snake that has the dogs riled up, then it's usually within striking distance of one of them. The ground here is hard and there are a lot of rocks. So if there's something I need to shoot that's close to the dogs or other things I don't want a hole in, the .22lr has less of a chance of tossing shrapnel around. I've used snake shot out of revolvers and that works great, but snake shot is only good for snakes. With a .22 you can just stick the gun barrel in a rattlers face, wiggle it a bit and it will line itself up with the end of the barrel.

[MustangGal]

I have a Streamlight Scorpion and can pick up a mount for it fairly reasonable. I think that might do the trick.

[WILL]

Great post on the reality of yard defense at night. I also have a chicken coop and live in the country. First, you really have no idea what you're getting into when investigating strange happenings at night. For example, you could have walked back to the chicken coop right into a cougar mid-meal. Or a pack of coyotes or some other potentially dangerous or rabid animal or human being. For that reason alone, I would stick with a major caliber weapon. Like others have said, a weapon mounted light is really handy, especially for a long gun. I disagree with others about how to use the light. I leave mine constant on. I want to see what's going on and avoid tripping with a gun, walking on poisonous snakes, or unknowingly getting too close to a threat. The further away I can identify a problem, the better.

[rice paddy daddy]

I do not like a weapon mounted light, because then I'd be doing muzzle sweeps and aiming at the horses, my wife, etc.
(when the wife goes out after dark to stall and grain the horses for the night I go along as back up, as well as me doing my chicken chores)
A plain old 2 D cell Maglight with a Maglight brand zenon bulb can shine a tightly focused bright beam well over 250 feet, just right for scanning the woodline and back pasture for animal eyes.