Neighbors know I do a lot of coyote hunting so I get a lot request to hunt them on their property to help control their livestock loss.
So I get a call from some folks that live a good piece from me, they explain they and two of their neighbors are losing a good amount of sheep, goats and calves.
I drive out to their place to take a look, it just so happens a ewe was killed the night before and this time whatever killed the ewe did not get away with her.
We were in a drought, the ground was cracked and as hard as concrete in the lot where the ewe lay so there was no tracks.
I inspected the ewe and she was ripped open at the paunch, I told the lady that I was pretty sure this was not a coyote kill as coyotes start at the rear and not the paunch.
She told me a little while back they lost a full grown ram and it was in the same lot as the ewe, they found parts of the ram in a pasture a good distance from the house.
The lot where the sheep are kept at night has a fence made of 48 inch woven wire with two strands of barb wire spaced about three inches apart, this fence is four and half feet tall and the wire is tight as a banjo string.
There's no holes or gaps under the fence so whatever took that ram from the lot had to take it over the fence; I told the lady again that I don't believe that was done by a coyote.
I ask her if she had contacted the MDC with her problem, she said she had twice and her neighbors had also contacted them.
The MDC offered no help other then telling them to keep their animals as close to the house as possible or in a barn.
I contacted the MDC to see what the legal requirements would be if I shot a cougar on the ladies farm, they knew who I was referring to.
I was informed it was legal for me to act as shooter on the behalf of the land owner losing livestock to protect their livestock as long as I had a Missouri hunting permit.
I was also informed that if I killed a cougar trying to kill the ladies sheep that I had to contact the MDC agent of that area immediately and that I could take no parts of the cat.
What was strange about this whole deal was that within a little over a week of me calling the MDC the live stock loss on all three farms stopped.
The lady ask me why that happened, I did not have an answer but I do have suspicion of what may have happened.
Best Regards
Bob Hunter