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I've got something getting into a pen of birds, it is chewing the top netting and going in and killing birds - tends to eat the back end of the birds. Found some hair where it got in. Could a raccoon catch and kill full grown pheasants?

I know from experince that a raccoon can catch a full grown pheasant (usually by trapping it). However, they won't be very efficient at it and the number of dead each night should be relatively low. Higher numbers of dead would indicate something like a mink or fox (yes, I have seen fox go through the top netting).

I had a trapper set up a bucket trap near a trail leading to the pen they were going in, the first night he had it set, something went into it and stole the bait he had set. But....the trapper forgot to release the safety latches on the trap. The critter never came back. The trapper believes it was a mink. Whatever it was it has moved on.