Target Practice

   One disadvantage of living in the woods is that your livestock is a lot closer to any predators in the area.  Wolves, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, and  black bears all call this area home and, with the exception of bobcats, are fairly common.We haven't kept bees for the last few years because of bears raiding and destroying the hives but that is the only real problem we have had with the large predators so far. We do have a guard llama with the goats.  Small predators such as raccoon, mink,skunk, and weasel are a bigger problem. They are not as afraid of people and much more likely to get into the hen house or the rabbit house. Last year we had a weasel kill seven half grown rabbits in the middle of the day. All of this is part of  the reason for target practice. The other part is just something fun and interesting to do outside in the winter! The top pic is Ann plinking cans with my old model 67 Winchester.22. The lower pick is Ann with a new slingshot we picked up recently. Compared to the forked stick and pieces of
inner tube I used as a kid this thing is high tech. It  uses tubing for the rubbers and even has sights. We bought marbles for ammo which fly very straight. Now we just have to keep practicing so we can hit something with it! It is quite powerful. At twenty feet or so it will punch through heavy cardboard so I guess it would send any  smaller marauding critters on their way. Practicing with firearms can get expensive if you use any of the larger calibers so we do our practicing with the .22 caliber rifle. It is all that is needed to eliminate smaller predators if needed. I try to make sure our critters are housed securely so I don't have to kill predators that are just trying to make their living. Sometimes you only have poor choices and I like to be prepared so we will keep on practicing!