The owner of the farm next to mine just called and told me that someone came onto their property during the middle of the night

[JM]

The owner of the farm next to mine just called and told me that someone came onto their property during the middle of the night and shot one of their cows. My question is: What would you all do if you caught someone shooting one of your cows in the middle of the night? Take into consideration that where I live it would most likely take 30+ minutes for a law officer or game warden to show up. This is the second time a cow has been shot within a few miles of my farm this year.

[JM]

Incase your curious: My neighbor is 85 years old so he didnt confront the person, he just waited until the morning and called a game warden to come on out. The person that shot the cow took little to no meat(no more than he/she could carry by hand).

[30-CAL]

Well in this case I think your neighbor did the right thing since he is 85yrs old, he could set up a trail cam to try and catch them. Or let a Mossberg do the talking.

[JM]

He's 85....but im 19 and a much better shot :]

[huntfishtrap]

Where on earth do you live, West Va.? I think they shoot horses there too...
Anyway, kidding aside, I'm not really sure what else he could lawfully have done, I doubt very much that you're entitled to shoot someone just because they shot one of your cows, and I for one wouldn't like to confront a firearm carrying trespasser in the middle of the night.
I guess you could probably use a load of that crowd-control rubber buckshot on him, that would probably get his attention!

[huntfishtrap]

Sorry about the multiple posts, but I just had another thought, if he came in a vehicle I would see if I could find it and then let all the air out of the tires, that way he might stick around long enough for law enforcement to get there.

[santa]

The golden rule is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. But if you modify it just a little to change the meaning, it could read to do unto others *AS* they have done unto you. Thus a shot in the farmer's cow could be returned by a shot in the poacher's donkey. A 12 ga. shell loaded with popcorn instead of lead sends a strong message that the poacher's donkey will not soon forget.

[JM]

I'd rather not shoot at the guy but I can see where the popcorn/rubber buck shot would do wonders. Like huntfishtrap said I was thinkin about going for the tires because there is only one main entrance onto our farm. Also I live in Missouri(Macon County)....I never really have figured out why takes so long for police to get here.

[NJG86]

My first thought is to shoot him but I have never been in a situation like this so I dont know how I would react in real life. I wonder if it was an a**hole who just wanted to kill something or someone trying to feed their family.