A safe place for cows

[Utumno]

Hi everybody, first post in this new forum.

Just to share a design for a cow's pen (or any other animal) that seems to be safe from predators. It is like this:


   X X X O X X X
   X X X X X X X
   O X F F F X O
   X X X X X X X
   X X X O X X X


F = free space
X =fence
O = Trap pit with stakes

The idea is as follows. First, build the 1st ring around the free area, where your animal will reside:


   X X X X X
   X F F F X
   X X X X X


This will not stop any predator, so you add...traps!


           O 
       X X X X X
     O X F F F X O
       X X X X X
           O 


And, to make sure the predators will be funneled to the traps, make a 2d ring in such a way that there are always 2 fences between the exterior and the free space, or a trap. Like this:


   X X X O X X X
   X X X X X X X
   O X F F F X O
   X X X X X X X
   X X X O X X X


It looks like a 4-point castle, and it is amazingly effective. I think predators can only penetrate one fence, so, if they don't realize there is a trap, they try to take the shortcut and...bingo! A new wolf skin.

It also works with elks and the like, just bait each trap with elk-meth, aka turnips, and you are done. Last time I did this, I got like 4 elks and a wolf, while my bull Benicio el Toro (what else to call a toro?  ) just looked on, amused.

Try it and tell me how it goes!

Regards,
U.

[Utumno]

A live example. The wolf tried for hours to get to the bull and only breached the first ring. Never got into a trap, probably because my char is useless with trapping and the wolf realized they were there. Eventually the wolf got breathless and I moved in for an easy kill...

[JEB Davis]

Very creative!

By the way, your handle is awesome... Melkor's fortress.

[Utumno]

Thanks!

I suppose this configuration works because the animals (probably) follow a shortest-cost pathing algorithm, like A*. So, even is say, a bear, could crash through 2 fences it won't even try it if it "sees" only one fence in the way...and doesn't see the trap, so it is fooled and the cost is not just crossing 1 fence, but its life  .

Anyway, I haven't seen how a bear would manage against this holding pen, but I guess it could work.

Off-topic: To me the Silmarillion is at least as good as the LotR trilogy! And very Finnish in parts  .

Regards,
U.

[JEB Davis]

I echo your appreciation of the Silmarillion, and for me his best works are the tragic stories of Hurin, Turin, and Tuor, and all of the 1st Age history. Although LoTR is very excellent, from creation to the 1st Age is epic.

[Moonlight]

This setting cannot protect against bears. Bears will just smash through fences and kill your animals. So be careful when bear is wandering around your settlement.

[PALU]

This setting cannot protect against bears. Bears will just smash through fences and kill your animals. So be careful when bear is wandering around your settlement.

We know bears can smash fences (and open doors), and we know wolves can jump over them, so the question is not one of whether they can get through technically, but whether their path finding will cause them to get through. The only way to find out is to build the setup and wait for a bear to see what happens.

[Moonlight]

This setting cannot protect against bears. Bears will just smash through fences and kill your animals. So be careful when bear is wandering around your settlement.

We know bears can smash fences (and open doors), and we know wolves can jump over them, so the question is not one of whether they can get through technically, but whether their path finding will cause them to get through. The only way to find out is to build the setup and wait for a bear to see what happens.

I reply here because I do use the setup and a bear just killed my cow so I speak from my experience.

[PALU]

This setting cannot protect against bears. Bears will just smash through fences and kill your animals. So be careful when bear is wandering around your settlement.

We know bears can smash fences (and open doors), and we know wolves can jump over them, so the question is not one of whether they can get through technically, but whether their path finding will cause them to get through. The only way to find out is to build the setup and wait for a bear to see what happens.

I reply here because I do use the setup and a bear just killed my cow so I speak from my experience.

Thanks for the clarification. That increases the weight of the input immensely...

[koteko]

I find the best protection against bears is to have an outer fence, and within an inner fence with your cows (my log cabin is also within the outer fence). In the outer fence a couple of dogs roam freely.

I put a heavy deadfall trap just outside or inside the outer fence, and a couple of mounds of bones for the dogs (plus any spare meat).

I don't think a bear will attack with two barking dogs there, and if it does, it will be busy eating them before going to the inner fence with cows/sheep/pigs. This gives you time to kill it. Or, with a bit of luck, the bear might just get into the heavy deadfall trap

Incidentally, the dogs also defend my crops in this way, since I make fields close to the cabin within the outer fence.

[werepacman]

Pig is a living bait which doesn`t spoil.

I planned to build fence with inside and outside lines.
One to protect cow/pig from step in trap.
Other to catch predators.

In case you protect all camp with fence it is better to put cows/pigs close to outer fence with traps to attract predators enter the trap fence.

[Shrimp]

Does this still works if you add more dimensions to the fence? Say, instead of a 1x3 i make a 3x3 or something like that? I'm getting so many reindeer/bulls to carry my stuff it's getting annoying to keep critters from killing them.