Wildlife in my yard

“You're not feeding him are you?”

“There was a coyote talking trash in our neighborhood last night. I thought it was HPM snoring again, but nope it was a real coyote.”

“I'd have to bust out a window to feed him, but I don't feed wildlife anyway, so my window is still intact.”

“I have a dead 6 point buck in the corner of my yard, any of you know how it got there?”

“Suicide?


OH Last Friday night I walked out with the dogs and suddenly the motion detector light blinked on....had a herd of deer in the front yard. One was a 6 or 7 point buck.”

“Yep, I am a poor shot, and it got away. Go ahead and take the rack off for me. I need it to put on the front of my pickum up truck. Then saw the legs off just above 22" so I can make use of the legs for a new table.”

“That's kinda grusome, but if you want him, he's yours DC. Although... I do like the thought of deer suicide. But why my yard??? Geez. Do you know that NO ONE will take it away? The DNR told me to call the city, the city told me to call the police, the police told me to call the sheriff, and the sheriff told me to call the DNR. Apparently the road commission will rid me of the lifeless creature if I drag it to the edge of the road. Heck that thing is bigger than I am! How am I supposed to handle that all by myself? I don't think so”

“Honeybunches that's just gas from the insides decomposing. Poke it with a stick and it'll get smaller. ;)

We have an antique mount from Birch's great great uncle Buckshot (I'm serious). It is one of the most gruesome things I've ever seen, has deer feet bent at 90° angles to hold hats, the head used to be on there but I talked Birch into taking it off, saving the glass eyes (that were altogether too lifelike), and just mounting the rack back on. It's got a beveled glass mirror and dang, if ever something happens to Birch it's getting shipped to his sister immediately!”

“Hah! Sass said "mount"!!”

“Ew Ew Ew Sass, I don't think I could put my head in a hat that was resting on a dead deer.... that's a lil much for me!”

“I was talking to the guy that uses my road to get to his cabin on the river this past Saturday. He and his buddy were up bow hunting. Friday afternoon his buddy had a pack of 7 gray wolves come by the tree stand he was in, also a sow bear with 2 cubs. He didn't descend from the stand until after dark because deer were underneath and he didn't want his climbing down to startle them and deter them from returning. On his way back to the cabin he heard a low growling close by the gate on the road. He switched on his head lamp and spotted another wolf, which followed him back to the cabin. It's getting kind of scarey, wolves are losing their fear.”

“I hear ya NImble... Mountainrunner and I were up in the BWCA a couple months ago and we had one stroll into camp right before dinner. He didn't care that we were there or not. Just had a staredown with Mountainrunner for 3 minutes or so. He seemed irritated that we were in his way. We ended up packing camp and hiking a few miles to the next site - it was already 4 pm otherwise we probably woulda just hiked all the way out!”

“Aren't they thriving, pack size wise? I bet pretty soon there'll be a hunting season for them.

Honeybunches, no hats on the feet. They just hang there on the wall collecting dust. About twice a year I vacuum them. =)”

“We transported one of our bullfrogs to a bigger pond with more mud, and water that doesn't freeze solid on Sunday. Poor little lady was so lethargic from the cold water she hardly attemped to get away. Once she was in the bucket and warmed up it was a frog jumping fest. She just about gained her freedom in my car. Birch just kept catching her and plopping her back in the water. I haven't seen any of the others. I hope they don't float up with the feeder fish next spring!”

“Hmmm... frog kidnapping... interesting.”

“there are two strings of living breathing jacko'lanterns on our porch. They're frightning the daylights out of the neighborhood outside cats and atleast one of the kids.

Is thread about wildlife and not supernatural holiday decorations?

ooops
last edited: 10/16/07 4:13:05 PM”

“Went out to retrieve the paper this morning at 6 AM and there was a little rustle by the front bushes. "One of those damn cats crapping in my yard!" I thought to myself. It ran by the base of the porch steps - Aha! I was right! Nope. This "cat" was about 30 pounds, gray, with a striped tail. A racoon! Hadn't seen one in our yard in a few years. Not the biggest one I've seen in our 'hood, but a funny surprise. I laughed outloud!”

“At least four bucks, and I think the one at the end was a spike as well.

”

“Neat trick with the Christmas yard statuaries. Now get them to the attic like the wife told you! :)”

“I saw the first of this season's black bears in our yard last night. I went to turn off the computer before going to bed and noticed the motion light was on. It's usually raccoons or a fox prowling around. This time, it was a black bear rummaging through the sunflower seeds that had dropped from the feeders in the back yard throughout the winter. I grabbed the camera, but couldn't get a decent pic because the flash reflected off the window. I guess it's time to take the birdfeeders in at night. They're hung high enough so that the bears can't get them, but why tempt them? I don't need them climbing onto the deck and gnawing through the line to make them drop to the ground. I've got a pulley system rigged up to keep them about 20' high and 25' from both the house and the tree they are strung to.”

“i feel so horrible about this...i found a baby snapping turtle in my back yard last week while mowing...he survived being ran over by the mower...i thought "my son would love this" so i put him in a pan with some water and gravel to hang out till my son got home from day care...it must have been too hot for him in the direct son because by the time my son got him he was dead (the turtle, not my son)”

“first Bill calls me to look at the garden which is moving up and down under the birdfeeders...I scared the hell out of THAT rodent with my shovel...

And, 5 minutes ago I stepped outside to walk down to the mailbox and, hello, there's a nice, fat woodchuck feeding on our grass...I walked him back to his den which is under the tree he and his clan bore into until it fell on our garage where they had bored holes under the walls until they collapsed...I am not REALLY fond of woodchucks...”

“I have some good woodchuck recipes.”

“Woodchucks can do lots of damage.
A few weeks ago I opened the back door first thing in the morning and two deer were feeding in the backyard. That doesn't happen much, maybe once or twice per year.
last edited: 5/01/08 1:23:50 PM”

“Just had a doe with 2 fawns roam through the lower back yard, stripping the berries off the lonicera-type trees down there. The fawns were trying to negotiate the spines on the wild blackberries, but not getting very far.”

“Just saw a mama and a single fawn during my smoke break on the back deck. That was three minutes ago.”

“Kleetn's squirrel. Gettin' a purty good bead on him....hold breath...squeeze slowly....”

“My dogs found a hognosed puffer snake last night, bout 18" long. They spread their heads out like a cobra and HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

”

“Cool looking snake. Kind looks like it already got run over, though.”

“scarey... what state are they in???”

“I get coyote and roadrunner in the yard all the time, and the raccoons show up once a week or so to dig holes in all the plants”

“Arkansas, up in the Ozarks. I picked him up by the tail and he crapped all over me as a defense mechanism. It worked! I dropped him quick. Then I let him go under my deck in the woodpile. you can't really tell in the pic but they have a hog nose on them.

”

“I have a barred owl in the trees out back! Yay! We just did several call and response sessions. Haven't done that in way too long!”

“Did you sing Bill Grogan's Goat?”

“Um, no...not familiar with it.”

“Nope, not that at all.”

“It was like wild kingdom at the bus stopt this morn. The hawk was teaching her babies to hunt. Poor squirrel got attacked at least 4x but made it. The boys cheered for the hawk and the girls sided with the squirrel, very cool way to start the day.”

“Lmao Birch...Laurel would cheer on the hawks!”

“LOL, i can't tell you how many times i've almost had a wreck watching hawks hunt while i was driving

a couple nights ago we had 2 owls behind our house, not sure what kind...one was farley close and the other was on the other side of the lake...they were talking back and forth...either that, or my neighbors were just messing with me”

“SO you wanna mess with her or not?
Chuckle... go for it

”

“I just heard a commotion out in the back yard. I turned on the floods, to find a very big 8 point buck drinking from the koi pond. Belly up, my friend. There's a guy across the road looking for you. ;)”

“We built a KILLER treestand in my 10 acres of woods. Already got deer at the feeder!”

“Sunday afternoon I walked to my stand on the top of the hill above where I'd seen lots of deer tracks. After sitting still for a while I got circled by a couple of vultures. We both ended up being disappointed.”

“I am sure glad to hear that, Grems.”

“strat - isn't setting up a feeder kinda like cheating?”

“Most people who use feeders* need the help to make more ethical and cleaner kills.

* in other words, city boys who role-play country living on their 10 acre plot in a rural subdivision.”

“mutt is more country than thou”

“isn't setting up a feeder kinda like cheating?

It's an age old debate for sure. My personal take is that it's no different than hunting over a farm field or an acorn crop.”