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Rich Z's Blatherings Since Connie and I have retired the SerpenCo business, topics here will focus on topics of a more personal and general nature.

Wildlife moving in...
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Old 11-13-2010, 12:34 AM   #1
Rich Z
Wildlife moving in...

Seems like all kinds of critters running around here lately. The other night I heard a ruckus on the porch, so I went out there to investigate and found three raccoon cubs horsing around. One of them walked right up to me and looked up at me, practically at my feet as if to say, "What the heck are you?" They eventually figured out that they were doing something bad, so they scampered off into the woods.

Green anoles are EVERYWHERE around here lately. We have to be careful opening and closing outside doors as they will sometimes wedge themselves into the edges. We had some watermelon vines growing a while back that had so many small anoles running around in them that it was ridiculous. We're going to grow more melons next year just because the lizards seem to like the plants so much. Actually most of the melons got eaten by raccoons and possums, and I was only able to salvage one of them for us to eat. It's just a tad overripe, so we'll surrender the rest of it to the critters anyway.

Had a small deer running around the yard for several days, but some dogs came on through and apparently scared him/her off. Still had the fawn spotting on the hindquarters.

Out on 319 close by there was an actual HERD of turkeys on the side of the road. Probably close to 20 or so. Probably looking for a good place to hide with Thanksgiving coming up soon.

Then there's the bear tracks out near the garage. The pad of the front paw was about the size of my palm, so it wasn't a real big one.

Amazingly enough, mosquitos are nearly non-existent around here lately. Got all the mosquito magnets shut down because they were just burning up propane and not catching ANYTHING in the nets. Much like it was when we first moved down here. We had been camping out on the property for a few years before moving down and had noted that there really were no mosquitos around here at all. So I guess there must be some sort of cycle going on with them. A few years ago we had SO many mosquitos around here during the Spring that I had a five gallon bucket three quarters FILLED with dead mosquitos that came out of the magnets.

Haven't seen any snakes nor tortoises around. Even the black racers have been absent.

Oh yeah, squirrels are scarcer, but I'm probably the reason for that....
 
Old 11-13-2010, 12:44 AM   #2
MysticExotics
I'm disappointed....
















Not one picture of the racoons, deer, anoles, turkeys....
 
Old 11-13-2010, 12:48 AM   #3
Drizzt80
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich Z View Post
Oh yeah, squirrels are scarcer, but I'm probably the reason for that....
Speaking of squirrel, you ever tried cooking one up?! I did for the first time last weekend. My youngest shot his first while we were deer hunting. Figured my grandpa from Iowa ate them. We could at least try it. Baked it with salt and pepper. I'd eat it again. Most responses from the family were that it was like the dark meat on turkey.

D80
 
Old 11-13-2010, 12:50 AM   #4
pridecity
You should start charging a fee for safari trips Rich. Lol.
 
Old 11-13-2010, 01:05 AM   #5
psychoprimate84
I have noticed a lot more native wildlife this year. I think last year's freeze killed off a lot of invasive species, like the brown anoles. I haven't seen this many green anoles around since I was a little kid!
 
Old 11-13-2010, 03:07 AM   #6
Rich Z
Quote:
Originally Posted by nwheather View Post
I'm disappointed....

Not one picture of the racoons, deer, anoles, turkeys....
I do have some video of the deer, but it's still in the camcorder.

As for the raccoons, that was late at night, and my camcorder doesn't do so well in the dark. Plus I didn't know what was making that ruckus out on the porch (remember the bear tracks?) so I chose to have a gun in my hand rather than a camcorder.

The turkeys were alongside the road while I was driving into town, and I don't normally carry a camera with me.

As for the anoles, heck, they are all over the place, and I guess I don't really consider them "video worthy" any longer...
 
Old 11-13-2010, 03:11 AM   #7
Rich Z
Quote:
Originally Posted by Drizzt80 View Post
Speaking of squirrel, you ever tried cooking one up?! I did for the first time last weekend. My youngest shot his first while we were deer hunting. Figured my grandpa from Iowa ate them. We could at least try it. Baked it with salt and pepper. I'd eat it again. Most responses from the family were that it was like the dark meat on turkey.

D80
No, never had much desire to do that. They are TREE RATS, after all....

Besides, up till recently I had lots of snakes I was having to handle around here, and since you ARE what you EAT, I would have been real reluctant to have RODENT as part of my body's makeup. I had enough trouble trying to keep those suckers from trying to eat my elbows when they thought they could get away with it.

But if I was hungry and nothing else was available, sure, I'd eat them. Of course, getting Connie to skin, gut, and cook them would be a different story entirely...... In other words, ain't gonna happen...
 
Old 11-13-2010, 03:21 AM   #8
MysticExotics
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich Z View Post
I do have some video of the deer, but it's still in the camcorder.

As for the raccoons, that was late at night, and my camcorder doesn't do so well in the dark. Plus I didn't know what was making that ruckus out on the porch (remember the bear tracks?) so I chose to have a gun in my hand rather than a camcorder.The turkeys were alongside the road while I was driving into town, and I don't normally carry a camera with me.

As for the anoles, heck, they are all over the place, and I guess I don't really consider them "video worthy" any longer...
Good point
 
Old 11-13-2010, 07:38 PM   #9
Rich Z
OK, got this up so you can see that deer in the garden....

 
Old 11-13-2010, 09:13 PM   #10
MysticExotics
How cool that must be to see that in your garden. Thank you for sharing
 

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