I must have the Disney version of your yard. I only have a half an acre yard. But, I have lots of rabbits, squirrels, and woodpeckers. The most recent additions are owls. One BIG owl and we have seen several small screech owls. Last year we had a family of possum living under an old gazebo. One came out from under it in the middle of the day. I had always thought if you see a possum in the daytime that means they are sick. But, I saw him several times later that summer but always in the daytime. When I saw him in the daylight, he came out and just stared at me. The odd thing was he had blue eyes! I mean really blue.
The screech owls are my favorite new yard critter. They just hang out in the trees and don't really act afraid. Don Snook -----Original Message----- From: Floyd Thursby [mailto:buggeredbenzm...@gmail.com] Sent: Friday, May 26, 2017 8:32 AM To: mercedes@okiebenz.com Subject: Re: [MBZ] Mountain Lions, was Okies... 8 yr ago right after we moved here I was fixing my tea one morning and looked out the back window where I saw this large black animal walking along the edge of the marsh about 100-150ft away. At first I thought it was a big dog like a black lab or something but then I realized it was a LOT bigger, and was walking like a cat. WTF? Then I noticed it had a big bushy tail, but only half a tail, looked like the other half had been cut off. I guess the whole thing was about 6ft long. I continued to watch it (and didn't have a camera handy) as it walked on then into the swampy area next to the house. I lost sight of it in the brush. Next morning I was sitting upstairs in my office and I see 30 or 40 vultures flying around in the trees and going down to the ground in the woods. A bit later I went out to see what was going on and I found a half-eaten big deer in the woods about 150ft from the house. The back legs had been taken off, the bones were sheared at about a 45deg angle like a really sharp knife had cut them. I went poking around and managed to trace back the cat's path, seeing the tracks in the swampy area and along the edge of the marsh where I had seen it. It had walked along the "back yard" about 200yd, sticking to the edge of the marsh and the swampy area. I surmised that it had hung around and got that deer during the night, or maybe had stirred it up during the morning when I saw it as I had seen deer out there and had found a spot where they seemed to be lying down for the day back in a thicket along the other side of the swampy area. The morning after I saw it I sent an email to this wildlife biologist I had met, he worked for DNR, and asked him about black panthers around here as I thought I had seen one. He rang me up a bit later and we talked, he was telling me what I had seen was a bobcat, there were "melanistic" bobcats that looked almost black. I told him this thing was a LOT bigger than a bobcat, I had seen bobcats around too, and this was no bobcat. So we sorta left it at that. Next day after I took some pics of the paw prints, I sent them to him. I had put my tape measure down next to them, they were a good 3"-3.5" across. A bobcat is maybe 2" and I had seen bobcat tracks often up in the sand in the driveway, and out in front of the house on occasion. He rang me back and we talked about that, he says, "The official position of DNR is that there are no black panthers in the area." So I say yeah well what was this thing then -- it was black, it was a cat, it took down a full-grown deer, it has paws as big as my palm, and I saw it. He says, "Well you saw what you saw." I knew he was spouting the party line, which I understand if you work for the state you do what the state tells you to do. A bit later I went into this hunting/fishing shop on the island to get some fishing line or something, there were a coupla good ol boys in there looking at guns, talking hunting. So I ask them and the proprietor if they knew of black panthers around the area, and I tell them my story which got them all hot. One of them tells me that he has seen deer up in trees while out hunting on Wadmalaw (the next island over), the big cats take them up there to keep them away from other critters, have a stash to come back and eat over a coupla days. Good enough for me... He proceeds to tell me that some guy on Wadmalaw some years before had caught one (somehow) and it became something of a spectacle. DNR found out about it and came and got it and took it away. Then later on some power company guys come back to the house to do something, so I get talking to them, tell them my story, and they start telling me that they occasionally see them, other guys see them, but no one believes them. They have occasion to go back in the woods, down dirt roads and such like my driveway, and they will come upon the cats lying in the roads sunning themselves. One guy tells me they had to finally get out of the truck one day to go scare the thing off, it would not move out of their way. So, yeah, they are around. Later on I find out that a few years prior, this development down the road ran into a whole big controversy because people knew there were black panthers around the area and developing it would run them off. I guess they are protected or something (they aren't Florida panthers, those are a lot smaller than these things) so that was the basis for the issues. DNR ruled they weren't around because if they had acknowledged their presence that would have brought a halt to development which of course the developers and corruptocrats would not allow. So there you go. Again sometime later there was a scheme to build a road across the island, the County hired an environmental firm to do a survey. I went to a meeting about it and after asked the biologist if he knew of any panthers around. He says oh yeah they are around, but they aren't "native" they are likely descendants of pets or something that people had let go or they had escaped. I heard stories too that like back in the 50s there used to be a train line across the island, and a circus train that was going into Charleston had derailed and a bunch of the animals, including big cats, had escaped. Most of them were hunted down, but the lore is that some got away and lived and reproduced. So anyway I know these things exist around here back in the woods. We had a dead smallish deer out in front of the house under some bushes one day, I saw tracks that looked like a bobcat mama and 2 babies. The deer really didn't have any marks on it but looked like claw marks on the rear haunches. I dragged it off into the woods, next day it was all covered with leaves and half eaten. Next day it was completely eaten. As far as snakes and ticks and other things, we have copperheads and rattlers and cottonmouths and all manner of other snakes, venomous and not. I saw a king snake one day, they like to eat copperheads! Rat snakes that climb trees, hognose snakes that play dead. green snakes, coral snakes (and the ones that look almost like them but aren't venomous), corn snakes, black racers... I have a coupla copperhead skins I took off some I found dead in the driveway, I think my wife ran over them when she left early in the morning for work. Deciding what to make with them. I keep an eye out when I am walking around anywhere, don't want to step on one. Careful too when moving anything in the woods or my firewood pile, people around get bitten when doing that, the snakes like up in the woodpile. This morning the turkeys outside my windows were making quite a racket, on Sunday I was working on my truck out front and a turkey ran across about 15ft from me, not sure which of us was more startled to see the other. A coupla guys who work for the electric company got 2 a few weeks back right out front in the woods, they were big. I had seen one in the driveway one morning, it was gobbling like crazy every morning, so I told them and one of the boys got it in about 10 min after setting up. Came back a week later and the other boy got one pretty quick too. And yesterday I noticed this object on the floor on the dog porch, I take a look and it is a little diamondback turtle one of the dogs must have found and brought in... I took it back out and let it go. I think they are nesting about now. Oh and gators, we got gators. When they're on the move they can be anywhere. A few years back I was working in the garage and I hear this WHOOOMWHOOOOM coming from out in the marsh about 50 ft away. I go out there to see what it might be, and I hear this whoomping growling sound coming from not far away. I ease over that way and see the needlerush moving around, something fairly large down in there. I decided maybe it was time to go back to my work, later on I looked up on the internets what it might be and it was a gator bellowing trying to find a lady... I'm guessing this wasn't a big one, maybe a 6footer or so, but big enough. I have seen some 12footers hanging around ponds around here, so there are some big boys too. As far as squirrels -- my pellet gun works wonders on the things when they are feeding off the feeders my wife likes to fill, but several generations on now they have gotten smart to me when I pick the gun up and run off fast. My Gullah neighbors are always shooting the things with shotguns, they like to cook them up and eat the brains as a delicacy. I leave mine for the other critters to nosh on, they seem to get recycled pretty quickly. We have quite a crop this year but I have not popped any lately. Life on the fringe of America! --R On 5/26/17 1:50 AM, clay via Mercedes wrote: > A few years back, BiL, a few of his friends, and I were out hunting upper > central WA. I was bear tag, the others were doing archery deer. The first > morning was a trial and error, to see how things were working out, as there > had been a large wild fire the year before where they normally hunt, and > targets were going to be scarce, so may as well see how it impacted the area. > We did a number of location changes to figure out where to get serious for > the next few days. The women folk stayed at the cabin and tormented the > children or were shopping, I forget which. > > Late afternoon the second day, we were tracking a through and through. At > least the guy who normally shoots things in the leg was not with us. Good > initial trail, but then it went coldish. Maybe the deer found a buddy to > patch him up. We split up to follow possible trails, looking for blood. BiL > thought he had a good trace, and I was keeping fairly close by in case > something interesting took place. > > It kind of did. While I was on one end of the creek, BiL thought he heard > the deer about 100 yards away, and wanted to be as silent at possible, so I > stayed put and tried to see it with binocs. Turned out he found cougar > spoor, and went off after the cat, in case the cat had found trace of the > deer. I remained put, and got on the radio to alert the others about our new > adventure and to have them meet up with me, so we could fan out and flush > either beast. > > Meanwhile BiL is deep in the undergrowth on the trail of Mr. Big Cat. He > also is being radio silent as much as possible, so as not to spook critters. > The rest of us took positions 200 yards apart on his sides and behind him. > Where we ended up wandering further off track, because BiL thought the cat > had doubled back. Which it had. Bypassing all of us, and began stalking BiL > for the next hour. > > Dang deer knew we were all out, and hid underground until sunset. Then, they > all sprouted as if from thin air and could be found thirty deep in the > fields. BTW, the bears were waddling down the river, which the cabin was > overlooking. Middle of the day, lunch time excitement for the kids and women > folk. > > > > clay > > 2002 s430 - Victor, a Stately & well tailored chap > 1974 450sl - Frosch - Two tone green > 1986 SDL - Polei > 1982 300 SD - Allen > > retired models- > 1976 300D - Blei Vanst - it looks silvery > 1972 220D - Gump - She was green, simple and ran > 1995 E300D - Gave her life to save me against a Dame in a SUV POS 1987 > SDL - Beware Nigerian Scammers > > > > > > > > >> On May 25, 2017, at 7:11 PM, Greg Fiorentino via Mercedes >> <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: >> >> We live along Cougar Creek in SW WA. This is indeed Cougar country. There >> have been many sightings during the nearly 20 years we've been here, more >> frequently lately. Full size adult humans are not in much danger from them. >> Human Cougar victims are almost always children or small adults. Runners are >> in particular danger because they can trigger a chase as if they are fleeing >> prey. I am not aware of any attacks on humans in our area. Recently a horse >> was slightly mauled in an attack that experts determined was from a Cougar >> based on the injuries. >> >> When I was living in BC there was an attack on a ship's crewmember near a >> port on northern Vancouver Island. A bicyclist happened by and attacked the >> Cougar...with his bicycle as a weapon! The beast was driven off, and the >> seaman survived with some nasty scars. >> >> I have read that Cougar on human attacks are more common where hunting them >> is prohibited. It makes sense to me that animals learn quickly about threats >> to them. If we aren't a threat, we might be food. >> >> A dog will know if you are being stalked by a big cat, so at least you're >> not likely to be surprised by one if you have your furry friend with you. My >> retriever let me know once we were being stalked on the creek trail. I later >> found the footprints of a Coyote that was checking us out. >> >> Greg >> >> <<trimmed stuff>> >> >> Well, on second thought, Mountain lions have spread through to at least the >> Mississippi, so packing a .45 or similar is not unreasonable. At the >> intersection of The River and the Des moines River, there were mountain >> lions, but all the PTB denied it even when residents shot them and took >> pictures and the newspapers printed the pictures. (Even the >> PTB do not believe their own media masters) One of the guys who saw >> them that I know was a Deputy Sheriff, and not at all corrupt. >> >> Best to go in pairs into unknown timber. Once you know the territory, and >> if you carry self defense tools, then it is fine. I almost always went >> alone, but that was before the lions moved in. I'd go alone now, but I'd >> carry. >> >> > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > -- --FT Winston Churchill: Â"Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.Â" _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
