Oh deer!

[Sunnydaydreams]

I was sitting here typing & glanced out the window and noticed my dog on the hillside, which is unusual b/c we have that invisible fence out there. I called her name a couple times & looked out. There's three deer about 20 feet from the house! They have never been this close before.

Let's hear about close encounters with our wyld friends! :)

Peace & Love

[Pedata]

Deer!!

Years ago I was driving home at night, minding my own business, when here came three deer running out of the woods. I felt like I was in a video game! Trying to stay on the road, swerve just right, and not get hit. Apparently I braked and swerved just right, one passed in front and two behind. I could hear their hooves clattering on the road.

Went to town the next day. Same deer again! Only further up the road, crossing. Ok, it could have been some other deer, but it was three again.

Strangest wildlife encounter. Was lolling around in the pool with a nieghbor kid when a baby blue jay lit on the side and yelled at us. It wouldn't go away, it would move back when we tried to approach it, but not go away. We decided it must be just starving to actually go near humans, so we tried bird seed (it didn't know what to do with it). Then we dug under some leaves and found some worms, and it knew what to do with them. We tried showing it how to rake the leaves away. It was something else. I got it to stand on my hand for a few seconds. It ate like a pig, then got that "full and sleepy" look and took a nap on a branch. And it finally left. Such a cute fluffy little thing :)

There's more stories, nothing but wildlife out here, but I'd never shut up.

Peace,
Pedata

[nappydread]

bears!

I remember doing work in the boreal forest a few years ago. It was dusk and i was at the end of a 2 mile walk back to my car which was parked on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. I passed over a small sandy hill with some scattered trees and blueberry patches everywhere. As i glanced forward, i saw a HUGE lump of black fur 15ft ahead. The two of us actually made eye contact as I stopped in my tracks. A black bear. I had interrupted its blueberry feast. I was just as surprised and shocked as it was!!! My adrenaline sky-rocketed - Very cool feeling:)
Before i knew it i was shouting at it and swinging my arms around to look big. It was downhill a bit and i was able to scare it after a few seconds. The ground actually shook as it started to run along the hill away from me....and then ...i looked over in that direction... and there was a bear cub a bit further along!!! They joined up and took off into the trees as I stood there trembling. Its really weird b/c if i kept walking straight without paying attention i would have literally come between mama bear and baby bear - very bad feeling:(
I gathered my thoughts and watched the two bears disappear into the distance. Then I walked down the hill towards my car, which was 200 ft away. As i got closer, i realized that there were paw prints all over it! The hood, the top of the car! Esp. on the trunk where inside i unknowingly left a full box of granola bars. So after a little inspection, i packed my gear in the car and sped off. Fuck...like 3 seconds down the road...i notice it.....a flat tire:( The bear had punctured my tire trying to get on top of my car!
what a fun day:D

moral of the story: i love bears and can't believe people hunt them with donuts.
...sorry no fun deer stories...

peace

[tooter_mcgee]

my mom and i were coming back from out of town one night, and it was foggy, so we didnt see a deer in the road until we were relatively close to it. we swerved out of the way, and almost hit another one that was approaching from the other side! we barely made it between them before hitting one of them.

i do think the deer population can be problematic, and i dont disagree with hunting completely, i just have a problem with the idea of hunting for sport, such as hunting just so you can mount its head, or just shooting it and leaving it for dead. i think if people are going to hunt, it would be great if they took kind of a native american approach to it, as in trying to use as much of the animal the kill as they can.

maybe im ranting :confused:

[toman]

Yeah, I don't have a big problem with deer hunting, especially because they can be a real nuisance if you have property. I had a friend though who had a bunch of apple trees in his yard just so the deer would come and nibble. And nibble they did... They are quite funny and I'd rather enjoy them than shoot them. :D

[PEACE FROG]

Where I live deer are everywhere, and quite comfortable. They don't seem to be much affraid of us. Like Toman, I dont want to shoot them(or anyone)but have gotten quite creative in trying to keep them outta my yard. Dogs work well/ best, I have found. Now what to do about the raccoons? :eek:

[Pedata]

i do think the deer population can be problematic, and i dont disagree with hunting completely, i just have a problem with the idea of hunting for sport, such as hunting just so you can mount its head, or just shooting it and leaving it for dead. i think if people are going to hunt, it would be great if they took kind of a native american approach to it, as in trying to use as much of the animal the kill as they can.

I agree with you completely. I have been with people who hunted ducks and didn't eat a single one of them. They just wanted them to mount and put on thier walls. What a waste :mad: And people who just kill for "fun" are usually not the least bit educated about the physical makeup of an animal and generally hit it in the wrong place causing it to die a slow nasty death.

I eat meat. I hunt and fish. But I don't waste anything. Bones make great tools and soup stock. Skins last forever. Fur will keep you warm when it's minus 2 degrees and you have no heat. Guts can be buried and left for a while then a tree can be planted over them. Small feathers can be made into pillows. Big feathers can be worn on the head to scare away flying insects or made into fake birds of prey to scare rabbits out of the garden. The rendered fat can be used for any recipe that calls for oil and/or made into soap. No part of an animal needs to be wasted.

Well, I guess I've had my rant......

Peace,
Pedata

[toman]

Isn't that odd? I love ducks; they're so beautiful and funny to watch, and yet, so tasty. :) I think duck hunting would be a great hobby, but I can't convince anyone I know to go with me... They all think it's disgusting...

[Pedata]

Isn't that odd? I love ducks; they're so beautiful and funny to watch, and yet, so tasty. :) I think duck hunting would be a great hobby, but I can't convince anyone I know to go with me... They all think it's disgusting...

They've probably never been hungry while in front of a roasted duck.

I caught a trout once. Since my friend felt fishing was cruel I stopped at one, cleaned it and all that, then cornmealed and fried it. Cut it in half and politely offered to share. The smell must have got to them. My friend took a bite and found it delicious. Thier talk went like this:

"Mmm....that's GOOD!......I still say fishing is a cruel sport......Mmmm....wow, this is soooo tasty!.....it's not fair to the fish, tho......let me have some more....how would you like to be yanked around (munch munch munch) by a hook in your mouth?!.......Damn this is good!.....I don't mind eating them but I sure won't catch one, it's mean!....Mmmmm!!!"

lol.....they ate thier half then part of mine. I was nice and didn't use the word "hypocrite" even once ;)

Oh, duck hunting is so fun, sitting in a blind for hours, on the edge of a flooded rice field, needing to pee, damp, stiff, watching decoys sink, lol.

Peace :)
Pedata

[mountain_mama]

We have tons of coyotes that live in my area. When I was closing up at night one time up at the ski mountain it was so dark at night I couldn't see and it was lightly snowing. I kept thinking I felt something behind me so I would stop and listen but I couldn't hear anything. I finally made it out to my truck and by then I was feeling down right spooked. When I turned on the headlights of my truck there was my coyote friend had been on my heels the whole way to the outer parking lot just standing there. He stood for a good minute then he turned around and oh so casualy walked off. It was strange and good and slightly spooky all at the same time. I am usually never that close to them and even though they have a bad rep in this area and eat peoples dogs (two different neighbors of mine have had thier dogs end up as coyote dinner) I really love them.
We have had bears in our town and mountian lions but the sightings have been less and less due to development and urban sprawl.
My mom woke up to find a CA mountain king snake hanging out in her kitchen, so we helped it through the winter(it was a young and confused) then set it free. I have had encounters with tons of rattlers especially in the spring when all the babies are born.
I just love it here but it is killing me how much I have wittnessed destroyed in the past couple of years.

[treehugger]

I don't really have any strange experiences with *wild* animals but I do have a pretty darn funny AND strange experience with a semi-tame one..

Looked out my window one day to see a HUGE black lab (it HAD to be purebred) galloping down the middle of my street (a little of a busy street). It turned and ran down Main Street. To make a pretty long story short, I kept seeing him running for several hours and I didn't see an owner anywhere. So I took a bowl of my dog's food and coaxed the guy into my porch.

He must have weighed about 80 pounds. I called the local police, the humane society...(didn't want to take him there in case no owner showed up and risk him getting killed)...so I agreed to *foster* care him until either his owner showed up or a new owner was found. I put posters up all over town. Ads in the paper. No owner. No computer chip implanted.

And here's the funny part about him....as I said he was a HUGE dog...a big galoot of a black lab, close to 100 pounds, but still a *puppy*. And he was NOT neutered.

He thought he was a lap dog. Not only that, but (it being summer) if you sat out there on a flimsy lawn chair, he'd climb up on your lap and sit on your lap facing you...and it never failed, he'd get a huge erection..... :eek:

Pervert dog. I ended up giving him to a guy who works with me... And the guy was recently offered $1,000 for the dog! But it was no sale....his whole family just loves him.

Anyway, that month I was fostering him, was a crazy, strange month....

[freakyfairy]

when i was a kid, i used to have a little den out in the garden, and one night i left all my blankets out there i the garden and when i woke up i the morning there was a fox all curled up in my blankets....and a couple of weeks later, there was a badger in the same place.....cool huh?

[waking_dreams]

i've hit three deer this year....THREE.... i dont know if my car and my bank account can handle anymore. Ironically, 2 of the deer just walked away from the accidents, but one of them ended up wit a broken leg. i felt horrible, plus i had crushed my bumper for a third time so that didnt help matters out any.

[Pedata]

There's two people out here, that I know of, who are feeding the deer. It's been attracting them like crazy. I see two or more a day, just passing through my yard :) . They're crossing roads in large herds. People are getting scared to drive. I don't know how anyone is going to keep a garden this year. We already had failed gardens the last few years due to the deer, but now there's so many more. Not everyone can afford a 15 foot high chain link fence around thier crops. They're taking over!!! :eek:

Alarmed,
Cassandra