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My new green neighbor

Started by WV Sawmiller, May 15, 2018, 04:05:58 PM

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WV Sawmiller

   Well, this guy has moved into the neighborhood. I don't know where he goes in the mornings but every afternoon it is sitting on this piece of piece of broken concrete on the edge to the creek flowing through my yard. I can't see the chin to see if it is yellow indicating a male nor have I heard him bellowing yet. I used to gig them in Fla as a teenager and early 20's and gigged some up to 2.5 lbs. They eat anything they can swallow and their mouth opens about 180 degrees. My next door neighbor rescued a duckling from one that leaped on top of him from the bank of his little water hole/pond in his pasture. I found them with small turtles, big crawfish, bluegills and even small snakes. I had one that weighed about 1 lb in a 55 gallon aquarium then added a 1/3 lb bullfrog. The small one disappeared till I started to clean the aquarium and caught the big one and found the toe tips of the small one between his lips. Yep, they are cannibals too.

  I remember fishing old abandoned gravel pits (Borrow ponds) with high grass along the banks as a kid. Suddenly a bullfrog at least 18" long would jump out of the grass into the lake with a loud croak and nearly scare me to death every time. I was already leery of cottonmouths and rattlesnakes and these guys can scare you worse than a covey of quail busting out under your feet.

 I have caught them on bass rods with a plastic worm and hooked a couple on flyrods. I never landed one on a flyrod but they put up the hardest fight of anything I have ever hooked.

  Anyway, I am happy to see this one every day.


Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Magicman

Thanks for the "yellow chin" tip.  Learnt me something today.  :P

QuoteFemale bullfrogs are larger in size than males are, and males' heads are more narrow. The female's throat is white, whereas the male's throat is yellow. A bullfrog's round eardrums, called tympanums, are on the outside of his body, behind his eyes.

Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

WDH

I have eat scad of them :).  A scad is akin to a whack, just not as big.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

samandothers


WV Sawmiller

   If he's not big enough to eat the back and front legs too, don't bother gigging him. This little guy probably won't weigh half a pound yet.

   WV has strange rules on gigging them - 4th of July till Labor Day, sunset (about 9:00 pm around here before dark enough to spot/blind them with a headlight) and limit of 10 per night so hardly worth the effort. I used to hunt them all night long and get 30-50 per night. I know there are places in LA, MS,S. FL where they get a lot more. I gigged them on the river where they were used to boats and motors and I just motored up to him and stuck him. Needed a gig pole about 2' longer than the boat. Run right straight at him then little short stab to stick and pin him.

    Same technique worked well to spear unicorn fish in the Red Sea on a night dive. In day time to hard to get in range with a long speargun. At night could catch them by hand or with a compressed air spear pistol. Typical shots were less than one ft and through the eye.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Magicman

No need to stick them from a boat.  Just motor straight into them and the motorman reversed the engine just as you hand grab them off of the bank.  Works slick as a whistle.  (old saying)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

WV Sawmiller

   Yep, I have done that too but hard to do by yourself and I nearly always hunted them alone. Plus they tend to sit under low bushes with snakes and wasp nests and such. Much easier (and safer) to reach them with a long handled gig pole. Just be sure not to ever let anything get between your light and their eyes and they will sit right there. Let a leaf or something break that plane and "Croak, splash, bye-bye".

    Its funny but in the river where they are exposed to plenty of outboard motors you can run right up to them but in the small lakes and sloughs where you can't use a motor they are real spooky and jump or just ease under water when they hear the first sign of a canoe paddle scraping the gunnels or any ripple touching them. You have to be very cautious easing up on them there. In the river they tend to sit farther up the bank above the normal height of the backwash from the outboard motor/boats which makes them much easier to see and gig/catch.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Magicman

Yup, the grab method is at least a two man job with the grab man handing it off to the ice chest man.  It also works best when the river is falling and the frogs are sitting on a slick mud bank.  The motor man has to be paying attention and reverse the boat so that it never hits the bank.

Our bag limit is 25 frogs per person per night. 
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

WV Sawmiller

   Low water levels were definitely best time to hunt frogs. They tended to be further from the water and the mouth of old oxbow lakes would often have several in one spot due to loss of water upstream. Plus the lower water level gave you more clearance under the bushes and trees and and you could access them much easier. An extra 6-10 inches of clearance makes a lot of difference in what you can reach by boat.

   There was never any bag limit on them as I remember. I don't know what rules in Fla are now. Saw real real neat things out there at night and swallowed a lot of bugs in my day.

  I remember seeing a gator in the mouth of one slough like that one night. We did not have many in N. Fla back then and a real treat to see one. Many more there now. I pointed the boat at him and motored straight in just like chasing a frog. Looked like he was 8-10 inches between the eyes - very big gator. As I got too close he took to the shallow water and I scrubbed his back running over him. I'd already shut the motor off. He looked like he was nearly as long as my 12' boat. Very dumb move on my part and I was very lucky to get out of that one with no harm to me or the gator (Not that he was ever in any real danger).
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

WV Sawmiller

   Well, I have not seen Kermit in several weeks. I am afraid recent severe flash floods, including one that overflowed the road and the runoff came down right on his favorite concrete ledge, may have moved or killed him. The creek has been out of its banks a few times and on such occasions we could even hear large boulders grinding as they rolled down in the current. Hopefully he has just moved higher and is hiding back in a den in the bank somewhere. I don't know what the home range of a bullfrog is but I know when I used to gig lots of them if I missed one if I waited a few minutes and came back he'd be in the same are. Knowing that, not many I got after ultimately escaped my frying pan.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

WDH

Frogs are not known for cerebral prowess.  Like a few FF members here that I will not name because of the way my Momma raised me :D :D.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Quote from: WDH on May 27, 2018, 07:58:01 PM
Frogs are not known for cerebral prowess.  :D :D
I had it but it seems to be getting better. 
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

mike_belben

The 2 drainage ponds i built have some pretty big residents.  The kids find toads abd tree frogs all over the place and i tell them to go put them down by the pond so they can swim.  (And not torture the toad or bring it in the house.) 

They dont realize im feeding the frogs for the day when my neck is red enough to fry em up.  Havent quite crossed that bridge yet, i was born in a city. 
Praise The Lord

WV Sawmiller

   Reminds me of the Duck Dynasty episode where they get after the frogs in the pond at the golf course and Security catches all of them except Phil who evidently had more experience avoiding Game Wardens and such and hit the wind at the first sign of a blue light. I think the boys had to call Willie to come bail them out.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

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