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Did You know - outdoor edition

Started by WV Sawmiller, December 21, 2020, 11:03:46 PM

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KEC

For sure, apples are relished by a wide range of critters. I once caught a Gray Fox on New Years' Day and its' belly was full of apples.

Tacotodd

@KEC it's probably because a grey is the only canine that can NATURALLY climb trees, just not all trees. 

I've no idea why the horse can't figure out how to get those apples. Curious, isn't it.
Trying harder everyday.

WV Sawmiller

   Since there is an active sister thread about bats I'll discuss them. Did you know that most bats are insectivores and are very a very helpful species but some species eat fruit and there are even the famous vampire bats down in Mexico and Central/South America that live on a diet of blood? The insect eaters locate their prey by a type of sonar. You can go out to a night light where a few bats are swooping and diving catching bugs and pitch a few pebbles up in the air and watch them swoop down and grab them. I have always thought about taking my fly rod out with a cork bug like I use for bluegills and see if I can't catch bats with it. Then I get to thinking about how I am going to get him off the hook and I really don't want to hurt them and I back off. Kind of like the first time I went frog gigging and gigged a big water snake then had to get him off the gig and realized what a dumb thing that had been to do.

  In the city of Douala, Cameroon in West Africa there were a couple of big mango trees near where I lived and worked where the big fruit bats roosted. There were 10's of thousands, if not more, bats there hanging off every limb. They were about the size of crows. At sunset it looked like a tornado over the area as they left the roost and circled a few times before leaving for their favorite feeding ground. Sometimes in the middle of the day we would see them circling and knew that something had disturbed them - usually a local guy with a pellet gun shooting a few to eat.

  We went back there in 2008 and I took my photographer wife over to see them and get some pictures. She has very good cameras and lenses and got plenty of good pictures. We were looking at the pictures on our computer later and my wife was looking at yawning bats and such and she suddenly asked me "What are these things on these bats?" I looked and told her "They are male bats." I never realized her equipment was good enough to tell the sex of roosted bats.
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

doc henderson

Howard, not sure it is appropriate to talk about sex and your wife's equipment!   :o :o :o :) :) :) ;) ;) ;) :D :D :D
Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

WV Sawmiller

Doc,

 The next time time she is wearing her "Miss Kitty" dress I will have to check with her about that. :D
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

doc henderson

I was trying to be funny, and I hope I did not offend too many.  Us medical folks work and live with a different line in the sand than many.  My apologies to any and all that thought my comments were over the line.  all due respect to you and your wife.  
Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

WV Sawmiller

Doc,

   You sure haven't hurt my feelings or offended me. I still want to talk with you some time about that missing ring though. :D :D
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

Jeff

So you do know, the post was reported, so there is a line for some. Be careful with it gents.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

doc henderson

Howard you and I have a history of poking fun, and of course that was all I intended, but i was made aware, and I know this is a family site.  i have crossed the line accidentally before and so i know that I am somewhat numb to some items of off color biological stuff.  It was a play on words.  Jeff as you know I love the forum, and mean no harm.  thanks for the heads up, and hope you all do not loose patience with the ol doc.  

Quote:
"They are male bats." I never realized her equipment was good enough to tell the sex of roosted bats.  
Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

WV Sawmiller

   Did you know that old timers, and maybe some still do, used to snare gar fish in the southern USA? As I understand the process they would take a thin wire and make a snare/loop, tie it to a long cane pole and place it in front of a live or cut bait under a float in shallow water in oxbow lakes and other places where gars were common and fed on the surface. I assume when they saw the gar approaching they positioned the loop in front of the fish between the gar and the bait. The slender gar would swim into the loop and the gar fisherman would pull tightening the loop. I understand it was very exciting to watch a fish caught in this fashion as they fought really hard and gars can be very large, strong fish.
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

   Did you know that yucca (Spanish bayonet/bear grass, etc) has long been used for cordage? If you watch any of the current reality survival shows you will often see contestants using it for making string to tie together their shelters, make raised sleeping platforms, or to make snares and such. My dad used to tell us it was what folks used to hang the meat in their smokehouses when he was a kid. It is very strong and flexible. Apparently they cut it into strips about 1/4" wide and it was strong enough to hold up heavy hams or sides of bacon and such.
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

Will.K

We used to tie things together with yucca when we were kids. This was a parallel discovery I reckon as we weren't taught this use. I tried to make cordage out of all kinds of stuff, but lacking patience and knowledge I usually failed.

In appalachia, yucca and/or daffodils growing in the woods are a common long distance indicator of an abandoned homesite or lost/forgotten graveyard. Yucca is also food.

And on gars: They are not too hard to get on a hook, but getting them to stay on with their violence and bony-headedness is tougher. Sometimes it's easier to snag them. They are good food too.

WV Sawmiller

Will,

   I am well aware of how hard it is to hook a gar. I can remember using a topwater bass bait with propellers on the front and back at the mouth of a slough on the Escambia River where I grew up. Gars were breaking the surface all over the place. Regularly I would see bony bill rise out of the water with my lure in between the rows of teeth. I tried repeatedly to set the hook but usually just ended up ducking and dodging as it whizzed past my ear. I never did succeed in hooking one. I think I mentioned earlier I later learned using a piece of unraveled nylon cord in a big eyed hook with a piece of cut bait or live bait set under a float a foot deep or so worked. The gar would grab the bait and get the fine cord wrapped in his teeth and I'd reel him in and often find the hook completely outside his mouth.

   Most of the gars in our area were long-nosed gars. We had a few of the alligator gars but they were less common. We considered them trash fish and killed and threw them back in the water. One time Dad was catching a lot of the and had an old broken cane pole and even stuck pieces in their mouths and taped them shut with electrical tape and threw them back. He said they looked like porpoises jumping out there. I think this is why PETA denied him his membership request. ::) I never ate any but cut some up for trotline/bush hook (Limbline) bait for catfish and it was very pretty meat especially the backstraps on both sides of the backbone. They are very strong fish and hard fighters. Salt water tackle was common when fishing for really big ones and a .22 rifle or pistol was used for landing them.
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

   While I am thinking about gars 2 come to mind from my time at Albany Ga. One was on a trotline and my wife and kids were along. It was about 4' long and probably weighed 30 lbs or more and had drowned on the line. My son was about 7-8 y/o and said " What a pretty eye. I want to take him home to show Michael (His buddy next door" so I loaded it up and he ran over and got Michael to show him. Great. Now, what to do with a 4' long, 30 lb dead gar. I realized this was not the smartest thing I had ever done! Like the old Indians did, I figured he'd make great fertilizer so I took him out in my garden patch and dug a ditch about 1' wide & 3' deep and 4' long and buried him. I did have a bumper crop of tomatoes that year.

   When my daughter was about 6 I took her out and we were using ultralight tackle with 6 lb line pitching jig spinners with about a 1/6" jig head and instead of the rubber twisty tail or grub I was putting a live cricket on the hook - very effective bream bait as the spinner attracts them and they smell and readily grab the cricket, especially in running water which seems to make them more aggressive. My daughter said "I'm gonna catch me a gar". I told her no as they did not hit this kind of bait and we were in running water (Flint River below the Radium Springs boat landing) and gar were not common. I think the next cast (which was not over 10-15 feet as she was still learning) her 4' rod bowed and she said "I've got a fish" and I said "No, you're hung on a snag" then about a 5 lb fish gar surfaced and she tried to hand me the rod. I told her it was her fish so she started pulling and reeling and I grabbed the landing net and scooped him up. Once in the net he either released the bait or came unhooked but it was too late as we had him. I think I cut him up for trotline bait. I now wish I'd kept him and had him mounted. Not a big fish but a great memory.
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

  Did you know with the warmer weather the snakes will be active again? Be careful in working around your log, lumber and slab piles. Even venomous snakes are helpful to have around so don't kill them unless they present a threat to you, your kids or pets. Most bites occur when people are messing with snakes followed by accidents when we step on one or right beside him and he strikes in defense. For those of you in the deep south where you have coral snakes remember they tend to be very docile but are very dangerous if they do bite. Remember they have a black head/snout and the old saying "Red on black - good for jack. Red on yellow - kill a fellow." So if the red rings touch black rings it is a harmless, useful king snake while if the yellow bands touch the red ones it is a coral snake. Growing up in Fla in the woods all the time we had lots of encounters and still don't know how I kept from getting bitten but I never did have the urge to catch snakes so if I saw one I either immediately killed it (Way more than I should have) or I got away from it.
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

Tacotodd

I always heard "red & black, venom lack; red & yella, kill a fella"
Trying harder everyday.

WV Sawmiller

   Did you know river mussels prefer to live in gravel over sand? If you are looking for them you will find a lot more of them in a gravel bar than a clean sand bar. I don't know why but have noted this to be the case.

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

HemlockKing

Quote from: WV Sawmiller on April 17, 2021, 05:51:10 AM
 Did you know with the warmer weather the snakes will be active again? Be careful in working around your log, lumber and slab piles. Even venomous snakes are helpful to have around so don't kill them unless they present a threat to you, your kids or pets. Most bites occur when people are messing with snakes followed by accidents when we step on one or right beside him and he strikes in defense. For those of you in the deep south where you have coral snakes remember they tend to be very docile but are very dangerous if they do bite. Remember they have a black head/snout and the old saying "Red on black - good for jack. Red on yellow - kill a fellow." So if the red rings touch black rings it is a harmless, useful king snake while if the yellow bands touch the red ones it is a coral snake. Growing up in Fla in the woods all the time we had lots of encounters and still don't know how I kept from getting bitten but I never did have the urge to catch snakes so if I saw one I either immediately killed it (Way more than I should have) or I got away from it.
Seen a Garter snake the other day...thankfully no dangerous snakes here, the ones here arent venomous but I have seen one swallow a frog before :)
A1

WV Sawmiller

   Did you know that dogs kill snakes by grabbing and violently shaking them which damages the snakes spine to the point it kills him? Of course not all dogs are successful at this and the greatest risk is when first grabbing the snake. If they miss or are too slow they may get bitten. Jack Russel terriers are one of the most popular dogs in southern Africa because they traditionally kill snakes and that part of the world has a large selection of some really nasty snakes. (Some professional hunters also use them as leopard dogs to track down and hold a wounded leopard at bay. While a pack of large hounds can do the same thing and several working together may finish off the cat, the PH can expect to lose a hound or two. The little JR terriers are fast enough to stay out of the leopards reach and survive to hunt another 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

DonW

In Holland the jack russell's also one of the most common dogs on the farm, used for getting the rats. 
Hjartum yxa, nothing less than breitbeil/bandhacke combo.

WV Sawmiller

   Many years ago we took a trip through Amish country in Ohio and the Amish farmers were plowing behind a pair of big horses. They would ride on a sled which I guess helped break up the clods and leveled the ground. All I saw had 2-3 little dogs like mixed terriers or such. They walked behind the horse and I later realized they were catching rats, mice, moles, shrews and baby rabbits the horses were uncovering.

   My grandfather had a little Rat Terrier named Cricket that was his constant companion and a very good squirrel dog. We'd gather on Sunday afternoons and move the corn and kill rats. I remember Cricket sitting in a likely spot and grabbing any rat that got past us. She was real good at it.

   Ironically she was bitten and killed by a big eastern diamondback on an early season squirrel hunt. I don't know whether she was trying to catch him or inadvertently wandered up on him. I remember that was a very sad time for my grandfather.
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

Texas Ranger

Did you know old foresters smell worse than young foresters?  (cheap)Whiskey, (cheap)cigars, gun powder, old dogs, etc. 8)
The Ranger, home of Texas Forestry

Don P

We had a black and tan that flat out hated snakes. He would snatch and shake them to pieces. Michelle had just stepped outside on one job when he jumped ahead, grabbed a big old rat snake and did his routine. She couldn't step back fast enough and when she turned towards me there was a stripe of smelly snake goo right across her shirt  :D. I won't kill a rat snake as long as he isn't coming after me, but I don't love the ornery cuss's either.

If you break the pointed tip off a yucca leaf and pull down it'll bring some of the fiber with it. Hold the two ends and twist, a quick needle and thread.

WV Sawmiller

Don,

  Thanks for the yucca needle and thread suggestion. May come in handy sometime.

  When I was a kid we heard the dogs barking on the porch. The front porch was a concrete add-on to our shotgun modest wood frame domicile and was a slight step down from the house. Mom went to open the screen door and our old German shepherd Rex jumped in front of it and laid down and absolutely refused to move no matter how much Mom yelled at him. Finally she spotted a snake tail under him. We came out the back door and grabbed a hoe or shovel. When we got to the porch Rex moved and he was laying on a big cottonmouth. Had he not laid down where and when he did Mom would have stepped right out over the snake and likely gotten bitten. To this day I still believe that dog knew exactly what he was doing even though he put his life and health at risk. Dogs sometimes do amazing things. Of course, truth be told, he'd probably brought it up from the branch behind the house anyway.  ::)
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

   Did you know that wolves will catch and eat fish and eat blueberries? I was reading an article yesterday where researchers in one of the western states had attached a camera collar on a wolf and released it. The camera came on for 15 seconds every hour for a sample of what the wolf was doing. They showed 3 cases in short order where the wolf was wading in a local stream and eating fish it had caught. Another researcher found and photographed wolves eating blueberries and in some cases estimated 85% of their diet in some areas and at certain times of the year. Having never lived anywhere where wolves were present I have no personal experience with them.
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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