Did You know - outdoor edition

[Chuck White]

That's right Howard!

Quite a few years back I surprised a flock of roosted turkeys early one morning, they all flew and so did the crap, I think they all had to go, and I was lucky, they went the other way!

I was close enough that I could hear the stuff hitting the leaf covered ground!

[Don P]

So all these years I've been eating the constipated one, low and slow  :-\

[trapper]

coming in by canoe after dark while trapping the geese cause quite a few splats in the water around me as they fly over

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know standard turkey hunting practices for old timers used to be to separate the flock then call them back together? If an old timer could kill the old hen he'd sit there and call in and shoot every single young one. If you've ever scattered them at night as Chuck describes, you can come back at daylight and hear them all clucking and yelping and putting to get back together. Turkeys are very social birds and call to each other constantly to keep the flock together.

[Ron Scott]

A good fall hunting tactic.

[WV Sawmiller]

    Did you know if the residents of Colorado (at least those from the Denver to Ft Collins area) ever visit West Virginia, they will never be happy living in CO again? Sorry guys but once you CO residents see our green, well watered state with real mountains instead of distant canyons and scraggly pine trees you will never be happy in the flat, parched land we have seen the last few days. Actually, some of the area up around Estes National Park is pretty and look like a nice short term vacation spot but not a long term residence area.

   My sawmill would starve to death out here.

[beenthere]

Guess you don't know CO.   :D :D

But there are those in West "by God" Virginia that like WV, and can't help it. ;)

[doc henderson]

great now we have an east west thing, in addition to the north south grits controversy.     

[WDH]

He likes his mountains small and green.  

[WV Sawmiller]

Doc,

   Sorry about that. If the truth hurts sometimes you just have to accept it. My wife has been looking for some exciting topography ever since we landed and all it seems we saw till we went up to Estes was flat, brown, wilted corn crops with big irrigation systems running overhead.

   Our niece who is getting married today said people here are not even allowed to have a rain barrel because I guess that prevents the rainwater from reaching the aquifer and getting shared by everyone.

   And I have not been able to get grits any place we ate breakfast. No wonder they approved cannabis use out here. :D

Danny,

   The mountains we saw yesterday were nice but they were often shear, bare rock with a few scattered, sickly looking, pine trees fighting for their livelihood. The mountains were all brown with what looked like dead or dying brush. 

    There are some neat things out here and the mule deer doe I saw in the people's yard was a very big, very healthy looking deer and looked a lot bigger than our whitetails. My wife was impressed just to see a prairie dog. That's sad! No telling what these folks would do if they actually saw a big fat woodchuck sitting up beside the road or out in a meadow.

   I am glad there are people here who like this area or we would be so overrun with people we would be as crowded as NYC. The guy sitting beside me on the plane had on a Ga Bulldogs hat and was coming out to hunt elk with a bow. He likes to hunt here but then he comes back east to live. My local barber is out here this week elk or mule deer hunting but he is returning to WV after.

[WDH]

At least he wore a nice cap.  

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know Elk hunters often get trampled by their prey? I knew moose often attacked people especially during the rut or cows (How come they aren't does since moose are in the deer family?) with calves (Ditto calves vs fawns?) when people got too close to them. Evidently it is not uncommon for an elk hunter to cow call a bull elk and it will attack him in the brush especially during bow season when they call them in close.

  I knew the big bull elks in Yellowstone in the built up areas of the park sometimes had a ranger with them to protect the tourists who would stupidly walk up for a selfie and find themselves flying, gored and trampled. I guess they all wanted Darwin awards.

[WV Sawmiller]

At least he wore a nice cap.  

Danny,

   I congratulated him on Ga's recent win over Clemson only to find his son beside him was a Clemson grad/fan. The head stewardess (Flight attendant?) was a UA fan from Tuscaloosa (Armpit of the south) and had already chastised my wife for wearing her AU sweatshirt on the plane and came back to mediate. She said none of us were getting any drink service on her flight. The lady sitting next to us by the window popped up immediately with "I'm not with them." It was a little unruly at first but we all had a good time and left as new friends.

[tmarch]

You should know that a LOT of people from Colorado have migrated there from the other left coast state that starts with a C.  The natives are now moving to other mountain states to get out.

[doc henderson]

yes eastern Colorado looks just like Western Kansas.  everyone complains about Kansas, so thanks for pointing that out about Co.  We have the same mule deer out west.  i remember when our friends the Skeels moved to Co, we vacationed there every summer for 8 years.  the mountains are mesmerizing, and I would always shoot a whole roll of pictures out the car window on my Kodak instamatic camera, only to realize all the picture looked the same after developed.  most of the topography is uninhabitable, but a nice change if you live in neighboring flatter states.  the roads follow the rivers, and the towns along the roads unless there is a bit of a meadow.  my best friend growing up, met his wife at winter park.  I told him how cool it must be living there, and he reminded me they had to plug in cars, and spend half an hour digging out and cleaning the car to go to work every morning.  It is fun to visit.  Kenny Skeels is who I built houses with growing up, and a big reason you guys are stuck with me on the forum.   

[WV Sawmiller]

   I had to hit the brakes and horn to keep from hitting 2 mule deer bucks on the way home from the wedding tonight. Sort of made me homesick for WV just having to dodge them.

[HemlockKing]

  I had to hit the brakes and horn to keep from hitting 2 mule deer bucks on the way home from the wedding tonight. Sort of made me homesick for WV just having to dodge them.

How nice of them to make you feel right at home!  ;D

[WV Sawmiller]

  Did you know the typical food supply for most animals in the Fall and Winter is called Mast? It is a mixture of seeds, nuts and berries from the local plants and trees that the wildlife eats. You will hear hunters and wildlife personnel refer to the food source as mast and say things like "There is going to be a very poor mast crop this year which mean the deer will have a hard time this winter." Or they might say "The acorns are plentiful this year which will help compensate for a poor beech mast crop."

[KEC]

I knew that.

[mike_belben]

did you know i can jump about 4 feet high when hissed at by a pair of angry otters in my creek culvert?

[WV Sawmiller]

Mike,

   I can relate to that having encountered similar incidents with snakes and other wild animals. Even many harmless wild animals will cause you to hurt yourself when unexpectedly encountered. I am glad no FF members or otters were injured in the making of this memory.

[doc henderson]

we have had some wind and lots of leaves in the skimmers of the pool.  I used to push my son to reach in and just grab stuff, when younger as he would ant to use tongs or some tool due to unknown bugs ect.  I was cleaning yesterday and the first handful was great and muscle memory had me going back to the skimmer, and there was a dead large mouse/small pack rat.  startled me a bit, so I had to tell my 20 y/o son that.   :D

[doc henderson]

my son would almost fall and hurt himself if a mud dobber flew within 4 feet of him.  he said he was being attacked.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I remember walking along some old gravel pits fishing in N Fla and we had tall weeds. I was watching carefully for big cottonmouths which were common in the area and suddenly a huge bullfrog croaked loudly and jumped a couple feet high clearing the weeds and making  big splash in the pond. He was stretched out a couple feet long and nearly stopped my heart in the process.

   I've had harmless, non-poisonous snakes rest their tail on a dry leaf and nervously twitch it in the grass sounding just like a big old rattlesnake. That will elevate your heart rate real quick too.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Other than the Tennessee otters that hiss at Mike, did you know otters are very playful and love to find a muddy bank and slide on their bellies into the water? The will climb a steep bank, slide and repeat many times. They will also chirp like birds or ducks or such and many times I'd hear them and mistake them for birds.