Did You know - outdoor edition

[Wudman]

  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.

I have three pit bull mix mutts that somebody kicked out on the side of the road.  They are fenced for most of the day, but I turn them out for a couple of hours each day.  One day, I walked out in the yard to find a fresh huge bluegill laying there.  I thought, "Oh no, they have stolen a fish out of somebody's bucket."  I walked down to the pond, and didn't see anybody fishing....other than three pitbulls in the upper end of the pond stalking the bream beds.  I saw the female catch another one.  :D


Wudman  

[WV Sawmiller]

    I had never thought of dogs or such catching them but I do know that bluegills and bass will build shallow depressions in the sand for beds and they are often in very shallow water. I grew up fishing in big gravel borrow pits in N. Fla where they had pumped the sand and gravel out and the fish loved the shallow gravel points for bedding areas. I watched one 4-5 lb bass build her bed in about 16-20 inch deep water and her tail would completely exit the water like she was standing on her head. The dorsal fins of bluegills will also sometimes stick out of the water. I can see where a savvy, stealthy dog could ambush them in this environment. Looks like eagles, ospreys and herons would catch a lot. 

   Did you try praising your dog, give him a treat and see if he will go bring you another? You may have a gold mine there and did not even know it. :D

[Will.K]

I had a german shepherd who liked to eat raspberries and blackberries. He drew back his lips and picked them quite neatly with his teeth. 

[WV Sawmiller]

First-Ever Wild Wolf Collar Camera Shows What They Really Do All Day Long

   BTW - here is the link to wolf camera article. FWIW

[doc henderson]

our dogs started eating our tomatoes.  all you see is the back half of a GS dog, and the vines are shaking, and out comes a dog that run over to the side to chew on a tomatoe.  I know they say the green ones are bad for them, but what do you do.    

[WV Sawmiller]

   I knew this thread would get around to food sooner or later but did not know it would a mater eating shepherd in Kansas. :D

[Don P]

We were on a job in IL and it was big enough that we would be there for awhile. They plowed up a good sized area so Michelle could plant a garden. At one point she was out there with the same black and tan and their big rotty and decided to feed them sweet peas, which they loved. So much so that they tore out the plants  :D. Later in the season we had come home for a break while the drywallers did their work. We got an email with a picture of their dog leaving the garden with a big cantelope stuffed in his mouth  :D.

Later on on that same job we were working inside on trim, the masons were there on the chimney and the tile guy comes in carrying a box of donuts and a cappucino. Walks right by everyone and heads up to the bathroom to do his work. Kind of bad form and we all looked at one another and shrugged, prima donna :. Awhile later he stepped out for a smoke. Best I could tell our dog ate 10 donuts and polished off his coffee  :D

[thecfarm]

We mow the fields now, once every few weeks. The wood chucks have no place to hide now, no tall grass so they hide in the stone walls. I had a dog that would hunt them things. I would hear him barking, staying in one place and I knew he had something. I would tear apart the wall and the wood chuck would ran off and Dew would kill it. Fist time he did not know what to do. I had to kill the wood chuck. Second time his instinct took over. He somehow knew to flip it over and bite the throat of the wood chunk. First time he did this the wood chuck wrapped it's feet around Dew's body. I knew Dew was about to get hurt. I had a gun in my hand but no way to shoot. Than all at once that wood chunk released it's grip because it was dead!!!! My little baby boy turned into a killer!!! He had a lot of fun hurting those walls for a wood chuck.
He was not all that brave with a racoon. Or maybe he was smarter than what I thought. I let him out one morning, still dark, and he had his, I got something PaPa bark. I grab the gun and go to him. Out back there is like a square "U" where the garage hooks on to the house. I shined the flash light in that area and all I saw was teeth and claws and a racoon that was some mad. Dew run in behind me and said, Get him PaPa.  :D  Never seen him do that. He had enough smarts to run behind me and leave that critter alone.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I raised what was probably the best squirrel dog ever. Her mom was my rabbit and knock around dog and was a black and tan dachshund basset cross and the father was supposed to be a beagle but may have just been a good fence climber. She had treed squirrels for a couple of years and I heard her barking behind the house one day so I grabbed my .22 rifle and went back there. She was treed up a broken off red oak stump with a hole in it. I tried twisting him out the hole and could get red hair but could not pull him out. Finally I climbed up and looked over in the hole and found a big sleeping coon. I pulled a slab off the side of the stump and poked him till he jumped out and 17 lb Bertha grabbed him but he quickly got on top so I pulled him off then he jumped on me and Bertha pulled him off. We tag teamed him a few more times and he finally decided he could whip either but not both of us at the same time. He broke and ran and got in a hole in a hollow bay tree. I went home and got my pistol, feed sack and an ax. My yellow and while beagle followed us back. I cut a slab off the tree and spotted the coon tail and grabbed it and threw it out on the ground. Leader bayed and ran up to it and it slapped him across the face and he suddenly remembered why he was a rabbit dog and turned and went back to the house never to return! After a couple more sessions in 2 more hollow trees I finally inverted my old Ruger blackhawk and fired a warning shot up through his chest and head and he fell out. After that not only did I have the world's best squirrel dog I had a top notch coon and possum dog and a beagle who knew and respected his limitations. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know goats are browsers not grazers? If you see them in a nice clean mowed pasture feeding they are probably starving or at least looking for weeds. They love to eat blackberry leaves and tips, poison ivy, smilax vines, grape vines, and multi-flora rose is like ice cream. They will eat the leaves and tips and even gnaw and strip the bark off the stumps girdling and killing them. They sure cleaned up a mess of them here when we bought this place which was overgrown with them. They will stand on their back legs and create a browse line 6-7 ft high. They will push over small trees and bushes to get to the tops and they will climb leaning trees to unreasonable heights. They are also the world's best agent for teaching patience. :D

[KEC]

Some airports and other commercial property owners pay people with herds of goats to fence off areas that they want cleared and put goats in the fenced area to eat up the brush and vegetation. The goats we had as kids would eat Bull Thistle thorns and leaves.

[WV Sawmiller]

KEC,

   I had one old nanny goat like that. She'd slurp down a thistle plant like my grandkids eating a chocolate bar. If we could just breed them for targeted species we could be rich. One species for poison ivy, another for blackberry, another for multi-flora rose, etc. We'd do great on the kudzu goats. ;)

   I watched a news report one time of a guy with a big flock of goats and some very good herding dogs who had contracted with the highway department to clear selected areas along the right of way for places that were too steep and rocky to reach with regular mowers  and such. He had a big box truck and a narrow ramp/door he'd lower at the site, the goats would run out/down the cleated ramp and start browsing. He had 3-4 very good herding dogs like border collies or Australian shepherds or such that moved them to where they were supposed to "work" and away from areas off limits. They would stay in the area till they had adequately cleared it and he'd whistle at the dogs and they'd bring them back, load them up, close the ramp/door and move to the next site. I knew the military bases used sheep and goats around the ammo storage bunkers, many which were earthen covered. I don't know if that was a contract service or how it worked. I never saw an MOS/MOT for any service for that. I guess if there were his T/O weapon would have been a shepherd's crook. :D

[Texas Ranger]

Back in the Jurassic when I was in college, goats were an invasive species.  Not to be put in wooded areas.  We had a Pakistani and an Egyption in our classes, they could not understand why we were so prejudicial about goats.  We explained the depredation they could cause, and they, having been raised in goat country, explained it was management at fault, not the goats.

[Don P]

When someone here gets the bright idea to go into goat ranching the discussion at the store usually starts with "I see Joe has got hisself an infestation of goats". Most of the time within a year or two they understand the 24/7/365 meaning of the phrase "If it won't hold water it won't hold a goat" and move onto something less inquisitive. I think the great emu breakout was the most fun though  :D

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know the galvanized minnow traps catch more minnows than the black plastic coated/painted ones? I don't know why but they do. I keep several tied out by the creek in my front yard and when I want to go fishing I grab a handful of dry dog food and bait them with it, toss them in the deep holes in the creek and come back a couple hours later to harvest my catch.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know a long handled shrimp net is a handy tool for catching crawfish? I used to stock up on shrimp nets about 5' long, net a little over 12" in diameter and mesh about 1/4" in diameter. I'd drag it along the bottom of deep pools in ditches and pools left by highwater. Crawfish, when alarmed, scoot backwards and in this case into the net. There was a ditch near our country church near Albany Ga that was a great source. After church I would stop and make a couple of passes sometimes collecting many dozen 1" long crawfish at a pass. I'd put them in a styrofoam bait bucket full of moss and a couple inches of water and keep them in a cool shed and be set for bait for weeks. I found every fish out there ate 1" baby crawfish. Many fish were scared of larger crawfish, which is strange since you find them in their stomach when cleaning them. I would pull the tail off the larger crawfish. It is excellent when placed on the hook of a 1/16-1/8 oz jig on a jig spinner (Beetle spin is a common name brand) and fished on ultralight tackle for bluegills and crappie. The spinner attracts the fish, they smell the meat and attack. I have used nets like this here in WV in high water pools but the rocks tear them up quickly and they need lots of repair and frequent replacement.

  Another technique is go out at night with a light and use the net to pick up crawfish in shallow water but these are usually too big for good bait - think eating size crawfish in this case.

[stavebuyer]

I went to my creek to catch a few micros including this nicely colored Northern Studfish;


 

I kept a couple Bluntnose minnows to use as bait and fished the main river for the first time this season. Something broke my line on minnow #1 and this Smallmouth hit minnow #2 as soon as it hit the water. Big or small I love to fish!



 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know a wily old raccoon will often cover his eyes when treed by dogs at night? I don't know whether he feels if he can't see the dogs and hunter they can't see him or if it is instinct or what but it can make it very difficult to find a treed coon at night especially if he is in a tree with thick leaves or lots of Spanish moss. A young one when captured and grabbed by hand will do the same thing. One technique coon hunters use is to squall at him like an injured or fighting coon and sometimes that will make him look. I squalled and slapped the side of a big gum tree in the river swamp near home trying to get an inexperienced dog to bark at a coon my squirrel dog had treed and I was too good at it and scared him so bad he came down, jumped out and got away from us before I could shoot him.

[HemlockKing]

  Did you know a wily old raccoon will often cover his eyes when treed by dogs at night? I don't know whether he feels if he can't see the dogs and hunter they can't see him or if it is instinct or what but it can make it very difficult to find a treed coon at night especially if he is in a tree with thick leaves or lots of Spanish moss. A young one when captured and grabbed by hand will do the same thing. One technique coon hunters use is to squall at him like an injured or fighting coon and sometimes that will make him look. I squalled and slapped the side of a big gum tree in the river swamp near home trying to get an inexperienced dog to bark at a coon my squirrel dog had treed and I was too good at it and scared him so bad he came down, jumped out and got away from us before I could shoot him.

https://forfoxsakewildlife.com/2018/12/26/raccoons-cover-their-eyes-to-hide-because-theyre-geniuses/ You might find this a interesting short read. 

[Texas Ranger]

OK, I may have told this story before, but, I'm old.  A friend of a friend approached me to let him run his coon dogs on my lease.  I agreed with the condition I come along, first mistake.  The lease was 800 acres of plantations, hardwood corridors on streams and drains, a pipeline, and fences.

We got to the camp and got set up and they turned the dogs loose, withing 30 minutes they hit a trail and off they went.  We followed, second mistake for me.  They went straight line through 12 year old plantation, briars and all.  Rather than go around on trails and roads, straight line.  If you have never experienced a young plantation in the south, think of a thicket where stuff on the ground wants you  to bid a wea, the trees have closed crowns at ground level and whip you as you and the team go through.  At night.

We finally hit the tree where the coon had climbed, and the dogs at the base.  The guys 10 year old son was with us and he told the boy to leash the dogs and hold on to them.  They gave me the honor of shooting the coon out, and I did.  When he hit the ground he took off on a high rate of speed for an injured coon.  The dogs, of course, took out after it.  The boy, told to hold the dogs, was not ready for that, and went down, to be drug by the dogs a short run through the woods and into the creek, where they got the coon.   Coon, dogs and boy soaked, and smelled all about the same.

[HemlockKing]

OK, I may have told this story before, but, I'm old.  A friend of a friend approached me to let him run his coon dogs on my lease.  I agreed with the condition I come along, first mistake.  The lease was 800 acres of plantations, hardwood corridors on streams and drains, a pipeline, and fences.

We got to the camp and got set up and they turned the dogs loose, withing 30 minutes they hit a trail and off they went.  We followed, second mistake for me.  They went straight line through 12 year old plantation, briars and all.  Rather than go around on trails and roads, straight line.  If you have never experienced a young plantation in the south, think of a thicket where stuff on the ground wants you  to bid a wea, the trees have closed crowns at ground level and whip you as you and the team go through.  At night.

We finally hit the tree where the coon had climbed, and the dogs at the base.  The guys 10 year old son was with us and he told the boy to leash the dogs and hold on to them.  They gave me the honor of shooting the coon out, and I did.  When he hit the ground he took off on a high rate of speed for an injured coon.  The dogs, of course, took out after it.  The boy, told to hold the dogs, was not ready for that, and went down, to be drug by the dogs a short run through the woods and into the creek, where they got the coon.   Coon, dogs and boy soaked, and smelled all about the same.

Have you ever heard one of those things snarl? They sound like mad demons from hell 

[Tacotodd]

Yes I have. It was because of the group that I was with. I'm glad that my aim was good that day!

[thecfarm]

Right about the goats!! I am clearing land and I would let them loose. They would run for the cleared land. Have grass in front of the house, but as was mentioned they love the small bushes. 
Of all the animals I've had here, I miss the goats the most.
I had 2 goats that was funny little critters. I would let them loose and be working the tractor there too. I would shut the tractor off and be picking rocks of leveling out an area with hand tools. Them goats would wander off and be back to to me and could not see me. They would state a blatting!!! I would have to speak to them and tell them I am right here. They would come running and jumping over to me like they have not seen me for a week. :D  Than they would wander off again and start the cycle all over again in about 15 minutes.
I taught the goats to leave something alone by saying out,out,out to them. Yes a few times if there was a piece of paper sticking out on a shelf they would still have it in their mouths as I said out, out, out and they would drag something off the shelf, but they would leave that area.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Sorry, I have been off-line a couple days doing overnight distant sawing jobs.

   When my son was about 10 I took him behind our house in NC with his pump up BB gun. I was the squirrel dog looking for squirrels for him to shoot by shaking vines going up to leaf nests and searching likely trees. I had found and he had killed 2 cat squirrels. I came to a medium sized water oak with a likely looking nest and a convenient grape vine running up the tree. I told Sean to get ready and I pulled on the grapevine. The whole nest just sort of unraveled and climbed higher. Evidently it was a sleeping curled up in a nice crotch. I told Sean to shoot it in the head and he got a good rest, shot and the coon fell and got hung on a limb apparently dead. I told Sean not to worry as I'd get it for him and started climbing. (FWWIW I taught John Eubanks how to climb trees.) About half way up Sean started yelling that the coon was alive. I stopped climbing and told him to shoot it again. He zinged a dozen BBs around always hitting the limb the coon was on but not the coon. Several ricocheted dangerously close to me so I told him to stop and I'd go catch it. (Did I ever tell you I am a world class coon catcher with the scars to prove it.) I told Sean to be ready in case the coon fell out. I got up to the limb the coon was on and reached for him. Just as I felt fur he jumped and I watched him fall a good 40' to the ground. Sean immediately stuck his gun barrel to his ribs, shot and both took off running out of my sight but I could still hear a steady "Whack, Whack, Whack." I yelled at Sean "Stop beating that coon with your gun" and in reply I heard "Whack, Whack, Whack - I'm not beating him with my gun. Whack, whack, whack. I'm beating him with a stick." I finally got down from the tree and found Sean with a very well dead coon and a huge grin on his face. We took the coon home and got a picture or two, I cleaned it and Becky made hash from the meat. I tanned the hide and Becky made him a coonskin cap with the face pulled down in front and the tail in back. Sean kept that hat many year and hung it on his bed post. Years later he had a pet coon named Chester and when Chester would misbehave, Sean would point to the cap and say "You better behave! You see what happened to the last coon I had who didn't listen to me."

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know Spanish moss is a handy thing to use for lots of projects. It is great for washing dishes when camping, handy for wiping fish slime off your hands or to grab a pesky eel so you can hold and unhook him and it makes great field expedient toilet paper. Warning - it is typically filled with redbugs and sometimes seed ticks and such so make sure you have built up some immunity to those in the area or you may regret that particular choice.