Did You know - outdoor edition

[KEC]

I've done some calling where I went out specifically to call foxes and coyotes with some success and then there were times that I saw a critter and lip squeaked to imitate an animal in distress to see the response. I had a mink come in at a dead run to within ~6'. One Great-horned Owl flew in  on a course straight at my face and landed in the tree I was in just beyond arms reach, looked at me as to say "yuck!" and flew off. On 3 occaisions I had Long-eared Owls respond with 2 that nearly struck my head. Gray Foxes are very bold and will about jump in your lap. Each time you wish you had someone to share the experiece and vouch  for you. A cheap diaphram  turkey call makes a good predator call to imitate a canine pup in distress. No batteries needed.

[HemlockKing]

  I read a story once in an outdoor magazine where the Burnham Brothers went to Africa and tested their calls. I think they were one of the main early call makers. They found the calls worked well over there too when they nearly got eaten pretty quickly by lions and/or leopards and such.

  I wonder what your brother's mountain lion thought about the rabbit that attacked him? :D Glad he got out okay. I read one tail where a bear responded and the caller jumped up and started yelling but it refused to stop and he shot it with his .243. He reported it to DNR as bears were not legal game in his state and I think they accepted his story and let him go with nothing else said about it. I don't remember who got the bear.

 My BIL in Alaska says lots of the residents up there buy a $10 bear stamp even though they have no plans to hunt them. If you have a stamp and have to shoot one in self defense you can report it and keep it but if not you have to report it but cannot keep the hide and/or meat.

Have you ever tried eating black bear? Hear good about it never tried myself. None the less I'd like to try it once at least and harvest the hide/good fireplace mat

[WV Sawmiller]

HK,

    The only bear I ever ate was some stew from one somebody gave us. It was not very good but may have just been the way it was fixed. I watch these shows about people up in Alaska and they seem to swear by a young black bear. My BIL up there says many of the folks there don't eat the Grizzlies especially where they have been feeding on Salmon. He says they have a fishy taste.

   I won't shoot one on my place because I don't want the meat and have it posted so others can't either. I'm not opposed to people bear hunting if they are going to use the meat and now WV law requires all edible parts of a deer, turkey or bear to be harvested. I think it is a good law.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know that there are other native North American plants that cause itching in some people besides Poison Ivy, Poison Oak and Poison Sumac (Which are all Rhus genus and have 3 leaf plants)? Another couple of common ones are Cow itch vines or trumpet vine /Trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans) and even Carolina jasamine (Gelsemiun sempervirens). They can both cause a rash similar to poison ivy toxicity. Both of these are also commonly grown as ornamental plants. The trumpet creeper has pretty orange flowers hummingbirds like and can be trained on a trellis or such to make nice shaded arches and such. 

[Magicman]

I have not known Poison Sumac to be a 3 leaf plant:  LINK

[WV Sawmiller]

Ooops! Obviously it is not a common plant around here or I'd be more current on my recollections. Thanks for the catch, MM. Still Rhus. Still poison. More than 3 leaves.

[Don P]

Mango fruit skin can in some people, I think I remember that some are sensitive to the skin of pawpaws?

[KEC]

Years ago, a friend shot a bear in the Adirondacks. He field dressed it right away and it stayed cold until he got it home. He was going to toss the meat so I took it to my house and boned it out into mostly stew meat and roasts. Gave some to him and another friend. I made a big crock pot full of stew and took it to a family Christmas party. Everyone who tried it said it was good, including my father who was a hard man to please. We can legally take bear here where I live, though they are only occaisionally seen. If the opportunity presented itself, I'd take it. I've heard that grizzlies have some huge roundworm parasites in the flesh that pretty much spoil peoples' appetite for eating them.

[WV Sawmiller]

  According to this clip as I remember Daniel Boone used to be pretty popular for his bear bacon. I am sure a properly dressed, butchered and cooked bear would be very good. I prefer herbivores to omnivores if the truth be told.

The Best Bacon Story Ever - YouTube

[Magicman]

I prefer herbivores to omnivores if the truth be told.

But a hog is very omnivores and will eat anything that is in front of it's snout.  May not can catch and kill it, but it certainly will eat it.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Well, technically I guess that is correct and if we pushed it far enough a chicken will also pretty much eat anything it can choke down. A bear is much more of a carnivore than a herbivore given the chance. I do love my pork though. ;)

[Tacotodd]

Speaking of the predator calls; I was coyote hunting and using a turkey mouth diaphragm call, that way the sounds that you make while slipping around (because you & turkeys both are walking on 2 legs) aren't suspicious of the sound. It's a good plan because once I collected a nice one that was just laying there and sunning it's self and it heard me and the purrs and thought that an easy lunch was coming to it. It's the last "free" meal that it ever thought about. It let me get to within in 25yds and it got a face full of 10ga turkey load then proceeded to roll about 5yds away from me due to the impact. THAT was a fun day with dad about 15yr ago. We both laughed like we were insane that day. ;) ;D!

[Texas Ranger]

I prefer herbivores to omnivores if the truth be told.

But a hog is very omnivores and will eat anything that is in front of it's snout.  May not can catch and kill it, but it certainly will eat it.

Killed a big boar hog way back in the woods, one of those kill that thing situations, took the head for the teeth and left the rest.  We tried to field dress it,  the smell and distance to the truck was too great.  Several days later we were back in the deep woods an found the hog, my estimate over 300 pound, was only the hide and very few bones.  Evidence of hog and coyote feasting on the remains.  They eat their own as well.

[Hilltop366]

Had a bluejay pecking on a dead mouse yesterday, it mostly pecked at the head, perhaps it was a zombie bluejay.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Remember a bluejay is a first cousin to a crow, magpie and raven. All in the same birdy (Corvidae ) family.

[WV Sawmiller]

  We have mentioned them but never talked about them in detail so I'll talk a bit about deer feeders. Did you know the primary purpose of a deer feeder is to attract deer to a specific area where a hunter can harvest them? A major advantage to them is besides putting out feed they can be used to help encourage the deer to come as a specific time.


My typical deer feeder set up in WV.

   There are several types of deer feeders. A typical feeder is a plastic case with a timer placed at the bottom of a container, usually a bucket or barrel, filled with feed. The timer can be electronic or manual with setting for the time when the feeder will go off and for how long and with how much force. Some I have had even had a calendar option where I could set it for specific days of the week. (I never used that option - I know deer can learn approximate times the feeder will go off but I doubt they really keep up with the day of the week. :) Some feeders have photocells and go off based on daylight and sunset times/light. Some have little pins that you can set and the timer trips and goes off as a little "clock" hand passes the pin. My feeders have had settings so they would run from 1 to 30 seconds to control the amount of feed distributed. 

   On the top of the feeder is a little spinner which is just a plate hooked to a little, normally 6v, battery. The feed gravity feeds out of the storage container above through a small hole on to the plate about 1/2" to 3/4" below. The feed trickles down and stops until the timer goes off and spins the feed off for the duration set. The height and speed of the feeder determine how far the feed is scattered. Batteries need to be changed regularly unless they are hooked to a solar charger which is a common practice and a good idea as the less you have to tend a feeder the less foreign smell you leave which is also a good reason for a larger hopper/storage container. My current feeders are made by Moiultrie and have a fitting on the bottom of the barrel so I can simply twist counter clockwise to remove it at the end of the season and I leave the barrels there all summer till I set them back up in the Fall.

   The most commonly used feed in a feeder is whole kernel corn but they should work with any similar sized grain or pellets should work. I'd think shelled soybeans, shelled peanuts, dry dog feed, etc should work as long as it stays dry and does not swell and stop up the feeder hole. Deer corn is supposed to be cleaner and sells for a higher price but I suspect it is the same corn in a different bag. You would be ahead of the game to strain or winnow the feed to remove any foreign debris which might fall into and stop up the spinner plate.

   Other type of feeders are simply gravity containers that drop feed down as it is removed. A common type here is made from 4" to 6" PVC pipe 3'-4' long with a 45* fitting on the bottom with a cap dry fitted on the bottom of the fitting and on the top. It it tied vertically to a tree or such with the fitting end down and filled with corn from the top. As the feed is eaten out of the open end of the 45* fitting, more feed falls down to replace it. I think in Texas and such 55 gallon drums on tripods are set up to feed deer and wild hogs and such.

   I set my feeders, as shown in the picture, on a cable between 2 trees. I attach a boat trailer type winch to a convenient tree to raise and lower the feeder to service it. The white or clear plastic barrels are good because you can see the level of the feed and tell when to add more. I set mine to feed about half an hour after sunrise and an hour or so before sunset and run them 4 seconds at a feeding to throw about 1 lb of corn per feeding. 

   Placing them on a cable between 2 trees allows me to keep them far enough away the bears can't tear them down. I have had squirrels and coons gnaw through the plastic so now put the metal flashing on top to discourage them. I had a fox squirrel chew through one and duct taped the hole closed and sprayed the top with WD40. The next day I saw the squirrel climb up and jump over to the barrel, scramble wildly when he had no traction and fell to the ground. I nearly fell out of my stand laughing at him. I keep a slingshoot a shot in my stands to chase off the doves and once a bear who found she could climb a nearby hickory and reach my feeder. Anybody else out there who ever shot a bear in the butt with a marble? :D

   Woodpeckers and other small birds come steal corn out of the spinner but it is a small amount and I don't worry about it. They knock out more than they steal and ensure small amounts are there at off hours. I am sure they get surprised if feeding with the timer sets off the spinner. Squirrels, chipmunks, and coons come get a little feed but are not a big problem. Turkeys and doves will eat up the entire feeding before deer arrive if not chased off.

   I've never done it or seen it done but there is no reason the feeders could not be used to attract songbirds around your home. They could also be set up to feed livestock, poultry or pets if someone wanted to do so. A shroud and/or funnel could be attached to drop feed into a pan or trough if you wanted to feed goats, poultry or dogs if in an area that was dry enough.

   Feeders should only be used where legal. Some states say you must remove them 2 weeks before hunting the area. WV did not allow them when I moved her 31+ years ago but changed their regs 6-7 years ago to allow them on private land. Some game, such as turkeys and bear cannot be killed here over feeders.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know squirrels eat pine cones or at least the seeds in them? We think of squirrels eating acorns, walnuts, hickory nuts, and other nuts but squirrels will also readily eat the seeds in various pine cones. In many cases under a big pine tree you will see large mounds of pine cone scales, the little tightly packed pieces that make up the cone. They are connected at the core of the pine cone and overlap sort of like an artichoke heart and when ripe they open and spread out and the seeds fall out. The squirrels cut the scales loose at the base/core and eat the seeds leaving behind a pile of light colored scales and completely stripped pine cone cores. I have seen these piles a foot high and several feet in diameter around a cone loaded pine tree.

   Pine squirrels, called Fairydiddles here in WV, primary food in many cases is pine nuts. 

[Tacotodd]

I've also seen our local grey's eat them when the season was off for the other preferred food. I also know that early spring season tree rats taste a little "unique" because of this. I much prefer the taste of the fall taken ones.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know the fish many people first start on and many never give up on are called Bream (Pronounced Brim) in the south? They are assorted small sunfish. Many only weigh a few ounces and one over a pound is considered a trophy fish by many people. They include some with funny names like Bluegills, shellcrackers, stumpknockers, coon-bream, redbellies, etc. They are readily caught on crickets, small worms, waxworms, catalpa worms, mealworms and various artificial baits such as small spinners, jigs and flies and cork "popping" bugs. They are often caught on straight cane or fiberglass poles with a bobber, small hook and a BB sized sinker. They are caught on fly rods and ultra-light tackle. Most of the fish feed on insects, small minnows, crawfish, and even mussels (in the case of shellcrackers who have a special device to grind open the shell).

 They are very tasty fish and great fun to catch. For their size they are very hard fighting fish and can make your line sing and really put a bow in a fly rod or ultra-light rod. There is nothing I can think of more fun than taking a kid fishing and watching him/her jerk a bunch of bream out of a farm pond, public reservoir or stream.

 Some people cut small fillets off their bream but we always fried them whole. We'd roll or coat them in a cornmeal, some people use a commercial bread crumb coating, and fry them in oil. To eat a whole fried bream you first pull the row of bones along the backbone (the dorsal fin) out then take your thumb and slide the meat off one side with your thumb, flip him over and repeat on the other side then slide the meat off the tail section. When finished you will have a bare skeleton like you used to see the cartoon cats pulling out of a trash can.

 The left over corn meal was typically used to make hushpuppies which were then fried in the fish grease. Some people fried sliced potatoes in the same grease to help clarify it too. In the deep South part of Florida grits and sometimes swamp cabbage also were served as side dishes.

 Occasionally someone would swallow or get a small bone stuck in their throat which actually can be serious. The technique we used to clear it often involved eating/swallowing a rolled up piece of bread. Maybe our resident medical experts can offer other/better methods.

[doc henderson]

we do an x-ray to see if we see a bone there.  often a scratch from the bone will feel like a bone still stuck there.  most make their way on down.  the lore is to eat bread, but by the time you get to us, we are usually past that.  It is rare (never seen it) to actually choke (not be able to breath) on a fish bone.  the most common thing stuck in an esophagus, is a big chunk of meat not properly chewed, in someone with a stricture.  some people get this in public settings more than at home.  prob. some spasm from social anxiety.  may go to OR to look with a scope, but often nothing there.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Thanks Doc. Yeah, most of the time as I remember the small flexible bones I am talking about don't stop your breathing but they irritate you so you do cough a lot trying to dislodge them. The bread often seems to clear the object.

  This is one real old timers used to like to catch an eel. They could feed it to the kids with no worries about any small bones for the kids to choke on.

[Don P]

I know its just a hot dog that delivers but I think I prefer living dangerously.

[WV Sawmiller]

Don,

    ???

   After reading that last statement a couple of times I think one of us is losing his mind - and I feel pretty normal if the truth be told. :D Am I missing something? Did you choke on a hot dog and have a blackout or something?

[WV Sawmiller]

   How do you hook your minnow or other live bait? I have used several techniques to keep them alive as long as possible. Crappie are notorious for not eating a dead minnow. I like to hook them through both lips with a thin wire hook (usually #2). My next preferred method is to hook them through the eye socket. I push the hook completely through just in front of the eyeball. This way I do not puncture the eyeball. This is the technique I use to hook live bream on by bushhooks/limblines for catfish. The last preferred method I use is to hook them through the body near the tail. If you hook the backbone he will not live long and this way he does not swim as naturally. When they are biting good I have had crappies hit a lip hooked minnow and knock him up the line, I'd land the fish, re-hook the still live minnow in the eye socket, quickly catch another and save the same minnow an rehook him through the tail and catch another before he died. I have even tried taking the same now newly deceased and very shopworn minnow and hook through the head and drag him around hoping a fish would grab him.

   I have seen pictures where people attached a big shiner or such to a hook, maybe two, using rubber bands but I never tried that.

[Tacotodd]

Rip them lips ;)