Had a visitor this morning

Carpediem44DB

Carpediem44DB

Well-Known Member
Aug 18, 2015
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Sanfransico Bay area
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2000 Carver 506
2006 44 DB Sedan Bridge
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Volvo TAMD 74 P
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We have lived on a country property since the early seventies. Over the years we have seen many different species of wild life wonder around the property and other than squirrels most stay well away from the house and our dogs. This morning we had a yearling buck wonder over, jump the rope fence and spend about 1/2 hr playing with our dogs and even walking right up to me and allowing me to pet it. Blew my mind.
 
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We get deer in our backyard all the time, they eat our landscaping around the house drives my wife nuts. I think we are on their path from one woods to the other.
Not nearly as friendly as yours.. that's amazing he isn't afraid of the dogs.
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Carpediem44DB said:
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We have lived on a country property since the early seventies. Over the years we have seen many different species of wild life wonder around the property and other than squirrels most stay well away from the house and our dogs. This morning we had a yearling buck wonder over, jump the rope fence and spend about 1/2 hr playing with our dogs and even walking right up to me and allowing me to pet it. Blew my mind.
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Mother Nature at it's best! Nice to see
 
We have a family of them that hang out in our barn in the hot summer months and scatter whenever anyone approaches. We gave up trying to have a garden of any kind years ago to avoid the frustration of having it eaten. Having a lone one do what he did yesterday was just really strange. Must be another consequence of climate change :cool: I'm sure that's what an "expert" would hypothesize these days anyway.
Carpe Diem
 
That is so cool!
 
Obviously someones pet. They get pretty tame down here in the Keys from people hand feeding them
 
scoflaw said:
Obviously someones pet. They get pretty tame down here in the Keys from people hand feeding them
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I didn’t realize they had pine trees and deciduous trees in the Keys Perhaps I should be more attentive next time I’m in Conch Country.
 
carterchapman said:
Retrievers and Labs are such great gentle breeds. My Golden used to lay down and let the cats "groom" her! Young buck may not know enough to be afraid
Looks to me as the buck has been raised by someone, he has lost his natural instinct to flee. Seen it before.
Never works out good for the deer.
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They're pretty till one runs in front of your car, truck or motorcycle!!!
 
Looks like dinner :)
In this area where there is so many and they do lots of damage. We just call them large yard rats. lol But they sure do taste good. Wrap some bacon around it when they are cooking. Yummy.
 
We've enjoyed living in the woods for 40+ years also. For many years I fed deer October through April. I used to buy cull potatoes from a local farmer and another farmer friend sold me corn at market price. Some years I'd go to the UP and pickup loads of apples from abandoned orchards. It was actual entertainment looking out the windows. The kids liked watching, they knew a lot of deer on sight and many had names...more on this later.

Some deer groups didn't like other groups. Sometimes there'd be a specific deer that almost no one would tolerate. You could hear the thuds of hoof on body from in the house. Some deer got little to eat, they weren't allowed to, they'd get stomped and chased off into the woods. The outcast would come back and then someone else would beat up on them. The interaction between animals was interesting, not just deer to deer.

You might see mice, flying squirrels, regular squirrels, birds, grouse, raccoons, and deer all at the same time. It was something to see a nice buck walk over to a raccoon, give it a nudge with it's foot, like move over. There'd be flare ups, threatening moves and fights, when it was over sometimes an extra foot of space made things OK again....as long as there was enough food.

All this food benefited predators too. My outside cats would be there for the birds, squirrels, and mice. The owls would be around for all them and the cats. Poor cats, we lost count but had near 40 cats over the years. I'm pretty sure the owls and fishers got most of them. The coyotes, rarely seen, were always around to eat anything they could. I shot a nice buck, it got dark, I couldn't find him. I got up at daylight the next morning and found him right away...there was nothing left, the coyotes found him first.

Of course the bears liked corn and apples too. N Wisconsin has 25-30,000 bears mostly in the northern third of the state. I usually say there's one behind every tree but that's stretching it a bit. My wife had a problem with that when we moved into the woods, bambi was OK, bears were bad. For years she was certain a bear would get her but she's still here, the only damage has been some bird feeders. We had a couple issues with just one bear in all the years, he made me nervous, he was an extra big one. We knew that bear, saw him often, watched him grow up, maybe that was the problem. One fall a neighbor a couple miles away turned him into sammiches and a bear rug. It took a few years but my wife is comfortable living in the woods now, she thinks even the bears are cool.

Getting back to the kids and firing up the grill...my kids always understood that the deer they see by house could be the ones I see out in the woods when I was hunting. Well....one year I shot a little fork buck for meat. No big deal, they had seen many dead deer, it wasn't a big rack, they had little interest and almost didn't bother to even look at it....but they did and instantly burst into tears...YOU SHOT BUCKY!!!!!!
 
Woody, Do you guys have wolves? We do. None on my cameras yet, but my neighbor has a few.

How about this guy? DNR says they aren't up here...
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spikedaddy99 said:
Woody, Do you guys have wolves? We do. None on my cameras yet, but my neighbor has a few.

How about this guy? DNR says they aren't up here...
View attachment 79302
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No, we don't have a wolf pack in our immediate area but not to many miles one way or the other they are there. I've seen a few over the years. We have a lot of coyotes and I'm told that is a sign there aren't any wolves. The wolves will clean them out, they don't cohabitate, a canine thing I guess.

Cougars, I've seen one just south of Elcho, my wife and son saw one(same time) south Rhinelander, I know many people that have seen them. One person I know was walking her dog when she saw a cougar with two little ones in the Harshaw area. This particular women was experienced with all hunting and her husband was a part time taxidermist, they had actually done cougar mounts(not from here). She said I know what I saw.

Years ago one guy I know had property by Mercer. During deer season he was walking a logging trail from the old days that circled around a small swamp. A track was going down the old trail, he didn't know what it was, 4 toes no claws showing. He followed it, he was going that way anyway, movement caught his eye. There was a hemlock leaning over the trail and there was a cougar in the tree, the movement was the tip of it's tail. It jumped down and ran away.

I think the DNR only gets a fraction of the cougar sightings because most people don't report the them. A lot of sightings I think are incorrect but enough of them are. Maybe they are transients like the DNR says but I don't think so. Most people up here have never seen a bobcat but they're here. I have just one time while grouse hunting. My guess is there could be a small population resident cougars in WI, probably less than a dozen. Those things have a normal large home range, add in transients and it can account for a lot of sightings.

I like the animals, it would be cool if elk, moose, even buffalo could live here like they used to but hat would mean there'd be few deer. Maybe it wouldn't be so cool when you hit one of those big things with your car though:D
 
Woody said:
No, we don't have a wolf pack in our immediate area but not to many miles one way or the other they are there. I've seen a few over the years. We have a lot of coyotes and I'm told that is a sign there aren't any wolves. The wolves will clean them out, they don't cohabitate, a canine thing I guess.

Cougars, I've seen one just south of Elcho, my wife and son saw one(same time) south Rhinelander, I know many people that have seen them. One person I know was walking her dog when she saw a cougar with two little ones in the Harshaw area. This particular women was experienced with all hunting and her husband was a part time taxidermist, they had actually done cougar mounts(not from here). She said I know what I saw.

Years ago one guy I know had property by Mercer. During deer season he was walking a logging trail from the old days that circled around a small swamp. A track was going down the old trail, he didn't know what it was, 4 toes no claws showing. He followed it, he was going that way anyway, movement caught his eye. There was a hemlock leaning over the trail and there was a cougar in the tree, the movement was the tip of it's tail. It jumped down and ran away.

I think the DNR only gets a fraction of the cougar sightings because most people don't report the them. A lot of sightings I think are incorrect but enough of them are. Maybe they are transients like the DNR says but I don't think so. Most people up here have never seen a bobcat but they're here. I have just one time while grouse hunting. My guess is there could be a small population resident cougars in WI, probably less than a dozen. Those things have a normal large home range, add in transients and it can account for a lot of sightings.

I like the animals, it would be cool if elk, moose, even buffalo could live here like they used to but hat would mean there'd be few deer. Maybe it wouldn't be so cool when you hit one of those big things with your car though:D
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My first day EVER bow hunting (here in Wi) a bobcat came and sat at the base of my stand. I was sure it was coming up the tree to gouge my eyes out. It finally saw me, I flinched at it, and it scrammed. Then 2 years ago 1 had 2 kits in our backyard (well, 40 acres) and was teaching them how to hunt...my wifes chickens...
 
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