Whatcha got- voles, squirrels, chipmunks, , snakes, deer, ... bears?
Share your stories or ways of dealing with them.

Pic of baby toad from nearby woods

Cute story from Maine about a pet squirrel
http://www.kivitv.com/news/mer...

About 3 weeks ago I went out to feed my goat Homer. He didn't want to come near his building that morning and was skittish on the hillside all day. That evening he acted the same way. Knowing it's to cold for snakes I looked into to find Boo Boo, last years bear cub curled up in the hay. I reckon he thought he'd found a nice place to sleep for the winter. Not wanting to poke a bear at dusk I left him alone hoping he'd leave that night. NOT. The next morning he was still there. I poked him with a stick from outside the building. They say don't try to outrun bears. Don't. He shot out of the building in about 2 or 3 bounds, ran down the hill, never to be seen again. After changing the bedding it was still a couple of days before Homer would go in.

Good grief John!
I forgot that you had goats. Just one now? And what kind again? Have they been any help with briars and brambles? Here we have 'Rent a Goat' for lot clearing.
Do you generally see bears around your place?

Thanks for the new thread Sally.

If I knew how to put pics from my phone to the computer and then put them on this site I would. He's a LaMancha. White, deformed horns, no ears and as big as an average size deer. He's spoiled and like a dog with me but to a stranger he can be standoffish. Typical concept is goats eat everything, they don't, they eat what they want. Given enough time he'll do a pretty good job though. Yes I did have 2 goats. I had to put Jethro down because he injured his hind legs and eventually couldn't walk. I then got a replacement with an older goat named Davey. His health got bad and I had to put him down. So I'm down to Homer. He has a bully streak in him (hereditary) so I'm not going to get any more.

John--

Can goats that have been "Put down be rendered for meat? Or does that seem unacceptable?

Like Jethro [ he injured his hind legs and eventually couldn't walk]-
Not like he had a disease or something....
I apologize if this question seems insensitive,,,,just wondering.... Gita

thanks Judy for posting the working link on the last thread.

I could NOT eat a goat I had named and petted.
Say Hi to Homer for me, John. Apologies for not mentioning goats in my list of backyard critters.
I guess that bear charge was quite a thrill!

Gita the breed I have are dairy goats so there wasn't much meat on him. I'll tell you a story about him at the swap if I remember. I'm like Sally, I couldn't eat my pet.

John, not sure I want to see any bears around here. They were frequent visitors at Mike's sister Bonnie's house in Bluemont and often came up on her deck at night. I wouldn't want to be seeing one sleeping in the goat building either LOL. In all the years we have lived here in the woods, we have never seen a bear. A few years ago we did see evidence of one though. The metal pole holding bird feeders and suet cages was bent down to the ground and the feeders and cages were destroyed. There were also claw marks in the bark of one of the trees. Must have just been passing through.

Funny story, when Mike's brother Lowell first moved in he brought his girlfriend's (now wife) cocker spaniel rescue with him. Riley was very skittish and scared of everyone, especially Mike. It took about two weeks for him to warm up to me, but it probably was a good two years or more before he would let Mike near him. One morning Riley had gone outside but with Mike being the last one to leave, he couldn't get Riley to come back in to the house. The weather folks were predicting ferocious thunder storms that day, so Mike finally decided to leave the garage door open and also the door from the garage into the house, hoping that Riley would come in once he was gone. At the end of the work day, I came home in that predicted thunderstorm and a wet, bedraggled, scared little cocker spaniel came running to me with obvious relief. We went into the house, I got dinner together, and generally putzed around for about an hour or so before Mike came home. When he went to toss his dirty clothes into the laundry room, he immediately did a quick back track into the kitchen wondering how long I had been home and had I not noticed a black bear sleeping in there??? Well, black bear was his first reaction but it was actually a very large black dog. Apparently it had run off scared in the storm, found the open doors into our house, and took shelter. My guess is that poor Riley was scared of it so that is why he was still outside in the rain when I came home. The dog didn't have a collar, but we started calling around with his description and someone knew who it was - belonged to a guy who lived 2 or 3 miles away!

Terri, you have so many funny stories

Great stories, Uncle John and Aspenhill!
Was it a Newfoundland, Terri? Those dogs do kind of look like black bears. My neighbors have one, and that thing is 6' long when she stretches out. She scares little kids when she runs up to them sometimes.

I liked reading about the pet "attack" squirrel too, Sally!

I was out watering today, yes watering on Feb 19, and repeatedly saw a Mourning Cloak butterfly. They are one of the few local butterfly species that overwinter as adults. Even so, it is unthinkable to see any butterfly out and about in the middle of February. A delight to see, but a little disconcerting.

Poor thing....there can't be enough nectar plants in bloom. Although, it would fare better in your yard than in mine. I have no natives in bloom except Witchhazel.

I saw a chipmunk running around today! It wasn't good hibernating weather, I guess.

I saw a butterfly today also. In the woods. I think mourning cloak. I saw black wings with white or yellow edge.

Well, I learned something new! Mourning Cloaks feed on tree sap, so I don't need to feel bad that there aren't flowers around for them.

This is an interesting site....tells how to create a 'pee-rimiter' around plnts or areas you want to protect from certain critters.
https://www.predatorpee.com/

Jamie called He said that the Peepers in the woods across the street are so loud you can hear them from his barn. Hope they will be ok when the cold comes back. I'm not hearing any from our house.

I heard them last night. The weather was right for it, but not the calendar!! But only by a couple weeks.

I haven't heard any spring peepers by the pond yet.

No treefrogs here yet, either... they are smarter than some of my plants!!

I started finding slugs already, guess I'll be doing ammonia drenches on the hostas early this year. Once the surrounding beds are cleaned up it makes a remarkable difference in the damage from slugs. It's an inexpensive treatment and also feeds the starting plants
The neighbor reported he has found ticks in his yard. I had hoped that the refreeze would kill the bugs, not just the buds. I guess I'll also be spraying the dogs yard early this year .