Visit from a Four Pointer

[NVcurmudgeon]

We've been in our country place in Nevada for three years now. Wildlife is plentiful. My local birds seen list is up to about fifty species. The valley quail look like the morning and evening commute feeding across our yard going to and from their roost. Cottontails feed in Mama's flowers, and coyotes sing us to sleep. But we haven't seen one deer, though we know they are around. Today, at about 4:15 PM and 95 degrees, a very impressive four-point mule deer buck came down the hill on the side road, turned onto our road, and stopped to browse in the ditch. I was trying to get my stuck camper shell open about forty feet away. The buck took a good look at me, decided I wasn't much of a threat, and went back to his lunch. He stayed long enough for me to tap on the window of the room my wife was in, and for here to get out with the camera. We made no attempt to be quiet, and the deer leisurely wandered off down the road. I can only attribute this heat of the day appearance to this year's hot dry summer. Must be slim pickings in the mountains. It was unreal to be so close to a big buck without making him nervous. Reminded me of one of those old Hartford Insurance ads on television, where the big buck takes a walk downtown.

[madcaster]

And you didn't offer him any potato chips?LOL...
My dad was feeding a mulie doe out of a bag of chips in Colorado in a picture my brother John showed me....

[DanWalker]

My daughter once hand fed a 5x5 mulie buck some super sour gummy worms.
He was part of a semi tame herd that lives in the small fields and woodlots between the houses at the base of casper mountain. His rack was scraping the sides of my passenger window on my bronco as he was trying to cram his head in the truck to get more goodies.

[9.3X62AL]

Bill--

That feeding sequence was not the least bit related to drought or poor grazing in the local mountains.

He was flipping you off.

I have about a half-dozen cottontails at our new place, and they are fully aware of the HANDS-OFF policy invoked by SWMBO. They hang out under the pyrocantheas and rosemary bushes during the day, and come out at evening to eat the new-sprouting lawn and gloat at their privileged status. I was lining up a shot at a ground squirrel a few days ago, when Notch (my name for the rabbit with a divot in one ear) hopped into view at the bottom of the scope as I got sight picture on a ground squirrel. I squeezed off, the rat went down.......and Notch didn't even flinch.

THAT is arrogance.

[woody1]

.......and Notch didn't even flinch.

THAT is arrogance.
Al, mebe another notch in his ear would serve notice! When I was a kid we used to ventilate the ears of arrogant deer with our .22's to get their attention. To do this properly you do have to be a pretty good shot. Regards, Woody

[9.3X62AL]

I'd rather not incur or endure the wrath that would result from such a move, as laudable as it might be. With more ground squirrels than rabbits in residence, I have sufficient low-hazard entertainment on site.

[NVcurmudgeon]

Perish the thought of notching a cottontail here! SWMBO (there seem to be a lot of her clones resident among board members) tells me that she has an order from President Bush, endorsed by Queen Elizabeth, forbidding all interference with quail and cottontails. Rumor has it that there is even a Papal Bull sanctioning any and all cottontails to feed in SWMBO's sweetpea plantation.

On the subject of lawful prey, I haven't seen a ground squirrel for months, since it got so hot. It seems to me that if I keep after them in the spring, pickings get really slim in summer. I got a dozen year before last, two last year, and four so far this year. Must be careful to not deplete the resource, leaving the CZ 452 idle!

[BruceB]

In the parts of the Northwest Territories inhabited by Wood Bison, the big critters often demonstrate some real 'attitude".

When they get on one of the very few roads, for example, they frequently do NOT want to move off for such a minor aggravation as some human in a vehicle. In fact, I've seen quite a few vehicles which suffered rather severely from the ministrations of some peed-off buffalo.

Anyway, for many years it was (is?) a common practice to shoot the monsters in the ribs or butt with a .22 Short, which usually WILL move them. I know this to be absolute fact, because I have found .22 Short bullets in the hides of over half of the bison we killed. The little slugs never managed to get through the hide on any of the critters I skinned, perhaps a dozen or so examples, so it was probably like a big insect sting to the recipients. Over some period of time, the Short bullet would be enclosed in a sort of cyst-like growth which was plainly visible from the inside of the hide.

I never did this myself, nor would I, but it was interesting to see the results of the "goading" of the critters. I HAVE sat and waited while several bulls of well-over a ton each, were LYING in the middle of the two-lane gravel! Some of the damaged vehicles I mentioned got that way by getting a bit too pushy, moving up close and blowing horns, etc., and the bulls would decide to eliminate the noisy nuisance by pushing it off the road, and in some cases flipping it completely upside down....

[kodiak1]

Bruce use to haul supplies up to the mines in the winter months, Know exactly what you are talking about with the stubborn Bison. We had one of the company drivers write off a mack picking a fight with a bison. They had to load and haul the truck back to Edmonton to get fixed.
Of course the bison have the right away so the driver also got a ticket for incident.
Ken.

[BruceB]

Kodiak1, pard;

Tell you what, it is VERY nice to have someone like you occasionally step up to give me some backing on what many people might consider to be "war stories" or tall tales. Thank you very much!

There truly are "strange things done, 'neath the Midnight Sun", and many things are almost unbelievable for folks who haven't been there.

What part of Alberta do you call home? Various members of my family have lived in Alberta, and I still have a brother living against the BC line west of Grande Prairie.

[Pilgrim]

A minister friend likes to tell the story of a cow moose that got a bit irritated at his parishoner. The minister was riding shotgun at the time. This event took place somewheres outside of Anchorage. The roads get plowed frequently and it piles up quite deeply on both shoulders. The roads become sorta open topped tunnels. Anyway, this particular cow had been run back and forth for a while. A car/truck would push her one way and eventually she would step to the other side of the road and and the vehicle would go on past, and then it would repeat the other direction. The minister & driver were the right car at the wrong time. The cow got tired of the routine and stomped over the hood, thru the front windshield, the top of the car, thru the rear windshield and over the trunk on her way to wherever it was she decided to go. I believe the car was totalled, or nearly so. The cow was none the worse for wear. The stories of bull moose derailing trains ain't a myth either! Those critters are large and those that haven't been up close and personal with one of 'em just don't appreciate how large and powerful they are. Pilgrim

[Ricochet]

I do believe that the ones who derailed trains came off worse for the wear, however.

[HORNET]

FWIW, a few years ago I was driving truck and heard several times about moose taking offense at the air horns on semi's. Met up with a guy I went through driving shool with that was waiting for his International cab-over to get fixed after hitting one.
The word from other drivers was that black bears were the worst because they'd roll get rolled up into a ball and rip out every hose and wire under the truck on the way under.