There's a Fox with an attitude under our porch Right Now!

[PatMarlin]

We're sittin' here enjoying our mornin' coffee, and wife starts screamin' cause the dogs come running down the side of the hill and one's got a fox in it's mouth!

My female. She got 3 gray squirrels just in the past to weeks, and I don't know how she does it... :confused: :mrgreen:

So I'm thinkin' to myself, no big deal let em' eat, but my wife and Mother- inlaw are screamin' that the fox is alive, and sho nuff, I look out the window and it was alive tryin' to shake loose from my dogs' choppers.

Wife's now out there yellin' at the dogs to let it go, so I grab my coat and by the time I step out on the porch, the fox breaks away and heads right at me with the dogs in close pursuit.

All I could do is pull a "Matador" with my coat!!... I stepped aside with a genuine "Olay", and that fox blew by me with a snarl and headed under the porch for cover... :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Sheesh... where's the video camera rollin' when you need it? :confused:

He's one pi$$ed off snarlin' little dood under there, but I still snapped these pics.... :mrgreen:

[Cisco]

All he wants is for you to feed him a can of sardines. :twisted:

[Poygan]

Pat: Feed him and he may hang around. My cousin lives in town with a brushy area at the back of his house. He has had a female fox with kits living back there for sometime. I wouldn't call her friendly but she does appreciae the food and chicken carcasses he sets out. Once in a while she has to share with a possum.

[kenjuudo]

Pat, nice grey...call your local PETA and have them send someone out to pet and console the poor defenseless critter.

jim

[versifier]

Just put one of your favorite cast boolits right between its eyes. The pelt might be worth salvaging if the dogs haven't put holes in it already. It would make a nice warm hat.

[PatMarlin]

Where's PETA's number.. :confused:

[montana_charlie]

People talk about 'wild animals' but only rarely get close enough to one to call it 'interaction'. We have times when our pets start acting 'wild', and they can be surprisingly ferocious, for a little while...but, truly wild critters are most interesting animals.
Unlike a 'stray cat' that acts pretty 'wild' because it is lost and frightened, a 'feral cat' (or fox, raccoon, whatever) has a ferocity that permeates his entire being. Even a cottontail (under some circumstances) can seem to be possessed by the devil.

I don't go out of my way to harass wild animals, but there are occasions when I might have one (usually a 'coon) in captivity for a short while. I am always amazed by their determination to remain my 'enemy'.

I adopted a mustang back in '93. Other than having been penned up with others of her kind for two months, she had no experience with man. Taming and training that filly made for an 'interesting' summer...
CM

[Ricochet]

Last night my wife was out in her smoking chair on the back deck at 1:00 a.m. when the neighborhood bear showed up rustling around the trash cans a few feet away, just outside the deck rail. The cats were acting funny. She heard the sound as he jostled the cans, looked up and saw the young bear. He tried to come around the cans, slipped on the wet clay (I have to REALLY be careful walking around that corner!), and started sliding down the slope toward the raccoon. Jane jumped up, stomped her feet and yelled at the bear. He wasn't expecting to encounter a human. He took off running into the next door neighbor's yard. I heard about it some 3 hours later when she came up for a shower, after being back out there a few more times. She was up all night getting ready for her family coming over for Christmas today. I'd run into the same bear while walking at night 2 weeks ago. He ran from me.

[montana_charlie]

He ... slipped on the wet clay ... and started sliding down the slope toward the raccoon.
So...tell us what the raccoon did.

Jane jumped up, stomped her feet and yelled at the bear. He took off running into the next door neighbor's yard.
Bet they appreciated THAT!

I heard about it some 3 hours later when she came up for a shower...
You talking about Jane...or the neighbor?
She had to use your shower 'cuz the bear was using hers?
CM

[Ricochet]

Didn't hear any more about the raccoon, but I expect he got out of the way.

Jane wasn't in any unusual need of a shower, or particularly upset about the bear. She'd just gotten to a point of getting things ready where she thought it OK to stop for a shower. She's still going, yakking with a friend on the phone right now. She'll crash before long, I expect. I'm about to go out for a walk to work off a few of the day's calories. I'll let you know if I see the bear again. I hadn't, and figured I'd probably scared him off 2 weeks ago. He's probably been telling his bear buddies about the crazy guy with the Santa hat who was coming after him hollering "Hey, Bear!" (He cocked his head, gave me a "What the hell?!..." look, and took off through some other neighbors' yards.)

[montana_charlie]

I am sure all of your neighbors truly appreciate your wildlife mangement techniques. ;-

[ron brooks]

:mrgreen: ROTFLMAO :mrgreen:


Pat, nice grey...call your local PETA and have them send someone out to pet and console the poor defenseless critter.

jim

[Ricochet]

I am sure all of your neighbors truly appreciate your wildlife mangement techniques. ;-
One of 'em drove down in his pickup the next morning to tell me he'd seen the bear go through his back yard the night before, as I was out picking up my paper. "Yeah, he was running away from me," I told him.

So far as wildlife management techniques go, better security of trash cans and getting pet food in at night would get the bears to move elsewhere pretty quickly. People here aren't used to dealing with bears, though. We've had a couple pass through transiently before, but this one's the first that's stayed around any length of time.

Just got back from my walk. No bears sighted.

[Ricochet]

I went out back just now to pet Callie the kitty, and the skunk went running under the deck.

I rather like that skunk. He's sort of semidomesticated. He's gotten rid of the troublesome raccoons at the bird feeder (he likes to dig under it at night), and if he hangs out at the back he just might get rid of the bear for me, too.

[Bass Ackward]

I rather like that skunk. He's sort of semidomesticated. He's gotten rid of the troublesome raccoons at the bird feeder (he likes to dig under it at night), and if he hangs out at the back he just might get rid of the bear for me, too.


Ric,

Ain't it interesting how we look at life differently? Now me, .... I wouldn't see losing racoons and a bear for a skunk as a fair, or even a desireable trade.

[Bass Ackward]

He's one pi$$ed off snarlin' little dood under there, but I still snapped these pics.... :mrgreen:


Pat,

Yes Sir. You sure put your life in your own hands to bring us those pics.

Are you sure that you didn't have one of the servants snap those? :oops:

I was looking for bullet impact marks in the concrete, but remembered that just like PETA that you are a member of NOSHOOTA and are an ammo concervationist at heart. :grin:

[PatMarlin]

Still fuming over that stainless Howa Timney Trigger I see Dr. BA.. :mrgreen:

[MT Gianni]

Ricochet, I had a friend come home from an unsuccessful day elk hunting a few years ago. As he pulled in the driveway a bear ran out of his garbage cans 5' from the house. He took his bow into the house went to the bedroom where a window was open on a warm september night and the bear was right back at the cans. He hit full draw and released just as his wife walked in saying " Don't you dare". 1 hole in the screen and he said lights came on all over the hill as the bear ran off and did his death cries. He had to wait until 2:00 AM to go gut him out. Moral of the story is screens get fixed pretty easy but ya gotta have good neighbors. Gianni.

[Ricochet]

Boy, you got that right about good neighbors!

I really don't want to see this bear get hurt. Hopefully my neighbors will catch on about not feeding him. But if the skunk happens to let him have it in my yard, I'd say it'll take him out of my immediate sphere of concern.

[swheeler]

PM; what a wonderful Christmas present for the little lady, a new fur collar for her coat!

[PatMarlin]

I posted this over on a fishing forum I had been a regular member at and one guy chastised me for the situation, said the F***n' Fox had lived there long before me and my dogs, and I should let the F***n' fox go.

Well- I took a tip from my good buddy Jim Kenjuudo, and posted...

"Calm down John... the fox is safe and home in his den.

Called PETA and they came down right away, consoled him, and gave him a safe escort".. :mrgreen:

[Bass Ackward]

I posted this over on a fishing forum I had been a regular member at and one guy chastised me for the situation, said the F***n' Fox had lived there long before me and my dogs, and I should let the F***n' fox go.

Well- I took a tip from my good buddy Jim Kenjuudo, and posted...

"Calm down John... the fox is safe and home in his den.

Called PETA and they came down right away, consoled him, and gave him a safe escort".. :mrgreen:


Pat,

Funny how people look at things. That fox has rights and feelings as a living creature put on this earth by God, but the fish he catches do not? Understand I fish too and I live with it.

But if you want to get technical about it, raping somethings face or guts that strikes because it is hungry is a lot lower station in life to me than a dog being a dog.

Anyway, how did that guy know how long you lived there? What's the life span of a fox? 7 years? 10 years?

[PatMarlin]

The same thoughts ran though my mind.. dood doesn't have a problem with getting his decks all bloody with albies or bonnies, as they lay there and suffocate whilst the bite is on.

I guess them fish were there a mite bit longer than he was too.. :roll: :mrgreen:

It's like the tree hugger libs in San Francisco bay area... They now all burn firewood and wood stoves? ***?... and they tell us we can't touch the forest and save it from catastrophic wild fires, then we can't even go in and salvage usable burnt timber cause we might disturb the soil.

And their "Clean Air" commissions are trying to stop folks from burning leaves in the mountains.

These people are hypocrites in the heighest order... :roll:

[kenjuudo]

When it comes to putting up or shutting up, those pantie waisted liberals are no-shows, sure they will cut a check, but that is about it. They see wildlife as if the world was one big Disney movie.

You had an immature grey fox make a mistake that will never be repeated, had you reached out to give it a helping hand it would have taken a piece of you. I'll base that speculation on 30 years of trapping experiance and 10 years experiance as a wildlife rehabilitator, not once did any of the local "Hugging" organizations contact me about defraying the cost of vet bills and vacinations/medications or the required facilities.

Ask one of those S#!T heads how much damage their kitty is causeing out there and what they are doing about it.

jim

[montana_charlie]

And their "Clean Air" commissions are trying to stop folks from burning leaves in the mountains.
The 'clean air' folks give me a pain in the neck...especially when they try to tie humans into the 'global warming' thing.

They can't seem to grasp the fact that the earth has gone through numerous heating and cooling cycles since it's birth, and that they seem to be part of 'what it takes' for this particular planet to be able to support life.
And, in that process, life also gets destroyed. Ninety-five percent of the life on this planet was wiped out a few hundred million years before the first dinosaur...not by automobiles, meteors, or invading aliens...but by a naturally occuring 'hiccup' of this ball of dirt.

Right now, they want us to stop burning 'fossil fuels' which are nothing more than 'old hydrocarbons'. Meanwhile, they insist that burning 'new hydrocarbons' (like pellet fuel and alcohol) is perfectly fine.

Whatever the source, they go on to maintain that man's use of fuel is filling the atmosphere with 'greenhouse gasses', while ignoring the thousands of tons produced by (even small) volcanoes.
They yell 'save the trees' when loggers show up to make it possible to build houses and furniture, but think that forest fires should be allowed to burn themselves out (along with all those 'saved' trees)...if they are started by lightning...because they are 'natural'.

The inconsistencies of the 'environmentalists', when taken as a whole, makes the entire movement laughable.

Meanwhile, (as we pour billions into rebuilding New Orleans) we are warned that 'global warming' is going to cause a rise in sea level which will innundate our coastal cities. Well folks, here's a news flash.
When the first humans found their way to the North American continent, sea level was 200 feet lower than today...and it has been rising ever since.
CM

[PatMarlin]

I whole heartedly agree.

Now- I'm headed over for some prime rib Christmas dinner at the neighbors. Gonna take over a couple of my pride and joys to show cause he wants to get his own deer rifle.

Shocking I know!!... :groner:

Merry Christmas guys.. :drinks:

[SharpsShooter]

MC

You hit it exactly on the money and do it in such a manner that anyone with just a bit of common sense could understand. It seems the lack of common sense pervades in the minds of those that spout the global warming, hole in the atmosphere, antartica melting nonsense.

SS

[WBH]

Alot of those little buggers(foxes) are rabid. Don't get bit.

[waksupi]

Alot of those little buggers(foxes) are rabid. Don't get bit.


That has been kicking around in my mind. Skunks, fox, and raccoon, are some the most notorious rabies carriers extant.
I suggest strating tomorrow, you capture all the ones you want kept around, and vacinate them. Better yet, have PETA do it, and take any unwanted ones, with them.

[Ricochet]

I know about the rabies problem, and it worries me. We've had several rabid skunks around my office lately. I'm sure this skunk's OK now, and the 'coons, too. There's a Federal project air-dropping rabies baits for raccoons to the west of me, to stop the westward spread of raccooon rabies. Doesn't do me any good. Wish I could get ahold of a bunch of those to immunize my local 'coons and skunk!