Backyard Fun

[Half Dog]

Sometimes critters can make me chuckle. Anyone else?

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[Rapier]

Here the does are dropping fawns. We have one doe that drops twins near ever year, she is out in the early morning and late afternoon with them. Just like children, full of energy running and jumping glad to be out of the house, with their spotted coats. Mom doing her level best to keep them cautious and watchful, without mush success.

[bedbugbilly]

Great photo! I love the design of the feeder - nothing like a nice picnic at a picnic table! Thanks for posting and the smiles and chuckles - a reminder that the simple things in life enjoyable!

[MrWolf]

Nice pic. Lot of folks need to just stop and look around. Beauty everywhere. Thanks.

[contender1]

Around here,, we constantly chuckle at all the critters we encounter. And of course,, our own fur-babies within the home.

[pete501]

Not laughing when the little critters chew your car's wiring. It happened to my car. Now it brings joy to see them as I have a 22 rifle by the door.

[Winger Ed.]

Not laughing when the little critters chew your car's wiring. It happened to my car. Now it brings joy to see them as I have a 22 rifle by the door.

The squirrels here are incredibly destructive.
I sort of sneak around thinning them out because one neighbor loves watching them so much.
---- Right up until they did almost $500. worth of damage to HIS car.
Now, he's all for thinning them out.

[Scrounge]

Great photo! I love the design of the feeder - nothing like a nice picnic at a picnic table! Thanks for posting and the smiles and chuckles - a reminder that the simple things in life enjoyable!

Somebody I know raises chickens, and uses those. Calls them Chic-nic tables. Has shown me a photo of a squirrel dinner he made, too. Don't know off-hand if the two are connected. ;)

[Half Dog]

Why can’t the haters scroll on by?

[gunther]

Having released two skunks from live traps over the years (Not a recommended game), to keep them from being shot, I got home after the last release, got the family dog out for her last go before bed, and ran into a skunk. We all got away scott free. But then I realized there was a set and baited live trap under my carport. Scrurried out and triggered that closed. Skunks can be pretty helpful. Finding a softball sized hole in your yard with an easily recognized odor beats running over a nest of ground bees with your mower.

[MrWolf]

Having released two skunks from live traps over the years (Not a recommended game), to keep them from being shot, I got home after the last release, got the family dog out for her last go before bed, and ran into a skunk. We all got away scott free. But then I realized there was a set and baited live trap under my carport. Scrurried out and triggered that closed. Skunks can be pretty helpful. Finding a softball sized hole in your yard with an easily recognized odor beats running over a nest of ground bees with your mower.

Didn't know that. I got stung pretty good (well over half a dozen stings in just one area) the other week weeding a garden area. Did the spray and powder to kill them and eventually just ran a hose and drowned them. Was interesting to see how big the honeycomb nest actually was under the ground. Good thing I am not allergic but that many stings even set me back a bit.

[MaryB]

Having released two skunks from live traps over the years (Not a recommended game), to keep them from being shot, I got home after the last release, got the family dog out for her last go before bed, and ran into a skunk. We all got away scott free. But then I realized there was a set and baited live trap under my carport. Scrurried out and triggered that closed. Skunks can be pretty helpful. Finding a softball sized hole in your yard with an easily recognized odor beats running over a nest of ground bees with your mower.

My former meth head neighbor poured 5 gallons of gas mixed with diesel down a hole after his kids were stung. Then chucked in a road flare... enough gas had evaporated to create an explosive mix... explosion left a 5 foot crater in the boulevard! Exposed the natural gas line so that had to be tested and replaced because it was damaged... cost him to replace the gas line and to redo the boulevard!

[poppy42]

Not laughing when the little critters chew your car's wiring. It happened to my car. Now it brings joy to see them as I have a 22 rifle by the door.
I’m with you!

[Thundarstick]

Why can’t the haters scroll on by?

I think it's because the same critters that make us chuckle actually have their own agenda! I'm a bird feeder, but I found long ago not to feed then on my back deck! I now keep them at a distance and use binoculars to get close views. My boss at work has skunks that she feeds nightly for several years, so far, there have been no misunderstandings between them!

[firefly1957]

I have gotten many good laughs watching the critters in the yard .
One instance was a Pileated woodpecker that tagged a rabbit at the bird feeder the rabbit was eating seed on the ground and the woodpecker swooped down and hit the rabbit with claws like a hawk would do . The woodpecker then landed on suet cage 5 feet above rabbit , The rabbit collapsed shaking . On recovery the rabbit jumped up and tagged the woodpecker that was still on the suet cage . It almost looked like they where both laughing over it .

Second real funny one was young buck that was running wild in the back yard it was head butting some of the other deer then moved on to a large tom Turkey that was strutting . The turkey had no sense of humor he spurred the young deer in the right rear hip and I could see that mark though the fall .

A third incident made me laugh pretty hard it was this time of the year and there was a very large amount of small black cherries on the ground . 7 deer were at the crab apple tree in my front yard 35 yards from the house at the same time a skunk that was not acting right was 35 yards out the back door . The skunk would dig at the ground move on repeat was not digging for grubs just not digging in a normal fashion , I swung the door open and shot it with heavy 12 gauge load of #5 shot and it dropped right there at the base of a black cherry tree . I looked out the front window and non of the deer ran in fact they went back to the crab apples . The deer then worked around the south side of the house eating the black cherries on the grass and around the back one deer walked over to the dead skunk looked at it turned around squatted and pooped on the skunk.

One thing that has always bothered me here is just how warry of possums all animals are I have shot Raccoons and porcupines off the bird feeder at night and deer and turkey will pick seed right next to them the next morning however if a possum is laying dead there all animals stay over ten feet from it ! The only exception I have seen to this was one old doe with several other does and fawns that actually stomped on a dead possum hard .

[Thin Man]

About 2 years ago the local squirrels chewed up the gasoline connections on the fuel tank of my pick-up truck (saw them loitering around the vehicle). First warning to me was the odor of gas and a few small stains on the concrete where I park (parking spot is slightly nose-up). Then it got worse and the fuel loss increased to pouring out of the tank when the vehicle was on level ground . The repairs were costly due to having to remove the trailer towing hardware first, then the fuel tank. Now I keep have-a-heart live traps cocked and loaded around the house but the little vermin are wise to them. If they do this again my tactics will change but this behavior has got to go!

[farmerjim]

Armadillos here in Louisiana have one redeeming feature. They will dig down into yellow jacket nests and eat all the larva. They are also the only animal, other than humans that can get leprosy.

[firefly1957]

Thin Man when ever I see squirrels around the vehicle I am very proactive squirrels and mice have cost me a lot of work in repairs over the years . I have like you set live traps and they never enter so I put poison blocks where it is unlikely other critters will get them . I keep some around for mice and chipmunks in the pole barn & Garage I had to switch to the more expensive purple ones that kill critters tolerant of the blood thinner based blocks .
Being September I am having a rodent invasion right now mostly mice they are really getting at the tomatoes in my garden .

Over the years I have had to pull and clean leaves and grass out of my RV generator three times if I had not caught the issue it would have burned up the entire motorhome!

[farmbif]

I think my pride of outdoor barn cats has pretty much scared away most of the critters but there are a pair of squirrels that play with them jumping from the trees behind the house then back into the forest they go.

[FISH4BUGS]

A remarkable thing happened yesterday afternoon. I noticed the hummer feeder was getting low but couldn't tell how low. The light was bad, the angle wasn't too good either, and not to mention my eyes are not what they used to be (cataract surgery due in January and February), so I went out on the porch to check it.
I walked up to about two feet away where the light would clearly show the contents, about two feet from from the feeder and suddenly a female Ruby was right in my face. She buzzed around my head, around my front and back, and came back to within about a foot from my face and stayed there.
It was clear she was checking me out and looking directly at me. Now I am a handsome kind of guy, but a hummingbird? :) She buzzed around me within a foot of my head for a minute then flew off.
I have never had a "creature encounter" like that ever in my life. I have to say it was really enlightening and exciting to have that happen.

[firefly1957]

IS pride the right word for a large number of cats? I know it is for lions ...
Yesterday I stopped at a yard sale did not see a cat but the smell was unmistakable they had a lot of cats around!
Here there are more Feral cats then the coyotes can eat!

[MaryB]

A remarkable thing happened yesterday afternoon. I noticed the hummer feeder was getting low but couldn't tell how low. The light was bad, the angle wasn't too good either, and not to mention my eyes are not what they used to be (cataract surgery due in January and February), so I went out on the porch to check it.
I walked up to about two feet away where the light would clearly show the contents, about two feet from from the feeder and suddenly a female Ruby was right in my face. She buzzed around my head, around my front and back, and came back to within about a foot from my face and stayed there.
It was clear she was checking me out and looking directly at me. Now I am a handsome kind of guy, but a hummingbird? :) She buzzed around me within a foot of my head for a minute then flew off.
I have never had a "creature encounter" like that ever in my life. I have to say it was really enlightening and exciting to have that happen.

Hummingbirds are curious critters! Neighbor has 2 feeders and if we sit on the deck they come check us out and will land on you if you sit still.