RACCOONS: dig up the old lady's annual flower garden, shit all over the decks, and tear up the cushions on deck furniture. Why? On three sides of this property, there are woods, farmland, ponds, and streams .... a wildlife paradise; yet they sometimes get on the roof and try to access the house. Why? Yes, I'll anti-freeze them and don't care who likes it.
WOODCHUCKS: are even worse digging burrows near the east side property line, but at least they have an excuse with the row of mulberry trees that defines that property line. Still, it's a bitch dodging the burrows on the tractor. I set a record this year by killing seven of them, two of whom while they were mating on -- believe it or not -- Valentine's Day. Heh.
WHITETAIL: deer can be dangerous, especially in autumn. One decided to live under a deck. He had an injured leg. He had absolutely no fear and would approach the old lady while she played in the perennial flower garden. Shotgun blasts did not scare him. One day while on a deck, I dropped a 10 lb. barbell plate on him. He was quick enough to dodge it but he finally got the message. He spent a few days down below by the pond but then disappeared.
WILLIE THE WILD TURKEY: adopted us one summer. He terrorized the cats, attacked his own reflection in auto bumpers, and slept on the roof, even in thunderstorms. The only good thing about Willie was that he exterminated most of the cricket population.
ASSORTED SMALL BIRDS: attack their reflections in windows and really create a mess. This year, a robin, last year, a lady cardinal, the year before that, a song sparrow.
Still, some wildlife is enjoyable. Young turkey vultures are friendly and inquisitive while you work outside. Their parents demonstrate a high degree of surgical skill extracting a brain from a deceased woodchuck or raccoon through the decedent's eye sockets. Interesting to observe. Then there were the pheasants strutting and eating a ton of bugs but they suddenly and mysteriously disappeared 20-25 years ago.
In article , snipped-for-privacy@Home.org (Way Back Jack) wrote: Why don't you move to a nice retirement community, where you can be looked after by professionals?
Geez...you haven't looked out my back door lately.
I live on 15 acres of nowhereness, northwest of Pittsburgh near the Ohio line. On any given day, 20 or 30 deer wander by, mostly at the treeline that abuts the open field of the next parcel, ~150ft behind the house. Local turkey flocks are positively routine, and I don't mean 5, I mean
30 or 40 at a time. Raccoons aren't too common, but I see them now and again. This year, there is a family of foxes living in the woods somewhere just southwest of the house who step now and again into the yard, generally at dawn or dusk.
The deer congregate most days in what we've long called "town hall", which is a low hollow inside the treeline on the far side of the power tower right-of-way, ~200yds due east of the house...except during hunting season, when they disappear for parts unknown. They figured out long ago when they need to make themselves scarce.
Then there's the possums that often befriend our cats for playful romps after dark. Add in the moles and voles that the cats hunt during the day. I can't say I'm sorry to see our feline Mighty Hunters having success in that department, as long as they don't bring gifts (or [worse] half-gifts) into the house. Coyotes avoid the house, but they are known to live in the woods down near the creek, still on my property but well toward the northeast corner of it.
No bears these days, at least none that we know of. But small stuff like toads and whatnot are everywhere.
I could feed my household using nothing but a crossbow, without ever having to step outside the yard immediately surrounding the house. All I have to do is wait for the game to show up.
It's a funny view of "the dying biosphere" that some folks have.
If not for that Pittsburg thing I would have thought you were my neighbor - same senerio here. Someone shoulda told me the biosphere is dying so I could have filled up more freezers...
Little Billy Boy has never been outside his room in mommy's basement by the sounds of it...I have ALL the above as well bear and moose here in Maine and I live just 15-20 miles from a couple of cities...I keep the rodents thinned out as well...Porqupines , skunks , coons , tree rats and the such....You HAVE to..They are very destructive....I practice S S S (Shoot , Shovel , and Shutup)...I could easily live off hunting my property and fishing in the MANY streams in the area and the lake that is a mere 1/4 of a mile away...LOL...
I live on 195 acres of really "nowhereness" - in the traditional "big woods" hunting area of Northern PA. Except for whoever writes the PGC hunting outlook articles on their website and people trying to sell land, I doubt you'd find anyone who claims deer are plentiful here. In my immediate area there are perhaps 1/3 the number there were ten years ago.
There are several apparent factors, but imo #1 is over-hunting doe. Even before the PGC extended the rifle season from three to twelve days, some local hunter landowners were killing as many doe as possible, particularly targeting the "lead doe" (the older, experienced one in a group). Typically the landowner would also either plant or buy ear corn to feed the deer and other wildlife. The strategy was that surviving younger doe and fawns would be more likely to stay on the owner's land. The doe fawns were expendable; the primary objective was to grow their own buck.
To a point this did work, at least in terms of some deer becoming dependent. But imo what was overlooked was the higher fawn mortality and the fact that the larger, well nourished doe being killed were the ones more likely to have and raise fawns that would become large, healthy bucks. Plus, there is the PSU study that found the majority of buck fawns are driven from their birth territory by (1) doe in the next Spring and (2) mature buck that Fall. The black bear population is also in decline here.
But for how long ... assuming everyone else in your deer's range did the same thing?
Where you live is your choice. You made the decision whether you bought it yourself or whether you inherited it and decided to stay there rather than sell.
The wildlife do not have the luxury of 'deciding' where to live. They were born there.
Indeed. A biosphere can apply just to a tiddling place such as where you live or it can apply to the whole planet.
You seem to think that just because you see a lot of biodiversity that it will always be there. It won't and you would know that if you took an interest in either history or environmental issues.
Aren't you the master of spotting the conspicuously obvious.
Animals that have been free, and then are killed and eaten isn't what we were talking about. We were talking about what passes for a man these days, who plans to poison a flower fancying raccoon, and then leaving it to rot. In my opinion, the sooner the cockroaches take over, the better it will be for the planet.
Deep Fried Raccoon
~ 1 raccoon, cleaned ~ 1 lb bacon ~ seasoning salt ~ pepper ~ your favorite batter ~ oil
Make sure all the fat and glands are removed from the coon.
Stuff the bacon inside the coon. Season to taste with seasoning salt and pepper.
Pour on the batter and shake to create a thin layer all over.
Add to hot oil in a Dutch oven, fish fryer or turkey fryer.
You are a lucky man Karl, and I hope your luck holds. 50 years ago, there were 3 billion people on this planet. Now there are 6 billion. In
40 years there will be 9 billion. I've heard 9 billion to be the max, that this ol' planet can support, even with a greatly reduced life style.
If our old friends famine, war, and pestilence don't get our offspring, then there is
"Impact from the Deep"
Strangling heat and gases emanating from the earth and sea, not asteroids, most likely caused several ancient mass extinctions. Could the same killer-greenhouse conditions build once again?
With the exception of Sundays and 12 days ending on Christmas, the statewide deer seasons in 2008-2009 ran from Oct.4 through Jan. 10.
What I wrote was: "I live ... in the traditional "big woods" hunting area of Northern PA." That's not an insignificant, "spot" region when discussing PA wildlife resources.
Those "human-controlled spaces" must be desirable or the deer wouldn't feed there.
No reasonable person would deny that - particularly in the 'burbs - deer/vehicle collisions are a problem. Probably the Erie Insurance company has done the most to actually study the causes and inform its policy holders.
The two week rifle deer season is part of the problem:
"Drivers should be extremely alert for deer while driving in November, which is peak mating season for deer and a time when a large number of deer claims occur. In Pennsylvania, the two-week hunting season that begins the Monday after Thanksgiving, is also a time when a large number of deer claims occur, particularly on opening day and the first Saturday of the season."
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I'm going to assume that's tongue-in-cheek. A search of the Tribune-Review archives produces a number of articles about Canada Geese being "dealt with" in your area. Of course procedure does have to be followed; they are protected under the Migratory Bird Act.
Have you forgotten that you wrote: "The fact that spotty overhunting occurs, such as Ann claims, does not reflect on the whole state." You at least seem to be claiming that what you observe in your area is the norm.
The exchange was:
Karl wrote:
"I could feed my household us "But for how long ... assuming everyone else in your deer's range did the same thing?"
It wasn't a "whine", just pointing out how ridiculous your claim that you "could feed your household" was.
You're kidding; that report is based on 1981-1990 data. One of the authors is from the Warren lab (ANF) and if you look at their later work, you'll find that some of the tree regeneration problem they attributed to deer is in fact due to exhaustion of soil buffering capacity due to acid rain.
Depends on what you call "local effects". My observation of deer numbers parallels that of hunters in my (Tioga) and adjoining counties, many of whom hunt public lands. According to what I've found, about 4% of Beaver County is public land; three Game Lands and one State Park, for a total of
19 square miles - the largest of which is Raccoon Creek State Park (7,572 acres). By contrast, about 30% of Tioga County is public land; one State Forest, four Game Lands, the COE holdings, and several State Parks, for a total of 341 square miles - the largest of which is Tioga State Forest (160,000 acres).
If you have any interest at all in the opinion of hunters, see the United Sportsmen of Pennsylvania website:
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The organization has sued the PGC, claiming it has mismanaged the deer on public land, because: "The PGC does not have a credible system for determining deer harvests, and consequently does not have an accurate count of how many deer actually exist in the Commonwealth."
You might also Google for PA hunter web forums,
Disclaimer: No, I haven't or am not now predicting the imminent demise of the white-tail deer in PA.
On Jul 10, 12:55=A0am, snipped-for-privacy@home.org (Way Back Jack) wrote disparagingly and at length about Pres. Obama.
I suppose when someone starts off with a point of view to denigrate your incumbent president (Obama) it then becomes the task to try and point out as negatively as possible anything/everything about the USA your current administration is trying to repair!
The foregoing article however manages to point out rather clearly so many of the things that previously were done wrong and badly during previous administrations. Whether it was falsely started wars (Iran, Afghanistan) or poor financial industry controls that led to the credit crisis, sour debts and scandals such as Enron, Madeoff etc. Limitation of civil freedoms? Poor USA!!!!!
Obama has inherited quite a mess (and that's an understatement) from his predecessors!
The thought of the USA looking back fondly or thinking it was successful during an era when it was "Shoot first" and worry about the consequences afterwards; or a "Let's Nuke em" attitude, hasn't worked!
And don't let's pretend the Viet Nam war was a success! In fact it's doubtful if the USA has won any of the wars it has itself started?
Obama comes across as a realist; often telling it like it really is. With doses of realism; not airy-fairy images of the way it used to be! Maybe some don't like the truth?
It also appears the USA has not, for a long time, realised that it is not and will not always be, 'The only game in town (the world)'.
What the US still does have is some (supposed) fundamental values about hard work, family values, home ownership and place in community etc. Although social and financial ethics have taken quite a beating. But the USA or it's individual states does not back this up with good social programmes and public care. And forget any of the forced extremist Christianity cults; they are just as biased and intolerant (and possibly dangerous when leaders think they are going on a crusade!) as any other extreme religious format. Keep religion out of government for God's sake (pun intended!).
How many US millions is it that don't have medical/drug care? Much smaller (sometimes with less than the tenth of the US population) and therefore smaller resourced countries have much better systems (some would call them 'socialist' as though that were a bad word!) and do much better job of providing incentives for a healthier and more productive population.
Also there is still something of a dog-eat-dog attitude although most individual Americans are sensible helpful people! Maybe a sort of "If I have the biggest/fastest gun I have every right to shoot the last deer/elk/moose/bear etc.". How the West was won; i.e. stolen from the Aboriginals and from Mexico!
Maybe some serious navel gazing is in order? That marvellous expression from some US president, "Walk softly but carry a big stick" comes to mind.
Good luck to all from somewhere else in the world!
Global Warming Consensus Gone Up in Flames By Bob Ellis on June 26th, 2009
Kimberley Strassel at the Wall Street Journal has a great piece on the global warming debate and how Al Gore?s much-professed ?consensus? has crumbled to ruin.
Her article lists a number of people who are no longer following Al Gore?s herd on the issue of anthropogenic global warming, and also provides some insight into how this fragile ?consensus? has been devastated by science over conjecture and hysteria:
In April, the Polish Academy of Sciences published a document challenging man-made global warming. In the Czech Republic, where President Vaclav Klaus remains a leading skeptic, today only 11% of the population believes humans play a role. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to tap Claude Allegre to lead the country?s new ministry of industry and innovation. Twenty years ago Mr. Allegre was among the first to trill about man-made global warming, but the geochemist has since recanted. New Zealand last year elected a new government, which immediately suspended the country?s weeks-old cap-and-trade program.
The number of skeptics, far from shrinking, is swelling. Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe now counts more than 700 scientists who disagree with the U.N. ? 13 times the number who authored the U.N.?s 2007 climate summary for policymakers. Joanne Simpson, the world?s first woman to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology, expressed relief upon her retirement last year that she was finally free to speak ?frankly? of her nonbelief. Dr. Kiminori Itoh, a Japanese environmental physical chemist who contributed to a U.N. climate report, dubs man-made warming ?the worst scientific scandal in history.? Norway?s Ivar Giaever, Nobel Prize winner for physics, decries it as the ?new religion.? A group of 54 noted physicists, led by Princeton?s Will Happer, is demanding the American Physical Society revise its position that the science is settled. (Both Nature and Science magazines have refused to run the physicists? open letter.)
Proof of concensus or lack thereof is not an indication of the reliability of a given position; after all, the majority has been proved wrong countless times throughout history, and someone has to be the first person to be right about a new conclusion.
But when you have a situation where the more information we have on a given contention, the fewer people buy into that contention, well, that speaks powerfully that the contention was a bad one from the start.
I have long said that the contention that human activity?over more obvious and more powerful natural forces?is having a significant impact on global temperatures just doesn?t pass the smell test.
To put it another way, it seems as if Occam?s Razor has been forgotten in the modern world?s infatuation with wild and exciting ideas. In case you?re not familiar with Occam?s Razor, it is a principle that basically says assumptions should be avoided where ever possible. Or to put it in plain language, of all reasonable explanations for a phenomenon, the simplest is usually the correct one.
Sadly, objective examinations of information and assumptive restraint have been abandoned in today?s world in favor of politically correct agendas which are fueled by protection of reputation and ego. In other words, instead of behaving like objective investigators, our modern scientific and legislative community behaves like teenagers caught up in herd-instinct pursuit of ?the right clothes? or ?the right CD? or ?the right look.?
I can only hope a sufficient number of the American people wake up to the reality that the theory of AGW stinks?and that they get ticked off enough to wake up a sufficient number of representatives in congress to stop this mad rush to destruction before it?s too late. ________
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.July 8, 2009 ? 3:00 PM .Global temperatures DROPPED .74°F since Al ?Hot Air? Gore released ?An Inconvenient Truth? Climate Kooks suffer from mental illness. That?s undeniable. I think it?s a form of schizophrenia. In the good old days, the climate kooks would be institutionalized and most likely lobotomized. Oh how I long for the good old days.
Real science has concluded, based on fact and data (NOT theory and models) that the earth has cooled almost three-quarters of a degree Fahrenheit since that dope Al Gore produced his fictional movie, ?An Inconvienient Truth.? For those of you in Europe or Canada, that?s .4 celsius.
Here?s the best part. We have a kook president that wants to legislate away ?global warming,? and it?s not even happening! Only in America! I told you, it?s about money and power.
Last month, June 2009 showed us yet another global temperature drop. Yet, we still have kooks running around legislating the climate, idiots screaming ?do something.? Do something about what?
According to the latest data ? ?For the record, this month?s Al Gore / ?An Inconvenient Truth? Index indicates that global temperatures have plunged approximately .74°F (.39°C) since ?An Inconvenient Truth? was released.? (see satellite temperature chart here with key dates noted, courtesy of
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? The global satellite temperature data comes from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Also see: 8 Year Downtrend Continues in Global Temps)
I think sometimes people who want to preserve life "one raccoon at a time" are following the same reasoning as the old joke about the guy who lost his wallet in the pariking lot, but was looking inside the restaurant "because that's where the light is". They don't think about whether it actually makes sense, and often can't see beyond their own perceived sphere of influence. It makes them feel good to be accomplishing something, so whether they are helping with a real problem is not relevant. It only becomes relevant when someone, by word or deed, belittles what they feel they are accomplishing - then they must go on the attack. This is, of course, much easier than applying critical thought to the situation, and perhaps re-evaluating their actions.
Actually, "biosphere" refers to the earth and all living and organic matter. But it isn't dying. It is shifting, perhaps, as it always has.
This is not an excuse, of course, to crap in our own nest, but panicky rhetoric (like declining polar bear population, which applied to a single population of polar bears, while worldwide numbers showed a slight increase) serves only to increase cynicism.
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