Bruce's Journal

[RollingAcres]

Nah, dear Mom can ship them, she's a Post Office clerk. If I don't feel like wandering out to the mailbox at night and putting the flag up, I stick it in the outside pocket of her purse. We call it the outgoing mail slot.

Oh right, I forgot that your DW works there. Well guess dear Bruce is off the hook.

 

[greybeard]

If I'm not mistaken, Bruce deemed it unfair to foist his woodchucks onto others and surreptitiously acquired the tool of lethal means while remaining somewhat "stealthy" in the noise department (air powered vice gunpowder). Said tool is kept hidden in the bowels of the barn and used secretively as and when necessary. Of course he needs to make sure any trapped vermin (not restricted to just chucks) is removed from sight/sound of the females in his family, so they are unaware that a trapped "harmless/lovable/cuddly/cute/etc." animal exists at all.

Imagine it's thought processes......
"Uh Oh, I'm trapped...but thank goodness this human is humane, using a harmless box trap instead of one of those claw traps or those awful conibears that heartless greybeard uses on my beaver cousins. Now, he'll take me down the road to my new home where I can cavort and dig holes to my heart's content. "PFFT!" What was that noi..OUCH!! Gawd, I'm hit--MEDIC!!! ..oh no...the golden BB................stealthy and sneaky...goodbye all"

 

[farmerjan]

Sorry, I missed that part about the "tool in the barn". Good for you.

Talking about "humane live traps" I keep mine set next to my moveable chicken"tractor". I have mentioned in other posts that I have gotten A LOT of predators this year. Well, have gotten 2 MORE possums in the last 10 days. I'm pretty sure that makes 11 so far this summer. 4 coons, and 2 skunks. I am so tired of possums..... I know they supposedly eat things like ticks, and other stuff as well as clean up dead stuff, but when they find the chickens, they will dig under, eat the feed and kill the birds sometimes too. Plus, I will wake up to the chickens making noises so even if they aren't actually bothering the birds, they are still in there. Since the whole purpose of this moveable coop is so the birds have clean ground and grass regularly.... and the landlord goes ballistic if they are out loose.... they will have a different coop for the winter and can be locked in... but I had no thoughts that there was a colony of them.....

 

[Ridgetop]

Here are 2 stories you will all appreciate about catching vermin. . . .

An former acquaintance who couldn't bear the thought of exterminating the rodents in her house "they have the right to live" told us that she used humane rat and mouse traps. Then she took the captured rodents to the edge of the patio and released them. She couldn't understand why she was overrun with mice since she caught several a day.
Duh . . .

Another friend was more aggressive about the gophers that were infesting his yard and garden. Over a period of months he and his neighbor used lethal traps but one day over a couple (?) beers they realized that they were just driving them back and forth between their properties. They began to coordinate their attacks. After catching and dispatching all they could in their lethal traps, they resorted to pouring gasoline down the holes. This flushed out more and they dispatched them with air rifles, etc. Finally after several months they discussed situation over more beers and realized they had the little beasts confined to a large hole under a tree in our friend's yard. Again, beer drinking seemed to play a part in their gopher hunting activities. Deciding to eradicate the threat once and for all, they poured several gallons of gasoline into the gopher holes under the tree. They decided they would throw a match in the hole and burn them out! Luckily, our friend whose head for beer is legendary, came to his senses just as his neighbor struck the match. The tree and house are still standing, and our friend does not allow his neighbor to go deer hunting with him.

I use barn cats for mice and rats, and my Anatolians have killed several raccoons. I have no qualms about lethal methods considering possums, raccoons, and skunks carry rabies here. Rats like to defecate in the feed barrels making the other animals refuse to eat the feed.

I guess I am just a mean person.

 

[Latestarter]

Welcome to the "mean people" club

 

[farmerjan]

I am one of the "meanest" in the mean people group. I have barn cats, and they have finally made a big dent the resident rat and mouse population. The owner of the farm where I live gets feed in bulk and stores it in "totes" so the animals are in it all the time. It is a never ending battle. I don't have house cats so in the winter I get some mice inside. I catch alot on the sticky traps, take them outside and call "callie....here kitty...." and have 2 cats that will come pull them off if I hold the glue boards tight. I live in a 1750's historic old stone house, nothing is "tight" and I am getting so ready to find something else, since he won't sell the farm as my son has asked.

 

[Bruce]

Bruce deemed it unfair to foist his woodchucks onto others

To add to this, if I legally re-home them to my own property (the only legal way), they just come back. 1,500' isn't all that long a walk for a chuck even though it is "over hill and dale".

I think Mr. NOAA's prediction of 1.5" of rain for today turned out to be .5" or less

 

[RollingAcres]

We had about 1" of rain. I think more tomorrow. I can send you some

 

[greybeard]

Another friend was more aggressive about the gophers that were infesting his yard and garden. Over a period of months he and his neighbor used lethal traps but one day over a couple (?) beers they realized that they were just driving them back and forth between their properties.

This applies to varmints, pests, and predators off all kinds.

Never make your troubles, your neighbor's trouble.
Never.
Your neighbor(s) should follow the same adage.

 

[goatgurl]

I sure hope you get enough rain to save the tadpoles. my rain gauge is busted but over the weekend we got a 5 gallon bucket 3/4 full. ground is still saturated. but its ok, we needed it.