Missing fish lately
- Thread starter duanes
- Start date
I use decoys to narrow down the nonsense in the yard.
I occasionally see other ravens circling overhead trying to figure out what the problem is but not much more than that.
I occasionally see other ravens circling overhead trying to figure out what the problem is but not much more than that.
I think it was using the tank, because of its easy access and it was weak.
Found it dead in the yard, in a flower pot this morning, with no sign of physical trauma.
Found it dead in the yard, in a flower pot this morning, with no sign of physical trauma.
I'm an avid hunter; not squeamish about killing a critter that I will utilize for food, or for predator/pest control.
I do get a laugh out of the city folks who move to the country to "get away from it all"...and then surround their homes with a few free-range chickens, an unprotected shallow pond full of brightly-coloured goldfish, and a couple of rat-sized mini-dogs running around the yard yapping their heads off. These people don't seem to realize that this is like putting up a neon sign that says EAT HERE!!! If you want to live in a natural setting...you can't start shooting up every living critter that is just trying to go about its life. Just gotta expect some losses, and take steps to cover/fence/protect the things you want to keep.
A gun behind the door is sometimes put to use...but not often. It's always better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it. If I shot every deer that came into my yard and started eating my Hostas, I'd need a meat-processing plant on site. Fortunately, there are other ways.
Ive blasted/bludgeoned to death many animals in defense of livestock, crops, family. Birds especially. They can be beautiful but are filthy animals, best kept at a distance imo. Theres no telling what pathogens its carrying in addition to eating the fish.
They are doing what they do naturally and so will i. You think a lioness would sit idly by while some diseased bird tries to carry off its cubs, all the while thinking "its just doing what comes naturally"?
They are doing what they do naturally and so will i. You think a lioness would sit idly by while some diseased bird tries to carry off its cubs, all the while thinking "its just doing what comes naturally"?
Not at all what I said. I expect critters to do what they do; I don't expose my own animals to totally foreseeable danger and then react by immediately shooting the predator. If I have no other choice, I won't hesitate...but, like the lioness with her cubs, I try to protect my animals and take proactive steps to do so, rather than waiting for disaster and then reacting.
Out here I cannot and would not turn my dog outside at night unattended; I go out with him and we see coyotes at the edges of the lit yard regularly; locally, dogs bigger than Duke have disappeared, or been severely injured. Shoot first, ask questions...never...
Covering my outdoor tanks is a PITA at times...but it works way better than trying to maintain watch with a loaded gun 24/7. Making sure chickens and other livestock are safely enclosed at night is another biggie.
Skunks and groundhogs burrowing under sheds and foundations? Shoot. Porcupines coming into the yard to munch all the bark off a specimen tree when there are 10000 "wild" trees in the woods a few steps away? Shoot.
Live and let live...up to a point...
Deterrents are all fine and good until you get some persistent predators. Ive caught hawks beating their wings on the roof of the coop while the terrified chickens kill themselves by running amok inside. I once observed a group of raccoons scaring the chickens from one side to the other where the other raccoons had pried open small holes in the wire to snatch the panicked chickens from. Ive spent hours bulletproofing coops and black snakes still slithered in through some imperceptible seam in the wall.
None if those animals turned out to be bulletproof either though.
None if those animals turned out to be bulletproof either though.
Buncha Nancies. My home shares a border with a 500k acre park and the other side of the park there's nothing but more of the same thing the park's made of but with no reason to be designated as anything special. I have brown and black bear (mostly black) around my house every week in summer months and a Dobermann to keep them off of my wife when she's puttering in the yard. If you're wondering the answer is yes, a Dobermann in full tilt 'god save the queen' mode is a site to behold and those disinclined toward profanity will have no words that come close enough to describing such a spirited defense.
To make matters a little livelier I have an eccentric neighbor that has a bait station in his yard that he refers to as a compost pile.
All of us in the area used to live by the three esses; shoot, shovel and shut up. Not so much anymore as enhanced communication has made that a bit unsafe. To make matters worse the Fish & Game are strikingly sensitive and allowing predator control in areas where some could video the event and rail about the brutality is far outside the kind of publicity those vaginas would ever want to attract. Now everything is a DLP / Defense of Life and Property issue that somebody documents for the joy of it.
A funny story from a few years back. An acquaintance shot a problem bear at the edge of his property, called Fish and Game and told them what had happened. They told him to skin it and bring them the hide (which is the law here). He told them that if they wanted the hide they could come and get it. I kind of like that old goat.
Coyotes though. They're smart, outstanding at luring an animal away from you and they happily eat dogs.
To make matters a little livelier I have an eccentric neighbor that has a bait station in his yard that he refers to as a compost pile.
All of us in the area used to live by the three esses; shoot, shovel and shut up. Not so much anymore as enhanced communication has made that a bit unsafe. To make matters worse the Fish & Game are strikingly sensitive and allowing predator control in areas where some could video the event and rail about the brutality is far outside the kind of publicity those vaginas would ever want to attract. Now everything is a DLP / Defense of Life and Property issue that somebody documents for the joy of it.
A funny story from a few years back. An acquaintance shot a problem bear at the edge of his property, called Fish and Game and told them what had happened. They told him to skin it and bring them the hide (which is the law here). He told them that if they wanted the hide they could come and get it. I kind of like that old goat.
Coyotes though. They're smart, outstanding at luring an animal away from you and they happily eat dogs.
Lol, I have for years, both in my current home and the previous one, shot every coyote that I see within 300 yards of the house. I don't hate them...I actually admire them...but I don't want them getting too comfortable coming close to the house. My wife complained about this for years; she referred to my "decimation" of their population...not that we ever saw any fewer of them...and the fact that unlike game animals like deer, we didn't eat them. I shut up and kept shooting...but didn't shovel...
After a few years, I had a nice collection of prime pelts in my "man-freezer", which contains in-progress taxidermy projects, frozen fish/reptile foods, and other unsavoury items that she would not appreciate in the good freezer. The man-freezer is in the fishroom/man-burrow; she rarely goes in there and never goes into that freezer.
A number of years ago, I presented her with a full-length coyote fur coat, made entirely of pelts taken during the prime early winter months on our own land. She took one look at it, tried it on, and then somehow "I don't approve of you shooting coyotes!" turned into "How many more will it take to make a matching hat?"
In case you are wondering...it takes 4...2 to make the coat out of, and 2 more to pay for the labour to do so.
I won't go into the story of my coonskin hat, complete with tail. Duke didn't like it and it "went away"...
We also have, at our current location, lots of black bears; a few years ago this included an absolutely gorgeous cinnamon-coloured black bear that I shooed off the porch a couple times; I would have "collected" him but wanted him to get a bit bigger first. After a couple more years, I saw him and told my wife "This fall that guy is going into the freezer"; I already had plans for his pelt as well. Sadly, before hunting season, he met his demise when a truck smacked him as he walked across Main Street in the centre of the nearby village, at high noon. The lady who runs the general store called me and told me what had happened; I was there within ten minutes, and the bear was...gone. The truck driver apparently stopped and he and his passenger hoisted it into the back and drove off with it.
I hate competing for road kill.
After a few years, I had a nice collection of prime pelts in my "man-freezer", which contains in-progress taxidermy projects, frozen fish/reptile foods, and other unsavoury items that she would not appreciate in the good freezer. The man-freezer is in the fishroom/man-burrow; she rarely goes in there and never goes into that freezer.
A number of years ago, I presented her with a full-length coyote fur coat, made entirely of pelts taken during the prime early winter months on our own land. She took one look at it, tried it on, and then somehow "I don't approve of you shooting coyotes!" turned into "How many more will it take to make a matching hat?"
In case you are wondering...it takes 4...2 to make the coat out of, and 2 more to pay for the labour to do so.
I won't go into the story of my coonskin hat, complete with tail. Duke didn't like it and it "went away"...
We also have, at our current location, lots of black bears; a few years ago this included an absolutely gorgeous cinnamon-coloured black bear that I shooed off the porch a couple times; I would have "collected" him but wanted him to get a bit bigger first. After a couple more years, I saw him and told my wife "This fall that guy is going into the freezer"; I already had plans for his pelt as well. Sadly, before hunting season, he met his demise when a truck smacked him as he walked across Main Street in the centre of the nearby village, at high noon. The lady who runs the general store called me and told me what had happened; I was there within ten minutes, and the bear was...gone. The truck driver apparently stopped and he and his passenger hoisted it into the back and drove off with it.
I hate competing for road kill.
As a kid I worked briefly in a tannery. It's the kid's job to go out back and bring in the hides that others have dropped off in a pile behind the shop.
Oh my.
That was a revolting job by any standard.
On my first day I was doing my best to hold back a serious barf when the owner reached into his pocket and pulled out a box of raisins. He was enjoying them by the handful. To him the whole place stank like money. I do recall one day a guy walked in and wanted a wolf tanned. The hide he rolled out was 100% German Shepherd. That was a little weird. The one I liked both the most and the least was a polar bear hide that had WAY too many small holes in it. Someone had ran it w/ a snow machine and peppered it w/ a .22 along the way. Although I'm not a choirboy that sort of thing never seemed ok to me.
Oh my.
That was a revolting job by any standard.
On my first day I was doing my best to hold back a serious barf when the owner reached into his pocket and pulled out a box of raisins. He was enjoying them by the handful. To him the whole place stank like money. I do recall one day a guy walked in and wanted a wolf tanned. The hide he rolled out was 100% German Shepherd. That was a little weird. The one I liked both the most and the least was a polar bear hide that had WAY too many small holes in it. Someone had ran it w/ a snow machine and peppered it w/ a .22 along the way. Although I'm not a choirboy that sort of thing never seemed ok to me.
