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95XL883
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# Posted: 23 Feb 2019 10:13
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Hi all,
In another thread, mention has been made several times about animal behavior. To prevent thread drift, I thought it might be fun to start a new thread to share animal behaviors, good and bad, that we see. I've got several that come to mind.
There are times when I am almost completely motionless in the woods. One time I was sitting, waiting to see what would walk by, and I heard scratching/clawing in the trees above me. I recognized the sound as squirrel. I remained motionless except for eyes (and breathing of course). Slowly the squirrel came down a tree just a few feet from me. I could finally see it from the corner of my eye. It came lower, unaware that I was there. It finally got to where it was the same height as my head, maybe five feet from me. It finally saw me and scrambled 10' back up the tree where it turned and just chewed me out something fierce. It must have squawked at me for at least two minutes. It was mad. I just smiled and enjoyed the show.
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95XL883
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# Posted: 23 Feb 2019 10:22
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Got another one squirrel story.
The deer, raccoons, possums and armadillos travel the property enough that they make trails. (Well, not the possums, they don't really make trails and the raccoon trails are faint and few, even though there are so many of them.) Now the deer trails are easy to see. They are so repetitive they will at times kill the grass to leave a dirt trail.
So I see one trail that I think is a deer trail. The grass is really matted and worn down, almost to bare dirt. But what mystified me is the abrupt beginning and end of the trail. It seemed to start at one big walnut tree and go to another about 30 yards away. Because of the number of deer and other nearby deer trails, I was pretty certain it was a deer trail but it was unusual in that it had such abrupt beginning and end points.
So deer season comes and I'm sitting in a blind about 80 yards from that trail. Deer come and go but never on that trail. Then I see the trail maker. A huge red squirrel started going from one tree to the other, always on that trail. I never knew a squirrel could make a trail. It's the only place I have ever seen one.
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95XL883
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# Posted: 23 Feb 2019 10:34
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Kind of a "squirrel" story. I was on a New Mexico elk hunting trip. One of our party filled his tag the first day. The gut pile and bones were placed a couple hundred yards from camp. A following mid-day, during a break from elk hunting, I set up about 50 yards away and above the pile. I was hoping for a bear or cougar to come in.
I sat in a clump of brush and trees, in full camo, motionless, except for raising and lower my binoculars and slowly moving my head. Suddenly I see a darting motion near the pile. Way too small for a cougar or bear, but what was it. It blended in very well with the forest floor and the tree trunks. Motionless it was almost impossible to see. It would run up a tree trunk, turn so it was facing straight down and freeze. At times it would stare right at me, 50 yards away and I'm sure it knew I was there. Finally. it went over to the gut pile and removed a rib bone. Now an elk rib bone is as long as this critter was. With that bone sticking out of the sides of its mouth, it jumped on a downed tree trunk and stared right at me. I felt it was saying "This is mine and you can't have it." Then it disappeared and I never saw it again.
It took a little research but I was watching a pine martin. They are listed as threatened in NM. A very cool little carnivore. I hope to see one again some day.
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95XL883
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# Posted: 23 Feb 2019 10:41
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How about a bird story. I've wound up with a nice flock of cardinals on my ground. They have gotten downright fat feasting on the corn, insects and food plots. Sometimes during deer season, when the leaves are down and snow is on the ground, they will gather in one 15' tall hickory tree. There can be as many as 10 big red males at once. It is absolutely beautiful. Looks like a Christmas tree with big red ornaments. It always makes me smile.
I've got more but I've got to get to some other tasks right now. Hopefully others have stories to share.
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fiftyfifty
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# Posted: 23 Feb 2019 20:45
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Some ruffed grouse are very tame. If you walk very calmly along a partially overgrown logging road, you may happen upon 1 or 2 picking grit or enjoying the sun and they will let you sit there with them for a hour or more.
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creeky
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# Posted: 24 Feb 2019 05:49
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I was camping in new Brunswick one time. Red squirrel came down to see what was going on. She would run around on the picnic table right beside where I was eating. Excitedly leaping from bench to bench. Which was really neat as the picnic table top was above her. Pretty good jump for such a little critter.
Anyway, I was having a glass of red wine with supper and she came over, stood up holding the edge of the glass. Put her nose over and sniffed. After she did this a couple of times I took the glass and poured a tiny teaspoon of wine onto the picnic table.
After a second she came back over, bent down, took the tiniest sip. And totally freaked out. Zoom off the table and up a tree. Chattering all the way. Last I saw of her as she disappeared into the forest.
The park was full of bears. That night I heard creeeeeeeak. As something massive climbed onto the picnic table. Then I heard, shlllllurp. Next morning there's a big clean spot where the wine had been.
The reason I was awake, a moment earlier something had pushed it's nose into the wall of the tent and the poking and snuffling woke me up. Well, nobody likes being poked awake so I rolled over and swatted the nose. Hurumph. A big snort of irritation. But at least the poking stopped.
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