# Critters Are Coming Out Up Here



## Perferator (Oct 18, 2003)

Last week the skunks were moving about. This morning a dead porcupine on the road. Black squirrels have joined the masses of red squirrels. Even though our mornings are in the teens and twenties, the sun is warming things up. Bears next?


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## mattawanhunter (Oct 30, 2011)

What city/county? Wish I was up there, don't care if there is snow, it's noisy and stinks down here, too many people rushing around just to make a living, life was never meant to be lived at this pace!



Perferator said:


> Last week the skunks were moving about. This morning a dead porcupine on the road. Black squirrels have joined the masses of red squirrels. Even though our mornings are in the teens and twenties, the sun is warming things up. Bears next?


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## noshow (Sep 24, 2010)

First bear of the season last week on our property in Mason county.


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

Saw several skunks dead on the road in the last month. Saw a woodchuck last week that got hit. Had on TV the other night to take feeders down as the bear are coming out. Had a possum on the feeder a couple weeks ago and I walked up to it and punched it in the nose with a ball bat. He dropped down and ran. That is the first one I have ever seen since living here, see them around in different areas. Last year we had an all white skunk in the yard this year the woman that lives a mile north of us said that there has been one in her yard. Heard a lot of birds that you hear in the spring just singing away, sounds good. Sandhill cranes been flying over the house for a few days and the farm fields have a lot in them


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## PunyTrout (Mar 23, 2007)

Scout 2 said:


> Had a possum on the feeder a couple weeks ago and I walked up to it and punched it in the nose with a ball bat. He dropped down and ran.


You might want to keep the Possums around. They eat ticks for a living. Unless you want a healthy tick population around the property.

http://www.wideopenspaces.com/know-opossums-eat-virtually-ticks-yard/


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

PunyTrout said:


> You might want to keep the Possums around. They eat ticks for a living. Unless you want a healthy tick population around the property.
> 
> http://www.wideopenspaces.com/know-opossums-eat-virtually-ticks-yard/


I don't bother them. He was chowing down on a suet cake and wife was all upset so I took the ball bat out and used the bottom to punch him in the nose, he ran in the woods


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## Perferator (Oct 18, 2003)

mattawanhunter said:


> What city/county? Wish I was up there, don't care if there is snow, it's noisy and stinks down here, too many people rushing around just to make a living, life was never meant to be lived at this pace!


Northern Emmet county near Cross Village on Larks Lake. I’m keeping a watch for the first bear. I know your city struggles when your heart is in the woods. Amen.


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## Perferator (Oct 18, 2003)

PunyTrout said:


> You might want to keep the Possums around. They eat ticks for a living. Unless you want a healthy tick population around the property.
> 
> http://www.wideopenspaces.com/know-opossums-eat-virtually-ticks-yard/


Possums are nearby. They are fun to watch when in the blind Oct-Dec. Very intriguing.


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

This is how smart birds are. We are letting the feeders go empty before our local bear finds them. We have the mesh hanging ones and there is always seed left in the middle I will fix that over the summer, but the chickadees have found if the hang upside down on the perch and hammer the bottom it will vibrate the seeds over when they can get them. Today they have almost emptied both feeders by doing that


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

Perferator said:


> Possums are nearby. They are fun to watch when in the blind Oct-Dec. Very intriguing.


Years go while **** hunting we found a dead horse with a whole family living in it. I guess you could say they eat themselves out of house and home


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## Perferator (Oct 18, 2003)

Scout 2 said:


> Years go while **** hunting we found a dead horse with a whole family living in it. I guess you could say they eat themselves out of house and home


I put deer carcasses out back and the possums camp out in the ribcage. They are expert scavengers. The red-winged blackbirds are back but havent seen a robin yet. We have the only restaurant within 10 miles next door to us here on the lake. The bears love their dumpster. Occasionally they run across our yard.


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## JAA (Oct 6, 2004)

Scout 2 said:


> I don't bother them. He was chowing down on a suet cake and wife was all upset so I took the ball bat out and used the bottom to punch him in the nose, he ran in the woods


 What a Sportsman! A suet cake is cost what .89 cents, A tick bite could easily cost you or your wife hundreds, You might want to explain that to her


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

Perferator said:


> I put deer carcasses out back and the possums camp out in the ribcage. They are expert scavengers. The red-winged blackbirds are back but havent seen a robin yet. We have the only restaurant within 10 miles next door to us here on the lake. The bears love their dumpster. Occasionally they run across our yard.


We usually have a couple in our yard a summer. Sometimes they come upon the deck and look in the window. I was sitting in a recliner by the window one night and a movement caused me to look out the window. Ever stare a bear in the eye at about 10 inches away. It makes your heart beat real fast


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## Perferator (Oct 18, 2003)

Scout 2 said:


> We usually have a couple in our yard a summer. Sometimes they come upon the deck and look in the window. I was sitting in a recliner by the window one night and a movement caused me to look out the window. Ever stare a bear in the eye at about 10 inches away. It makes your heart beat real fast


That would be a trip. :lol:


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## Martin Looker (Jul 16, 2015)

I don't kill the possum in the yard but my dog thinks they are chew toys. He kills a dozen or so every summer.


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## Forest Meister (Mar 7, 2010)

Scout 2 said:


> I don't bother them. He was chowing down on a suet cake and wife was all upset so I took the ball bat out and used the bottom to punch him in the nose, he ran in the woods





Scout 2 said:


> We usually have a couple in our yard a summer. Sometimes they come upon the deck and look in the window. I was sitting in a recliner by the window one night and a movement caused me to look out the window. Ever stare a bear in the eye at about 10 inches away. It makes your heart beat real fast


Was getting your bat out to punch it in the nose your first reaction? FM


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## frenchriver1 (Jul 5, 2005)

Something big ripped down not only the suet cake holders, but the board I had holding two of them on the tree. Our lab had a few long stiffs at the site.


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## Perferator (Oct 18, 2003)

frenchriver1 said:


> Something big ripped down not only the suet cake holders, but the board I had holding two of them on the tree. Our lab had a few long stiffs at the site.


Any bear sign?


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

frenchriver1 said:


> Something big ripped down not only the suet cake holders, but the board I had holding two of them on the tree. Our lab had a few long stiffs at the site.


Usually when that happens here the dog comes back in covered with bear crap, the wife is yelling at him and he gets a midnight bath. Happened a lot last fall. I just disappear when that happens as I might bust out laughing


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## Perferator (Oct 18, 2003)

Scout 2 said:


> Usually when that happens here the dog comes back in covered with bear crap, the wife is yelling at him and he gets a midnight bath. Happened a lot last fall. I just disappear when that happens as I might bust out laughing


That’s country livin’ right there.


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