Lots of Wildlife in My Yard and in My House

Lynne

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Just a few minutes ago, I walked out and saw 25 wild turkeys in my yard. Whew, they are oooogly. Not nearly as ugly or as large as the turkey vulture I saw in a tree once. My german shepherd spotted it and barked at it. He really went bonkers. When it flew away, you could hear the wings flapping.

Every once in awhile we see red-tailed hawks, a bald eagle, and falcons.

We have tons of coyotes here. It's rare to see one during daylight hours. Yesterday, I was outside around 4:00 pm (practicing my form!) and I saw a golden-colored "dog" on the back of the property. It was running along our creek. It was definitely a coyote. I like to walk my dog back there but now am concerned there could be a coyote den back there. Coyotes usually run around 30 - 40 pounds and my german shepherd is about 85#, but coyotes often travel in packs.

Two winter ago, I saw bear tracks in the snow in my backyard. Now bears/bear tracks scare the heck out of me.

When it gets dry here, the cougars come down from the hills. About two months ago, I was walking my dog after dark and I heard a wild cat not too far from the neighbor's horse. The scratching "wee-owww" sound it made was so loud it echoed. I got home pretty fast.

Of course we see deer every day of the year up here. One time, there were over 10 in my yard. If you go out at night, you can hear a buck snort every once in awhile. We have to be careful because bucks can be aggressive. I can't believe it, but we haven't hit a deer with a car yet. You'll be driving along a country road, 45 mph, and boom, a deer will run out in front of you. Then, they turn and go back in front of you again. Then, they turn and go the other way again. They give you at least three chances to hit them. Next, their herd tries the same thing, usually two to five more. On the highways that are 55 - 65 mph, the deer explode if a tractor-trailer hits them.

Skunks. You think skunk smells are bad? My husband thinks my coffee smells the same. I say Coronas smell like skunks. One night, we had a smell to beat all. Because we live in the Northeast, we don't have air conditioning on the ground floor. We sleep with the windows open in the summer (unless it's too cool). Gee whiz. A smell woke us up about 1:00 am. It was horrible, all-consuming. I can only describe it as a cross between onions, garlic, and skunky fumes. My husband swore it was a bear because bears smell so bad. Our eyes began burning, tearing up. The smell kept us awake all night long. We figured it was a skunk though. It must have been outside of our bedroom window.

Then there are the owls, o'possums, red foxes, silver foxes, loads of groundhogs. The groundhogs leave huge holes and you have to be careful. You could break a leg if your leg went inside of one. I have come face-to-face with groundhog families. They are fat devils. The babies are cute. My german shepherd nosed a baby and it shrieked and ran off.

Unfortunately, we have squirrels that live in our attic and have storage places in the ceiling and the walls. It's not unusual to hear plop, plop, plop in the wee hours of the morning as nuts fall into the wall or skitter across the ceiling. I don't know if they are playing soccer or what.

The mice aren't so cute. Neither are the rats. Once we had set mousetraps. We went to check on the mousetraps and they'd all disappeared. Gone. Zip. Zero. I bought a rat trap and caught a big ol' greast rat in my root cellar. I guess he'd been carting off the mousetraps with the mousies in them. Yuk. Now, the mice have returned. I need another rat.
 

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Sounds like a great place to live, except it is New York. :( HAHAHA

A smell woke us up about 1:00 am. It was horrible, all-consuming. I can only describe it as a cross between onions, garlic, and skunky fumes. My husband swore it was a bear because bears smell so bad. Our eyes began burning, tearing up. The smell kept us awake all night long. We figured it was a skunk though. It must have been outside of our bedroom window.

That was probably a bear! They stink awfully bad!

Of course it could have been sasquatch or what is called a "Skunk Ape", maybe it was the chupacabra! HAHAHA :lfao: J/K
 

tshadowchaser

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with out the deer ( seldom see them in town) it sounds like my yard.
we have all of those lovely critter around this place.
Hell my wife goes out and pets a couple of the skunks ( I am waiting till they spry her because it is only a matter of time) and one of the little things sits by her as she waits for a ride to work each morning.
If I travel a few miles we get to see the der. The bears, well there have been more than a few that wondered into town.
The police station had a visit from a young Moose the other year.
And we have bald eagles around here also ( they are simply beautiful)

Seeing all of this wild life is one of the reason I love the country
 
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Lynne

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Sounds like a great place to live, except it is New York. :( HAHAHA



That was probably a bear! They stink awfully bad!

Of course it could have been sasquatch or what is called a "Skunk Ape", maybe it was the chupacabra! HAHAHA :lfao: J/K

Luckily, we live in an agricultural area, the foothills of the Appalachians. But the taxes are high. The electricity is outrageous at around .15/kwh. The winters are rough. I grew up in Chesapeake, Virginia, lived in Fort Worth Texas, and have lived in Seattle, Washington. There's nothing like stepping outside in the winter and your nose hairs freeze instantly, lol. I can't walk my dog in the winter of course. Poor guy. You can't do anything outdoors.

Maybe that was a bear. It really didn't smell like a skunk. There was a skunky smell but it had the other smells going on. You would have thought someone had been peeling yellow onions our eyes were burning so bad. We even closed the windows and we could still smell it and our eyes continued to burn with the windows closed.

We've seen black bears (mother and cub) about 2 miles from where we live. It spooks me, especially when they have cubs.

Seems the chupacabra is a South American or Southwestern thing. You never know! They could migrate.
 

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Sounds like a bear was right outside your window. They stink something awful. I have been really close to several bears and most of the time they are not too bad, but always have this earthy, skunky, almost "hot" smell to them. If it has been a hot period without rain for a bit, they get downright ripe. Shoot I've had bears climb into my basement around here, just leave the outside door open and they always head for home by early evening. Moose in the front yard several times, and I live right in town. :)

Your electricity is outrageous? Trade you for mine here in Northern Maine - 428Kw just ran me $187.
 
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Lynne

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with out the deer ( seldom see them in town) it sounds like my yard.
we have all of those lovely critter around this place.
Hell my wife goes out and pets a couple of the skunks ( I am waiting till they spry her because it is only a matter of time) and one of the little things sits by her as she waits for a ride to work each morning.
If I travel a few miles we get to see the der. The bears, well there have been more than a few that wondered into town.
The police station had a visit from a young Moose the other year.
And we have bald eagles around here also ( they are simply beautiful)

Seeing all of this wild life is one of the reason I love the country
When we were living in Washington state, my husband had gotten a job offer here in NY. New York! Ugh. Then, my husband explained that the area near Binghamton was rural, argicultural, with small mountains (or is it large hills!?). Oh, ok, no concrete jungles. I've never been to New York City and have no desire to go except maybe visit the museums.

So you don't have the deer? Well, they are beautiful. I do have to be careful during deer season. I will not go on the back of my property. There are field on the other side of our creek and there are hills and fields all around us. Accidents can happen. Also, we have fools who live next door. The young woman said she had almost shot me twice when I was walking my dog. Gee. Thanks.

Your wife pets the skunks and has actually made friends with one? How cute until...I've heard those fumes can be very overwhelming, maybe even take your breath. I don't know if that's an old wive's tale or not. How did she get close, start feeding them?

I think we're lucky to hear the coyotes. Actually, the "townfolk" don't hear the coyotes at all. They live in a suburban neighborhood with a green that looks straight out of Currier and Ives. Go down the road three miles and you are in the country. I think their calls and howls are a hoot. One night we were startled - we thought a woman was screaming and then realized it was a coyote. Then, the others joined in and were yipping like crazy.

We have an almost 90-degree curve about 1/8 of a mile from us. The milk trucks wake us up about 4:00 am some mornings. They have to apply their air brakes going around that curve.

We don't have much of a spring here and the growing season is short. But the fall and summer are very nice.

Living in the country isn't as quiet as some people might think ;)
 
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Lynne

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Sounds like a bear was right outside your window. They stink something awful. I have been really close to several bears and most of the time they are not too bad, but always have this earthy, skunky, almost "hot" smell to them. If it has been a hot period without rain for a bit, they get downright ripe. Shoot I've had bears climb into my basement around here, just leave the outside door open and they always head for home by early evening. Moose in the front yard several times, and I live right in town. :)

Your electricity is outrageous? Trade you for mine here in Northern Maine - 428Kw just ran me $187.
I've not seen Moose - I don't think they've migrated this far south. Bears climbing into your basement? Well, that smell you describe sounds like what we smelled. I think I know what you mean by the "hot" smell. It also explains why it didn't smell exactly like a skunk, but so much more...

Unfortunately, we bought an all-electric home. This house was originally built in 1800. It could use some more insulation. We are very cold in the winter. We have a pellet stove in the basement but pellets are now $5.00/bag - you can go through a bag a day. The pellet stove does help though. We have baseboard heat. Now, I know why they house sat on the market for several years. No one in their right mind buys an all-electric house here. Our bill in winter runs around $500 - $800 a month and that's with trying to be frugal. We would install a wood/oil furnace, but we'd have to have all the piping run.

The real estate agent lied and lilly-guilded the information on the fact sheet about the house. She said electricity ran around $100 a month. It does when there is no one living in the house.

The rats have actually carted off some of the insulation - we saw where it had been moved around in our root cellar. I guess they are keeping comfy in the winter, bless their little hearts.
 

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Hey, Lynne. We have the same scenario around here. Where I live we have the base of a ridgeline about 75 feet from the front door(heavily wooded), a huge cornfield across the creek in the back yard and apple orchards on either side. The other night we were sitting at the kitchen table having dinner when I caught movement by the window. When I looked up there was a doe staring in at us as if to say "Hey, can I have some of that?" Coyotes are so bad here that my son is not allowed out of the house alone after dark and the county has a bounty on them. They will send chills up your spine when you're outside at night and they start calling to one another. Bears? Yep. Got them too. Nothing big to find tracks or even scat in the yard from bears. Yesterday I had Tucker out on his runner for some excercise and when I looked out the window to the field that he was in (he was barking) there were 6 or 7 large turkey strutting just our of reach of his cable. I love it out here. After living in the city north of us for 10 years I'll take these four legged animals over the two legged kind any day.
 
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Lynne

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Hey, Lynne. We have the same scenario around here. Where I live we have the base of a ridgeline about 75 feet from the front door(heavily wooded), a huge cornfield across the creek in the back yard and apple orchards on either side. The other night we were sitting at the kitchen table having dinner when I caught movement by the window. When I looked up there was a doe staring in at us as if to say "Hey, can I have some of that?" Coyotes are so bad here that my son is not allowed out of the house alone after dark and the county has a bounty on them. They will send chills up your spine when you're outside at night and they start calling to one another. Bears? Yep. Got them too. Nothing big to find tracks or even scat in the yard from bears. Yesterday I had Tucker out on his runner for some excercise and when I looked out the window to the field that he was in (he was barking) there were 6 or 7 large turkey strutting just our of reach of his cable. I love it out here. After living in the city north of us for 10 years I'll take these four legged animals over the two legged kind any day.
Hey, Lynne. We have the same scenario around here. Where I live we have the base of a ridgeline about 75 feet from the front door(heavily wooded), a huge cornfield across the creek in the back yard and apple orchards on either side. The other night we were sitting at the kitchen table having dinner when I caught movement by the window. When I looked up there was a doe staring in at us as if to say "Hey, can I have some of that?" Coyotes are so bad here that my son is not allowed out of the house alone after dark and the county has a bounty on them. They will send chills up your spine when you're outside at night and they start calling to one another. Bears? Yep. Got them too. Nothing big to find tracks or even scat in the yard from bears. Yesterday I had Tucker out on his runner for some excercise and when I looked out the window to the field that he was in (he was barking) there were 6 or 7 large turkey strutting just our of reach of his cable. I love it out here. After living in the city north of us for 10 years I'll take these four legged animals over the two legged kind any day.
I see you live in the Roanoke/Lynchburg area, a very beatiful area. I also love Charlottesville. I'd love to live in the Shenandoah Valley.

I grew up in Chesapeake right on the edge of the Dismal Swamp (or rather it was swamp until homes were built). Our biggest problems were copperheads and water moccasins. We lived right on Deep Creek, so the mosquitoes and these yellow/black biting flies we called yellow jackets made life miserable at certain times of the year.

We only saw bears, raccoons and such if we drove into the Dismal Swamp. Once we drove down a dirt hunting road that I swear never ended. We went miles and miles. We spotted raccoon families travelling across the branches that overhung the road. We spotted some wild grapes and thought we would pick some. Notice "thought." My brother and I got out of the car and were immediately beseiged by hundreds of mosquitoes. Later, I counted the mosquito bites. In less than two minutes (probably one minute was all I was really out of the car), I'd gotten over one-hundred mosquito bites. Anyway, I looked down and screamed, "SNAKE!" It was the largest copperhead I've ever seen. I almost didn't see it as it was mixed in with some dried leaves. It must have been six-foot long. I did see the entire snake. My dumb brother was trying to find it because it disappeared under the leaves. He said, "There it is!" It wasn't the same copperhead. How do I know? Because this one was larger in diameter! Then, we realized the place was crawling, literally, with snakes. We got back in the car so fast it would make your head spin.

The Dismal Swamp is the spookiest place I have ever been. I don't know how to describe it. It was dead silent when we got out of the car. You couldn't pay me to spend a night in there.

My uncle's house backed right up to the swamp and they did have a black bear problem. They had a picnic table near the edge of the forest. They'd been eating watermelon at the picnic table. One day, my uncle came out and the picnic table had long scratches all over it and had been gnawed on. Well, don't feed the bears they say. The bears (more than one) decided to start coming close to the house.

As a child, I didn't see too many snakes. I think kids are just oblivious or something. God only knows how many times I came close to danger. We used to go exploring in the woods, pick mistletoe, whatever. My mother was always fighting off water moccasins in her flower bed. She'd get a hoe and go to it.
 
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Lynne

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Huh? Did someone need something?


I think you're right... Isn't it the mothman on the east coast? :D

How'd you know we were talking about you?

Oh, yeah. I remember something about the mothman - not growing up. I saw something on TV this past season. Some goobers in Massahusetts or somewhere? (Northern states do have rednecks, trust me) :D
 

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Backyard mule deer:

690381251_524ca4fdff.jpg

Frontyard pronghorn:
690379881_6747c67db9.jpg


Front window moose (my young 'un meeting a moose young'un)
690377957_ed177b5be1.jpg


Somewhere around I've got a picture of a mama moose and her calf right out my front door.
 

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Yep, I know how that goes Lynne. When we lived in rural NC for 5 years we had wild turkeys all over the place. There was a bobcat in our back yard, and once I was driving to the barn and a black bear crossed the road in front of my car. We had the typical herds of deer, there was an apple orchard in our front yard, and we watched 2 bucks sparring in our front yard once. That was very cool.

We also a neighbors horses get loose and run around our front yard. One time as my husband was leaving for work in the morning, he was walking to his car, it was early, still kinda dark and very foggy. He walked into a cow. lol! Someones cow got loose, wound up in our yard, as all the critters seemed to do.

It's actually pretty cool I think. :D
 
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Lynne

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Backyard mule deer:

690381251_524ca4fdff.jpg

Frontyard pronghorn:
690379881_6747c67db9.jpg


Front window moose (my young 'un meeting a moose young'un)
690377957_ed177b5be1.jpg


Somewhere around I've got a picture of a mama moose and her calf right out my front door.
Wyoming. You lucky turkey, I mean guy. I bet your little one loved seeing that moose up close.

The only time I've seen deer that weren't skittish was on Orcas Island, Washington. They aren't hunted there and will come right up to you. I let a doe lick my hand (wary of those razor hooves).

The moose appear to be rather brave where you are.

We have the large spruce trees like you have. When we have a wet snow it looks like a Christmas card here. I never had a white Christmas growing up, always wanted one. Now I get them almost every year.

Thanks for showing the pics :D
 
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Lynne

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Yep, I know how that goes Lynne. When we lived in rural NC for 5 years we had wild turkeys all over the place. There was a bobcat in our back yard, and once I was driving to the barn and a black bear crossed the road in front of my car. We had the typical herds of deer, there was an apple orchard in our front yard, and we watched 2 bucks sparring in our front yard once. That was very cool.

We also a neighbors horses get loose and run around our front yard. One time as my husband was leaving for work in the morning, he was walking to his car, it was early, still kinda dark and very foggy. He walked into a cow. lol! Someones cow got loose, wound up in our yard, as all the critters seemed to do.

It's actually pretty cool I think. :D

When we were living in Fort Worth, Texas, we went to a party in Dallas. We were on our way home about 2:30 in the morning. We were on a four-lane highway with a grass median. It was pitch dark (no streetlights in that rural stretch). We saw something across our two lanes. It was about the size of a pickup truck. We thought someone had spun out. As we got closer, we saw it was white. And then something moved! It was a longhorn steer standing in the middle of the road, sideways! :D He had turned his head to look at us (or challenge us, who knows?). So, we are in this little Dodge Shelby versus, what, 3000-5000 pounds of bull? We worried he might ram us or just step on us, lol. To floor it or not to floor it, that was the question. He wasn't going anywhere. He just stared at us with those evil eyes. We slowly went around him, then floored it!
 
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Lynne

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The Texas Longhorn Steer (shorter horned ones are called bulls), aka, Mister Testosterone:

http://www.tlonghorn.com/bulls2.html

I don't know how much they weigh, but they're bigger than a Buick. I do know their horns can span 120 inches from tip to tip.

Get a look at "Ladies Man." Ha ha...wow.
 

Kreth

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turkeys...turkey vulture...red-tailed hawks, a bald eagle, and falcons....coyotes...bear...cougars...deer...owls, o'possums, red foxes, silver foxes, loads of groundhogs......squirrels
Welcome to upstate NY. Up here in Oneonta we have deer running through the city occasionally, and last year I saw a bear cub on I-88 just after the flooding (thought it was a large dog until I got closer and it stood up :eek:).

Sounds like a great place to live, except it is New York. :( HAHAHA
Don't piss me off or I'll start sending our senile old people down your way... Oh, wait... :uhyeah:

We had the typical herds of deer
Except fully-grown NC deer are about the size of NY fawns... :p
 
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Lynne

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Welcome to upstate NY. Up here in Oneonta we have deer running through the city occasionally, and last year I saw a bear cub on I-88 just after the flooding (thought it was a large dog until I got closer and it stood up :eek:).


Don't piss me off or I'll start sending our senile old people down your way... Oh, wait... :uhyeah:


Except fully-grown NC deer are about the size of NY fawns... :p

Hi Kreth,

You're just a little ways down the road. I live in Tioga County. A bear on I-88 - who would have thought. I'm glad we don't see a lot of bears. I know they're lurking close by though, probably closer than I want to know!

Fawns are born in the spring, correct? Even at this time of the year, we have seen small speckled deer that look like fawns and I wonder if the white-tail deer has two mating seasons (or an extended season). My stepfather (from Virginia) says there is no way we would be seeing fawns this time of year. They aren't Sitkas because they have white on the underside of their tails.

Oh, yeah. I've seen the deer in suburban areas! They'll go anywhere to eat the flowers and shrubs. It's weird to see them in a neighborhood. I suppose seeing coyotes walking down Phoenix streets is even weirder though.
 

Bigshadow

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Don't piss me off or I'll start sending our senile old people down your way... Oh, wait... :uhyeah:

Yeah, that is what I thought.... You have been sending them here for years! :p We have too many raisin farms! Please stop sending them. ;)

There are many similarities between Racoon City (Resident Evil) and The Villages (one of many local raisin farms). ;) Who let the zombies drive? :uhyeah:
 

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Fawns are born in the spring, correct? Even at this time of the year, we have seen small speckled deer that look like fawns and I wonder if the white-tail deer has two mating seasons (or an extended season). My stepfather (from Virginia) says there is no way we would be seeing fawns this time of year. They aren't Sitkas because they have white on the underside of their tails.

A bit further North than Virginia, is the reason. further north the later they are born generally. A Whitetail deer usually gives birth sometime around May or June and a fawn won't lose its' spots until after they are weaned. That is usually 3 or 4 months after birth, so this is about the end of the time we should be seeing a spotted fawn yet. They are probably the later spring births and are just about to wean from Momma. Hope this helps answer your question.
 

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