An unexpected visitor... with photo evidence!!

When you live in rural Idaho, you can get many unexpected visitors. The saying on ATS is "photos, or it didn't happen..."

I got the photo

This young buck visited us a few days ago. Our ducks and chickens were completely unfazed by the intruder...



He didn't even care about the stupid white guy with the camera...

a reply to: madmac5150

Nice! Used to live in a small suburb outside bishop, ca and the people fed the deer all the time. We used to pet them. Lemme see if i can dig up a pic!

Cool post!

CHOOT IT!!!

jk

We had never seen this guy before; he was docile enough as he grazed around our birds. It is rutting season, so I kept my distance and used a long telephoto lens.

I had a very unwelcome visitor at 4 am Sunday morning.
I woke up to a loud bang and the cats high tailing it across the house, knocking crap off shelves in their haste.
I looked out my back deck window and noticed the kotion sensor was on.
Looked out the front and there was a big black bear trudging across the road.
Must had walked right into my patio glass!

I had one last night too. Double bagged trash and something, I'm guessing raccoon or wild cat, went with laser like precision and made a hole the size of my fist right to t-bone scraps that were double bagged themselves! In a double bag! Laser...like....precision.
Aliens? I think the answer is a resounding yes.

originally posted by: Macenroe82
I had a very unwelcome visitor at 4 am Sunday morning.
I woke up to a loud bang and the cats high tailing it across the house, knocking crap off shelves in their haste.
I looked out my back deck window and noticed the kotion sensor was on.
Looked out the front and there was a big black bear trudging across the road.
Must had walked right into my patio glass!

We have had bears, wolves, coyotes and one very large mountain lion in this area... I have no pictures of those. They visited very late at night (well past established visiting hours)... I grab the 12 guage in those instances. I have never had to actually shoot at those late night visitors... one shot in the air generally gets rid of them.

Ducks are the best alarm system... ever. They throw a fit when we have intruders...

a reply to: madmac5150

I didn't want to hijack the thread by telling the whole story, but I know what you mean by unwanted guests doing the pop in after lights out.

Turns out that bear I seen, wandered up to the neighbors about a km away, and started causing a ruckus up there to.
The bear thinks because he's so damn big that he can just go around doing what ever he wants.

Well our neighbors had a welcoming present for him.
They heard him messing around about 45 minutes after he left our house.
The neighbor introduced himself to the bear with a double barrel shotgun.
Given how far he was away from the bear when he shot at it, it was still enough to kick the bear in the butt with some buckshot and send him packing.
I know everyone always says it was the biggest "blah, blah blah", I've ever seen!
Well if you look back at some of my previous threads you will see I'm around bears every day.

This bear though is absolutely huge. He's easily the size of a compact car like a Honda hatch back. I was nervous about letting the kids play outside the next day.

originally posted by: Macenroe82
a reply to: madmac5150

I didn't want to hijack the thread by telling the whole story, but I know what you mean by unwanted guests doing the pop in after lights out.

Turns out that bear I seen, wandered up to the neighbors about a km away, and started causing a ruckus up there to.
The bear thinks because he's so damn big that he can just go around doing what ever he wants.

Well our neighbors had a welcoming present for him.
They heard him messing around about 45 minutes after he left our house.
The neighbor introduced himself to the bear with a double barrel shotgun.
Given how far he was away from the bear when he shot at it, it was still enough to kick the bear in the butt with some buckshot and send him packing.
I know everyone always says it was the biggest "blah, blah blah", I've ever seen!
Well if you look back at some of my previous threads you will see I'm around bears every day.

This bear though is absolutely huge. He's easily the size of a compact car like a Honda hatch back. I was nervous about letting the kids play outside the next day.

We had a very large black bear with two cubs in close to our bird enclosure this past spring. It was very late, I was half asleep... but our duck were throwing an absolute fit. I grabbed the spotlight and the shotgun... as soon as I realized the identity of our visitors, I fired a warning shot in the air and they took off... hastily.

I would much rather have bears and lions for neighbors, than politicians...

I love our rural life. I lived in large cities for most of my career... I worry about predators taking my livestock; I DON'T worry about my car being stolen. I don't worry about gang-bangers.

My day to day concerns center around keeping our livestock happy and healthy... and cutting firewood; (winter is coming)...

It is an amazingly cathartic lifestyle, and I love it. My wife and I... we found our "happy"... what more can anyone ask for?

Cool ... I miss the woodlands and familiar beasts there. The desert where I now reside has pricklier, harsher lifeforms.

Though it's weird that some can look at that and see the mysterious beauty of life ... and some see a pest, or at best, venison.

a reply to: madmac5150

Gorgeous photo!

a reply to: madmac5150

He didn't even care about the stupid white guy with the camera...

I don't know. He looks mildly concerned. And then there' s those 'threat ganglia' showing on the top of his head, similar in shape to these, on the back of this Kelpian:




But seriously, we have the "greater horned wood rat' here in the Catskills, leaning over the wire eating the late-season tomatoes, fertilizing the lawn, and providing lots of deer tick larvae as food for the wild turkeys. They also mow the forest outback, and in every direction for miles, up to shoulder level every winter. It's so easy to snowshoe and bushwack, 'cause there aren't any bushes in the forest anymore. All the young red cedars have hour-glass figures.

Bambi! We have alot of deer-have to be careful driving home. The armadillos have invaded my backyard; we have huge holes but I feel badly for them because my small dogs go crazy on them.

originally posted by: Baddogma
Cool ... I miss the woodlands and familiar beasts there. The desert where I now reside has pricklier, harsher lifeforms.

Though it's weird that some can look at that and see the mysterious beauty of life ... and some see a pest, or at best, venison.

I have lived in both Tucson and Phoenix. The desert has a beauty all its own... the spring bloom and monsoon season are especially photogenic.

We had a few bad winters here a couple of years ago and many deer died from the very low temperatures. They are starting to come back again, we usually have a doe and two older fawns in our yard every day now. Far down from the seven to ten we used to have, but I am glad that they are getting more populated again. Within ten feet of the driveway end on side of the road there is one that got hit by a car. I should have hauled it into the woods before it started to stink. It will be all gone next spring I think. I have been observing what happens every day, it is almost gutted now by the microbes it contained. I am hoping to see some bones next spring, I want to see how long it takes to disappear.

originally posted by: rickymouse
We had a few bad winters here a couple of years ago and many deer died from the very low temperatures. They are starting to come back again, we usually have a doe and two older fawns in our yard every day now. Far down from the seven to ten we used to have, but I am glad that they are getting more populated again. Within ten feet of the driveway end on side of the road there is one that got hit by a car. I should have hauled it into the woods before it started to stink. It will be all gone next spring I think. I have been observing what happens every day, it is almost gutted now by the microbes it contained. I am hoping to see some bones next spring, I want to see how long it takes to disappear.

We had a very brutal, very snowy winter this past year... at one point, we had nearly 4 feet of snow in our yard, with drifts up to 8 feet deep. I have noticed that we have seen far fewer elk and moose this year... far fewer Canadians as well...

This was my front yard from last Christmas... after our first big snow of the year.

originally posted by: madmac5150
When you live in rural Idaho, you can get many unexpected visitors. The saying on ATS is "photos, or it didn't happen..."

I got the photo

This young buck visited us a few days ago. Our ducks and chickens were completely unfazed by the intruder...

He didn't even care about the stupid white guy with the camera...

DEER LIVES MATTER !

...except when, you know, venison.....Mmmmm.....

One more pic...



I think he was pruning back our trees...

I get to see quite a bit of wildlife around here, in close proximity.

One of the neater experiences happened quite recently and was with a deer too. I was working on a walking staff, just sitting in the middle of a grove, when I sensed.. something.. in the area.

I looked to my rear left and a deer was just standing there, about five feet away. Admittedly, I was a bit startled. I was quite involved in my work!

She ended up hanging around for quite a few minutes while I talked about something or another, then ran off. I thought that was it, and felt pretty happy about it all, but then she came back with her kid.

They both ended up hanging around for about half an hour while I sanded. They were never more than ~15 feet away, and spent more time watching than anything else.

Loved every minute

originally posted by: Serdgiam
I get to see quite a bit of wildlife around here, in close proximity.

One of the neater experiences happened quite recently and was with a deer too. I was working on a walking staff, just sitting in the middle of a grove, when I sensed.. something.. in the area.

I looked to my rear left and a deer was just standing there, about five feet away. Admittedly, I was a bit startled. I was quite involved in my work!

She ended up hanging around for quite a few minutes while I talked about something or another, then ran off. I thought that was it, and felt pretty happy about it all, but then she came back with her kid.

They both ended up hanging around for about half an hour while I sanded. They were never more than ~15 feet away, and spent more time watching than anything else.

Loved every minute

I love the wildlife out here, at times it is breathtaking. At times, it can be annoying... 2 years ago, I had a bull moose block my driveway. Moose are NOT intimidated by Impalas. I had to wait for nearly 15 minutes until he got bored with me, and wandered off.