Nosy Bear

 Testing the front door! Scary! This is just feet from our bedroom.

Bear Family

 

Finally! A MOOSE!!!

 Just before 5am this morning. It must have seen that truck coming because it was in a hurry!

-JC-

New Cameras!

 It's been a long time. The wildlife cameras haven't been very effective for a long time. We've recently purchased a Ring Camera and a couple of Ring Doorbells (with one more camera coming just as soon as the price drops - thank you camelcamelcamel.com). We're getting very clear pictures of cats, racoons, foxes and opossums so far. This morning, we finally caught a bear. Here it is.

We originally started with the wildlife cams after we saw a moose in that same area. We've seen 2 more since then but have had no luck with the cams. Here's hoping!

-JC-

Make that Oakham Odette!

We came to the conclusion it probably wasn't good to have an animal digging around in, and possibly damaging, our leach field. We called animal control about having our groundhog captured and relocated. Someone was supposed to call back but we were told that they would probably refer us to an outfit called Critter Control. When they didn't call back, we just went ahead and called Critter Control directly.

They came out at 7:30 this morning and set up their traps so that there was no way for the animal the leave or enter the hutch without passing through a trap. Our groundhog was in a trap by lunchtime.

When I first approached to take a picture, she rolled on her back and hid her face in the corner
revealing that Oakham Odie was really Oakham Odette.

After she calmed down a bit.

We let Critter Control know that they had an angry groundhog in their trap and they came to get her. Her release point will be many miles away. I would have released her a couple of miles down the road in the state watershed area but the Critter Control guy said she'd be back in no time.

The guy did say that she was probably 3 years old and had probably been with us most of that time. She's probably had a litter every year. Fortunately, the babies leave home a 3 months and scatter far and wide.

Just in case there are others, the traps will stay in place until until tomorrow morning. Once they are gone, I'll set a smoke bomb off in the hutch and block the entrance. That will let me know where any other entrances are. With that known, I'll lace the hole(s) and surrounding area(s) with repellant and fill the hole(s) with large rocks, gravel and dirt.

-JC-

Oakham Odie!

There has been a burrow up on the house-facing side of our leach field for the past few years. I've tried several times to fill it in but it always seems to get dug anew. I've tried setting the wildlife cameras to catch whatever lives in the burrow but, until now, all attempts have failed.

It's possible that the burrow has gone through a succession of owners but we definitely know who's living there now. We have a groundhog (woodchuck, marmot, etc.) who seems to feel so safe when its in the proximity of its burrow that it will let us approach to within a few feet before diving to safety.

We first noticed it standing tall on its mound like a prairie dog or meerkat and we now see it all the time. Its diet includes wild strawberry leaves and shagbark hickory nuts which are both abundant on our property.

Yesterday, I put one of the wildlife cameras on a short tripod and set it about 6 feet from the burrow. The results are fantastic!

For the next round, I've reset the camera to take still pictures.

-JC-

AND ONE DAY, LIKE A MIRACLE, HE'LL BE GONE

We saw this sign a couple of times. Once was next door to our daughter, Briar, in Rutland, MA and the other was in Holden, MA. Both looked homemade and the only thing that we were able to find online was a bumper sticker on Etsy. Making our own was the only option.

Briar has a printer that makes vinyl decals. She worked up a design and cut the decals. We ordered blank signs (had to order a minimum of 3) and Briar applied the decals. We're really pleased with the results.

My sister Stacy and her husband Jack saw Briar's mockup and wanted a sign. Shipping a sign to Lake Oswego, OR was prohibitively expensive so they ordered their own blank signs and we sent them a set of decals. The sign is now bicoastal!

-JC-