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Wild world out there at 3:00AM

Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 3:41 pm
by FredC
Armadillos have been evading me at the regular times, so I went out at 4:30 yesterday and killed a couple. But saw none on 2 fence lines that are riddled with burrows and digging. I tried at 2:30 this morning and it is wild out there. No dillos this time, lots of deer then this skunk. Notice how thin his actual tail is compared to when you see in normal light. Same way on his body but this photo with the thermal scope did not show it. Deer a few feet later with the cold nose. Drove up to the far pivot fence and caught something jumping up and down on a slightly cooler object. The neck was shorter than a deer, so I suspected a coyote. Yep, it was a coyote and the cooler object he was tearing on was a deer carcass. The gut piles and blood trail were more than 20 feet long and started near a hot wire fence. Do not know whether the deer broke its neck trying to jump the fence or the coyote caught it sleeping. I asked but neither was willing to talk.
Took a photo of the cattle near the pivot this morning. Their noses were not cool like the deer's. I learned on Jeopardy that deer are in the bovid family. Besides looking a lot different their heat signatures are different also.

Saw a distant thunderstorm and could barely hear the thunder a couple of times. Watched the weather this morning and that storm was about 100 miles away. Sure was quiet out to hear thunder at that distance.

Took a photo of the shop and portable building behind it. Shop has Low E glass and it does not transmit the heat like the fiberglass panel at the top of portable building. Looks like the low E glass is a good investment for energy savings.

Br the population of dillos is going down fast, so yours and Whig's nightmares should be decreasing. Sorry about the rabbits but that is an interesting factoid about rabbit's ears being radiators used to control body heat. Usually in the morning their ears are dark as they are not so hot. In the evening they are usually very white as they are shedding heat from the daytime. We have been way over 100 many times for the last couple of months here.

Re: Wild world out there at 3:00AM

Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 3:43 pm
by FredC
More photos.

Re: Wild world out there at 3:00AM

Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 3:59 pm
by FredC
Not broken up over the deer dying. Neighbor did a bunch of shooting a couple of days ago trying to scare the deer off his newly planted peanuts. Did not do much good but probably made him feel better for a couple of minutes.
Took this attached photo yesterday about 20 feet from the house on the north side. This morning at 3:00AM going out of the house I saw a critter about 20 feet from the house on the east side. Thought it was the cat, but it was another fawn or maybe the same one. It got up and moved off before I could push the button on the thermal scope so no photo. Probably drove by the mama deer about 5 feet off the gravel road. Looked back further down the road and she did not move when I drove by. I did not see her while driving by, looking back with the thermal monocular she was still lying down. These deer are getting too confident that this is a safe place to be. Pretty soon they will be they will be knocking on the door and asking us to babysit.
It is obvious the deer did not listen when I recommended birth control last fall. Huge population of under nourished hungry deer out there.

Random thermal images

Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2022 3:45 am
by FredC
I am not sure how to put images in order so they are random but labeled.
Fawn and mama deer the mama was moving towards me. The fawn wa having trouble getting his legs underneath him They would pop us sometimes.
Rat ran through a clearing in front of me and stopped as soon as he got in cover. Could see him through the grass looking straight down.
Armadillo next to irrigation pipe.
Armadillo standing on his hind legs because he hears me walking up.

If these get boring say so and I will not post anymore of these random photos.

Re: Wild world out there at 3:00AM

Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2022 5:41 am
by butlersrangers
'FredC' - I enjoy the 'night shots' and know you will eventually 'capture' an image of Big Foot!

Deer daycare and nursery

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2022 3:11 pm
by FredC
Br, any clue how the bears all got in the tree. Photo shopped or for real?


Went out scouting last night about 10:00 and saw what I first took for the cat sleeping behind the house. Went around the garage to look at the cantaloupe patch and there is a deer lying down about 20 feet outside the fence. looked some more and between the sewer cleanout and the garage is a fawn. tried to back up far enough to get both in one photo but the doe got up and went south a little. she knocked down the hot wire protecting the patch in the process. Cat came around the garage and wanted petting so I thought I had IDed him correctly behind the house. Went back to the house and the critter is still there. Ears are standing up too high for a cat. It is another stinking fawn. Mama had put it down where the cat used to sleep till a couple of weeks ago.
Both fawns were still there at 6:30 AM exactly where they were before. Went to work on the ranch at about 7:00 and I still could not see the one behind the house except for maybe it's eye. The one by the garage was clearly visible then. 8:20 when I came back to the house to get ready for work both were gone.

About 3 weeks ago I found a couple of gut piles by the back door that were bigger than a rat's but smaller than a horse's. I asked the cat what he killed but he did not say. I assumed he killed and ate a couple of rabbits. It was too early for a fawn. These 2 fawns are probably too big for him now, but not 100% on that. A few years ago I saw a 3/4 grown bobcat cross between the house and garage apartment. Goofball took out after him, was worried he would come back all bloody, but not a scratch back then. It is a wild world out there.

Re: Wild world out there at 3:00AM

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2022 10:24 pm
by FredC
A couple more random Thermal images.

Not sure why the doe had cold feet it was probably still over 90 F that night. We were in a heat warning that day 110F plus a feels like humidity factor. Maybe she cooled her feet in the irrigation reservoir a couple of hundred yards away.

Another diller bit the dust. Whig and Br should be sleeping better now.

Re: Wild world out there well 4:00AM this time

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 2:19 pm
by FredC
A few nights ago I went out again at 3:00AM again. Saw an armadillo but could not get a clear shot with the regular scope and streamlight. Came in and checked around the shop. I heard a semi stop on the highway out front so decided to take a looksee. As I was walking down the drive, I heard the semi backing up, this is getting wild as it is on the break of a steep hill. I got there to see the driver behind the semi, then he hopped the fence into the neighbor's place. One ton Chevy was parked there for sale. I watched him open the doors and look it over.
As he came out and hopped the fence it became wildlife related again. Notice the diller by his feet. It would have become really exciting if he had landed on it.
I told the neighbor about it and he checked the truck out the new radio was still laying on the front seat, so nothing was taken. Gravel hauler just wanted to check out the truck for sale. The neighbor asked me to shoot the diller for him if I ever see it again.

Re: Wild world out there at 4:00AM

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2022 12:03 pm
by FredC
Went out at 4:00 this morning and saw a few odd things. Turned the monocular on and scanned in the yard. Hot spot in a tree behind the house was a bird. It was still there when I got back. Cat was intently aware of a mouse on the other side of the fence and weeds. Rode off without disturbing the situation. Deer herd at the top of the hill. One buck can be seen 3rd from the right in one foto and third from the left in the other. The foto with the cross hair is from the new rifle scope.

6:00AM and where the big bucks hang out

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 10:08 pm
by FredC
Went out 6AM this morning it was still dark, while looking for a pig that just did some rooting on my place i saw a bunch of hot spots on the neighbor's place. Walked out to the fence line and saw these guy's thermal images. Not sure if they are really big but they do look a lot larger than the does images. Not even sure of the distance but they were across the fence on the neighbor's place.
Distant hot spots were probably another herd of deer, probably a half mile from the fence.