The turkey and the coyote trap

I just returned from checking my coyote traps, for the second time today. Normally, once first thing in the morning will do it, but today I had a little more bait to put out.

The traps are set near a deer carcass I found on the property last December. Some slob had trespassed and shot the fork horn and not even tried following it up. I discovered it a few days later, by which time some critters had already started eating it. There was nothing salvageable by then, so I kept an eye on the carcass and noticed a steady flow of opossum and raccoon using it, as well a strong likelihood of a few coyotes. After the deer season ended, I set some traps nearby.

The weather has been pretty cold this winter, and the carcass was covered with snow most of the time. However, when it warmed and the snow began melting down, there was quite a bit of activity. I set my trail camera in several different locations near the spot. Most of the time I got pictures of crows. Once a red tailed hawk stopped by. Last night I got a picture of a raccoon on the infrared.

During the trapping season, I managed to catch 2 raccoons. On another occasion, I shot an opossum on the kill site.

I caught a rabbit in one of the traps, near a trail approaching the location about a week ago. Normally, this would have been fine with me, but when I found it in the morning, most of it was gone. Something had eaten it in the trap. Possibly a coyote, but more likely a raccoon. I reset the trap and left the remains nearby. A few days later, the remains were gone.

When I reached the area late this morning, I noticed the space around my main coyote trap was all torn up, and the trap was gone! This upset me since it had been there 4 hours earlier. I had located it under a tree, near a game trail where a lot of varmints left droppings. This made it quite unlikely to catch some other animal accidently.

I carefully checked the area for signs in the snow. There were several sets of long curved marks looking like 5 claws raking the snow. If this was a B grade horror movie, I would have been in real trouble. Then I found a feather and saw the other tracks. Several turkeys had come though the area. The “claw marks” were from the wing feathers. Apparently one had gotten caught by the trap and been able to pull the rig clear of the tree to which it was attached (How I do not know since it held a raccoon several weeks earlier).

I could not let a turkey go running around with a trap attached, so I began tracking. The soft snow made the tracking possible, but certainly not easy. I could indentify the bird with the trap and keep to that trail. However, after a couple hundred yards, the trail ended. I was even more upset until I saw my trap there on the ground. Apparently, the bird managed to get just one claw caught and was able to pull that free.

I was relieved, picked up the trap, and relocated it on another game trail for the coyotes (who were howling away at 1:15 in the morning the day before). Hopefully, with the warm weather we are having today, there will be some activity this evening.

Of course, I am glad the turkey made its escape, since it might have been a real challenge to get the trap off it otherwise. Sadly, I had pulled the trail camera this morning on my earlier visit, and thus did not get any pictures of the turkeys. I am glad to see the wild turkeys moving around a lot more. I saw several others beside the road while driving into town this morning. I was concerned with the weather we have had this past winter.

Early morning surprise

Yesterday morning (February 20) I suffered an early and rude awakening. At 4:20 a Canadian Goose flew near the house. Of course, it had to honk away making lots of noise, which awoke my wife’s Pug and Rat Terrier; as well as both of us. The dogs barked and the pug ran down the stairs to the windows to drive the invaders off. The goose stayed around for a while, probably resting in the open part of the pond or in the small flowing stream below that. Regardless, he honked several more times (unless it was some friends joining him) and the dogs reacted as before. Finally the dogs calmed down and we kept them still in the bed. When I got up, the goose was still making an occasional call, but I never saw him.

These birds come through this area enroute nesting areas to the north. A few stay around, taking advantage of the lakes and ponds and wetlands; not to mention the local agriculture. There were often visitors at the pond last summer. They enjoyed tormenting the pug (or seemed to), but kept their distance when they saw people. Hopefully, I will be able to get some decent pictures of them this spring.

Back in Juneau, I expected to start seeing Canadian geese in the wetlands by the airport during February. They were working their way north to their nesting sites. I assume these geese are following the same pattern here on the Mississippi Flyway.

One of the interesting features of my home location is how sound travels and is funneled by the hills in the area. Some days, I can hear a normal conversation in my front yard while I am 300 yards away and up the hill beside the house. This sound channeling does cause problems when the animals are running around. That goose may have been further off than I think.

Later that evening, the dogs started going ballistic. They really wanted out. This usually tips me off that some critter is in the yard (or the mail delivery person is coming). I could see nothing. I am careful about letting the dogs out in these cases, since I can not always be sure what is out there. The dogs made several more dashes at the door. Finally, I saw a small dark object in the dim light ambling down the drive. The binoculars confirmed my suspicion. It was an opossum heading down toward the barn. I let him alone, since there is nothing in the barn for him to get into trouble with.

A week ago I had let the dogs out during the afternoon, when they had carried on this way. They both ran around the side of the house, raising a real racket. Suddenly, a half grown opossum came running up the sidewalk with the dogs following. I was able to keep everyone from getting into a fight, got the dogs back inside, and let the critter go his way. After all, I already have one in the freezer for mounting (I do taxidermy as a hobby), and did not feel like opossum for dinner. Of course, I might feel differently if I have some livestock such as chickens, but for now, he could go on his way.

Big fish tank

On February 19, 2009 I drove to Richland Center and purchased the last supplies to convert my indoor swimming pool into a fish pond. (I also took care of a lot of other shopping to not waste gas.)

When I bought this place last April, I wondered about its indoor swimming pool. A nice feature; but a one acre pond sat in the front yard if I really needed to take a swim. The room with the pool lacked a heating system (except for what it drew from the rest of the house), so a dip in mid-winter was impractical. If we heated the pool and room, chlorine in the air could cause long term problems with the walls and fixtures, not to mention the fuel cost. The pool’s practical utility was limited to the summer, when I could just as easily jump into my pond.

While my wife was settling in (She came first while I sold the old place in Alaska) problems developed with getting the existing filter system to work. The filter system had been non-operational even before we moved in. Cris had no luck finding a maintenance business or supplier who would help get it operational. All queries regarding what was needed were answered with demands for money to even look at the system or recommendation we replace everything with the new stuff they sold (note, they had not seen our existing system). I needed information, not some sales person looking for their commission.

Three basic options existed.
1) Pay what it took to get the filter systems working and have an indoor pool we could only use in warm weather. Nice to have the pool, especially for those warm summer evenings when we could avoid the mosquitoes.
2) Change out the entire filter system and replace it with a new one designed for fish. In other words, make it into a large (9,000) gallon aquarium.
3) Cover over and fill in the pool and use the room as a recreation room or whatever. This was tempting, but I really hated to just write off the pool.

Since I am an expert aquarist, and the wife wanted a Koi or goldfish pond all her life, we looked into the aquarium option.

My first concern dealt with the risk of chlorine or other pool chemicals remaining in the pool liner. No chlorine had been added since last May, and the room had none of that old chlorine smell I remembered from all the old indoor swimming pools. I had to test the pool in the only sure way I knew. On my next trip to La Crosse for building supplies, I stopped by PETCO and bought 10 cheap comet goldfish (feeder goldfish to those of us who raised large cichlids or other nasty aquarium fish). I put them into the pool and left them to their fate as I began researching pond filter systems.

Four days later, I had found 2 fish floating and one on the pool bottom. This was not good, but not necessarily bad. 3 dead fish would normally be a cause for concern, but the “feeder goldfish” are often stressed in the store and not sold to last long. It also meant there were 7 others alive or not accounted for. I continued my research and looked into various suppliers, while monitoring the pool.

A month later, the fish were still alive. 9000 gallon aquariums with 7 small goldfish do well even without a filter system. II ordered a filter system large enough to handle this size pond, as long as I was not stupid regarding many fish and what types I added.

The parts arrived last Wednesday. I began assembling the various sub-systems and making sure just what else I needed to pick up, such as plugs to cap off some existing pool openings, PVC pipe, PVC pipe glue, and a few extra connections. Those were purchased yesterday, and I put everything together and laid out the flexible PVC pipe that goes into the bottom of the pool so its coils could straighten out. While doing this work, I was able to actually count six fish alive and swimming inthe pool.

Later today, I will attach the last pieces of pipe and start the entire system. It will take a month for the bacteria to establish in the filter media and for having the system ready for the first load on fish. Hopefully, the time will pass quickly, in spite of my impatience.

Now I must decide what to put into the pond. Since we are registering the place as a private fish farm under Wisconsin law, we have a number of options as to where we can get fish to stock and which ones. Now it should become even more interesting.

Time to begin

After 34 straight years living in Juneau, Alaska (plus 2 more before that), I moved. I now live in Viola, Wisconsin. Quite a move. Anytime one lives so long in one place, he sees change (unless he ignores it). It was finally time to leave when the changes became too irritating and there was no way to correct them.

Now I must learn new hunting and fishing skills (or relearn them since I grew up in southeastern Pennsylvania and southern Michigan). I managed to finally get myself moved in by the end of October, 2008. I purchased my license for the deer season(s) in my area. Since the rifle season is shorter than what I was used to in Alaska, I had to hit the woods a lot harder. Fortunately, I live on 58 acres and could work that area pretty well and managed to get a whitetail doe. Just don’t ask about the easy shot I missed or the one that watched when I fumbled with the scope cover. Actually, it was not too bad since I was unable to really scout my land before the season opened. I should do a lot better this coming season.

Now I can share my experiences and thoughts as I explore and have new adventures in Wisconsin.