Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Naturalness of Nature

Well, didn't we have an interesting few days!  Yesterday, just after I finished telling a neighbor how the chickens are doing fine despite the hawks because the geese scare them away, the theory was tested.  The geese started screaming bloody-blue murder from their pond.  I ran to see, and lo and behold, this is what flew into the trees.

Disclaimer: not the actual hawk.  I didn't have my camera nearby at the time

He/she hung around for a while and flew to another tree, but I guess he didn't like the noise, so off he/she went.  No meal for him/her.  Good geese!

And then today, I was in the house cleaning up and I hear a small goose screech and then hear everyone run for cover under the deck.  Then I hear this pathetic "Fwee" noise, so I look out.  The little roo is diving for cover, as is everyone else.  He's the one making the noise.  Some alarm.  The geese were mum, I should say.  Just as I'm thinking "What the hell are you all running for?", something catches my eye, and it's this:


Big as life, in the yard, near the pool, which is maybe 50 feet from the back door. Really close, which is why all of the animals were running for cover, and the roo was doing his bad imitation of a warning call. 

 Oh, and no, that's not my picture either.  My picture looks like this, because I didn't get the camera in time.


Can you see it?  No?  Let me help you:
Better, ya?  Anyway, I figure he/she came up because he/she saw the chickens and was thinking this:
Disclaimer: not my chicken.  If it were, this would be a different sort of post.

But no such luck for him/her.  He/she lumbered off without a meal.  Too bad!

You see, even though we have a lot of this:


And this:


And these running around:


We are farming in a non-conventional area: ie; it's all woods, baby.  So there's a lot of this:


And this:


And a bunch of this:


And that:


And more of this:

OOoh!  Orbs!  The place is haunted!

Which is why we bought the house in the first place.  House is nice, land is spectacular, and we planned on leaving much of it the way it is, using only what we need.  Animals and crops are kept close to the house for that reason.   But, of course, there are the "neighbors" to deal with.


Dang nature.  Again, I am thinking I might need one of these:

But being as though I loathe violence, maybe loaded with beanbags or blanks just to scare the thing away.  Anyone have similar situations?  What do you think about rifles to scare away unwanted potential feasters?  Inquiring mind wants to know!
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5 comments:

  1. Pots - the solution is to bang on pots. Apparently bears do not like clanging noises. Of course, this means you have to live in the backyard with a pot in your hand....

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  2. Oh my!! My eyes glaze over when I read about hives pests such as bears....your eyes obviously don't. Maybe those orbs will keep the bears away? ; )

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  3. You'll need more than a .22, though apparently most deer rifles in the .30 caliber range would work. Larger appears to be better. Of course you'll need to learn how to shoot and practice quite a bit, and larger is definitely not better in even a semi-rural environ as heavier bullets travel further if you miss. Pots may be the easier (and far safer) answer.

    I was chatting with a buddy of mine at work, he suggested that you may want to contact the DEC and let them know about the bear. Just so that they can potentially take action/warn your neighbors.

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  4. You live in a beautiful place! I'm thinking I should get some geese! And when we had a raccoon in the barn that would not leave, I seriously would have shot it if I had a gun, and I actually knew how to use one.

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  5. I just had a brown bear in my chicken coop and believe me I tried the pots and had no luck. I had to shoot at him with our shot gun before he would leave. I didn't hit him but I shot very close to him and he finally got that I ment business. A shot gun with slugs if legal in your area might be your best bet. The slug will not travel near as far as a large caliber rifle cartridge.

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