Owly055
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2014
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WHODATHUNKIT?
I put meat scraps and fat trimmings from the local cafe out for the magpies every day. Some of this, is screwed down to a heavy plank sitting on a steel "table" outside me window. I cut up small pieces every morning and spread it and dry dog food out, and they flock in front of my window, squabbling over pieces, along with chickadees, and a flicker that hangs out here. The flicker having a long sharp "pecker", has the upper hand, and they stay respectfully out of reach when he's there.... unless he is looking away.
At night I take in the large pieces that are screwed down, which the birds peck away at all day, so the coons and cats won't get it, though I've killed most of the raccoons in the area.
The other night around 1:00 AM, I heard distinct banging sounds, and realized that I had neglected to bring the stuff in. I got out of bed and grabbed the 12 guage, thinking there was a coon out there, threw open the door and found two does tearing chunks off what I had screwed down, including a "hog maw", that the magpies and flicker wouldn't touch. (Hog maw is the outer lining of a hog's stomach..... disgusting stuff IMHO). I chased them off and removed everything but the hog maw, and leaving the light on, sat with a book at my desk and waited. Sure enough, they came back, and gobbled up everything I'd left. To put things into perspective, the temps here are running in the low 30's to high 20's at night, and there is tons of feed out there. The adjacent pasture has not been grazed, and hay and grain are being fed nearby. These deer just have a craving for meat obviously............ The meat is NOT salted, or I would attribute it to salt craving, but there are also salt blocks and crystalix mineral licks nearby.
I didn't get a look at their teeth...... I wonder if they have fangs ;-), but I did warn my neighbor not to let his children or dogs out unattended at night............ Deer here are like mice. There are hundreds of them and they are a pure nuisance. If they develop a blood lust and become predatory, we've got a real problem on our hands ;-)
H.W.
I put meat scraps and fat trimmings from the local cafe out for the magpies every day. Some of this, is screwed down to a heavy plank sitting on a steel "table" outside me window. I cut up small pieces every morning and spread it and dry dog food out, and they flock in front of my window, squabbling over pieces, along with chickadees, and a flicker that hangs out here. The flicker having a long sharp "pecker", has the upper hand, and they stay respectfully out of reach when he's there.... unless he is looking away.
At night I take in the large pieces that are screwed down, which the birds peck away at all day, so the coons and cats won't get it, though I've killed most of the raccoons in the area.
The other night around 1:00 AM, I heard distinct banging sounds, and realized that I had neglected to bring the stuff in. I got out of bed and grabbed the 12 guage, thinking there was a coon out there, threw open the door and found two does tearing chunks off what I had screwed down, including a "hog maw", that the magpies and flicker wouldn't touch. (Hog maw is the outer lining of a hog's stomach..... disgusting stuff IMHO). I chased them off and removed everything but the hog maw, and leaving the light on, sat with a book at my desk and waited. Sure enough, they came back, and gobbled up everything I'd left. To put things into perspective, the temps here are running in the low 30's to high 20's at night, and there is tons of feed out there. The adjacent pasture has not been grazed, and hay and grain are being fed nearby. These deer just have a craving for meat obviously............ The meat is NOT salted, or I would attribute it to salt craving, but there are also salt blocks and crystalix mineral licks nearby.
I didn't get a look at their teeth...... I wonder if they have fangs ;-), but I did warn my neighbor not to let his children or dogs out unattended at night............ Deer here are like mice. There are hundreds of them and they are a pure nuisance. If they develop a blood lust and become predatory, we've got a real problem on our hands ;-)
H.W.