The Old Folks Home

[microchick]

Wanna pretend that those are bear claw marks?

(And totally.... ACHEM, where is your snow????)

Absolutely not! Bear is a dirty 4 letter word around here especially since black bears are making a return in the southern half of the state.

I think we have had about 3.5-4 inches of snow so far this season. Really scary cause it usually means that mother nature will sit on our heads and really dump a load of snow on us either this month or February. Average snowfall per season in IL was 46". Here in MO it's something like 24. I can live with that.

 

[Latestarter]

Ummm Micro, that's no buck rub. First off at that height the deer wouldn't be able to get his head tilted down enough to do that damage. Secondly, a tree that diameter being used by a buck would indicate a 600-800 pound buck!

It doesn't look like any elk rub I've ever seen either... Generally their outer tines break all the branches up and down the side of the tree and elk really prefer conifer type trees like cedar and juniper or firs/spruce. While deer tend to rub up and down, elk seem to like to thrash side to side as well. Moose like to just destroy the plant in its entirety. Those look like claw sharpening/cleaning to me. Maybe set up a game cam and try to figure out what did it?

 

[Wickedchicken6]

A sasquatch!!!

 

[drumstick diva]

naw just a giant feral cat beast beyond your wildest imagination - take cover

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Superchemicalgirl, you need to get an EPA wood stove. When we bought our homestead, we heated with a Vogelzang boxwood stove. That thing ate firewood like M&Ms. I swear (since I'm the light sleeper of the family) I was up every 90 min to 2 hours shoving wood into that fire breathing dragon. I told DH either we got a different stove or I was just going to throw a sleeping bag in front of the stove so I could be closer to the wood. All I'd have to do was sit up and toss an arm load in. We bought a Century EPA. Not the most expensive. We figured if it worked well, when we replaced it we would buy a better one. If I could hug this stove I would. Stoke it full of hickory rounds at bedtime, there are still glowing coals in the morning. When we go to bed, the temp in the house is 77. When we get up, like this morning, the temp was 66. The top gets hot enough that you can make simple dishes on it, fried eggs, grilled cheese, etc. I keep a gallon tea kettle full of water on it for hot water. If our power goes out, yeah, we'd miss the computer....only until we fired up the generator. We lived without electricity for almost 4 years. Discovered we could do it, we just didn't want to any longer.

Of course, having a summer where the temp hit 110 was motivation all by itself.

We have a nice Jotul stove in the living room, but the basement has this giant behemoth that is awful. It isn't airtight - I can see the fire burning in it through both the side and front entries, plus around the pipe. Therefore, it lets so much air in the fire burns real hot. Luckily the stove/pipe temp stays within non-dangerous levels (if you stock it right) but because of that it burns out real fast. I replaced the gaskets a few years back and now the front entry doesn't shut real tight but I can still see the fire through it. It also shuts by hand, so I have to have a leather glove that is starting to shrivel. I've burned myself a few times. We've looked at replacing it multiple times but we just only use it when the power goes out or when it gets real cold and we need to heat the basement.
The Jotul stove we stopped feeding about an hour before the power came on. I cleaned it out last night (more than 24 hours after) and threw the ash on the driveway and there were still some coals. And when they get low I also turn the air up all the way to burn them out faster, too. The stove is pretty small, it only heats that one room fairly effectively, and it takes relatively tiny pieces of wood compared to the giant stove in the basement. We usually heat with a pellet stove (in the kitchen) and supplement with oil and wood when needed, therefore don't use much oil at all. BF and I have to dig the oil pipes out today (under about 4 feet of snow) because of course we need a delivery.

 

[microchick]

We forwarded the pictures that we took to the MO dept of conservation. They are good at getting back to you so hopefully we will hear back from them this week. Black Bear sightings have been reported as far north as the Iowa state line so anything is possible. We have been dealing with the reality of cougars reestablishing in our area for a few years now so I guess it's only natural that bears would closely follow. I just hope the answer is simple like raccoons or squirrels or somebody's escaped Bengal tiger.

SGC we had a stove like that. It that was left behind for us when we bought the property. That thing was a monster. We finally got rid of it just because it was so big and cumbersome. DH's tractor was just able to lift the thing with the bucket and load it into a truck. But just barely. When it went to scrap it weighed something like 700 pounds.

I wouldn't be without my welding gloves when I load our stove. They have saved my hands and arms from burns more times than I like to admit.

 

[jtn42248]

We have been seeing the re-emergence of the Mexican Black Bear here in this part of West Texas. They used to be plentiful but over time they withdrew further West. Now they are returning. Also, there has been a Cougar sighted and verified within 5 miles of us. Evidently 5 miles is their range so hopefully it won't get much closer. We have our hands full with smaller critters like raccoons and skunks and bobcats.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Wickedchicken6 we were out in our timber today trying to get a hike and some exercise in and DH took this picture. We found a cedar tree with a fresh buck rub on the bark. Not unusual. What was unusual was that this rub was 7 feet off the ground. I'm 5'2" tall so this had to be either a really tall Buck or a Buck that was standing up on his hind legs in order to reach that height with his antlers. You can see the young hickories around us. We are almost to the top of a ridge, which is where we find the tallest cedars. The Buck deer love to rub their antlers on them. DH wondered if one of the southern Missouri elk had wandered north. I hope not. Bad enough that we have to dodge white tails with our cars.


Yeah, I know. It's obscene. No snow.

IMO squirrels and raccoons don't do that. Nor do I think the elk could have traveled that far. If so, they're more likely from Iowa or MN.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/st...sing-iowa-elk-gaining-facebook-fame/86489590/
There are a lot more elk in Arkansas than the Missouri Ozarks. I've seen elk in Arkansas but spent a long time in Peck Ranch wildlife area and never saw one.
It is supposed to be a small but stable population.
https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/activities/driving-tours/elk-driving-tours
bears
https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/american-black-bear
some with tracking collars have been reported on GPS north of the Missouri River.
http://www.fwrc.msstate.edu/carnivore/mo_bear/study_area.asp

More cougars have been sighted up your way than bears.
http://www.fwrc.msstate.edu/carnivore/mo_bear/study_area.asp

 

[Wickedchicken6]

I'm assuming the hickory are the trees in the background? That's really interesting how the branches grow horizontal from the tree. Those are all types of trees I've never seen...lol. Very cool looking. You picture gives me a much better idea of what everything looks like. Thank you for taking the time to take picture everyone to educate me. I really appreciate it!
(And yes the no snow IS obscene...

) Glad for you too.

Growing up we had foxes, coyotes, and badgers. One report of a bear far away. That was it. Nothing else and you weren't afraid to walk. In 1990 it was an amazing to see a moose. Now they're living on our land and while it's still pretty neat to see them...they're much more common. I drive slower at night and have for years, especially around our place because we have many that enjoy our trees. We have one female who has twins most years.

Bear aren't common here...but last year we were driving to town....and there goes a bear ambling along in on of the combined fields. In 2010 we had two wolves around; a black and a light colored one. Also found out that year there were cougars livings a few miles south of us. I spotted another wolf when I was combining on my uncles field this year. I'm sure if there's 3 we see, there a lot more that we don't see. The wolves are amazing brazen. And big. I don't walk outside the farmyard anymore and I'm cognizant when I'm walking around to the different buildings here at night. Everything comes up from behind the buildings at the creek. And they can be right in the yard and a person doesn't know. Everything's changed so much in the last 25 years. DH found two good sized dogs that looked like they'd been had been killed by coyotes/wolves when he was fencing.

I'm enjoying the wood stove discussion.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Just got the oil pipe dug out