Deer and skunks

[Kya D]

Between the deer eating the garden and the skunks that opened a buffet in my pigeon coop I am getting a little miffed. Skunks are not the brightest bulbs in the box so we have destroyed 3 this week. I still need to get MOM and I am sure a couple more half grown kits and then things will calm down some.
We had pet skunks when I was a kid and they are such sweet little things that I really had a problem killing them at first but now it them or my fowl.

 

[Jade]

I feel your pain Kya. At our home in Ontario we battled with rabbits and deer. Hubby got good with the pellet gun...oops, I didn't say that! Neighbors used to send me pictures of the deer in our backyard just to stir me up, it worked! Now I am battling clay soil with no organic matter, groundhogs and birds trying to get under the netting to eat my blueberries. I guess it is always something.

 

[Randy]

The skunks get after our chickens here too, Kya. I have only gotten three this year, but last year I trapped 16 of them.

 

[Kya D]

16 holy cow Randy I generally only get a family at a time

 

[Kya D]

I just bought a shock box for the electric fence. I know that a deer could jump over it but I think they can smell the power and tend to avoid they fence, thus avoiding the garden. I know that little wire can keep a horse inside the area where I want it to stay.

 

[Randy]

Fiona has our fence unplugged for now, but the horse remembers getting nailed by it too and still avoids it.

Last year, the fellow that owns the filbert orchard behind us and to the east of us was doing a lot of work clearing some of the wild blackberries along the creek and I think that kept the skunks moving around a lot. The creek though is excellent cover for small wildlife. Our neighbors have lost some ducks and a couple of pet cats recently and we suspect coyotes. I shot at one a couple of years ago and he just headed into the blackberries along the creek.

 

[Kya D]

Oh Randy yipes so far the foxes and coyotes have stayed away from the yard but I'm sure they will start if we don't keep an eye open.
Foxes are really hard to trap. At least they are for me.

 

[Mainegal]

I remember the skunks at Randy's when I was out there. He trapped a couple when I was there. It left a pleasant odor too....lol

 

[Kya D]

Don't ya love the smell when a skunk is upset

 

[Jade]

When our black and white kitty was young and frisky and still had 4 legs I think that he thought skunks were his kinfolk and tried to make friends with one. Well, did you ever try to bath a kitty in tomato juice? It wasn't fun for any of us, but is quite the memory, ha.

 

[Randy]

I have it down pretty well now, but I still need to air out for awhile usually before I am welcome back in the house. By the way, whoever says that a skunk can't spray unless they lift their tail does not know what they are talking about.

 

[swindy]

When I lived in Ben Lomand Calif. my neighbor had a electric fence for the horses and while I was picking flowers in the garden I was thinking about how strong the current could be and decided to test it out, when I got my sences back I saw that all the flowers that were in my hand were strune in a circle at my feet. The fence carried enough current to spin me around. Ahhh there is nothing like learning from first hand experence lol.

 

[Randy]

I never touched the electric fence on purpose, but have managed several times by accident. The funniest thing that ever happened here with the electric fence was when David was showing off. The applied voltage on the fence will rise to about 7500 volts 60 times a second and drop to a negative 7500 volts the same way. The voltage will also go through the "0" point 120 times a second. It's conceivable, if you are fast enough to catch the voltage at or close to the zero point and not get shocked. David and Fiona had some company one day and they were out by the fence talking and David saw a bird land on the fence. David could not understand why the bird could do that and not get shocked, so he felt he had to check the fence. He swiped his hand by the fence quickly with no effect. But then he gripped the wire and it really nailed him. He was apparently off balance as it knocked him to the ground on his butt. But on the way, he let out with an expletive that was quite uncustomary for David. However, it has supplied moments of mirth every time we recall the incident.

 

[Kya D]

OMGosh those hot wires are nothing to fool with.
I know one time I pulled some weeds and threw them over to the horses and one of the weeds hit that fence and the shock was awful and when it hit me the power exited my elbow, talk about hurt...

 

[Randy]

Yep, it feels like someone slugged you. But when it happens to someone else though it is funny (sometimes). When our family was younger, my oldest daughter had a horse that was smart enough to check the fence with his whiskers. He could tell when it was on and when it was off. Some kids had damaged the fence and shorted it out one time and it didn't take long for Superstar to figure that out. He could get out and roam around a bit if the fence didn't work and we had to catch him and get him put back. I walked the fence line until I found the damaged place and repaired it. The horse was used to it being off by now and when I switched it back on, the big brave horse walked over to it and grabbed the wire with his mouth. Have you ever seen a horse really dance? I did. I would bust out laughing every time I thought about that for days.

 

[swindy]

OMG Randy I can just see that horse dancing, it must have been a scene. I am sure he gained a lot of respect for that fence.
I don't know if anybody remembers the Dancing chickens at fairs and amusement parks, there would be a chicken in a glassed in fancy box with a metal floor that was wired up with eclectic and when you put your nickle in the slot it would make a connection and the chicken would hop from one foot to the other and spin around. Luckily they were outlawed in the '60'

 

[Crabbergirl]

I have an electric fence also. I have one dog that hates it so bad that if you even pick up a non connected wire he will start growling at it and bear his teeth. Then on the other end I have a dog who was a containment issue. She has eaten a chain link kennel into 1/2 " pieces. So I hot wired it and she reached through the hole she had chewed , grabber the hot wire, drug it into the kennel and chewed it into 1/2' pieces! She is now 8 years old and happily stays at home.

I had been working one day on the fence doing repair work. There were some sections I had cut out and left laying on the ground. At some point I had turned on the irrigation and went to clean up my mess. Well you guessed it. One wire was touching the hot section , and yes my hands were wet. What a great conductor of electricity water is!

 

[Crabbergirl]

Oh right back to the deer.
Last night I went home knowing I had 2 days worth of Dixie Lee peas to pick. For me this is the highlight of my day. Tim had told me something ate teh tops out of the okra I knew it was deer but he seemed to think birds. I went to the garden and checked out the okra and concluded it was deer only to go to the peas to find they had also eaten every pea, pod, top and flower ! I don't mind sharing but it will be at least a week before my peas recover. They also pulled the blueberries I was waiting on off my bushes.
Oh well I still have a long season left.

 

[lynpenny]

It has been years since I got ahold of a hot fence and I have no desire to do that again. I can see that horse dance Randy.

 

[Randy]

It makes me laugh every time I think about it. He was confined to his stall until I could find the problem and get it corrected. So he was glad to get out of the stall for sure. I know what he intended to do with that wire was to rip it out. What a surprise! I only wish my daughters had been there to see the show.