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Still just flies that are harvesting the elk. We named the carcass Agnes since she may be around for a while.
So far, no real smell issue even though we are about 100 yards from Agnes. You can smell dead animal when you get close - like 50 ft or so. Spring is a bit windy here, that is helping with the smell. I keep meaning to call some wildlife office but have been busy with other things.
While I do like the idea of burning or blowing up the carcass (fun!! LOL), probably not practical. Blowing it up, I can imagine maggot "rain" at this point. Burying it might be an option but I would need permission to cross several lots with a bobcat or something like that which would likely be a pain. Lots of rocks make any manual digging difficult.
So.. Agnes is just hanging around being a fly factory. I wonder if the maggots help with the smell?
I think its crazy that coyotes, or foxes or buzzards or raccoons or possums or bears haven't come and eaten it.
Holy cow.. Agnes is still there.. Seems no critters other than flies are interested.
When you get close, you can smell the carcass but at least so far, not at any of the homes.
If I do get a complaint, I am thinking of getting a heavy plastic tarp (like from Harbor Freight) and covering the carcass and putting rocks all round the tarp to hold it down.
Wait about a year.. LOL
As I mentioned, I cant easily drive to this spot, only walk and and its very rocky soil so digging by hand is not an option.
Will the tarp over the carcass held in place by lots of rocks be good enough to aid decomposition and control smell.. or cause some new nasty issue..
The arrow in the image shows where Agnes hangs out.
Holy cow.. Agnes is still there.. Seems no critters other than flies are interested.
When you get close, you can smell the carcass but at least so far, not at any of the homes.
If I do get a complaint, I am thinking of getting a heavy plastic tarp (like from Harbor Freight) and covering the carcass and putting rocks all round the tarp to hold it down.
Wait about a year.. LOL
As I mentioned, I cant easily drive to this spot, only walk and and its very rocky soil so digging by hand is not an option.
Will the tarp over the carcass held in place by lots of rocks be good enough to aid decomposition and control smell.. or cause some new nasty issue..
The arrow in the image shows where Agnes hangs out.
Holy cow.. Agnes is still there.. Seems no critters other than flies are interested.
When you get close, you can smell the carcass but at least so far, not at any of the homes.
If I do get a complaint, I am thinking of getting a heavy plastic tarp (like from Harbor Freight) and covering the carcass and putting rocks all round the tarp to hold it down.
Wait about a year.. LOL
As I mentioned, I cant easily drive to this spot, only walk and and its very rocky soil so digging by hand is not an option.
Will the tarp over the carcass held in place by lots of rocks be good enough to aid decomposition and control smell.. or cause some new nasty issue..
The arrow in the image shows where Agnes hangs out.
Honestly I don't know why you are determined to do anything about Agnes.
1. No one has complained. Chances are the folks living in an area like this know all about the life histories of dead wildlife and couldn't care less.
2. You can't drive to it. No one else would probably bother to either.
3. Its spring...decomposing organisms and scavengers will only become more active.
4. If you tarp it that might discourage vertebrate scavengers even more than they are now. If they try to get past the tarp they could ingest the material themselves and cause themselves harm. Shredded tarp fibers don't play nice with intestines.
5. If you tarp it, you'll need to deal with a fetid non-biodegradable mess in future. Unless you plan on leaving it there. That would be objectional.
Honestly I don't know why you are determined to do anything about Agnes.
I would not worry about Agnes except that Im in an HOA. I have not checked details but there is some wording in the CCIR's regarding lot maintenance that someone might twist to try and make me do something about a possible future smell. Current plan is to do nothing but Im just thinking ahead "just in case". Anything practical other than removal or burying will just slow down nature from taking care of things.
When it warms up.. who knows. Its still a little chilly (7000 ft el), we even got about 8 inches of snow last night. I finally did see a Magpie on the carcass. Hope to see Vultures soon.
One month after the first post and Agnes is has been pretty much harvested by nature but it didnt happen like I thought it would. The smell did get pretty bad for nearly a week but it stayed mostly down in the valley. I have not asked the neighbors if they smelled anything, that will have to wait a while. Agnes is pretty much just tore up fur, skin and bones now.
You may not want to read any further on what happened (gross.. ) but it ended up mostly being flies that took care of things. I never did see any animal near the carcass during the day (except the Magpie just checking it out). Several times the carcass would be just dripping with maggots (nice visual but somewhat accurate) one day and the next day, the carcass would be all cleaned up. I saw this happen three times where some critter must have come by and night and had a very nice maggot feast.
I think with the smell way down now we are about done with this little nature adventure.
That's interesting. Here the buzzards will make short work of a deer carcass, as in a day or two once they start. When they're done only a skeleton and scraps of hide left.
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