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Location: Approximately 50 miles from Missoula MT/38 yrs full time after 4 yrs part time
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I've been living on these 14 acres full time for 40 yrs this coming May, and never saw a Turkey until about 20 yrs ago.
MT Game and Fish planted some 200 throughout this valley some time between 1998 and 2000........ (this valley averages about 3 to 4 miles wide and is about 60 to 65 miles long, running N to S between two very different mountain ranges).......
adjacent to several of the creek drainages that feed into the B.R. river.
One of these drainages boarders my property for about 500 feet and about the year 2000 I started to occasionally see a few wild Turkeys cross my land during the months from April through October.
During the last 10 to 12 years, hardly a day goes by that I don't see at least one flock of 10 to 12 turkeys on my land, they have reproduced at an unbelievable rate........... They are a real pest........., they sometimes come up on the deck, eat my flowers, and then 'poop' all over the deck!............Plus, they
absolutely drive my dog nuts!
Quite frequently when I let him out of his 'dog run' to exercise and run, he will pick up their scent and flush a flock of 12 to 14 at once.......and yes they will fly up to 600 to 700 hundred feet to the closest Pondarosa Pine trees, and land 20 to 30 feet up on the lowest branches.
Because there is virtually no public land open to hunting down here on the floor of the valley, the only hunter harvest (spring and fall) is taken on private land (which is quite low due to the greatly increased residential development throughout what used to be 'farm and or ranch land'.)
About 2002 MT Game and Fish also released a couple hundred Valley Quail at various locations in the valley.
They also have reproduced in 'great numbers'.........., but there is No hunting season for them as there is for the wild turkeys.
The Quail are a pleasure to have on your property .......they "call to one another" in the early morning and evening dusk hours throughout the spring, summer and fall months and are a real pleasure to hear and photograph.
And yes, the dog will occasionally flush a covey of them, but they are so fast that the dog gives up in 10 or 12 feet, where as he will chase the turkeys for 150 feet or so until they get airborne and out of his reach.
Interesting read on the wild turkey-- they were almost extinct. Govt efforts were proving useless, then work by private hunters & hunting org's found a way to improve their numbers. Now the numbers aren't back to their original level, but up quite a bit, and their range is greatly expended.
Ben Franklin wanted to make the turkey the national bird instead of the eagle. Is history proving him right? ;-)
On my walk around the school campus, saw a red squirrel under a ramp. Thought it was dead, but it was lying on its side and breathing. Just sleeping I guess. I didn't bother it.
A few days ago we fed some of the fish we caught to a Bald eagle. It ate part of one fish, left with another, and then came back for the rest of the first. I was able to take a lot of photos.
Many years ago while sitting in my thrown room and killing time; I happened to look at our phone and cable lines attached under the eaves of our house. I noticed a parade of ants. They were climbing the telephone pole about 75 feet from our house and using the wires as their interstate highway system to enter our house.
That particular Spring we were having trouble controlling our ants and I had laid out an extensive perimeter defense with ant poison. So I had been perplexed how the little buggers were still getting in. After I sprayed our lines with ant poison our problem stopped.
I am curious if anybody else has ever had or observed ants using overhead power/utility lines to enter their house or business?
Many years ago while sitting in my thrown room and killing time; I happened to look at our phone and cable lines attached under the eaves of our house. I noticed a parade of ants. They were climbing the telephone pole about 75 feet from our house and using the wires as their interstate highway system to enter our house.
That particular Spring we were having trouble controlling our ants and I had laid out an extensive perimeter defense with ant poison. So I had been perplexed how the little buggers were still getting in. After I sprayed our lines with ant poison our problem stopped.
I am curious if anybody else has ever had or observed ants using overhead power/utility lines to enter their house or business?
Not my house but my hummingbird feeder. To keep the pesky ants from invading the hummingbird feeder, I suspended the feeder from a tree branch with a wire. A few days later, I found small black ants crawling down the wire and drinking the sweet nectar. Those who had their fill laboriously climbed back up with sweet nectar smeared across their smiling little faces.
Since it's starting to somewhat warm up, been able to go out riding. Still getting loads of rain. Gotta be the wettest winter we've had in a long time.
Been seeing a lot of red winged black birds. Few flocks of duck still flying over in the evenings. Been seeing a few snakes too. Just the banded water snakes. But year is starting. Normally see some speckled king snakes and garters. Every once in a while, will come across a cottonmouth.
Our adopted cat Minnie is about to have a litter of kittens. Waiting for her to pop any day now. She's HUGE!! Got her set up with a cage and blankies to keep them warm and covered. And a food bowl so she don't have to go far...
Coyotes....haven't seen them, but been hearing them. They also killed a few chickens and a turkey while she was sitting on her eggs. Poor lil ladies. We are still upset about that.
The grass is growing and not enough dry days to cut!!! Off this weekend but rain is threatening all weekend long. Speaking of weather, just last week we had a storm go through the area. Coulda been a lot worse. There was a roaring and then the house started shaking. We hit the floor, quick. And it was over after a few minutes. But enough to blow the swingset against the porch and had to go collect items thrown by the storm. That was our 3rd miss in the 5 years living in the country. Hopefully we'll keep getting missed, but there has been records of tornadoes out in our area.
Crawfish!!! Like many others in S. Louisiana, we love crawfish. Been riding to a few hotspots and been seeing some crawfish. In the mornings, I like to go ride and catch them. I use a dip net and plyers. The plyers make sure I don't get pinched. Those lil mud bugs pinch hard, at times drawing blood! We love to boil them with some seasoning. To me, they taste stronger than lobster. But much smaller. I enjoy going catch them, much cheaper than buying sacks of crawfish at a time. And during Lent, the prices are outrageous.
That's about what I see in my world. With the spring and summer coming, the nature activities will be coming in full swing!!
"It's amazing what you can observe by just looking." --Yogi Berra
Temps hit 32* for the first time in six weeks here yesterday. I sat on the porch after noon chores to watch the birds at the feeders-- nice to hear their flapping wings and chortle again as they frolic about instead of the silence we hear when watching thru the winter windows....The four turkeys are still making regular visits, and a Bald Eagle swooped majestically across the valley looking in vain for a rising warm air current to soar on....Rough winter (still 2 ft of snow piled up) makes finding food for the deer a problem. They're spending more time where we can see them and have approached the house to girdle my young pear trees which I stupidly forgot to wrap with insulation last fall.
Time today to set out caches of dog hair, hay scraps and short strings for the birds to use as construction material in a few weeks. Blue bird sightings were way down here last year-- gotta make & deploy houses for them over the next few weeks.
This is a nice time of year as Nature awakes to the promise of easier times about to come.
"It's amazing what you can observe by just looking." --Yogi Berra
Temps hit 32* for the first time in six weeks here yesterday. I sat on the porch after noon chores to watch the birds at the feeders-- nice to hear their flapping wings and chortle again as they frolic about instead of the silence we hear when watching thru the winter windows....The four turkeys are still making regular visits, and a Bald Eagle swooped majestically across the valley looking in vain for a rising warm air current to soar on....Rough winter (still 2 ft of snow piled up) makes finding food for the deer a problem. They're spending more time where we can see them and have approached the house to girdle my young pear trees which I stupidly forgot to wrap with insulation last fall.
Time today to set out caches of dog hair, hay scraps and short strings for the birds to use as construction material in a few weeks. Blue bird sightings were way down here last year-- gotta make & deploy houses for them over the next few weeks.
This is a nice time of year as Nature awakes to the promise of easier times about to come.
Yes, will be glad life is a bit easier for all our loved creatures...I like putting out cat hair for nesting materials too...
On my walk around the school campus, saw a red squirrel under a ramp. Thought it was dead, but it was lying on its side and breathing. Just sleeping I guess. I didn't bother it.
Walked by again yesterday, not breathing any more. RIP Mr. Squirrel.
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