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| Of course Mr Raccoon came back last night. Luckily, he didn't chew the hose to shreds. |
Sometimes it is advisable to have a quiet way to euthanize an animal caught in a trap. The three-minute video linked above shows one way to do it. Trappers call it a "dispatch pole". All it takes is a 160 body-grip trap (a.k.a. a Conibear trap) and a long, forked stick. It makes less noise than a pellet gun discharging.
Another option. Five minute video. Link to mounting clip he used
Watering
The weather-guessers promised us 0.4" of rain. Maybe we will get it.
I watered last night anyway.
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| The darker brown in the background is where I was watering. Lighter dirt is not wet |
Potatoes will survive in dry soil but they thrive when you pamper them by never letting the soil get crispy-dry. You cannot let the soil moisture levels fluctuate wildly if you want smooth, uniformly shaped, not-lumpy potatoes.
I saw my first Colorado Potato Beetles yesterday. NOT-yippie!
Work-ticket
Today's work-ticket was to move two brush piles that were getting in the way of cutting the grass. The total area was about 600 square-feet. That is not a lot of area in the overall scheme of things, but it disrupted the orderly management of the areas around them.
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| This is where the north brush-pile was. |
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| This is where I dragged the brush to |
One brush-pile as 40 yards from where I was dumping the brush. The other as about 90 yards.
I really wanted to burn the brush in-place. It irks me to have nutrients migrate away from where they can be used and end up in a swamp where they are of less direct benefit. Sometimes wisdom is knowing when to settle for "It works" rather than hold out for "Optimum".
When will the Cambell "Brigade" be deployed in the potato patch?
ReplyDeleteMine love Colorado beetles.
That might not happen this year. It depends on how quickly I can get my fence post driver back from Southern Belle.
DeleteI made a choke down tool from a long loop of 3/32 cable through a sturdy tube like Aluminum conduit.
ReplyDeleteYears ago, I set live traps around the chicken coop on Friday and Saturday nights during the summer. That way I had Saturday and Sunday to deal with them. I released them 2.5 miles away in a park acrost the Grand river and a busy highway. No reason for them to come back. (If you put red paint on their tail and you catch one with red paint on its tail, you have a repeat offender that did make it back.)
ReplyDeleteI said all this to say; I caught 32 racoons that year. I believe you have many more coming.
sam
Wildlife biologists advise against, and in most states, it is illegal to relocate nuisance wildlife.
DeleteMost of these are are not 'endangered' species - think squirrels, raccoons, groundhogs, etc.
"Relocating" them just dumps your problem on someone else, and exposes both the relocated animal and existing populations at the new site to threats including increased competition for food sources and denning sites, as well as the risk of introducing new diseases and parasites that may not have previously been present.
Additionally, at some times of the year, there may be young which are left behind, unable yet to fend for themselves, dying of starvation.
"Kind-hearted" people think they are doing the relocated animal a favor, but such is not necessarily the case.
Ran across Aguila's .22 caliber LR, 20 gram lead bullet, no gunpowder some years back. Load that into a bolt action 22 rifle and the report is no louder than I can snap my finger and thumb, it is quieter than the pellet rifle I have. Up close on a nuisance animal in a live-trap.....there you go.
ReplyDelete