Far Removed from Nature

[bobby b.]

On 10/20/2022 at 4:02 PM, waterpossum said:

One of my golf friends at Umber Heights constructed a sophisticated Armadillo trap

I have a decent lawn (at least for this poor dirt in Stone Co.).  Two years ago I killed 14 but only 3 this year.  My neighbor tried to use my store-bought trap but not much luck.  IS IT POSSIBLE TO GET A PIC OR SOMETHING SO I COULD SEE WHAT HE DID.

THANKS

BOBBY

[tjm]

6 hours ago, dan hufferd said:

I used to hunt rabbit a lot, I will tell you house cats do more damage to the rabbit population, and many others. No one talks about their fluffy killing rabbits, not just the babies either....the cat population around my house is getting pretty thin. 

Remember a house cat is only tame when you are watching.

Oh I forgot to mention I hate cats

I've seen a couple of "house" cats kill full grown cotton tails. Wife has a mama cat that feeds her babies grey squirrels.  We had a tomcat that caught doves, stalk them til they flushed and jump head high to snatch them  out of the air. did that several time one summer. When  we first moved here we  had feral cats killing our game hens until I shotgunned 17 of them. The last one belonged to a neighbor about 1/2 mile away, because he described it to me a couple days later.

"Cats kill approximately 2.4 billion birds every year ...  the domestic cat has contributed to the extinction of 33 species worldwide" 

Get rid of your grubs  and the armadillos will leave. 

[waterpossum]

9 hours ago, bobby b. said:

I have a decent lawn (at least for this poor dirt in Stone Co.).  Two years ago I killed 14 but only 3 this year.  My neighbor tried to use my store-bought trap but not much luck.  IS IT POSSIBLE TO GET A PIC OR SOMETHING SO I COULD SEE WHAT HE DID.

THANKS

BOBBY

I have messaged him. Hopefully he will send me a picture. 

[BilletHead]

9 hours ago, dan hufferd said:

I used to hunt rabbit a lot, I will tell you house cats do more damage to the rabbit population, and many others. No one talks about their fluffy killing rabbits, not just the babies either....the cat population around my house is getting pretty thin. 

Remember a house cat is only tame when you are watching.

Oh I forgot to mention I hate cats

                Yes I forgot to mention those. There are no free cat passes here either.  Wish there were bounties again.

[MOPanfisher]

I prefer cat wracking to armadillo wracking.  More challenging but won't pass up a Dillo to whack.  LOTS of folks are not bad, they simply don't know any better.  They don't know wildlife etc. any more than I know high finance or computer programming or music.  Most want to do the right think they just haven't got a clue what to do.

[Bill Babler]

Billet head most certainly hit the nail in the head. The predator population has simply exploded all across the country with the demise of the fur market. 

Yes domestic animals contribute, but exploding predator populations have really taken a toll on birds and small mammals. 

Just a few years ago I shot and trapped almost 100 raccoons on our deck at the lodge trying to get into our bird feeders. 

We have bobcats pulling down deer fawns on trail cameras. Coyotes chasing calves and deer. We are simply knee deep in predators, 99% due to the lack of harvest thru predator control. 

In the 60’s-70’s and 80’s we saw our highest fur markets. We also had huge wild quail and rabbit populations, due to the market’s contribution to the fur harvest. Ie, harvesting a renewable resource.  

Unfortunately we won’t see those days again. 



 

 

[Smithvillesteve]

I certainly dont disagree with you boys about the population of predators increasing dramatically. But MDC will tell you that loss of habitat is number one. You just dont see any crp fields anymore and that was so beneficial to turkeys, quail and pheasants. Farmers also started tearing out ditches, fencelines, draws etc in order to get more rows of crops. There use to be quite a bit of timber here around the Smithville area and into nkc area. See a lot of deer and turkeys on my way to Walleyworld. Now they are replaced by apartment complexes and the like. Just sayin boys. 

[waterpossum]

2 hours ago, Smithvillesteve said:

I certainly dont disagree with you boys about the population of predators increasing dramatically. But MDC will tell you that loss of habitat is number one. You just dont see any crp fields anymore and that was so beneficial to turkeys, quail and pheasants. Farmers also started tearing out ditches, fencelines, draws etc in order to get more rows of crops. There use to be quite a bit of timber here around the Smithville area and into nkc area. See a lot of deer and turkeys on my way to Walleyworld. Now they are replaced by apartment complexes and the like. Just sayin boys. 

I don't disagree about habitat loss, but there also has to be some explanation for the scarcity of wildlife in areas that are prime habitat. I may have explored more corp land than anyone around the lake except for the corp workers and can find no semblance of the wildlife that their trying to attract. Deer yes. Quail none, rabbits scarce and Turkeys on a drastic decline.

[TRRANGER]

I have read this entire thread and agree with many of the thing said, but my take away is that it is amazing to me that there is a market for selling armadillo poop. First that there is someone willing to buy it but much less someone willing to collect, package and sell armadillo poop. Who Knew? 😵 

[Johnsfolly]

42 minutes ago, waterpossum said:

Turkeys on a drastic decline.

Many cold and rainy springs have done a number on turkey reproduction as well.