Compost Surprise

I've been known to throw a bit of anything vaguely appropriate into piles of composting manure: charred pieces of wood, bits of mineral block, bones.  The basic idea being, given enough time the bacteria and fungus will break it down and make it available for use by some future plant.

I also create more compost than I use as soil.  Consequently, I have time to let those solid pieces sit and break down.  If I start a new pile it is with the knowledge that I may never see the bottom of it again.  It is a good problem to have.

Every spring I send about four to eight feed sacks worth of aged compost home with my Mom for Mother's Day.  With the early spring, I sent it home with her this past weekend.  This year I was a little surprised by what I found.

Is it goat, sheep or deer?  Odds are sheep, though thinking about the age of this particular pile of rabbit manure, it could have been any of them.

I put a shovel of dirt back on top of it.  Young rabbits will be in the cage above it and adding strata of excrement to the topsoil soon enough.  Maybe it'll surprise me again in another few years or maybe it will have returned to dust before shovel goes that deep again?

Missing Chicken Found

A chicken went missing.

The man pup found it in the pasture, about 100 yards away and just over the hill.  Only one was missing so I would guess the culprit was a hawk.

Still, cool remains.

A New Permission

In the wisdom of Wisconsin state law, the groundhog is a protected species.  It can not be hunted on public land and only a landowner or his "agent" may kill them if they are a nuance.

In other words, my hunting is limited to private property and Wisconsin's vast public hunting grounds do me little good are as good as refuges from human predators.

I contacted three land owners this winter and was denied access to about 5/6 of the land I requested access to.  Part of the problem seems to have been a rookie mistake.  In one sentence I mentioned shed antlers.  Shed antlers are not my thing but I would like permission to keep one if I find it.  For future reference, stick to the issue at hand, take any found shed antlers to the land owner after finding them, let them decide if you can keep it or use it for the dog to chew on.

The weather has warmed enough that the part of the new permission with southern exposure was clear for the walking, including the two most promising fence rows.

An eagle circled overhead letting me know that s/he did not appreciate our presence.  I found the pelvis and backbone of an animal, probably a first winter raccoon.  I rarely see opossum outside of city limits, it was a little large to be a skunk, and small to be a groundhog.

It is all guesswork.













A short while later we kicked up a couple grouse and I barely caught sight of two fox, grey fox I think, slipping away from us.  Owing to the time of year and the fact that left as a pair, I would guess a natal den is hidden in that fence row.  I did not press the investigation

I will go back when I think fox kits will be mobile and the whole parcel is more easily accessible.  With so many predators about, I doubt my new permission will result in good spring hunting.  We will want to go back, however, in mid to late summer when young groundhogs have left their mothers and are striking out on their own.

Router Cover

Earlier this summer I stumbled upon a snapping turtle carcass and, with some work, fashioned the shell to act as a cover for our aging router.  Those flashing lights at night are a pain.

The shell turned out to be a lot more difficult to clean than the skulls I have completed to date.  The organic material was difficult to remove and, due to the larger area, the drying process causes the bones to shrink away from one another.

When I find another, I can leverage what I have learned.  For now, a little clear glue covers some of my inexperience.

The Cat with a Rat

How can you tell if a woman really loves you?

One indication might be if she allows you to display your growing collection of animal skulls on the family piano.  

Felis catus (house cat) on the right was found along the highway and Rattus norvegicus (Norway or Brown Rat) on the left was dispatched by a member of my terrier pack.

Coming Soon: Pocket Gopher (Geomys bursarius wisconsinensis)

Instructions for making your own can be found here.

Bones

Roadside casualty: