Monday, November 26, 2018

"Many of you are aware that market hunting by both Indians and European settlers for skins along with land clearing for farms cut the USA deer population in half over the 300 year period of AD1500-1800",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"In fact, some 30 million deer roaming across what was to become the continental USA was cut in half during that 300 year period"............."In the 30 years between 1860 and 1890, market hunters killed around 14 million deer, which is even more astounding if you consider that for five of those years most able-bodied men were busy trying to kill each other during the Civil War"................"By 1890 there were only about 300,000 deer left, which at the rate they were being killed was an eight-month supply"................."What happened next was a remarkable and oft-celebrated story of recovery, and today we’re back to around 30 million deer."................... "Hunting has gone from kill-as-many-as-you-can to a highly regulated endeavor"............"It’s a tradition that is practiced with religious zeal in most rural areas of the country"..............But what if the preservation regimne had not been put into practice and deer all but blinked out?,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Read the full article below from Northern Woodlands Magazine Senior Editor Dave Mance, to get one mans perspective on what our woodlands would look like today if in fact the preservation and re-stocking paradigm of the last 125 years had not been put into practice by our State Game Agencies

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https://northernwoodlands.org/knots_and_bolts/world-without-whitetails World Without Whitetails by Dave Mance III Autumn 2018 ...
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Saturday, November 24, 2018

Three weeks ago, a homeowner in suburban Birmingham, Alabama captured on video an overnight predator and prey event play out with a Coyote chasing down and killing a deer............Alabama Coyotes tend to weigh 25-45 pounds and the deer in this video appears to be a petite sized doe, roughly the same size as the Coyote...............Biologists from the U. of Georgia conducted the most comprehensive study of coyotes during 2015-17 across parts of Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina and discovered that in addition to Coyotes feeding on newborn fawns in the Spring, they are also chasing and killing adult deer throughout the year...............Even with Georgia hunters killing 40,000 Coyotes annually, the "Peach State songdog" population continues to be stable, likely the same for Alabama and South Carolina............These biologists speculate that thinning thick woodlands would give Deer an added chance of outsprinting the Coyotes with the result being that Coyotes would concentrate more on smaller mammals and rodents.................“(Remember), Indiscriminate coyote harvest is not really that effective for improving things for wildlife"................ "Instead, do your homework and really target the animal that is causing you trouble"................."Even then, the effects of more discriminate trapping are short-lived, given the resident/transient relationship"................."Chris Mowry is an associate professor of biology at Berry College and a founder of the Atlanta Coyote Project"................."Once you understand that dynamic, he asked, why kill coyotes at all?".............. “We just sort of feel like lethal management is futile".............. “There are other alternatives"............."Whatever happens next, it doesn’t look like coyotes — or humans — are going anywhere anytime soon"

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click to watch the video of a Coyote attacking and making a deer kill https://www.earthtouchnews.com/natural-world/predator-vs-prey/coyote...
Wednesday, November 21, 2018

With all of us feasting on some delicious turkey this fine Thanksgiving day, thought it appropriate to focus on our 'feathered Gobbler', the Turkey,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,This is the bird that Benjamin Franklin commented on having more merit than the Bald Eagle to grace our National Seal(read 2nd article below)............... While the title of the first article in todays Post is excessively overblown and reeks of "Fake News", the fact is that our Wild Turkey population has started to step back some 15% from the 6.7 million 'Gobblers' that mushroomed across the USA over the last 80 years due to iintensive state restoration efforts...............As in the case with Gray Wolf restoration in Yellowstone Park where the 1995 re-introduction blossumed quickly into a couple of hundred wolves only to fall back some 50% in recent years as Wolves thinned their primary prey(Elk) as well as falling victim to various canid diseases, our Turkey population is experienceing a similar array of equilibrium inducing variables..................."Some dip in the birds’ numbers isn't surprising"..............."During their heyday, the turkey population likely boomed beyond what the landscape could support long-term"..................... "Now the birds face a number of new threats that have wildlife biologists worried".............."The landscape is changing, and the birds are struggling to find the right kinds of shelter and food".............."Many of the young forests that have lots of 'tangle and underbrush', where Turkeys prefer to raise their young have matured "................"For young birds and their mothers, that means less cover from Foxes, Coyotes, Raccoons Bobcats and Fishers that can prey on young birds"..............."In the wintertime, turkeys are used to relying on hard nuts like acorns and beechnuts"................."But the trees that produce this vital food source are becoming less common, partly because of ailments like beech bark disease and grazing from pests such as invasive gypsy moths and rampant white-tailed deer".............A virus that kills turkeys has started to occur in populations and stress from hotter weather is also thought to be tapping down Turkey recruitment..................That all said, thee is no freefall of Turkeys and state Game Agencies certainly can put some limits on hunter seasons and bags limits to provide buoyancy for population levels...............Seems to me that "natures balance" is starting to kick in on our Turkey populations..............I see it as a good thing that the Turkeys have crested................Best for the overall health and biodiversity of our woodlands and meadows............Not good to have too many 'grazers' without corressponding predators...................Remember that in most of Turkey habitat across the USA, Wolves and Pumas have been eliminated, historical top down predators of so many creatures, including the occasional "Thanksgiving Turkey Meal"

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https://www.popsci.com/wild-turkey-decline Wild turkeys are in trouble And this time hunting and clear-cutting aren’t to blame. By ...
Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Like our Passenger Pigeon and Ivory-Billed Woodpecker that blinked out and went extinct at the turn of the 20th century, the Puerto Rican Parrot is down to its last 500 survivors.............In the 1800's it is estimated that 1 million P.R. Parrots thrived on the island.............Like everywhere across the globe, deforestation, disease, harsh weather and both native and non-native predators have all but brought this iconic bird to extinction...............Hurricane Maria turned back the clock on a restoration program that was proceeding slowly but surely.........The storm apparently killed at least 140 of the known remaining Parrots...............What to do now to restore the population is a dilemma as so many of the island's remaining forests are fragmented and damaged by the recent Hurricane,........The Puerto Rican Red-tailed Hawk(el guaraguaro) is a significant predator of Puerto Rican Parrots and with the forest now more open than ever due to felled trees, biologists are concerned about releasing the remaining Parrots into what could be a Hawk wipeout of them..................Replanting the forests will take time,,,,,,,,,,,,,,How long will it take to give the Parrots cover to evade the Hawks?......."The Scientists just don't know"

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https://phys.org/news/2018-11-scientists-wild-puerto-rican-parrot.html Scientists work to save wild Puerto Rican parrot after Maria N...
Monday, November 19, 2018

"There is a lot of folklore and 'wives tales' associated with animal and insect winter prognostication"..............."Alex MacKay-Smith says he's seeing unprecedented animal activity on his Wakefield, Quebec Canada farm, and he's got a wild hunch why: the unrelenting raids by raccoons, skunks, foxes, coyotes, bears and ravens portend a fierce and wicked winter to come.".............."Indeed, the Farmers' Almanac's winter forecast calls for 'teeth-chattering cold' this winter"................"However, Environment Canada's senior climatologist gave a much more moderate outlook, predicting a milder than normal season"................... "MacKay-Smith says the animals might hold the real answer"....................."They've been eating more, acting aggressively and having more babies, a departure from the behaviour he's witnessed in past years"................."His neighbours are witnessing the same thing"..................."However, the majority of biologists say that these 'folklore observations' do not reveal what actual Winter weather will be like"..........."Perhaps the one exception where animal Winter prognostication is a weathermans best friend comes from observing how wide or thin the Wooly Bear Catepillar spins its band"..................."A broad orange band(see picture below) equals a mild winter. A narrow band equals a harsh winter".............This phenomena is accurate 80% of the time!

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/hungry-wild-animals-predict-harsh-winter-farmer-says-1.4902355 Can wild animals really predict a h...