Re: Guarding the bird feeders -- Spearfish Lake Tales

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Subject: Re: Guarding the bird feeders

Author:
Jim Scott
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Date Posted: 19:20:02 06/15/12 Fri
In reply to: Wes 's message, "Guarding the bird feeders" on 10:18:11 06/14/12 Thu

Several years ago a good friend and neighbor had Muscovy ducks that he let run loose. They loved to get on the bird feeder on the outer rail of my deck outside the kitchen sink window and empty it of all the sunflower seeds. They also crapped all over the deck and its steps. I could run out and chase them off but they came right back and were up there all day while I was at work. I found a better solution was to buy a slingshot at a sporting goods store and for ammo I used 1/2 inch sections of 1/2 inch diameter old hard carrots. One hit would knock them down to the ground and they would be gone for the rest of the day and the carrot pieces would disappear into the grass. But they came back the next day.

The squirrel were even worse because they came back sooner. There would be two to five of them sitting on the railing awaiting there turn at the feeder until the seed was gone. While they waited the squirrels would chew on the deck railing and the house's cedar siding. I loved the birds but the ducks and squirrels ruined the party for everyone. I finally solved all the problems by getting rid of the feeders.

Jim

>I trade off with my daughter each week writing a
>column for our paper. Usually my columns are primarily
>addressing local issues, but I thought this one might
>be of interest to forum readers.
>
>-- Wes
>
>- - - - - - - -
>
>
>I suppose it's a sign of advancing age, but I just
>don't bounce back from a short night like I did when I
>was but a young lad.
>
>Take the other day. It was last Wednesday morning, as
>a matter of fact. Now, I tend to be a little bit of a
>night owl anyway, but I'd stayed up late to watch the
>end of the transit of Venus on the NASA channel, so
>that had me up a little longer than normal. That by
>itself is no excuse, but when I did get to bed I
>didn't get to sleep very quickly, for no good reason.
>I know I saw 2:30 AM go sliding by on the digital
>clock a few inches from my nose, and that cuts things
>a little tight right there.
>
>However, along about 6:30 AM I was awakened by my
>wife, who has an earlier schedule than I do. She was
>upset: "I've had a tough time with the raccoon in the
>bird feeders again," she complained. "I've had to
>chase him out of there half a dozen times. I wish
>you'd take a gun and shoot it."
>
>Now, I'm not a gun nut. I'm not opposed to them in any
>way, it's just that they don't interest me that much.
>"Yeah, right," I yawned. "I haven't shot a gun since
>1973, you know that."
>
>"Yes," she replied. "But he's really being a pest. Sit
>out on the porch, shoot him when he shows up and throw
>the body out in the weeds." We can do that, since we
>live out in the country, but I really hated to break a
>string that long, if you know what I mean.
>
>I can tell you how long it's been since I shot a gun,
>since I remember it clearly. I was living in a
>mountain town out in Colorado not long before I
>returned to Michigan. The guy I was rooming with
>bought a new .22 Ruger, and we took it out to the town
>garbage dump to sight it in on some empty tin cans.
>
>Now, reprocess that last sentence: how long has it
>been since you've seen a town garbage dump anywhere? I
>don't mean a sanitary landfill, I mean a dump. Twenty
>years, at least. Maybe more.
>
>But I digress. As the result of not having much sleep
>and being rudely awakened, I decided that keeping my
>wife happy was the better part of valor. So, I pulled
>on some clothes and shoes and went to where we keep
>the guns. All of them are left over from my father,
>and some of them are antiques I wouldn't dare shoot if
>I wanted to. I suppose I ought to think about selling
>them some day, and I probably will eventually, but for
>now they represent memories of my father, my
>grandfather, and my youth.
>
>Reasoning that the noise of firing a shotgun would
>upset all the human and feline critters in the house,
>I decided I'd better use one of the .22 revolvers my
>father bought back in the forties. A few minutes of
>pawing around turned up a box of ammo that had been
>sitting on a shelf for at least twenty years, most
>likely more.
>
>I had to stop and refresh myself on even how to get
>the cylinder out of the revolver; I hadn't had it in
>my hands in who knows when, except to move it from one
>place to another when we moved years ago. While I was
>going through all this hassle, my wife left for work.
>
>So, finally, I took the revolver, a bottle of orange
>juice, and a book out onto the porch to stand guard
>over the bird feeders.
>
>Of course, no raccoon. I figure the noise of the
>garage door opening must have made him go somewhere
>else for a while. Discretion proved to be the better
>part of valor for him, not that I stood much chance of
>hitting him at thirty feet with a .22 revolver after
>being out of practice for coming up on 40 years.
>
>Now if the stupid raccoon will just stay away from the
>bird feeders for a while, at least when my wife is
>around, I may be able to keep my string intact. And
>get some sleep.

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[> Subject: Re: Guarding the bird feeders

Author:
K Pelle
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Date Posted: 23:10:07 06/15/12 Fri

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>Several years ago a good friend and neighbor had >Muscovy ducks that he let run loose. They loved to >get on the bird feeder on the outer rail of my deck >outside the kitchen sink window and empty it of all >the sunflower seeds. They also crapped all over the >deck and its steps. I could run out and chase them >off but they came right back and were up there all day >while I was at work. I found a better solution was to >buy a slingshot at a sporting goods store and for ammo >I used 1/2 inch sections of 1/2 inch diameter old hard >carrots. One hit would knock them down to the ground >and they would be gone for the rest of the day and the >carrot pieces would disappear into the grass. But >they came back the next day. > >The squirrel were even worse because they came back >sooner. There would be two to five of them sitting on >the railing awaiting there turn at the feeder until >the seed was gone. While they waited the squirrels >would chew on the deck railing and the house's cedar >siding. I loved the birds but the ducks and squirrels >ruined the party for everyone. I finally solved all >the problems by getting rid of the feeders. > >Jim > > > >><i>I trade off with my daughter each week writing a >>column for our paper. Usually my columns are primarily >>addressing local issues, but I thought this one might >>be of interest to forum readers. >> >>-- Wes</i> >> >>- - - - - - - - >> >> >>I suppose it's a sign of advancing age, but I just >>don't bounce back from a short night like I did when I >>was but a young lad. >> >>Take the other day. It was last Wednesday morning, as >>a matter of fact. Now, I tend to be a little bit of a >>night owl anyway, but I'd stayed up late to watch the >>end of the transit of Venus on the NASA channel, so >>that had me up a little longer than normal. That by >>itself is no excuse, but when I did get to bed I >>didn't get to sleep very quickly, for no good reason. >>I know I saw 2:30 AM go sliding by on the digital >>clock a few inches from my nose, and that cuts things >>a little tight right there. >> >>However, along about 6:30 AM I was awakened by my >>wife, who has an earlier schedule than I do. She was >>upset: "I've had a tough time with the raccoon in the >>bird feeders again," she complained. "I've had to >>chase him out of there half a dozen times. I wish >>you'd take a gun and shoot it." >> >>Now, I'm not a gun nut. I'm not opposed to them in any >>way, it's just that they don't interest me that much. >>"Yeah, right," I yawned. "I haven't shot a gun since >>1973, you know that." >> >>"Yes," she replied. "But he's really being a pest. Sit >>out on the porch, shoot him when he shows up and throw >>the body out in the weeds." We can do that, since we >>live out in the country, but I really hated to break a >>string that long, if you know what I mean. >> >>I can tell you how long it's been since I shot a gun, >>since I remember it clearly. I was living in a >>mountain town out in Colorado not long before I >>returned to Michigan. The guy I was rooming with >>bought a new .22 Ruger, and we took it out to the town >>garbage dump to sight it in on some empty tin cans. >> >>Now, reprocess that last sentence: how long has it >>been since you've seen a town garbage dump anywhere? I >>don't mean a sanitary landfill, I mean a dump. Twenty >>years, at least. Maybe more. >> >>But I digress. As the result of not having much sleep >>and being rudely awakened, I decided that keeping my >>wife happy was the better part of valor. So, I pulled >>on some clothes and shoes and went to where we keep >>the guns. All of them are left over from my father, >>and some of them are antiques I wouldn't dare shoot if >>I wanted to. I suppose I ought to think about selling >>them some day, and I probably will eventually, but for >>now they represent memories of my father, my >>grandfather, and my youth. >> >>Reasoning that the noise of firing a shotgun would >>upset all the human and feline critters in the house, >>I decided I'd better use one of the .22 revolvers my >>father bought back in the forties. A few minutes of >>pawing around turned up a box of ammo that had been >>sitting on a shelf for at least twenty years, most >>likely more. >> >>I had to stop and refresh myself on even how to get >>the cylinder out of the revolver; I hadn't had it in >>my hands in who knows when, except to move it from one >>place to another when we moved years ago. While I was >>going through all this hassle, my wife left for work. >> >>So, finally, I took the revolver, a bottle of orange >>juice, and a book out onto the porch to stand guard >>over the bird feeders. >> >>Of course, no raccoon. I figure the noise of the >>garage door opening must have made him go somewhere >>else for a while. Discretion proved to be the better >>part of valor for him, not that I stood much chance of >>hitting him at thirty feet with a .22 revolver after >>being out of practice for coming up on 40 years. >> >>Now if the stupid raccoon will just stay away from the >>bird feeders for a while, at least when my wife is >>around, I may be able to keep my string intact. And >>get some sleep.

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