This morning I got up early (for me - I am retired after all) in anticipation of of Koyuk arriving for her visit around 0700. After feeding the dogs, I rushed outside to check the live trap. There was another unhappy fox hissing at me. What to do? I could not take the fox in the critter taxi all the way over the ridge to the back pond. Dave had already left for the Duck game festivities. Koyuk would be arriving soon and her owner had to get back home for her bridal shower. I was also concerned about the fire danger of a hot muffler on the overgrown trail. Setting the trap was majorly dumb. I did it last night out of habit and frustration with all the blueberry and plum seed poop left each morning in the gardens. Guess the smart thing would be to ignore the garden raids until we get rain.
Lucky lady fox not only got a feast of marshmallows but set free to eat my plums and blueberries again.
This morning was a mini wilderness adventure. On the way to get the newspaper I saw a ferret, ducks on the front pond and a turkey hen with a late, possibly second, covey of 2 chicks. I have never seen foxes or ferrets around here. I wonder if they were drawn in with the profusion of wild turkeys and voles (along with my productive blueberry patch). The turkey numbers have greatly decreased during the past two years. We went from routinely seeing 30-40 turkeys at any one time in the yard to 3 or 4. We had no chicks earlier this year. The vole holes also seem less numerous. Our neighborhood association has received reports of several daylight sightings of a cougar with her cub, bears and bobcats. I wonder what these predators are going to do when the small game is gone?
Lucky lady fox not only got a feast of marshmallows but set free to eat my plums and blueberries again.