Last summer I posted about catching this https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=354555 and thought that would be the oddest animal I'd ever find in a live trap. Today's catch topped that for surprise!
I have 2 live traps set in my neighbor's yard, in the half-acre of swampy thicket behind their house. It's mostly a tangle of a tall leggy shrub called Florida holly. It's really difficult for me to navigate, the branches & trunks lean every way due to the hurricanes twisting it all around. But I'm trying to catch the bobcat that has been killing my ducks & chickens, it takes them into this thicket to pluck, eat, & cache its leftovers. I set 2 traps in there using the remains of the last rooster the cat caught for bait.
It's been 2 days since that rooster was killed, I check the traps first thing in the morning & again right before sundown. Today as I was walking towards the thicket I heard the ka-CHUNK of one of the traps snapping shut. I certainly hoped it could be the bobcat going for an early dinner, but as I got closer I heard a lot of shuffling from inside the trap. It sounded more like a squirrel or rabbit trying to get out. I manuevered my way through the thicket up to the trap, in the deep shade in the fading light of the day, and began lifting the leafy branches I placed over it for camouflage.
Inside the trap I see the back of a large dark-colored animal. I notice that it is smooth... that it is feathered! Its back is towards me, its head is poking at the far end of the trap. I'm trying to see its face... I notice some sort of bumpy red skin... wonder if it's a Muscovy duck that's wandered in... but what would lure a duck into a live trap???
I am trying to disturb the set-up of the trap as little as possible, so I can re-set and cover it once I release this bird. But what is it? I am trying to get the flashlight beam on its face to make a positive identification, and finally get a good look at its face & beak to find...
... a VULTURE!!! Gone into the trap after the pieces of the rooster I set there! How ever did this bird know it was there? I don't think it could have seen it, they must be able to smell dead things to eat. I held the door of the trap open and banged on the end to shoo it out. The vulture walked out to the edge of the thicket where I guess it flew away. I would have followed it to watch it go, but I was in a hurry to reset the trap, and the other one where looks like it must have tried pulling the rooster pieces out through the side (the doors were shut and the covering branches had been knocked off, the rooster wing was poking out the side).
I'm not going to say "now I've seen EVERYthing", instead I'm going to wonder "what will be the NEXT unusual creature I will catch?"
But I'm really hoping to catch a boring old bobcat!
I have 2 live traps set in my neighbor's yard, in the half-acre of swampy thicket behind their house. It's mostly a tangle of a tall leggy shrub called Florida holly. It's really difficult for me to navigate, the branches & trunks lean every way due to the hurricanes twisting it all around. But I'm trying to catch the bobcat that has been killing my ducks & chickens, it takes them into this thicket to pluck, eat, & cache its leftovers. I set 2 traps in there using the remains of the last rooster the cat caught for bait.
It's been 2 days since that rooster was killed, I check the traps first thing in the morning & again right before sundown. Today as I was walking towards the thicket I heard the ka-CHUNK of one of the traps snapping shut. I certainly hoped it could be the bobcat going for an early dinner, but as I got closer I heard a lot of shuffling from inside the trap. It sounded more like a squirrel or rabbit trying to get out. I manuevered my way through the thicket up to the trap, in the deep shade in the fading light of the day, and began lifting the leafy branches I placed over it for camouflage.
Inside the trap I see the back of a large dark-colored animal. I notice that it is smooth... that it is feathered! Its back is towards me, its head is poking at the far end of the trap. I'm trying to see its face... I notice some sort of bumpy red skin... wonder if it's a Muscovy duck that's wandered in... but what would lure a duck into a live trap???
I am trying to disturb the set-up of the trap as little as possible, so I can re-set and cover it once I release this bird. But what is it? I am trying to get the flashlight beam on its face to make a positive identification, and finally get a good look at its face & beak to find...
... a VULTURE!!! Gone into the trap after the pieces of the rooster I set there! How ever did this bird know it was there? I don't think it could have seen it, they must be able to smell dead things to eat. I held the door of the trap open and banged on the end to shoo it out. The vulture walked out to the edge of the thicket where I guess it flew away. I would have followed it to watch it go, but I was in a hurry to reset the trap, and the other one where looks like it must have tried pulling the rooster pieces out through the side (the doors were shut and the covering branches had been knocked off, the rooster wing was poking out the side).
I'm not going to say "now I've seen EVERYthing", instead I'm going to wonder "what will be the NEXT unusual creature I will catch?"
