A big prickly thing
Buster the dog goes out at night to roam around and do dog stuff in the woods. He has a good time and we feel it keeps the predators away somewhat.
A few days ago, he "discovered" a deer and cornered it at a spot on the game trail behind the house, probably asking it to play with him. The deer wasn't interested. Don't get me wrong here, he doesn't "run" deer, he just wasn't about to let a critter walk right up to his house without investigating it. The deer was maybe 30 yards from the door to our bedroom, as the game trail emerges from the woods right under the window at the head of our bed.
You could tell he wanted to play because his hackles weren't up. We heard the barking, so I threw my clothes on, grabbed the big 2,000,000 candlepower flashlight and my .45 and went out to see what was going on. I could hear him, but not see him in the brush. I called him and he came running, all excited. As he ran around me attempting to tell me all about it, I could hear something large crashing through the brush, running away. In the morning, Jeff and I went out for a look-see to maybe spot some tracks and figure out what I had heard crashing through the brush. Jeff spotted a patch of ground where the deer had made a stand.
Buster likes to wrestle and play rough, and not all other critters get into it. Molly, Jeff's dog, a much more ladylike dog than Buster's pit bull/husky self, gets offended when he asks her to play. His requests involve crouching down with his front legs, giving a "woof", and sprinting off in short bursts as if to say "Hey, come chase me!". Molly won't do it, the goats won't do it, Rocky the steer will, but he plays even rougher than Buster. Apparently deer don't like to play either.
Last night, just after midnight, I had just finished my dinner (early night for me) and Wendy and I were settling in to watch a stupid movie on TV. Then we heard the barking! I threw on my long pants, so as not to be cut up in the underbrush, and a pair of moccasins, grabbed the big flashlight and the .45, and headed out the game trail to see what was up tonight. Buster's barking was different this time. They came in short bursts, followed by uneasy silence.
I followed the trail for maybe 100 yards, no sign of Buster. I was a little worried, as there are coyotes and bears around here, and it was a little unsettling not to hear big, dufus Buster cannonballing through the underbrush. To my left was a little cliff that drops down to the road, so I climbed down to listen and look from a different perspective.
As I wandered down the roadway, scanning the underbrush with the big light, I heard a faint snapping of twigs, two short woofs from Buster, and a bleat-yelp-squeak noise I didn't recognise. off to the right, up the cliff, I spotted some motion, and it was buster, cautiously walking forward in a curious but nervous way. By his demeanor, I could tell that whatever he was into was right in front of him. For all I knew, he could have treed a bear.
With the light in my right hand and the cocked-and-locked .45 in my right, I climbed the cliff to get to where he was. As I approached him, he never broke his gaze from what he had cornered. Then I saw it...on the other side of the tree was a grey, black and whitish thing, fluffed up into a big ball. At first I thought it was a huge raccoon, but wanted to be sure before I considered shooting it. Then it moved slightly, and I got to see it from the front (it then had it's back towards the dog). A jet-black face looked at my light, framed by a coating of long, white quills...it wasn't a huge coon, it was a huge porcupine!
It was the first time I had seen a live porky in the wild. I've seen them in the zoo and squished by the side of the road, but never ran into a live one. It was a pretty cool looking critter. He didn't seem too scared by either me or the dog, just a little inconvenienced. As I watched him patiently stand guard against the curious dog, I wished I had brought a camera.
Maybe I need to put together a sort of a "bugout bag" to grab with me when I go out into the night to investigate stuff like this. It would be a little day-pack, with a camera, a coil of rope, an extra flashlight, first aid kit, signal whistle, knife etc. It would have made a cool picture, with the porky all fluffed up like a strutting turkey and the very curious but cautious dog sniffing at him from a short distance in the background.
Not wanting to keep the porcupine from his appointed rounds for longer than needed, I called for Buster and told him to go home for a treat. He was so happy that he could barely contain himself. Fortunately, he just wanted to sniff at the critter and didn't try to attack it like many dogs would have. He's got pretty good manners and gets along with all sorts of animals.
I climbed down to the road and he ran happy circles around me all the way back to the house, acting very excited that I had come out to play with him and very proud of finding the porcupine for me. Back in the house, I gave him a treat, then went upstairs to report our findings to Wendy. Wendy is always scared for me when I go out into the night like that, afraid that we'll tangle with a bear or a pack of coyotes or something. Buster came up and told Wendy his story about how he had found a big prickly thing and kept us safe from it, then settled down on my feet while we watched the movie. He's a cool dog.
A few days ago, he "discovered" a deer and cornered it at a spot on the game trail behind the house, probably asking it to play with him. The deer wasn't interested. Don't get me wrong here, he doesn't "run" deer, he just wasn't about to let a critter walk right up to his house without investigating it. The deer was maybe 30 yards from the door to our bedroom, as the game trail emerges from the woods right under the window at the head of our bed.
You could tell he wanted to play because his hackles weren't up. We heard the barking, so I threw my clothes on, grabbed the big 2,000,000 candlepower flashlight and my .45 and went out to see what was going on. I could hear him, but not see him in the brush. I called him and he came running, all excited. As he ran around me attempting to tell me all about it, I could hear something large crashing through the brush, running away. In the morning, Jeff and I went out for a look-see to maybe spot some tracks and figure out what I had heard crashing through the brush. Jeff spotted a patch of ground where the deer had made a stand.
Buster likes to wrestle and play rough, and not all other critters get into it. Molly, Jeff's dog, a much more ladylike dog than Buster's pit bull/husky self, gets offended when he asks her to play. His requests involve crouching down with his front legs, giving a "woof", and sprinting off in short bursts as if to say "Hey, come chase me!". Molly won't do it, the goats won't do it, Rocky the steer will, but he plays even rougher than Buster. Apparently deer don't like to play either.
Last night, just after midnight, I had just finished my dinner (early night for me) and Wendy and I were settling in to watch a stupid movie on TV. Then we heard the barking! I threw on my long pants, so as not to be cut up in the underbrush, and a pair of moccasins, grabbed the big flashlight and the .45, and headed out the game trail to see what was up tonight. Buster's barking was different this time. They came in short bursts, followed by uneasy silence.
I followed the trail for maybe 100 yards, no sign of Buster. I was a little worried, as there are coyotes and bears around here, and it was a little unsettling not to hear big, dufus Buster cannonballing through the underbrush. To my left was a little cliff that drops down to the road, so I climbed down to listen and look from a different perspective.
As I wandered down the roadway, scanning the underbrush with the big light, I heard a faint snapping of twigs, two short woofs from Buster, and a bleat-yelp-squeak noise I didn't recognise. off to the right, up the cliff, I spotted some motion, and it was buster, cautiously walking forward in a curious but nervous way. By his demeanor, I could tell that whatever he was into was right in front of him. For all I knew, he could have treed a bear.
With the light in my right hand and the cocked-and-locked .45 in my right, I climbed the cliff to get to where he was. As I approached him, he never broke his gaze from what he had cornered. Then I saw it...on the other side of the tree was a grey, black and whitish thing, fluffed up into a big ball. At first I thought it was a huge raccoon, but wanted to be sure before I considered shooting it. Then it moved slightly, and I got to see it from the front (it then had it's back towards the dog). A jet-black face looked at my light, framed by a coating of long, white quills...it wasn't a huge coon, it was a huge porcupine!
It was the first time I had seen a live porky in the wild. I've seen them in the zoo and squished by the side of the road, but never ran into a live one. It was a pretty cool looking critter. He didn't seem too scared by either me or the dog, just a little inconvenienced. As I watched him patiently stand guard against the curious dog, I wished I had brought a camera.
Maybe I need to put together a sort of a "bugout bag" to grab with me when I go out into the night to investigate stuff like this. It would be a little day-pack, with a camera, a coil of rope, an extra flashlight, first aid kit, signal whistle, knife etc. It would have made a cool picture, with the porky all fluffed up like a strutting turkey and the very curious but cautious dog sniffing at him from a short distance in the background.
Not wanting to keep the porcupine from his appointed rounds for longer than needed, I called for Buster and told him to go home for a treat. He was so happy that he could barely contain himself. Fortunately, he just wanted to sniff at the critter and didn't try to attack it like many dogs would have. He's got pretty good manners and gets along with all sorts of animals.
I climbed down to the road and he ran happy circles around me all the way back to the house, acting very excited that I had come out to play with him and very proud of finding the porcupine for me. Back in the house, I gave him a treat, then went upstairs to report our findings to Wendy. Wendy is always scared for me when I go out into the night like that, afraid that we'll tangle with a bear or a pack of coyotes or something. Buster came up and told Wendy his story about how he had found a big prickly thing and kept us safe from it, then settled down on my feet while we watched the movie. He's a cool dog.
posted by MVTCoPete | 4:28 PM
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