New York Hillbilly

Sorry for your loss. Losing one's pet can be heart breaking. I have gone through it myself many times, so I feel for you all. That she made it 14 years is clear testimony that she experienced much love and care, and was fortunate to have been part of a wonderful family.

So is the car insurance industry. : ) I can respect your enthusiastic appreciation for coyotes, and agree with your assessment of their intelligence. But, I think there are many, myself included, who don't share that same love. It is not for lack of understanding of coyotes, or lack of respect for nature. I would guess people have their own, well founded reason for not liking them. In my case, for years I have personally watched them cruising my fields for fawns. It is one of the reasons I let my field go wild and stopped haying them. I figured it made it safer for the fawns and nesting turkeys. I think it did help with the deer, but not so sure it made any difference with the turkeys. I also had them come in on my beagles several times while rabbit hunting, and one actually had them kill one of my beagles. I have several friends who faced the same problem while running rabbits with beagles. We all began running our beagles with bells on their collars to try to keep the coyotes at bay. On a couple of occasions I had coyotes barking at my big female dog at dusk in our front yard, trying to lure her over to them, and I thankfully was there to call her back to the house. They will have one coyotes bark and act all playful to lure your dog close, and then others waiting behind and out of sight will bolt out to ambush your dog if it takes the bait. A dairy farmer neighbor once had a coyote trying to take his black lab down by its back leg, in his barnyard. Luckily, he got out there in time to run it off. I have heard neighbors complain of losing livestock to coyotes, but myself just got into chickens and have not had that issue so far. Without exaggeration my property and the surrounding area is thick with coyotes, and the eruption of several different packs all going off at the same time right behind my house I find hair raising, and certainly not pretty, at least to my ear. It would please me and my wife to no end, if one of the folks in my area who like to hunt them, by any means, would rid my property of every one of them. Unfortunately, I know that is not realistic, and agree it is entirely possible coyotes like cockroaches will likely be that last critters on earth.

I like the idea of an apron to prevent the digging under. I will give that some consideration. We actually had that at our beagle clubs when I was into running beagles.

Thanks for the tips Al. It sounds like I'm pretty much on the right track. I have kept poison in my garage for years, but always a bit nervous about it because of my dogs. I don't think either one I have would eat a dead rat (maybe roll on it..lol), but did lose a Cairn terrier many years ago to what I suspected to have been poisoned by a former a$$hole neighbor. The shooting method was one of my creepy experiences. I had gone to visit my father when I was about 13 years old, and had a bright idea that me and my younger stepbrother were going to go sit in his "coop" at night to shoot "a rat". The plan was; at night we would sit up on top of a couple steel drums, me holding my .22, and him holding both ends of the light and extension cord. When I nudged him he would plug the light in and I would quickly shoot "a rat". Well let me tell you; after sitting there in the dark quietly for a while, I gave him the nudge and he plugged the light in, and all hell broke loose! The reality was there was no one specific rat. Instead the room seemed to be filled with rats that went scurrying in every direction when the light came on. As me and my stepbrother launched ourselves from our perches making a frantic retreat, the rats appearing to me at the time to be as big as piglets all seemed to be giving me the angry, evil, stink eye. I was all but certain they were going to tackle and teach us a lesson before we could escape. I retrieved my .22 from the floor of the coop the next day, in full day light, and never had the urge (or courage) to try the same experiment again. : )

First off, I will admit to having an extreme level of uneasiness for rats, and to a much lesser degree, mice. This comes from several childhood experiences/encounters with rats that haunt me still today if I think about them. I won't go into them now, although a few of you might get a kick out of the stories. I get the shivers when I think about my past run ins with rats. After years of talking about it, me and my wife finally took the plunge and bought two Brahmas, two Wyandotte already laying, and a Marnan Rooster to live in the little elevated coop I built last July 4th. Things have been going great and these chickens are now spoiled. They come running to the gate every time we go out, and eat from our hands. Happy chickens! Meal worms! : ) We were getting as many as 3 eggs a day but wife wanted more eggs, and thus the need for more chickens. So, I just finished building her a much bigger coop and purchased two more Maran hens that just started laying, and three Wyandotte hen pullets. The new coop is an 8x8 building. Judging how all five new hens are choosing to roost on the same roost at night, it looks like there is actually room for as many as 15 or 20 chickens . But we agreed we are at our maximum number of chickens for our flock. We are keeping the original 4 hens and rooster in the small coop for now, and the new chickens separate from them until they all can become familiar, and as a precaution for chicken health reasons. By Winter we will have them all together as one flock living in "The Big House". So, I'm asking my fellow, much more experienced chicken keepers here. Do chickens have to equal rats or do any of you have success in remaining, rat free? Aside from the obvious, like keeping the area clean, feed secured in metal cans with lids, and as rodent secure a coop as possible, what other actions might I take to avoid having rats show up and ruin my life? I have a Westie that loves to kill mice, but she is a senior citizen now and would not likely be a good match for a rat. And, while my my little old Sadie would have the heart to tackle such a challenge, she is a member of our household and I would not assign her guard duty at this stage of her life. Out door barn cats maybe? What say all?

Happy Independence Day everyone! Proud and thankful to be a citizen everyday, not only today. And, thankful for all who have, and those who continue to sacrifice so much be be able to realize this Country's blessings. I pray for our wonderful Country's safety and future, so that my (our) children and grandchildren are able to know what it is to be American. Happy Birthday America! NYH

Congratulations Eddie! 61 years is a heck of a milestone. It seems you were both blessed to get the right match.

I never thought of that, but now think you nailed it! Probably some freaking attempt to cause so much frustration you stop using gas powered equipment. Lol Well guess what? It just backfired. My next step will be stop mowing my huge side yard, fence it in and buy sheep. I’ll go green alright. The sheep can mow all Summer and in the Fall we will eat the lawnmowers! And maybe, just maybe, I’ll put a couple feeder steers in there too, so I can add a few cow farts they are all so worried about as they fly around in their jets. And, in the Fall, also fill the freezer with beef. : )

I agree the "safety" feature is a PIA on every tool I own that has them. I have a bad case of trigger finger in my right middle finger, and it locks up almost every time I have to contort my fingers to accomplish the feat. I then need to use my left hand to physically pry/snap my finger back open to let go of the tool I am using. Urghh! I rank these so called safety features right up there with the aggravating gas can spouts of today!

I have my grandfathers Savage 99, and unable to locate ammunition for it anymore. I took one deer with it a few years back, and now regret not buying a bunch of boxes of .300 Savage when I had the chance.

Exactly right. It is a common, and tragically, effective historic strategy. Go for the low hanging fruit first. The thinking is; who and how many will actually get worked up over crows, coyotes, rabbits, etc. contests being banned? Once this gets passed, next will come turkey and deer. Then what? The much bigger picture in my opinion is it is a bottom up approach to disarm the American citizens. Remember, "and then they came for me and there was no one there to speak for me" (Martin Niemoller) When will the people in this country wake up and see they bigger picture, pull their heads out of the sand, rather than continue to intentionally ignore the reality and label those who point to the obvious as conspiracy theorists?

Beautiful job! I especially like the walls behind the wood stove. It looks very nice, safe, and heat efficient.

As the OP of this thread, I was going to ask the same a few days ago, for the same reason. But, after the initial flurry it seemed to cool off, so I didn't it bother requesting it to be locked. At this point; I suspect everyone knows where everyone stands, so I don't think anyone else plans or has any reason to option further. Locking it up is cool with me, but unless someone starts stirring things up again, I suspect the thread will just fade away. Now, back to my chickens. I hear them doing their "hey I laid and egg" song. : )

I want to plant some trees to chase deer away. lol. They have killed both of my prior attempts to get a small apple orchard going next to my house. This Spring I planted another dozen (total) apple, peach, plum, and pear trees, and have been doing (knock wood...pun intended) better, but am on full time duty. They did manage to snip off a few branches of one apple tree right after I planted them, but since that time, my efforts seem to be working.

It it abundantly clear there is bad blood between you and some other people. The reason why escapes me, but really does not seem healthy for anyone, or either site. I wish you guys could sign some sort of gentleman's peace treaty and move on, rather than the continued sniping back and forth. I think it only drags everyone down. I would also suggest anyone here on this site avoid being drawn into back and forth with people who seem to enjoy this type of crap. Spring and Summer are short in this neck of the woods, and the world is scary and depressing enough without all this drama. I hope everyone can take the time to think about the direction this country is headed and prepare for the future, and recognize the petty problems on this social media pales in comparison to the real world issues we face. Personally, the massive gardening and homesteading project me and the wife are engaged in keeps me from posting much, but does not reflect me being inactive here for any other reason. And, in any down time I still enjoy coming here so I'm glad it is still up. I hope because I choose to do so does not put me in the crosshairs of others who have ill will for this site and people who did not jump ship. If it does though, I guess there is nothing I can do or say to change it, so I won't worry about it. In short; I'm thankful for the site owner keeping this place up and going, or who ever fixed things, and I wish everyone from what ever site you call home, peace, safety, and good health. Enjoy the Summer! NYH

I'm not sure what happened, but am glad to see it fixed. The sudden disappearance caught me off guard, and had me bummed not being to say goodbye to those who have continued here. Thank you to who ever fixed it! I hope we stay up and running. In an attempt to try and see if it was just my computer, with nobody to reach out to, I checked out "the other site", and was able to determine it was not just me. What I also discovered was the celebratory responses about this site being down. While not a surprise to me, still really is disappointing. People again really showed their true colors. I just can't imagine where all the hate and animosity comes from. There were many who left I previously held in high regard, and some I still do. I will say, in my opinion, Grampy showed class in his response to the situation. However, the feeding frenzy, gloating, and digs from others about the members here who have remained, again demonstrated the nature of many who (say at least they) left. For those who say they never come to this site, they sure seemed to have their hand on the pulse over here. I suspect a bunch will now be disappointed, and a few will be eating some crow now that it is back! : ) Glad it is back up running.

Happy Father's Day! : )

Chootem Lizabeth! We got us a tree shaker!

Because this one is not running on all cylinders!

Impressive rig! Six inch lift and 35's? Good luck with the new truck.

Drill baby drill!

To each his own I guess. I for one don't miss the non stop name calling, trolling, and general nastiness the so called "controversial" ex-members displayed against anyone they determined to be outside their clique. Talk about spinning the narrative. Let's remember what really happened here. For the past several years, throughout Trump and Covid, the Trump haters and self proclaimed medical experts spewed their utter nonsense and attacked anyone who did not bow to their expertise and infinite knowledge. So how did that all work out for them? How much of their expert medical advice and opinion related to Covid prove to be correct? How is the country doing now with Orangeman gone? Quite a bit of egg on the face! Well that is if the egg shortage is over. As far as I'm concerned; the "site" became a convenient excuse for a select mouthy few to bail out and drag any supporters with them, before having to face the music for being revealed for being so wrong on so much. It was like someone breaking wind in the supermarket aisle then running to the other aisle. But then again, what the hell do I know? Like everything else I was told was not really happening over the past 3 1/2 years, it's probably just another conspiracy theory. I would suggest this site is a lot more accepting of differing opinions now than it was prior to the exodus. From the way it looked to me, nobody "ran away" for fear of expressing their opinions. They talked about how bad this site was, that it was going to fail or disappear, and how great things would be once they all met at their new promise land. They chose to leave. Let's not now rewrite history and turn them into victims!

Moe Howard! Lol

Wife and I are currently in Boston helping my son and soon to be DIL get their house ready for their wedding next week, so turkey hunting is off the table fo me the rest of the season. It's nice to see the pics of those successful this year, even if they are posted in the thread I started to check if this site was going to disappear while I was away. Although, maybe they would be better to be posted in one of the Turkey hunting threads. Agree!

Nice small mouth! That must have felt fun on the light weight gear. Was it a fighter and jumper?