# The Wildlife Wisperer?



## Viking

Sometimes I wonder if I'm one, if anyone happened to see me talking to deer, wild turkey, beaver, fox, badgers, wild ferrets, cougars or whatever wild animal, they might think that I'm a few bubbles off level. So Wednesday the 28th we had gone to town and when we came home it was after dark, while coming up to our driveway we saw a forked horn blacktail buck laying where the X is in the pic, there was a large doe laying where the O is, I backed into the driveway and they were still laying down, even after I unlocked the gate and swung it to the side. I then walked up to the fence where the buck was and only the doe jumped up and took off, the buck stayed even while I was talking to him and then I walked out on the road and came about two feet from him, talking fairly loud but he still didn't move for a few moments and with better judgement I refrained from patting him on the rump, I had visions of being kicked or stuck by his antlers, he then jumped up and ran about 60 or so feet over by a stack of pallets near the apple tree. I walked back to the driveway and up within three feet of him, all the while talking to him and he still didn't take off, I love this stuff, I still was mindful of hooves and antlers so I kept a safe distance, after all it's the beginning of the rut season, but his neck was not swollen or maybe I would have already gotten stuck by him. My wife mentioned that he may have been one of the fawns I had talked to earlier in the year and that he recognized my voice. What a cool experience, many years before I walked up to a doe and patted her on the rear, she's one I had been yelling at to stay out of our garden and maybe that's why I got so close. I've been blessed with many other wildlife encounters over the years, it's a shame I didn't have movie cameras because I would have loved to share those experiences with others.


----------



## camo2460

Animals can sense your spirit, you must be a gentle Soul. Very cool.


----------



## Viking

camo2460 said:


> Animals can sense your spirit, you must be a gentle Soul. Very cool.


Thank you, this would probably twist PETA members brains,but, I'm also a hunter and yes I care deeply about the way I make a kill, I don't want any animal to suffer. There has been times when I looked for hours for an animal I thought I may have wounded and I even changed the way I hunt, I will not shoot at a running animal, only those that are standing still or bedded down and if at all possible, I will do only head or head-neck joint shots, no meat every gets wasted that way and animals don't get adrenaline in the muscle tissue from running, which can negatively flavor the meat.


----------



## bacpacker

This is very cool. Really enjoyed reading this.

I had my own experience similar to this Friday night. I had been working out in my grape vines for a couple hours after work. I was putting my tools up and walked back out of the basement. Looking across my garden site I noticed 2 nice deer. At first I thought it was a buck and a doe. Turned out to be a 9 pointer and a 4 pointer. The 4 never saw me, but the 9 stood and we watched each other for at least 10 minutes. little to no movement on either end. Around here if they see anyone their gone. I was very stoked. With all the does around here, makes me feel there is a nice crop of young here and on the way.


----------



## Viking

So here it is that another year has gone by and now I have 15 dependents that stare at us through the kitchen window begging for chicken scratch, they really like the organic cracked corn, whole barley and wheat seed we have for our chickens. I still have deer that come almost daily, looking for apples, usually three does and twin fawns. I talk to them and they stick around pretty close sometimes, we're considering getting some mineral and feed blocks to keep them healthy.


----------



## camo2460

Viking said:


> So here it is that another year has gone by and now I have 15 dependents that stare at us through the kitchen window begging for chicken scratch, they really like the organic cracked corn, whole barley and wheat seed we have for our chickens. I still have deer that come almost daily, looking for apples, usually three does and twin fawns. I talk to them and they stick around pretty close sometimes, we're considering getting some mineral and feed blocks to keep them healthy.


Viking I do the same thing. I put Corn out for the Deer and Turkeys, and love watching the Squirrels fight the Blue Jays over a large pile of Corn. I have Bird Feeders for my smaller Feathered Friends, as well as Four Humming Bird Feeders ready for my buddies when they return in the Spring. I have had some where around 50-60 Humming Birds competing for four Feeders. Like you, I love the Wild Critters, and now days I would rather watch than kill.


----------



## Meerkat

camo2460 said:


> Viking I do the same thing. I put Corn out for the Deer and Turkeys, and love watching the Squirrels fight the Blue Jays over a large pile of Corn. I have Bird Feeders for my smaller Feathered Friends, as well as Four Humming Bird Feeders ready for my buddies when they return in the Spring. I have had some where around 50-60 Humming Birds competing for four Feeders. Like you, I love the Wild Critters, and now days I would rather watch than kill.


 Hubby use to hunt but now he is like you he'd rather just watch. Not that if it got bad and he had to he'd know how to hunt and prep anything he caught.


----------



## Viking

Yesterday while getting into the truck the turkeys were just below where we park the vehicles and the big tom gobbled and I thought I heard a few others sound off as well, so just out of curiosity, I honked the horn and watched while about three other young toms gobbled as well, I'm happy to see potential emergency future food supplies, i.e., more toms. These turkeys are really getting friendly, while taking care of the chickens and neighbors tame turkeys, the wild turkeys followed me and when I got through doing the choirs, they followed me up hill where I threw out a can full of scratch. A couple of days ago I walked around the deck to see where they were and they saw me from the neighbors property on the East side, which was about 200 yards or better away, anyway they came running to see if I had put out feed, so they're definitely spoiled but I'm happy to see them around and hopefully, come spring their numbers will increase.


----------



## Meerkat

Viking said:


> Yesterday while getting into the truck the turkeys were just below where we park the vehicles and the big tom gobbled and I thought I heard a few others sound off as well, so just out of curiosity, I honked the horn and watched while about three other young toms gobbled as well, I'm happy to see potential emergency future food supplies, i.e., more toms. These turkeys are really getting friendly, while taking care of the chickens and neighbors tame turkeys, the wild turkeys followed me and when I got through doing the choirs, they followed me up hill where I threw out a can full of scratch. A couple of days ago I walked around the deck to see where they were and they saw me from the neighbors property on the East side, which was about 200 yards or better away, anyway they came running to see if I had put out feed, so they're definitely spoiled but I'm happy to see them around and hopefully, come spring their numbers will increase.


 I love these kind of stories. Your so lucky to have this kind of experiance with the wild. I use to.


----------



## RevWC

I live by the coast so mostly birds my wife and I talk to. I believe they sense the love and our appreciation of God's work!


----------



## Kodeman

Meerkat said:


> Hubby use to hunt but now he is like you he'd rather just watch. Not that if it got bad and he had to he'd know how to hunt and prep anything he caught.


Meerkat, I agree, I have also not hunted in quite sometime. I may again but the thrill of the hunt is gone and for me that was what I enjoyed the most. I am still very much connected to the outdoors and enjoy hiking in the woods as often as I can.


----------



## AmmoSgt

I am going to make folks mad at me and get all preachy .. so you should probably stop reading now..

.

.

.

.

oh it's all about me ( in a whiny voice) the thrill is gone... hey guys, you killed off all the scary predators, or somebody did, maybe it was civilization and building shopping malls and subdivisions in "habitat" .. but no matter.. everything is out of balance.. prey is running wild and killing people in auto accidents more often than the classic predators ever did, not to mention what they are doing to our crops ( rabbits, rats, and feral pigs) and fields ( feral pig and gopher and moles and rats and Deer) our homes Raccoons and rats and squirrels and skunks ) our road ways ( Deer armadillos possums) . So now it is on you to take up the slack, because wolves and bear and mountain lions OH MY, are scary and they are mostly dead. Best if you eat it, if it is a game animal, but they are all edible, and you are a prepper/survivalist . It ain't about what thrills you or makes you happy, we don't always get to pick our duties and obligations, but they are ours none the less. Predation on prey is good for both the predator and the prey.. keeps the predator fed and the prey healthy and at proper population levels .

It's a skill set for survival and necessary to being human . It is the ultimate social bonding exercise and you will need it when face book goes down .. except instead of "likes" you get 'respects" It is the basic foundation of humanity , we are a predator in our soul, it is the fundamental basis for individuality and independence, being able to feed your self .. agriculture brought civilization and inequality and bosses and owners and taxes and rents and hierarchy.

http://www.utne.com/mind-and-body/why-hunt-hunting-human-core

How do you respect life If you are not intimately connected to death to feed life .. oh I am sure you eat meat.. but do you respect the life that feeds you or do you use "sheep" and "cow" and "bull" and "goat" as a pejorative name for people you don't like how about "chicken" or " Turkey" "Old Hag or mare" "Filly" as a diminutive. You get a couple hundred miles and a few weeks from the sacrifice an animal made to feed you and your children, an animal you didn't have to know squat about to find and track and kill, I don't know, are you sure you even know where on the animal the piece of meat came from? How do you respect something you didn't know and don't understand?

Hunting and gathering, sleeping beside a stream and a fire, knowing the stars and clouds the seasons, .. my God the seasons , the turning of the seasons was once the most critical knowledge and what it mean to all living things , when they bred and when they birthed and when the fish ran and the wheat turned golden and the apples ripened.. humans didn't prep because of some disaster, they prepped against the turning of the seasons .. there are season of bounty when you gather, and season of hunger when you find out if you gathered enough .. that is hard wired into our very souls, and totally explains why people who shop twice a week at a grocery store also collect beany babies and "hunt" for rare ones, and play pokemon GO.

You need the silence of the woods the smell of the fire the song of the water the freedom of the air, the knowledge that you can, at will, stop the hunger pains. That you, and you alone, control your time and your life, and you live it to a rhythm set by the world around you, that you are in direct contact, in constant intimacy with, and interact with. 
http://www.thehuntinglife.com/forum...ing-its-spiritual-and-mythological-connec-r46

http://www.humansandnature.org/hunting-david-petersen

Whew okay, I feel better. had to say it...

rant off .. you can open your eyes. take your fingers out of your ears. and stop that silly na na na na na na na noise some of you were making . Hey you, stop hugging that damn #10 can .. put it down, step away, before you get hurt.

And this goes for those sap thirsty carrot killers too.


----------



## AmmoSgt

I wish you could have been with me that day.. I was driving along thru the country when I saw a Cow going into labor, I stopped and pulled over and got out to watch, in the early morning day break, in the lifting fog .. with the dew sparkling on the grass .. the sun cut right over the distant hills behind me and put a bright warm beam right on her, she was heaving and stretching as the waves of birthing rippled thru her body and just at the moment of crowning, a Giant Black Angus Bull came over the crest of the small hill maybe 30 feet behind her, about as puffed up as I have ever seen a Bull , he took up the most awesome stance, and gave the most impressive and longest bellow I have ever heard from a bull ... There was no doubt on this entire planet that he was the Father.


----------



## AmmoSgt




----------



## Viking

AmmoSgt, I think I kind of know what you are trying to get across, but here's what I've got to say, though I have deep feelings for wildlife I also love the taste of venison, elk quail, grouse and other, what I consider "edible" types of animals and birds. My wife and I follow Biblical food principles of clean and unclean meats and we feel it definitely has had a great outcome on our health, especially considering our age, 74 for me and near 70 for my wife, we have also been following a blood type diet nearly 17 years and we just don't get colds or flu anymore and we are not effected by arthritis, we stay extremely active. Many years ago when I started hunting and I cut into the animal I shot, I had zero problems being up to my elbows in blood and guts, we never sent elk or deer to a butcher, heard too many stories, locally, of people not getting the same animal back that they had picked up. Actually, I had ran across an article in a hunting magazine about boning out game and I liked the idea because I'm able to use nearly all of the meat, even stripping the meat between the ribs for hamburger or sausage. I even changed the way I made my kills so as to not waste meat by not causing it to be bloodshot, and in the process of doing head or neck joint shots I found the animals died humanly as possible, usually they dropped right where they were shot, no running, no adrenalin to cause bad meat flavor. I had done more than enough walking through the woods looking for wounded animals, I hate that because it made me feel bad for them to suffer, even though I knew predators would have something to eat. Just because I love having wildlife around and I talk to them, it doesn't mean that in the near future, in a SHTF situation, we won't start harvesting them for food. By then, perhaps, their numbers will have increase substantially .


----------



## AmmoSgt

yeah. it's kinda' situational. Down here in Alabama we have too much game.. worst is deer, but feral hogs are catching up as being the top problem child, already are in some counties .. Feral hog hunting is becoming an industry

http://www.huntwildpig.com/state-specifics/alabama/ if you look at that map we are starting to get populations of over 5000 pigs per square mile in some spots .. that is hard on crops and disease danger to domestic stock

If we had to rely on hunters strictly eating what they kill we would never thin the herd on Feral pig or Deer http://www.outdooralabama.com/hunters-helping-the-hungry-program so far 450,000 pounds of donated venison

http://blog.nature.org/science/2013/08/22/too-many-deer/

http://www.gameandfishmag.com/forecasts/alabama-deer-hunting-forecast-2015/ http://www.outdooralabama.com/white-tailed-deer-0 Estimated 1.75 million deer in Alabama , we have less than 5 million people

http://www.outdooralabama.com/governors-quail-hunt-surpasses-goal

But I was also trying to make the point that if you plan on living off the land come shtf .. you need to practice and build up some experience.

here in Alabama we have mentoring programs for new hunters , of any age.. teach you how to do it right from first seeing the deer to serving it at the dinner table .. Experienced hunters are usually really good about helping newbies out, heck some will even let you carry the deer out of the woods for them so you get the full experience.. you just can't get nicer or more thoughtful than that. artydance:


----------



## Meerkat

I grew up in Stone Mountain Ga. on 100 acre's of land with a 10 acre lake stocked with bass and bream and carp who just appeared.

I was a fish whisperer. I'd swim out into the water and dig my fingers into the red clay mud on the bottom to keep me anchored. The fish would come up to me and we would communicate eye to eye. They would bounce off my nose and kiss me on the lips [ one tried to bite mamas nipple off when she was skinny dipping in our lake she was bleeding terribly, but that's another story.]

I could hold my breath for up to 3 minutes or longer back then. I was always in the water or the woods. I talked to the fish all the time. Mama protected me from all the water snakes with her 38 and blasphemy with a tree limb.

Another fish whisperer but this one is stoned.


----------



## Viking

Wonders never cease, an older wild turkey hen showed up today so I took up a half can of hen scratch for her and while I scattered it on the ground she came within six feet of me, she showed no fear. A little later she came up on a piece of cardboard I have covering some things that are under a roof over the deck and only flew down when I came out and touched her tail feathers. I saw her walk toward the West side of our property where I though she might be headed for roosting in some trees that other turkeys often roost in, anyway after coming up from closing the chicken coop up our dog wanted out and as I turned on the light to let her out I saw the turkey hen laying on the cardboard, she's made herself at home, go figure. The only thing I can think of is that she may have visited our place in the past and felt it was a safe place to come back to. Just before taking the pic she had her head buried under her wing. Country living at its best, God blest us to have this place, for sure.


----------

