Critters and wildlife in your area - post your pics

I think all yearling elk and deer start with no branches. I have a small collection of shed spikes. There's a small deer antler with 2 points in there (I went to take a photo for you and I'm like "what's that doing in my bundle of spikes?" but the rest are elk spikes. I worked at a big ranch for a couple of summers in my younger day and it had a huge elk population. The cowboys called the yearling deer & elk "spikes", not just the antlers. "I saw a small herd of Spikes over in that valley this morning".

View attachment 162817
Thanks! I have never seen that before. It sure looked funny, esp. compared to the young buck deer antlers.
 
But they are good to have around. They love nectar and bad bugs like a aphids, scale and thrips. Can't really ask for more because they do double duty, control pests while pollinating flowers which improves your yeild! Call me crazy but I plant things like dasies and yarrow to attract them!
Well nothing we do is going to make them go away. LOL they are a pain when they're trying to land on you looking for sweat. But there's so many other flowers here that they can survive off. I know they like open-faced flowers like daisies, which I have ...black eyed Susans, which I have a ton of...and coneflowers which again, I have a ton of! LOL they won't be leaving anytime soon. 😉
 
There were 3 different butterflies in the wildflower garden but this is the only one who would sit still long enough for a picture! I believe it to be a spicebush swallowtail
I have one similar to that that's here all the time too but boy that one just never sits still for a picture! I'll have to try and take it from far away and zoom in next time I see him! 😉
 
I actually think bears are pretty cool animals but people still have to realize they are opportunists and get into food or trash if they know it's accessible. There is a bear sanctuary a bit north of here and they are all wild bears coming and going but a lot of people started going to watch them and they could even mingle with them to give them food and stuff. Well people got too stupid trying to get a photo of them and the bears so they fenced it off from the public side and now there's just an observation platform to watch them from. Hubby was just telling me today that someone he knows saw someone there when you could still mingle and a dad was trying to put his little girl on a bears back for a photo. :facepalm:
 
Not laughing at you, just the way you said it.

I've got bears here, but never had one on the property, but most of the other neighbors have them on their critter cams. But they aren't fenced like I am. A bear could easily climb over it, but I guess they just don't bother. 🤷‍♀️
😁 And I truly mean that. I can't live with them. I can't worry every time I open the door that there's going to be a bear out there to greet me and my dog. Nope don't want to do it. Illinois politics will never agree with me. But everything else does so here I am.:martini:
 
Well nothing we do is going to make them go away. LOL they are a pain when they're trying to land on you looking for sweat. But there's so many other flowers here that they can survive off. I know they like open-faced flowers like daisies, which I have ...black eyed Susans, which I have a ton of...and coneflowers which again, I have a ton of! LOL they won't be leaving anytime soon. 😉
We must have a different variety than you. They don't really bother people around here. Or maybe they just aren't interested in sweat because I have so much water around?
 
We must have a different variety than you. They don't really bother people around here. Or maybe they just aren't interested in sweat because I have so much water around?
Could be. I don't know. I know we have even scheduled our family picnics around them! LOL we always tried to do it earlier in the year instead of Late July and August when they are a nuisance.
 

Back
Top