July 28, 2004

• MORE VARMINT STORIES

  Years ago, here in Maine, we had a great horned owl that used to raid the family of shrews that lived in the spring just in front of our camp (Mainesh for cabin). We would sit in the dark and he would fly in and roost on a branch only a few feet from us. Never a sound of wings and he was a big bird!
  Our weirdest varmint collection is the group of bats that spend the day behind our shutters. As the're great bug eaters, I don't bother them but boy do they grumble in the Fall when I close up.
  A couple of years ago, a young fox showed up in the early afternoon. It was late in the season and he probably was looking for a handout as he hung around all day even though we were out photographing him. He jumped up on our picnic table and posed nicely. He snooped around the cabin and finally grabbed one of my wading sandals and started off with it. I yelled at him, he turned around,dropped the sandal and peed on it, presumably marking it as HIS sandal. I was laughing so hard I didn't get a photo. We had some friends over and this performance took place in front of about six people in the early afternoon.
  He appeared to be a young red fox, good coat, nice tail, alert, not sick or exhibiting any distemper or rabies symptoms. He eventually gave up and wandered off into the woods, I assume looking for a softer touch.

  • 9:32 am
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