Strange things found in the forest

[DFB]

Oh man a local farmer here several years ago had lightning strike and kill 10 of his beef cattle. They were all herded up together by one tree during the storm.

Had to hire a local excavator/operator to help take care of things afterwards.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Maybe that's where the park rangers dumped the poached deer they found. Just an idea and maybe why they didn't seem very interested in the find.

Oooh! I like this idea!

 

[orangeandgreen]

Was squirrel hunting as a teenager and came out in a neighbor's corn field. There was a group of funny looking weeds along the edge of the field with a path going back toward the neighbor's house. Not knowing what kind of weeds they were, I plucked a leaf and took it to school to ask my ag teacher about it.
He confirmed that it was whacky weed and said I really needed to get rid of it, but not in his trash can, and I needed to find a new place to squirrel hunt.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

That is a strange find. I thought Hamms was only found in Chicago and Wisconsin.

I have a Hamms Churchkey that I found in a junk shop in Outer Banks NC about 5 years ago.

 

[/pine]

Was squirrel hunting as a teenager and came out in a neighbor's corn field. There was a group of funny looking weeds along the edge of the field with a path going back toward the neighbor's house. Not knowing what kind of weeds they were, I plucked a leaf and took it to school to ask my ag teacher about it.
He confirmed that it was whacky weed and said I really needed to get rid of it, but not in his trash can, and I needed to find a new place to squirrel hunt.

About half the teachers I had in Jr. high (including AG instructors)...would have asked..."are there quantities of this available"...!!

 

[dmccarty]

Maybe that's where the park rangers dumped the poached deer they found. Just an idea and maybe why they didn't seem very interested in the find.

I contacted the state wildlife agency not the park rangers. In hindsight, I should have contacted both.

I don't think the park rangers would have dump dead deer at that spot. While the spot was not visible from the road, the deer were sorta near some houses and the deer were not in the woods. The deer were also spread out a bit. If someone was going to dump the deer out of the back of a pick up, I think the deer would have been in a pile. Thinking about it some more, I don't think the deer could have been dumped at the same time from a UTV since there were too many of them to be carried at one time and multiple trips would have been more likely to leave tracks. A truck could have gone in with one load, and maybe not have left tracks but then I would expect the deer to be piled more closely together....

This was also on the edge of the park and I don't think the rangers went out there that often. The problems they had deal with were on the interior of the park. The only access the rangers would have had to that spot was via the power line. They would have had to driven up the power line from the park interior or gone out on public roads with a load of a dead deer. There were better spots to dump deer...

I really am starting to wonder if lightning did the deed. The deer were under a power line. A lightning strike would explain how there were that many dead deer in one spot, close together but not too close, and all at the same stage of decomposition. The only fly in that ointment is what I thought were bullet holes. Maybe the deer were at a certain stage of decomposition that created a small bullet sized hole or bug had created the hole. :confused3:

Later,
Dan

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Where were the holes? Lighting can leave exit holes I've heard.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

 

[KretZ]

Sometimes deer are the ghosts of the forest. Stealthy and crafty and almost magical. Sometimes they are just about the dumbest things you can imagine.

I like this quote, I am thinking of using it for my motto, you cool with that WCD? :thumbsup:

 

[zing]

I went elk hunting in Idaho near the Franck Church, River of no return wilderness, some years back. As we drove in, we went past the old Yankee Fork Gold Dredge. It was like seeing a time capsule. As we got deeper into the wilderness, you passed the old gold mining camps and cabins. We'd come across old dozers and other antiquated machinery just left to rust in the woods and some of the cabins were still pretty much intact. It had once been a gold camp with a population of 2500 at it's peak and you could see the scars of old roads, drainage and rock piles if you paid attention to the topography. A number of miles downstream from our campsite, there were some hot springs that flowed into the river. Over the years, people had arranged the river rocks to make pools that would blend the frigid river water with the hot springs. You could adjust the rocks ,like a regulator, to make the pool as hot or cold as you wanted it. After a few days of hard hiking, we took a "camp day" and soaked in the hot springs to ease our sore muscles, it was much needed.

You have to be careful of spending time on the riverbanks and estuaries downstream of old gold mines. What looks like beach rock today, could be mining tailings from long ago. There was a lot of mercury used in ways that would blow the mind of people today, when we know how little it takes to be dangerous. Mercury can be still found in dangerous levels many decades afterward.

Here is an example of research/testing done near old mine sites in Nova Scotia, but I would expect it to be true elsewhere as well.
Consequences of Historical Mining | Gold Mining | Gold: A Nova Scotia Treasure

 

[dmccarty]

Where were the holes? Lighting can leave exit holes I've heard.

I only remember there being one hole that looked like a bullet wound that was in the side of the deer. The deer were getting a bit ripe so no way was I turning them over. :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing:

I would have expected lightning to leave a more ragged hole and be in other places. On boats, lightning will do all sorts of crazy things including blowing multiple holes in the hull so who knows...

Later,
Dan

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Clearly either aliens or Obama are to blame!