Kritter killin

[burnieman]

Have you ever inadvertently killed a critter while you were mowing or hoggin? I have. Didn't mean to but it happens. Clipped a pheasant one time. No bird shot in that bird. Good eats. I've seen remnants of stuff that were unidentifiable. Do they count?

 

[MiserableOldFart]

Just frogs here. Try not to, but sometimes they just hide in the tall grass and don't jump no matter how slow you go. I guess some critters get hit by the tires. Newts are poisonous and defend themselves by displaying in an arch, and that isn't any defense against a tire. Can't see 'em either. Found a flattened mummified toad once, looked like a rock, but I think the truck got him.

 

[whistlepig]

I once brush hogged a groundhog. He looked perfectly healthy other than the fact that he had been recently brush hogged. Sometimes my mower sucks baby rabbits up out of rabbit nests in the yard and kills them. I try to avoid the rabbit nests but that's not always possible.

 

[Bird]

I know I've killed rats and mice mowing with the brush hog, I've killed snakes with the lawnmower, and I've even killed toads, snakes, and very young cottontails with the string trimmer; all unintentional.

 

[ccsial]

I rototilled a rabbits nest with babies in it some years ago. Felt real bad about that. The snakes I've mowed in two didn't bother me at all.

 

[barbqranch]

This time of year, when I mow, I get from 6 to 12 or more barn swallows swooping around the tractor. Although I don't see it, I am sure they are killing a lot of bugs to take home and burp up for the babies. I love that kind of Kritter killin.

 

[JoeBuyer]

Swallows are my favorite bird. My dad used to nail up places for them to build nests, but they mostly have fallen down now. I should restart the tradition and kill more skeeters.

 

[ccsial]

I love the swallows. It's like having an air show while mowing. I acutally had one come from behind and just brush my head. They really fly close to the tractor.

 

[k0ua]

Several years ago in a place we used to live, my wife was mowing with a riding lawn mower and I was weed-eating nearby. She stopped and motioned for me to come over and look at our white 4 ft high retaining wall. Stuck neatly to the wall was the rear end of a small rat or mouse, with the tail and 2 hind legs and the hams were all that was there. The mower had sliced, diced and flung and stuck him up there. I have never seen a rats *** so neatly displayed. We should have gotten a picture, but that was before digital cameras were common.. funniest thing I ever saw. Guess it wasn't all that funny for the rat.

James K0UA

 

[Branchchipper]

Coyotes and crows commonly follow haying equipment through the fields here. Their main target is voles that are flushed out by a mower, tedder or simply a wheel. Some years with very wet springs (like this one) produce an overpopulation of voles- you can't drive around any field without scarin' some up. The barn owls fly search patterns every evening for them as well, but they want fresh ones!