great pics Gordon. Growing up mowing a 30 acre field with a JD B and a bush hog, it would make me sick when I hit a turtle. Or some big bird, since all that was left was bloody feathers. They hide and hunker down I guess and obviously you don't see them until the crunch. Just a very bad feeling. Had always hoped by the time the tractor went over, pucka pucka pucka it would scare the critters away. Unfortunately they would go to the unmowed area for safety and the problem remained. Rabbits too. While they were fair game when they went after our large farm gardens, they were just poor little rabbits when you mowed them down. My father had severe hay fever allergies and we could not let the fields get tall and become pollen factories. Most years the fields were planted, but not always and then I got more seat time on that uncomfortable tractor than I wanted.
I recently moved this guy successfully out of my way here in NC. Lots of turtles here, I try to be on the lookout.
Gordon, that road looks nice either way. But unless you mow it, Mother Nature will for sure take over.
My father was always saying we had to beat the woods back, because it would come right over us if we didn't.
And it would, given a long time.