Tractor-Critter Encounters

[dancer]

In my back pasture I make some snake-burger pretty often when brush-hogging and often see a deer or two. What I see most often though are little brown things -- rodents of some kind, I'm sure -- and I've made up a new name for them: "scurries", for their movement through the grass, rather than "unknown little brown critters". Makes me a little sad to be reminded that I'm their version of a tornado that tears up their home...

 

[roxynoodle]

I think Sky Pup's having his tractor attacked by an alligator takes the cake on this thread

 

[JHTFarmer]

Last week I (accidently) ran over all 6 of my neighbor's
Golden retriever puppies with an old 5 foot bush hog
mounted on the trusty 40 horse.

How's that for a tractor-critter encounter


(just kidding, all pups are ok)

 

[N80]

Last week I (accidently) ran over all 6 of my neighbor's
Golden retriever puppies with an old 5 foot bush hog
mounted on the trusty 40 horse.

How's that for a tractor-critter encounter

That's awful! My B-I-L frequently gets deer fawns and turkey chicks on the nest when he's mowing hay in the spring. That's bad enough, but puppies? That is really terrible.

 

[roxynoodle]

Last week I (accidently) ran over all 6 of my neighbor's
Golden retriever puppies with an old 5 foot bush hog
mounted on the trusty 40 horse.

How's that for a tractor-critter encounter


(just kidding, all pups are ok)

Just saw the "just kidding". I first read your post and just thought OMG, I would be devastated.

 

[N80]

Okay, you added the part about all the pups being okay. So, if you ran over all six of them with your bush hog and they are all okay....then you really need to sharpen the blades on your bush hog. You might have a loose slip clutch too.

 

[Bob_Young]

The most interesting tractor-critter encounter I had happened about a dozen years ago here in NY. I was bush-hogging with the Ford 2000 and two 'deer' appeared in the field. One was plainly a whitetail doe; the other was unlike any deer I'd ever seen.

It was the size of a large (but not enormous) whitetail but had a huge hatrack on it's head...it resembled elk racks I've seen in magazines. The head was wide and flattened and the nose was shorter and straighter than a whitetail's. In addition, the animal did not have any white on it anywhere, it was a rusty brown all over.

The animal with the rack approached the tractor unafraid and came within about 10 ft. of the running machine (I'd stopped by then to watch this spectacle). It stood there looking at me as if it expected something. Meanwhile the doe was going nuts. She was hanging back and dashing from side to side behind the larger animal....plainly wanted to get out of there but didn't want to leave her friend with all the horns.

Finally the antics of the doe made Mr. Hatrack nervous and, after fidgeting a bit, he turned and bounded off with the doe.

I should add, my farmland borders a very large parcel of land owned by a guy who raises elk, fallow deer, red stags and roe deer in a big enclosure. Obviously something got loose. However, when I related this incident to the fellow who manages the place, he claimed he wasn't missing any animals.

Whatever it was, it sure got my attention....What an animal!
Bob

 

[patrick_g]

While tractoring with a FEL around the construction site when building a house for my mom I encountered a large crawdad (AKA crayfish) and every time the bucket got close to it the brave thing would brandish its pinchers/claws and stand its ground. If I backed off it would proceed on its way but if I approached it with the FEL it would put up its dukes and get ready for combat. I'm sure the orange Kubota with a FEL looks a little like a monster crawdad but wow what a gutsy little guy trying to take me on one on one.

Same scene different animals: Cows got in around the house for my mom and I arrived a few minutes later on my tractor. I chased the stock away on one side and rounded the far end to find that a cow had just turned a frost free hydrant full on. Not bad considering they don't have opposed thumbs. I could tell from the small quantity of water that it had only just been turned on a few seconds prior to my arrival. I jumped down and turned it off, laughed, and got back inthe tractor. By the time I could drive back to the other end of the house the cows had pushed the other hydrant over and broke the connection. Unfortunately it was my first experience with PEX and I didn't have crimpers so I shut the water off and whittled a plug held in place with a hose clamp while I made a 60 mile round trip to buy a crimper and some crimping rings.

Lowes had the same exact tool as a big supply house but for $40 less.

Do truck vs cow encounters count? When I first bought this quarter section I let a new friend run cattle on it. He always tended them using his Cummins turbo diesel Dodge. The stock associated the unique sound of the engine with food. Needless to say I too have a Cummins and the whole herd would mob me every time I tried to drive around the property to explore building site prospects or to just familiarize myself with the new place. When frustrated when expecting to be fed they got a bit rambunctious and would bump into the truck pretty hard and would bite at the rearview mirrors. Driving away didn't help much as the whole herd would run after me expecting food.

FYI: If you drive into a mob of cattle really slow they will get out of the way. Blowing your horn to clear cattle out of your way is NOT a good idea as a good percentage of the cattle are trained to come to the sound of a horn to be fed and will mob you expecting food.

Pat

 

[WVBill]

Every spring we get Kildeer who lay their eggs (egg) in any convient (for them) spot in the yard. As I mow near their "nest" the one tending the egg will first drop a wing as if injured and run away from the nest trying to get the "predator" to follow. If that doesn't work, she stands over the egg, shielding it with her wings skreeching.
Brave little birds!

WVBill

 

[ovrszd]

Every spring we get Kildeer who lay their eggs (egg) in any convient (for them) spot in the yard. As I mow near their "nest" the one tending the egg will first drop a wing as if injured and run away from the nest trying to get the "predator" to follow. If that doesn't work, she stands over the egg, shielding it with her wings skreeching.
Brave little birds!

WVBill

Yep, we have those also. Last spring my wife got lucky and witnessed the hatching and got a couple really good photos. I'm attaching them. you have to look closely to realize how small these chicks are. After 24 hours these little birds are on the move!!!