Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Worn Out

Sorry guys, I had planned on getting the next part of the Hancock story wrote...

But walking for hours on end every day for the last 3 days is kicking my out of shape butt. My legs and shoulders are aching and all I want is a couple of ibuprofen and BED!!

This baiting by hand is turning into much more of a project than we had anticipated. Lots more holes than we thought and many, many more acres than I had origionally thought. The prairie dogs have taken over about 200 acres all told...

Yea, and this is pretty much what the noisy little buggers do the whole time we are walking. It might not be so agonizing, except that this is just the baiting process. We still have to go back and do it all over again with the poison. Grrrrr!!

13 comments:

Leah Fry said...

And to think I know people that actually keep the varmints as pets!

kdwhorses said...

I hear ya about out of shape! I didn't realize how much I had slowed down during the winter!
HOpe you get it all done, sounds like a big project! They are cute little things, but I totatlly understand ruining the land. Just like hogs are here. Good luck and I'm looking forward to part 2 of the Hancocks! Especially since we have one, very interesting!

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Lea...When we were kids that is how a lot of people around here controlled small towns, by capturing the herds of babies for pets. All that pretty much came to an end with the Monkey Pox. We even kept a few as pets ourselves. I much preferred ferrets. Now the Dog towns that have not been controlled are getting The Plague and that is wiping them out. There is no conclusive evidendence whether anything else can get The Plague besides the PD's, but they don't really know-so we would much rather avoid getting that disease on our property.

KDW-They are cute and very interesting little creatures. They have a very highly evolved social structure. It is too bad they do so much damage. A small town is interesting, a huge town is a nightmare.

Andrea said...

Wow, what a mess!! Just think of all the excersice!! I need to do some walkin!! Maybe I could help ya with the poison process??? I never knew they were such trouble up there.

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

We have moles for the first time in our 15 years of living here. You can see tunnels running along the ground all around our pasture. I'm worried that the horses will injure their legs falling into a hole or tunnel.

We used to have ferrel cats all over the neighborhood, but my annoying neighbors did something to get rid of them, and now we have a mole problem. I wish city people would leave well enough alone. They don't understand that one pest keeps another pest in check, and one pest is worse than the other. My mother just spent thousands of dollars on different extermination techniques to get rid of the moles in her yard.

Anonymous said...

Having grown up in NoDak, I feel your prairie dog pain. Out in the western part of that state they really spread quickly.

Funniest thing I've seen in a prairie dog town was during a photography seminar at Teddy Roosevelt. All these "coasters" were in love with the prairie dogs and how cute they are. Laying down in the middle of the dog town with them to get as close as they could.

I muttered from the sidelines about bubonic before I went in search of some wildlife not in the rodentia family! Are they cute, sure, but yuk - keep your fleas off of me!

Good luck on your project! Sounds like its well underway.

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Andrea-Come on up. I never turn down help.;)

NM-I hear ya on the moles. We got them too. I love watching the dogs pounce around in the pasture going after them. It is hilarious.

Ranchette-LMAO!! My dad was always a proponent of "You shoot it, you eat it." But not when it came to the rodents-LOL. People don't realize they eat each other too. Blakkkk!!

SunnySD said...

Congratulations! I'm passing along the Honest Scrap Award. You'll find it here.

The whole front pasture here has been growing suspicious lumps. I think it's large moles or pocket gophers. Grrr! Good luck with getting rid of the little beasties.

gtyyup said...

We've got a similar ground type squirrel here (we call them Sage Rats) as well as moles. Living 10 miles from a national wildlife refuge, poison isn't an option...we have Bald Eagles lighting in our fields daily now.

Shooting is our best defense...but sometimes it seems the more you kill, the more there are!!

The shooting is actually turning into a huge business in the area...guided hunts and the whole bit...I kid you not!

Good luck with your extermination plan...

Train Wreck said...

Gah! Damn little tunnel divers. We don't have them on our place. They are around though. You are right the create havoc. This is kinda long but I have a funny story.
I was driving to work one day. As I got nearer to the town I work in, I looked to my left. My cowboy and his crew were working on a Auto mall(doing all the underground and dirt work) I thought I might catch a glimpse of my handsome husband.(Love the sight of him on heavy equipment) So I am looking , and what do I see? I see this truck going slow along side the higway I am traveling. About 150 yard off the highway. I get to looking and I see the barrel of a gun sticking out the window? It was my HUSBAND!! He was shooting prarie dogs with a pellet gun! He had one of his workers driving the truck, and he was tagging PD's! I almost ran off the road! Damn redneck,he wasn't aiming toward the highway, but you could see the barrel of that gun. hahahaha.You want me to send hm your way?

Train Wreck said...

Oh and thanks for the comment on Train. That means alot coming from you.

kdwhorses said...

Oh we have moles, especially in the yard, not in our pasture. Weird. But I have a mole finding dog, she will listen and start digging and wham she has one! They are different little creatures and make a funny little noise! It's frustrating you try and sit in a lawn chair and fall over because of the tunnells!

Pony Girl said...

Those crazy prairie dogs! Are they like moles, do they cause mounds in the fields?
I missed commenting on a few posts ago....I am a huge napper! So is my family! Sometimes I even come home at 4:00 and catnap for 20 minutes (being a teacher, I usually just come home and crash!) Good to know it might help your health, LOL!
I love Shooter's registered name, good choice!