Deer Live In Pine Trees

Don D

And I'm not talking about them living in and amongst a pine thicket. I'm talking about up 45 feet high in the trees. Yesterday I was picking up small pine limbs to burn. The crisp, cool 7 a.m. morning silence was broken by a crack up high in the trees. I anticipated a small limb would fall to the ground. Instead I watched one side of a 10 point deer antler rack fall to the ground, and it stuck up in the dirt. The half-antler was a really old one and contained 5 distinguishable, clear points. It was maybe 10 inches in length and was well gnawed. Apparently a squirrel had drug it up in the tree and had spent a couple of hours gnawing on it. It was thoroughly gnawed up like it would be if a man had taken a sharp knife and shaved away at it all over. I wonder if the squirrel knew I was picking up limbs and decided to discard the antler right then so I could retrieve it. No, I don't drink beer this early in the morning.

Are there HR implications? Are there any other kinds of implications?

rad

Safety implication - wear a helmet.

Leslie

Add a flak jacket and steel toed boots.

Parabeagle

Only in the South, Don, only in the South.

Up here in the Pacific Northwest, the deer have the good sense to stay on the ground and obligingly freeze while a rifle's pointed at them.

rad

Up here in Boston they have the good sense to stay in the zoo (the gorillas don't but the deer do).

mwild31

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 10-06-03 AT 11:47AM (CST)[/font][p]Yes, if you're not just pulling our leg x;-) with this story, there are other implications. Namely, that pigs do indeed fly. x:*

Leslie

Really?!?! How about that Pork?

ray a

Yes, you have a version of the Jimmy Carter Syndrome, aka JCS. Jimmy had a problem with rabbits attacking him and yours is exactly the same only different because it involves squirrels. Do squirrels attack you often? Have you ever had that eerie feeling when riding your motor scooter (couldn't tell what brand it was from your picture, but probably a Harley wannabe) that the squirrels were out to get you? As you whiz by them, do you feel their intense stare? Have you ever run over one of the brethren with your truck? And the fact that you were attacked with half (not a whole, but only a half) an antler should give you great pause - this would greatly concern me if I were you and fortunately I do not suffer from JCS. The half antler indicates that this is a very serious matter, so serious that I will advice Ritaanz to never go near your motor scooter and most definitely never accept a ride. The only thing that could be worse is if it were a chipmunk. Then you would Alvin's Syndrome. So, be thankful it was only a squirrel and not a chipmunk.

The HR implications? There are many. But suffice it to say, watch out for the nerdy engineers. If you see a pocket protector drive a silver stake through it.

Fear not, there is still hope for your redemption. Look at Jimmy. If you have not already done so, form a new chapter of Habitats for Humanity in your neck of the woods.

Parabeagle

Ray, if you had exercised half as much creative writing ability on your resume as you did this post, you would probably be the head of the Department of Labor by now. x;-)

Hunter1

Just be glad it wasn't the infamous 'Turdy-point buck'. Or don't they play Da Yoopers down south?

marc

It was good you were there to hear it, but when a deer antler falls in the forest and no one is there, does it make a sound? This leads to the ADA implications, what if the person was deaf, I am not sure what kind of accomodation you would have had to make.

Rockie

Don - I don't want want to see the size of the squirrel that drug the deer antler up the tree. Maybe the squirrel is trying to get you before you have a chance to get it! Call it revenge of the animals!

Don D

I thought about the size of that squirrel and even, just for a moment, imagined the size of its nuts.

marc

That comment will surely not skate by without reply.

Don D

My neighbor's trees have huge pecans. Sells them for a ton of money. Most of them the normal squirrel can't haul. Some are the size of lemons and bring top dollar.

mamhradm

I'm trying to imagine the protrusion of the cheeks, with nuts the size of lemons!

Rockie

I hope the rest of the Forumites will pick up on the subtle double entendres!

ray a

Rockie, if you call that subtle, what is your definition of obvious? I think Don is trying to get even for the deletions on the names thread.

sonny

Pick up on them yes, but aint touching them with a 10 foot pole. This is a great story. .one for the Grandkids. .hope you saved the antlers? Don't know of any implications, but if it happens again, I would consider having that drink at 7 a.m. I enjoy watching the deer that feed at my back fence, but must confess that I have none living in the pine trees there. . at least to my knowledge.

Squirrels are a trip. Spend a lot of time trying to outwit them and usually losing although my honey did finally REALLY squirrel proof one of the bird feeders..I won't tell you how ugly it looks but the seed lasts more than an hour now. I inherited some beautiful, hand made huge jute plant hangars from my brother. They looked so cool hanging under the live oak with a beautiful stag horn fern in one. .til the squirrels decided to attempt to dismantle so they could have the jute for their nests. What a mess.

Rockie

Squirrels are a hoot! We have a bird feeder and a squirrel "hutch" very close to each other, so the squirrels and the birds have learned to co-exist very peacefully. When we first put the bird feeder up, there was a little sapling about as big around as a pencil that the squirrels would use to pole vault onto the bird feeder, hang upside down and pig out on the bird feed. I cut down the sapling and it was so funny to watch the squirrels' look of puzzlement when the tree was missing the next day ("DAMN, I know there was a tree here - what the hell happened to it?")

Now, I need to do something about the stalker cat who watches and waits in the shadows (at least his owner had the good sense to put a bell on him!)

Parabeagle

Yeah, squirrels are a real hoot, all right. Just wait until one wakes you up by nibbling on your finger while you're asleep in your bed (for details see that other post where we talked about such things).

ray a

I thought owls were a hoot.

When I taught school many years ago, there was an English teacher named George, of rather small build, who was nicknamed Squirrel. So, I named a squirrel in our backyard, George.

Don D

Our 8th grade English teacher was named Mr. Toole and our shop teacher was named Mr. English. Neither liked squirrels as far as I know. Wouldn't it have been odd if there roles were reversed? Beagle, be glad the squirrel gnawed your finger. That's not what they're normally known for munching on.

ray a

I have a habit of just "blurting" out what I'm thinking and good thing I just caught myself. I could have been in big trouble.

marc

The voices in my head will not make me type what they suggest. As long as I keep repeating my mantra, I will not release the evil twin to pun at his worst.

Rockie

>Yeah, squirrels are a real hoot, all right. Just wait until one wakes
>you up by nibbling on your finger while you're asleep in your bed (for
>details see that other post where we talked about such things).

I'm still trying to figure out how a squirrel got into your house. Can they flatten themselves out like rats and mice do and come through small spaces? Gawd, that gives me the creeps!

ritaanz

Squirrels, big nuts, little nuts, munched nuts, antlers in pine trees, sounds like a novel in the making. Don, did you ever consider that one of your neighbors may be playing a practical joke? Anyhow, if you can have bottles in a tree, why not antlers, racoon tails, animal bones, snake skins, ram horns, or any other local fauna artifacts? Oooops, hope I didn't create a monster.....

Whatever

Can't wait to see what your tree looks like the day after Halloween.

Parabeagle

Actually, Paul in Cannon Beach and I have pooled our resources and we're air-assaulting in a special team of unemployed Oregon lumberjacks to TP Don's bottle tree on Halloween Night.

Shadowfax

Don, I've never seena squirrel packing antlers - but - I have seen porcupines gnawing on antlers. Do you have porcupine? I think it a far better guess it was a porcupine that lugged the antlers up and gnawed them than a squirrel. If your squirrel are that big, I'm going back to squirrel hunting and come on down. Our's are so scrawny it takes a dozen to make a good mess!