BS: A day in the life of a ranger

Subject: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: ranger1
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 10:24 AM

Or: Bizarre things you never thought you'd have to do at work.

This is kinda one of those things that are funny (in a dark sort of way) but shouldn't be, I guess. Yesterday I was taking a break in the maintenance shop when this young couple bangs on the window. I went out and they reported that they had come across a dead deer on the trail. So I made a call to another park to find out if this was something that needed to be reported to another agency and what should I do? The answer was: if it wasn't a case of poaching to just drag it out of sight of the trail. So off I go, through the snow, and there, right where they said it would be, was the deer. Full grown, curled up, not a mark on her, and frozen. Looked like she maybe died of hypothermia. Not a bad way to go, really. Anyway, on to the next problem: the area is all mature pine and hemlock and no understory as well as being all ledge, so nothing to hide her behind. Not to mention she's frozen to the ground. So I grab hold and pull. Nothing, except she's not frozen entirely solid and the head flops around. Me, I'm holding this running conversation with the dead deer ranging in topic from "why couldn't you be frozen stiff?" to "couldn't you have picked a spot off the trail?" to "sorry. I know this isn't a dignified way to treat the dead." Finally, by grabbing the forelegs and rocking the body back and forth, she comes loose, but I can't just drag her, because her hind legs keep catching. So I flip her upside down and drag her to the edge of the ledge and shove here over. Down she goes, rolling over and over and over, head flopping, before coming to rest against a tree, far enough off the trail that I hope people hiking on the trail aren't going to notice and hopefully far enough off the beaten path that the clean-up crew won't get frightened off by passing hikers. Just another day in the life of a park ranger.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Ebbie
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 10:30 AM

Wow. Not one's usual pushing papers job, huh.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: maeve
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 10:31 AM

"You know, that job requires a lot of physical strength..."

Looks like you are managing just fine, my friend.

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Amos
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 10:35 AM

That is the sort of moment that you never forget. Good job1


A

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: MMario
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 10:54 AM

Given the cheekiness of "clean up crews" along the highway - I doubt if that will be a problem.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: SINSULL
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 11:04 AM

Note to Jacqui: When I go, keep Tami the hell away from my body.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: curmudgeon
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 11:07 AM

Shouldn't that be "clean up crows?"

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Barry Finn
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 11:07 AM

Frozen deer meat, it defines the meaning of "trail mix".

Have a good off day Tami

Barry

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 11:16 AM

Coulda been a moose....

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: gnu
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 11:35 AM

Ahhh... pancakes and maple slurpup?

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Megan L
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 12:06 PM

Ah Tami that reminds me of two of my first aiders on duty at a warm golf tournament. A member of the public reported what he thought was a dead man lying behind a billboard. Of they trot and call out ""Can you hear me" no response being rather less experienced they got a bit paniced and perhaps werent quite as thorough in thier checks as an older hand would have been. So the male first aider kneels beside the casualty and undoes his shirt in preparation to give CPR when suddenly he lands flat on his back with a bleading nose .

Turns out the elderly gentelman was profoundly deaf and and his hearing aids had fallen out when he lay down fur a snooze on the warm day. Needless to say two first aiders are now a lot more carefull to get close to the ear when shaking and shouting :)

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 12:19 PM

Tami, it could have been a dead visitor. I've had a couple of those over the years. We weren't allowed to drag them off the trail for the vultures, even though one of them was dressed perfectly for it--he hiked in the nude. Died of a heart attack on a trail in the North Cascades.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 12:21 PM

Poor vultures, missing a meal like that because of bureaucratic red tape.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 12:33 PM

Had a not-quite-dead deer experience Saturday night coming home from work. I was heading west on Rte. 4 not far from Wagon Hill Farm in Durham when I noticed a flailing form in the middle of the road ahead.

I hadn't seen anyone in the long line of traffic heading towards Portsmouth hit the deer, but it was straddling the line, struggling unsuccessfully to regain its feet. Nothing I could do but swerve, even if I hadn't been sandwiched in a line of traffic.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: gnu
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 01:01 PM

No need to send PMs. Not gonna stop me from eating Bambi steaks and pancakes or posting same. Go picket MacDonald's if you need sommat to do eh.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Ebbie
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 01:20 PM

"Note to Jacqui" lol

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: maeve
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 01:54 PM

I remember Wagon Hill Farm well! Not the road for sudden stops.

re: PMS But gnu; you haven't offered to share!

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Don Firth
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 01:58 PM

Anybody familiar with Ranger Gord on "The Red Green Show?"

He spent 18 years alone in Fire Watch Tower #13. No communication from the outside, no paychecks, no visitors except Red Green from time to time. It seems the forestry service had forgotten about him. . . .

Of course, he went a bit strange. During one of his visits, Red asks, "Don't you get lonely up here, all by yourself?"

"Oh, no, Red! I have lots of company. Hundreds of friends dropping in all the time. Hundreds!"

Red looks about and is obviously unconvinced.

"Well," chuckles Ranger Gord, "you don't know much about mosquitoes, do you, Red?"

Don Firth

P. S. To fill in the occasional idle hour in Fire Watch Tower #13, Ranger Gord would fill in the odd minute or two by drawing animated films on the life of a forest ranger. Two animated characters who appear in his educational films are derived from Red Green (possum with an army cap) and Red's nephew, Harold (beaver). CLICKY

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 02:05 PM

From one ranger to another; Way to go!

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: maeve
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 02:30 PM

Love Red Green. We watch the show as often as we can.

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: SINSULL
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 02:51 PM

I love the Guess The Word skit.
"The word is...."

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: gnu
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 03:29 PM

BTW... for anyone joining in late.... that cartoon was NOT The Red Green Show.

I didn't even know such cartoons existed.

Yeees, Mary.... "The word is..." great.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Becca72
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 04:33 PM

Ugh...makes me glad I work in an office.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: CarolC
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 04:41 PM

In my mind, I imagined it tipped up on its edge and rolled down the slope like a wheel.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: gnu
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 04:43 PM

Well, at least now you can take a page from R1's book if one of your co-workers calves out. Of course, pancakes and maple slurpup are out.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Becca72
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 05:00 PM

LOL, Gnu. I had the same thought...

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Don Firth
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 05:18 PM

(Aside)

Gnu is right. The cartoon is only a part of some of the Red Green shows. Red almost always has "a better idea" for doing just about anything. And it's always "a big, big week up at the lodge this week." Possum Lodge, that is.

This is a bit more typical of the sort of thing that goes on:   CLICKY.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: kendall
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 05:29 PM

No way could I drive away and leave a badly injured deer in the road. I'd drag it to the ditch and put it out of its misery.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: gnu
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 05:36 PM

There ya go. Thanks Don.

Keep yer stick on the ice.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Don Firth
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 05:39 PM

Quando omni flunkus moritati.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: gnu
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 05:42 PM

Kendall. They just couldn't take it? Maybe didn't know how they could do it? It's heartbreaking, as I know you know. It's just not possible for some people to do it.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Janie
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 05:58 PM

As much time as I have spent in the deep woods in my life, I have never stumbled across a deer carcass that appeared to have died from natural causes.

I wonder how common it is for deer to freeze or starve to death in winter up north.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: gnu
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 06:01 PM

There's a lady who leads a life as a ranger
To everyone she meets she stays a stranger
With every move she makes another chance she takes
Odds are she won't give the park any sorrow


That's as far as I got.... kinda lame... unless youse can... ???

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: curmudgeon
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 06:02 PM

Bear in mind Kendall, that you are a man, who hs had experience in dealing with wildlife, along with the skill and wherewithal to dispatch an injured creature. Be careful not to project your abilities on those who lack them - Tom

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Janie
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 06:09 PM

....les't they forget to pay her on the morrow.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: gnu
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 06:11 PM

Janie.... quite common. Indeed, the weather we have here in New Brunswick now will kill hundreds over the next few days. Deep snow is bad. Rain and then freeze is worse.

Of course, fact is, Virginia White Tailed Deer are not native here. They were brought in. Much to the dismay of our moose. The government brought them in after the devastation of the native caribou. Idiots!

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Janie
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 06:38 PM

Thanks, gnu. Any idea how far north their natural range is?

They don't seem well-equiped to thrive where significant snow-cover is pretty constant in the winter, and seem a bit small and lean to survive sustained deep cold without the ability to maintain a goodly percentage of body fat.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: gnu
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 06:53 PM

Well... this is just a guess. I expect that the range of VWTD was as far north as good grub before the white man began intensive lumbering. Taking a stab at that might be around where the appalacian mountains near the salt water.... New Hampshire?

That is just a guess at what happened a couple of centuries ago. Didn't happen here until the 30's. I recall my old man telling me about lads coming back to the lumber camp in the evening with stories about loose livestock... they had seen the tracks. The rest of the camp thought they were crazy... until they brought back a shovel full of dirt with tracks in it. A lad who had worked in the States ID'd them as "deer tracks".

Even now, with more grub than they can eat due to the lumbering, the weather dictates the survival rate.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 07:01 PM

Kendall -- it was DARK and the traffic (one lane in each direction) was heavy. This is a major corridor between Dover/Portsmouth and Durham and points west.

It was unsafe to pull the car over, let alone do anything else.

I would have been dead in the dark in the middle of the road before that poor deer could be put out of its misery. (Not to mention that I had no means of doing that.)

It was very frustrating to witness it and not be able to do ANYTHING.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: kendall
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 07:19 PM

I didn't mean that as a criticism of you! I understand what your situation was, I was simply stating what I would do.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Deckman
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 07:52 PM

Tami ... having met you, I'm betting that deer outweighed you by quite a bit! CHEERRS, Bob and Judy!

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Janie
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 08:08 PM

Tami, sorry for the thread-drift, but knowing you, I expect you'll find all this of interest---

I live in the northeast Piedmont region of North Carolina. Late last summer, as I was driving along a local rural road, I did a double-take at the sight of a coyote. I thouht I must surely be hallucinating, or badly mistaken. When I got home I started doing some on-line research, and learned that coyotes have been documented in every county in North Carolina. I knew their range was extending east, but did not know they had expanded this far east. My completely unfounded theory is that the burgeoning VWTD population due to the clearing of forests and the extermination of previous natural predators such as cougars and red wolves is largely responsible for the expanded range of the coyote.

In the FWIW department, Elk have been reintroduced to the southern Appalachians in Tennessee and North Carolina. It is unclear at this point how successful the reintroduction will be, but so far, they seem to be (very) slowly multiplying and expanding.

Red Wolves have also been reintroduced.   They have expanded, especially in the swamps and wetlands near the coast, but livestock owners are hostile, and their success is still not guaranteed.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: gnu
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 08:19 PM

Linn... ditto what Kendall said. In no way should you have put yourself or other drivers in danger.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: MMario
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 08:36 AM

Growing up in Massachusetts - we were taught that the white-tail was NOT native to New England - but that their range had been extending north for generations.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: kendall
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 09:03 AM

Coyotes are quite common in the Northeast.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: maeve
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 09:21 AM

"Coyotes are quite common in the Northeast."

...including in our back yard. Fascinating creatures. They hunt the whitetails along the 30+ miles of powerline right-of-way and sing beautifully. They've never bothered our bantams.

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: MMario
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 09:26 AM

Back in the days I was taking an Ecology course at Cornell - the prof claimed that bacause the carrying capacity of urban garbage cans was so much higher then their "natural" hunting grounds - the population of coyote in Manhatten is larger then existed on the entire continent prior to European colonization. Have no idea how true that is, but their range has definately expanded greatly since the late 1700's.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 09:55 AM

Coyotes are native in all 50 states. I dare say they're in all of North America. They're successful competitors, especially since the wolf was knocked out the roll of top predator by land managers with a misguided sense of preserving good game populations for human hunters. Couldn't have been further from the truth.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: SINSULL
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 10:26 AM

Yes - coyotes are fairly common in NYC. The papers occasionally publish photographs. i have seen them here in Maine right in Redbank where I rented an apartment. The large population of stray cats and food put out for them is probably the main attraction.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: SINSULL
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 10:27 AM

I have seen deer that died of natural causes. In upstate NY after a bad winter. They starved to death more than likely or froze.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 10:30 AM

We have them go past the back gate along the creek--my dogs have a special yelping bark for coyotes--and the coyotes return the favor. When that sudden cacophony breaks out it is energizing but also can be kind of blood-curdling. And it stops as suddenly as it starts (the flashlight out the back to see how many are there is all it takes). The "wild" nature of my dogs is suddenly apparent when they join in that big rumble at the fence.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: gnu
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 02:11 PM

The Yotes we have here are large, run with their tails up, and hunt in packs. My old man said they were Eastern Brush Wolves.

Wiki says... Northern coyotes are typically larger than southern subspecies, with the largest coyotes on record weighing 74¾ pounds (33.7 kg) and measuring over five feet in total length. And that they hunt in family groupsof up to 6 or so.

I have seen packs of a dozen or more.

One night, after a few (yeah) pops, I was planting shamrocks across the road from the travel trailer when I heard a noise. It was a full moon in Nov and there was about 4" of fresh snow. I turned to see a small Yote, maybe 25 pounds, tops, about twenty feet away. It was in the middle of the road, inching slowly toward me. When I looked at it, it stopped. I noticed some movement in the woods just beyond it.

I finished up, apologized to the little fellah about the cold and put him back into his warm den. I turned to face the Yote and looked around. There were at least ten yotes and they seemed to be watching "us". I thought of hollering to my buddies in the trailer but I didn't.

I didn't. Curiosity overtook me. I slowly unsheathed my knife (anyone who knows knives will know what a "Puma, White Hunter" is and what it can do) and reverse gripped it (again, killgripped it).

I slowly crouched, slowly extended my left arm, open palm, and said softly, "C'mere little fellah. C'mon. C'mere." Two Yotes at the edge of the road next to it began to growl in an odd way. First thought that came into my head was that they were trying to tell their younger sibling to back off... get away... run for your life! Don't dare fuck with the top of the food chain! RUN!!!!

Then, the thought came.... they were egging the little fellah on, like older brothers will do... they were saying, "Go on! Go for it! You can eat that!" And I burst out laughing. They scattered and were gone in an instant.

I went back into the trailer and told the lads. They teased me, the way older brothers will do. Until the following morn, when they saw the tracks... and the Yote pee where the little fellah turned and ran.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: GUEST,heric
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 04:34 PM

gnu: Do you have any cougar stories to update your report from several years ago? Does the mystery live on?

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: kendall
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 05:02 PM

Deer are not very bright. They will stay in an area where all of the food has been stripped away, and instead of moving on they just hang around and starve.Without predation they soon overpopulate and over graze or over browse their area.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: gnu
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 06:09 PM

Cougar.... I was sent an email a while back about a cougar "caught" in Ontario. The pics were amazing. This sucker was HUGE.... HUGE! I would not have wanted to be anywhere near it. Seriously, one pic is of a lad holding it up near a vehicle and it's scary to think a cat that big still roams the North Woods to this very day.

As for cougars here... alas, I have been of ill health and have not been in the woods for several years... in the deep woods for about six years. Sigh..... it was my life... what I lived for... to pee huc tow dah at dawn and return after dark... with memories... sniff.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: GUEST,heric
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 06:15 PM

Oh man sorry to do that to ya. Hell I only got to live your outdoor adventures sitting at a computer screen.

I've seen some cats at a distance but it wasn't until I was alone with a stuffed one in a museum that my imagination took hold of the severity of such encounters.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: gnu
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 06:26 PM

heric.... No worry! Shit happens. You didn't know.

To hear you say you got to live my outdoor adventures sitting at a computer screen means a lot to me... a lot.

I just hope I do the stories justice... tell them as descriptively as I can. I spent a lot of time in the back woods over near 40 years. To hear someone say they like even one of my accounts of my experiences really does mean a lot to me. Thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: kendall
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 07:24 PM

In May of 1965 I was traveling with an officer from the Canadian dept. of Fisheries& Forests in Nova Scotia. At the far edge of a bog we saw a Cougar. I had photos but don't know where they went.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Ebbie
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 01:17 AM

I've only once seen a cougar in the wild.

I and my sister and brother in law were returning to Bend, Oregon, from a sojurn to southeastern Oregon. The sun was low in the sky at the time of day when car lights aren't that bright.

There was a camper ahead of us disappesring into the distance; there was a small rise to the right of the road. I happened to be driving and BIL in the back seat had his head notfar from me, my sister happened to be looking out the right hand window and didn't see a thing.

Suddenly a L O N G shape glided down the rise and across the road in front of me and disappeared into the brush. It was back lit by the setting sun so we didn't see any color, but what struck me was how long its body was and it seemed like the tail was about as long as its body.

Instead of being tall and upright I got the impression that it was kind of bent-legged, like a cat that is skulking.

My BIL said, We can say we saw a mountain lion - what else could it have been? It was definitely a cat.

Many other people have seen them in recent years but for me it was quite a thrill.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: SINSULL
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 08:23 AM

Tami's "day" ended with a wonderful Japanese dinner with Jason and me. She bought. Tempura, curries, some pork stuff, miso soup, fried ice cream.
So life is not all bad for the lady in uniform.
Thank you again, tam tam. I really enjoyed it.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: ranger1
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 09:04 AM

The episode with the deer didn't bother me, it was just unexpected. Things die in the woods all the time, and this one had the decency to be properly dead and non-stinky. It's not the first critter carcass I've had to dispose of (really rotten dead seal, torn-apart seagull, assorted small rodenty things, and the one we just ignored: truly putrescent dead harbor porpoise wedged in a rock crevice), just the strangest thing I've had to do in the last year. I memorized where it ended up and I'm hoping to salvage the skull for future nature programs, but it will depend on how scattered the bones get when the clean-up crew arrives. Between the coyotes, fishers, foxes, crows, ravens, rodents, and little winter songbirds hoping for a bit of fat, I'll be lucky to find anything left at all.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: maeve
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 10:24 AM

Ode to a Ranger

She's tough,
She's cool.
She is no one's fool.

Found deer,
Must shift.
Threw deer over cliff.

Drives plow
By day.
Makes winter run away.

Birdies sing,
Winter's end.
She'll come help a friend, eh?


maeve

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 10:40 AM

My house is full (but not full enough) of critter skulls -- and I've got a book on forensic anthropology to help identify skulls I find.

I just like bones -- and shells, feathers, rocks, fossils, etcet etcet.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: SINSULL
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 01:12 PM

But when it comes to a duck
She don't give a ...damn

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: gnu
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 04:23 PM

Them.... "little winter songbirds" sound vicious! Wear yer safety glasses.

Chickadee... dee... dee... indeed! Maeve confirmed my suspicions a couple of months ago when she said she had seen HUGE flocks of them this year, just as I have. Ya know how they will come right up close and look you all over when there's only a regular size flock? Well, that is their ruse, thier game, their modis operandi. Oh, they look innocent enough, and smile at you and pretend to be all nice and cute. But, beware... when they flock into gangs and begin to maraud, well, nobody will be safe.

Take care... always swim with a buddy

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: kendall
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 04:46 PM

One of my jobs as a Marine fisheries officer was disposing of dead seals and dolphins.Congress in its infinite wisdom made the law so strict that in Maine, I was the only one who had authority to deal with those critters. They finally wised up and extended it to Maine Coastal Wardens.A full grown harbor seal is heavy! Most of the dead and ill were pups.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Becca72
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 05:19 PM

I remember the day or two as a very young child that I had a pet seal...still have the pictures somewhere. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: gnu
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 05:23 PM

Was it a live seal?

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Becca72
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 05:38 PM

Yes, it was alive for a while. If I remember correctly (I was 2-3 years old at the time) Dad brought it home over the weekend with the intention of having him/her sent to Boston to the aquarium when things opened again on Monday morning. The little darlin' didn't make it through the weekend though.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: SINSULL
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 07:47 PM

Oh Becca. That is so sad...he didn't make you eat it, did he?

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Becca72
Date: 05 Mar 09 - 09:51 AM

Um, no Sins we didn't eat it.

I don't know if it's buried in the back yard of the house we lived in, but if it is anyone excavating is going to be befuddled...we were no where near the ocean.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: kendall
Date: 05 Mar 09 - 10:15 AM

It is in fact buried in the back yard of the house we lived in at the time.

Nature is not cruel. Nature doesn't care. More than likely this pup had a disease and the mother just left it. From her point of view, trying to nurture a hopeless case is a waste of time and resources.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: open mike
Date: 05 Mar 09 - 02:19 PM

yes lucky the weather was cold or else the fragrance might have been quite different.

i have put a bear skull in a red ant hill to let the ants clean the bones.

i am a member of a clan" who holds the Dung Beetle sacred...scarab...

and have seen interesting articles about the smithsonian and the
flesh eating beetles (dermestids) they keep there to clean carcasses.

http://www.lab.fws.gov/beetles.php

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-343687.html

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: gnu
Date: 05 Mar 09 - 04:38 PM

There's a lady who leads a life as a ranger
To everyone she meets she stays a stranger
With every move she makes another chance she takes
Odds are she won't give the park any sorrow

There's a lady who leads a life as a ranger
She does her job despite the danger.
She clears deer, she shows no fear.
She's a Park Ranger.

There's a lady who leads a life as a ranger
She does her job with zeal.
Even tho sometimes for real,
She'd rather peel.

There's a lady who leads a life as a ranger
She's so dedicated,
She'd never be domesticated.
It's all about the wildlife for her.

Yes, I am. Why do you ask?

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: maeve
Date: 06 Mar 09 - 07:32 AM

Well lookee there, Tami. You ARE inspirational so gnu, SINSULL, and I must be rational. Who'd a thunkit?

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: SINSULL
Date: 06 Mar 09 - 08:45 AM

Just saw an article on flesh eating fish being used in pedicures. You soften your callouses in the warm water, in come the fish and nibble them away. The Health Department has said "No". LOL It grossed me out.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: gnu
Date: 06 Mar 09 - 10:44 AM

Pirahnacure?

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: SINSULL
Date: 06 Mar 09 - 10:56 AM

Never at a loss for words, gnu. Good one.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: maeve
Date: 06 Mar 09 - 11:03 AM

Kind of a fishy comment, I'd say. Scaling new depths. Always making waves, that one. Never out of his element. Strikes fast with the right bait, then sets the hook before we can escape.

Good one, gnu.

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: jacqui.c
Date: 06 Mar 09 - 11:07 AM

Note to Jacqui: When I go, keep Tami the hell away from my body.

I'm not so sure. I rather like the idea of my no longer needed carcass being left out to feed the wildlife. Certainly more so than the cost of a traditional cremation or burial.

By the way Tami - Kendall's been hankering after venison - next time, could you spare a leg before tipping the poor wee beastie? ☺

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Mar 09 - 12:16 PM

Tami, I finally tossed several study skins I'd made over the years from road kill. I hadn't tanned the coyote, ground hog, hares, squirrels, snakes, etc, and they don't keep forever if you don't have them filled with borax and/or naptha (ugg!) in a climate controlled cabinet for study samples. Picking up and handling road kill can expose you to some very nasty diseases, so it isn't something to be done lightly.

I did keep the skulls though. I have a huge alligator gar skull (the fish was 75 pounds, caught in a northern Louisiana bayou. The fisherman probably thought I was certifiably nuts when I asked for the head.) I spent a long time that night cooking the head slowly in a galvanized bucket, gradually removing the meat. I called in sick the next day, I was so tired. My boss didn't believe my reason, but I insisted and left it as sick leave. :-D

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: ranger1
Date: 06 Mar 09 - 06:00 PM

LOL - Wow, little did I realize when I pitched that poor. frozen beastie over the ledge that I would inspire so much poetry!

Maggie, I always wait until the bones is picked clean. No fleshy bits for me, no sirree! There's a big ick factor involved, so the road kill is safe.

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: Don Firth
Date: 06 Mar 09 - 06:23 PM

There goes one of the staples of my diet. . . .

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: A day in the life of a ranger
From: gnu
Date: 06 Mar 09 - 07:48 PM

Jac.... the one-eyed ones taste better. Ask Kendall. >;-)