November 28, 2023

Ticks and Opossums: When You Really, Really, Really, Want to Believe

If you are a regular reader of this website, perhaps you saw the comment left by a contributing writer to this blog. It was about being made a fool of. This is what he sent for information: “

DEFINITIONS – WHAT IS BEING DONE TO PUBLIC SERVANTS and how they unknowingly and knowingly are in fact self destructing. Thus fools advocating for their own demise and followed by fools that believe their every word…

make a fool –

3. One who has been tricked or made to appear ridiculous; a dupe

http://www.thefreedictionar…

Idiom.

make a fool of (out) of someone –

to make someone look foolish

http://idioms.thefreedictio…

dupe –

noun.

2. a person who unquestioningly or unwittingly serves a cause or another person

Verb (used with object).

3. to make a dupe of; deceive; delude; trick
—-

dupe –

noun.

2. a person who unwittingly serves as the tool of another person or power

3. ( transitive verb ) to deceive, esp by trickery; make a dupe or tool of; cheat; fool

http://dictionary.reference…

dupe –

( transitive verb ) to trick someone into believing something that is not true or into doing something that is stupid or illegal

To substantiate this definition, I also was sent a link to an online article, one of which after some further investigation, I discovered had been echoed in many places across Cyberspace and presented as factual information.

Here is the photo that accompanied the claim that this picture shows an opossum picking ticks off a deer’s face.

Included in nearly all of the repeated nonsense, was how incredibly important the opossum is in protecting us from Lyme disease – that famed Balance of Nature, etc..

There is some truth behind opossums and ticks that carry Lyme disease. Opossums like to eat ticks and they groom away and/or eat about any tick that gets on them, including the black-legged tick that carries Lyme disease.

Do these animals actually limit the spread of Lyme disease? Well, yes, but we really don’t know exactly how much. But this is not the point I’m trying to make.

The point is that in our post-normal society where we are always being “duped” and made fools of (we bring this all on ourselves due to our willful ignorance, laziness, and strong desire to belong to something, especially something that seems good – like environmentalism where Nature balances itself, etc.), when someone lays hands on a photo, like the one shown above, they drop to their knees in worship of the creation and all false beliefs that go along with it.

It’s an interesting photo, acclaimed to have been captured on a wildlife camera, but the idea that opossums perch themselves on a rock waiting for a passing deer so they can groom the ticks from the face or other parts of the deer, is about as absurd as wolves changing the courses of brooks and rivers.

A fool is “one who has been tricked or made to look ridiculous.” If you blindly believed what anyone told you about this picture, and/or passed it on, you are a fool and a dupe – “a person who unquestioningly or unwittingly serves a cause or another person.”

The world is loaded with probably as many fools and dupes as there are black-legged ticks. Don’t be a fool!!!

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But Where’s the Photo Showing What Dragged Off the “Coyote” Bait?

Two days ago the Bangor Daily News ran a story of how a man took a “roadkill” deer and hung it up for “coyote” bait. He set up a game camera and captured pictures of a bobcat feasting on the dead deer.

In retelling his story to the Bangor paper, the man said, “Two days later, we returned to find out the entire carcass had been dragged off by what appeared to be either a big single critter or a pack of critters, judging by the drag marks.”

Putting this all in context, this story references a previous story published in the Bangor Daily News about whether or not mountain lions are found in Maine. The man who hung the “coyote” bait and captured the photos says he believes what one wildlife biologist said about mountain lions in Maine and produced the story and pictures as a claim to support that big cats can be found in Maine…maybe.

My question is this. If this man got pictures of a bobcat chewing on a dead, hanging deer with his game camera, and he claims that “a single big critter or pack of critters” carried away the entire hanging dead deer, where are the pictures?

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Two Young Bucks Captured on Trail Cam Sparring

There are some pretty bright and clear photographs taken from a game camera that show two young bucks, butting heads and practicing their skills for another day in their future. Some of the photos and the story can be found on the Bangor Daily News website, written by John Holyoke.

The title of this piece, in my opinion, is just a tad bit over stated.

Glenburn

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This Couldn’t Possibly Be a Maine Deer

Like the Legend of Grey Ghost, deer stories and perpetuated legends and lore remain healthy across Maine….all of which are true as true can be. And, it is that time of year when trigger fingers get itchy and of course with the whitetail deer hunting season opener for Maine residents less than one week away, the die-hards (hahdz as Mainer’s would say) are doing some serious scouting hoping for a chance at a “wicked good” buck.

If I tell too much about the below trail camera photos, I’ll have to be killed. But, I was told that the first two photos below were taken in Maine. As a kid, I remember it seemed this is what deer hunting in the Pine Tree State was really like, which makes me wonder if these photos captured a “ghost” of a deer.

deer1

deer2

And, running the risk that men in blaze orange suits will come and hunt me down, there’s a wicked good rumor that the buck, pictured in the photos above, might possibly be a direct descendent of Horace Hinkley’s legendary buck………or not (running scared here) and probably guilty of spreading more lore.

hinkleybuck

More information on Hinkley buck here.

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What Is This Bear Doing?

In the following video, what is the bear doing? I know I have many “bear experts” that regularly read this blog. I believe the story goes that the man who set up this game camera, knows nothing about bears but he manufactures game cameras. The comments are interesting. Some people believe the bear is relieving himself of itches, while other think he is “marking his territory” and a few things in between.

So, readers, what is the bear doing?

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Drumming Patridge (Grouse)

This video, captured with a game video camera, was sent to me by a reader from Maine. He reports that this guy sat on this maple log behind his house for just over 3 hours flapping his wings. I sure hope he found what he was looking for.

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Too Many Maine Coyotes!

This photo was sent to me by a reader of this blog. It was taken with a trail camera at one bait site. The author states that there were at least six coyotes in this area original. One has been killed and one is not visible in this photograph.

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Canada Lynx Captured on Game Camera

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Coyote Caught on Maine Trail Camera

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In Maine, Coyotes Chasing Deer

I’m receiving some interesting reports from around Maine now that we are into the winter season. Yesterday I posted a field report of a buck that had been killed and eaten by coyotes. From the same person, today I have pictures taken from a trail camera that shows a coyote in hot pursuit of a deer.

According to the report, a trail camera is set up “on two of the major trails deer use to migrate”. The individual filing this report states that they have set up on these same trails for “a few years” and that this year, “the number of deer that have traveled by the cameras is about half of what passed last year”.

Being that last year was an extremely poor year for deer, hearing this kind of reporting from the field is very troubling. I have also been hearing reports that there were more mature bucks taken this year. To some – trophy hunters – they find this encouraging. I find in concerning in that if large buck kill was up and the overall harvest was down or the same low rate as last year, perhaps we need to be paying close attention to what’s happening to the age structure of the herd. This might indicate the recruitment of new deer to the herd is very, very low.

However, the perpetuated myth continues that coyotes only bother deer in winter yards when there is a lot of snow. So far in Maine, there is essentially no snow and in those places that have snow, it’s not very much. Even with no snow, in the past two days I’ve been able to file field reports of coyotes chasing and killing deer.

Below are the two photos taken in sequence from one trail camera from the same location. The first picture shows a deer running (assumed because of the blur of the photograph), followed by the second photo of a coyote coming along the same trail moments later. I think the conclusion as to what the coyote is up to is obvious.

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