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OT: Animals I love that aren't domesticated

ThankGODforWVB

ThankGODforWVB

Cornerback
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2025
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Foxes in general, we have two types here in Nebraska the Red Fox and the Swift Fox, I love them both. The Swift fox is endangered here in Nebraska, but is an amazing creature that only tops the scale at less than 8 pounds. Each of those pounds are in an incredible predator for small birds and rodents.

Non-venomous snakes. We tend to not appreciate how important the non-venomous snakes are in our biological system. Snakes like the Bull, Rat and other snakes are true Alpha predators of the small rodents that damage our ecosystems. I've noticed how precipitously the large constrictor population has declined here in Eastern Nebraska. Bull snakes were as common an animal as could be when I was a child. Now it has been years since I have seen one, and the rodent population has gotten as thick as thieves.

I am particularly fond of owls of all types. They are my favorite raptor. There is nothing more exhilarating, or frightening, as driving at night and having a large owl come soaring at you in your headlights. For that split second the barn, or snow owl appears to be some spectral animus come to take you away.....
 
ThankGODforWVB said:
Foxes in general, we have two types here in Nebraska the Red Fox and the Swift Fox, I love them both. The Swift fox is endangered here in Nebraska, but is an amazing creature that only tops the scale at less than 8 pounds. Each of those pounds are in an incredible predator for small birds and rodents.

Non-venomous snakes. We tend to not appreciate how important the non-venomous snakes are in our biological system. Snakes like the Bull, Rat and other snakes are true Alpha predators of the small rodents that damage our ecosystems. I've noticed how precipitously the large constrictor population has declined here in Eastern Nebraska. Bull snakes were as common an animal as could be when I was a child. Now it has been years since I have seen one, and the rodent population has gotten as thick as thieves.

I am particularly fond of owls of all types. They are my favorite raptor. There is nothing more exhilarating, or frightening, as driving at night and having a large owl come soaring at you in your headlights. For that split second the barn, or snow owl appears to be some spectral animus come to take you away.....
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Confused Black Horse GIF
 
Kind of a cools story I had, I was deer hunting probably 10 years ago in a tree stand. It was probably 15 feet in the air or so. Of course I didn't seen anything all day long except for squirrels and some rabbits hopping on the ground right in front of me. Just as it was dark and I was climbing out of the stand, all of the sudden something big went "swoosh" literally right underneath me. It scared the living shit out of me, but it turned out to be a huge owl swooped down and grabbed a rabbit sitting right in front of my stand. I watched it stomp on it with its talons and did it's thing. As it went to fly away it dropped the rabbit and the rabbit ran off. It was pretty cool.

I don't remember every deer I've shot, but I definitely remember that night.
 
ThankGODforWVB said:
Foxes in general, we have two types here in Nebraska the Red Fox and the Swift Fox, I love them both. The Swift fox is endangered here in Nebraska, but is an amazing creature that only tops the scale at less than 8 pounds. Each of those pounds are in an incredible predator for small birds and rodents.

Non-venomous snakes. We tend to not appreciate how important the non-venomous snakes are in our biological system. Snakes like the Bull, Rat and other snakes are true Alpha predators of the small rodents that damage our ecosystems. I've noticed how precipitously the large constrictor population has declined here in Eastern Nebraska. Bull snakes were as common an animal as could be when I was a child. Now it has been years since I have seen one, and the rodent population has gotten as thick as thieves.

I am particularly fond of owls of all types. They are my favorite raptor. There is nothing more exhilarating, or frightening, as driving at night and having a large owl come soaring at you in your headlights. For that split second the barn, or snow owl appears to be some spectral animus come to take you away.....
Click to expand...
Owls are badass! We have one that lives behind our house, and there is something soothing about hearing his hoot as I’m falling asleep.
1775149233842.gif
 
ThankGODforWVB said:
Foxes in general, we have two types here in Nebraska the Red Fox and the Swift Fox, I love them both. The Swift fox is endangered here in Nebraska, but is an amazing creature that only tops the scale at less than 8 pounds. Each of those pounds are in an incredible predator for small birds and rodents.

Non-venomous snakes. We tend to not appreciate how important the non-venomous snakes are in our biological system. Snakes like the Bull, Rat and other snakes are true Alpha predators of the small rodents that damage our ecosystems. I've noticed how precipitously the large constrictor population has declined here in Eastern Nebraska. Bull snakes were as common an animal as could be when I was a child. Now it has been years since I have seen one, and the rodent population has gotten as thick as thieves.

I am particularly fond of owls of all types. They are my favorite raptor. There is nothing more exhilarating, or frightening, as driving at night and having a large owl come soaring at you in your headlights. For that split second the barn, or snow owl appears to be some spectral animus come to take you away.....
Click to expand...
I saw a fox in Elkhorn the other day, first time I’ve seen a fox in years

Foxes are domesticating themselves
 
SoCal_Corn said:
My fave is (as posted here before) Bob The Cat in my neighborhood.

He's very cool.

View attachment 68897
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The mountain trails I run on I see bobcats every now and then. They are not skittish at all. They just go about doing their thing. Fun to watch them hunt.

I had one mountain lion encounter and that MF was huge but scurried away when I came upon it. The heart rate reading on my Garmin watch was off the charts that day.
 
Kaladin said:
I saw a fox in Elkhorn the other day, first time I’ve seen a fox in years

Foxes are domesticating themselves
Click to expand...
We have a family of Red Foxes who live consistently within 400' of our house. They usually take over other animals holes that were dug, but DoW will tell you that they often have their kits next to or under homes. They aren't as afraid of humans, but they are so well camouflaged you'll seldom discover them unless you are right on top of them.

There is a 3 legged Red Fox in Wahoo that has been living there for a few years. Often seen during the middle of the day crossing the street.

My granddaughter who is studying to be a Vet in Tenn. was pushing the idea of adopting an injured fox. It took me a few days to work her through to the point of acknowledging that was an extremely bad idea .......
 
doublewing said:
The mountain trails I run on I see bobcats every now and then. They are not skittish at all. They just go about doing their thing. Fun to watch them hunt.

I had one mountain lion encounter and that MF was huge but scurried away when I came upon it. The heart rate reading on my Garmin watch was off the charts that day.
Click to expand...
Took my kids for a week tent camping in Kings Canyon National Park in California one summer. (FYI a very cool park that not many people normally go to.) You are required to go to the bear briefing when you arrive because there are so many brown and black bears.

Those bears are pretty smart in reality. They know how to peal a car door open if they see a grocery bag or smell food inside. There are tons of videos of bears getting into cars ....

We went hiking one day, and I could hear this brown who was waking up and sort of careening about. So we used our exit plan to get out of the area, and I kept my walking stick over my head as I walked mostly backwards trailing the family.

Bears worry me more than mountain lions. Lions have to be hungry enough to attack, bears will do it just because you are there.
 
Kaladin said:
I saw a fox in Elkhorn the other day, first time I’ve seen a fox in years

Foxes are domesticating themselves
Click to expand...
we have shit tons of them here in southeast Lincoln. Every spring, there's one that just sits and suns itself in my back yard every once in a while. This is how close he gets to my back porch window.

But we have shit tons of rabbits, so I assume that's why we have shit tons of foxes. Plus, having kits deep inside the neighborhoods keeps them safe from the coytes that linger oun the outskirts of town, as they aren't quite as brave. It's pretty cool to see them running around the neighborhood.
 

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