Table Scraps For Wild Critters

[winwun]

We have a large bay window about 15 feet above the ground in the den at the back of the house, and I have put an old 14" skillet out to put table scraps in for the critters. It is fun for me and my wife to watch their interactions from the den with the lights out. If the scraps run short, the skillet is filled with Old Roy, which they all seem to like. Skunks are the Boss, and red foxes seem to have it over the stupid acting grey foxes. Coons -- I don't know where they fall in the brains dept. Sometimes the reds will run them off and sometimes the coons will gang up on the reds. I had to retrieve the skillet from the woods adjacent to our house a couple of times, so I took a 5 pound pig of melted down reclaimed bullets from the range and tied it to the skillet with a thin piece of cable, and they still took the skillet and the anchor home with them, but not as far. I finally took a piece of quarter inch round about 14 inches long and bent a little hook in one end and drove it in the ground over the cable between the lead and the skillet. They still try to take it, but they can't.

 

[Art Eatman]

Yeah, I throw scraps and chemical experiments out for the varmints. Daytime, it's buzzards and ravens. Night time, it's coyotes and foxes and more rarely, a raccoon or two.

, Art

 

[Mr. Chitlin]

About 2 years ago, my wife started mentioning that something (or someone) was getting on the deck at night. Our house is on the side of a hill, and the deck is about 10 feet off the ground, without stairs to the ground. I set my deer cam out, and when the roll was developed, we found out that the coons were coming up and mooching around. Now, every evening about dusk, she puts 2 big bowls of Old Roy out, and we enjoy watching the coons feed and act stupid. We have had as many as 7 at one time. We have learned different characteristics about some, and have nicknames for some of the regulars. We now buy a 50 lb bag of Old Roy about every other weekend. We have never seen anything but coons, though.

 

[Art Eatman]

A buddy of mine had a fair number of deer feeding through his back yard at night. After a party where he figured to clean up his patio the next morning, he discovered that deer like potato chips.

He also learned a drawback to having deer in the yard and sleeping with the windows open: Audible release of methane. Deer are ruminants, ya know, just like cows...

, Art

 

[Dan Morris]

IMO, feeding wildlife makes them dependent on handouts and they loose the ability to self survive.
Where I live, this can be very bad, in the spring and during food shortages, we get black bears into the SW suburbs. They may be fun to watch, but they grow up to be dangerous critters.So far, any encounter has ended by the book.
JMO
Dan
Real problems....they loose natural fears of man and if'n you get between mom n cubs, you got the scene for a real problem!
Cougars are the same deal........people attacks are on the increase!

 

[Bruz]

IMO, feeding wildlife makes them dependent on handouts and they loose the ability to self survive.

I agree with bears or dangerous animals you do not want to draw them to people but varmits that will probably be shot anyway doubt there is any harm. Best not to have a bear think food = humans for sure.

As far as them becoming dependant I bet you can take just about any dog or cat that has been raised in the home and if let go it will learn to fend on its own. Doubt varmits would starve if handouts ceased. When I was on acreage my dog ate very little dogfood, seemed to like eating rodents better.

 

[Mr. Chitlin]

I am not really concerned about these coons so much. They were "wild" (for city coons) before they found our food. This is just an easy and dependable handout for them. Kinda like the animals that find the dumpster behind McDonalds, they hit the easy food sources first. Rest assured, though, I understand fully your comments about the bears. It ia against the law to feed the bears here in Arkansas.