A few days ago, Kindra and I put some trail cameras on property her family owns north of Meeker.
The first week, we got some night-time pictures of deer. It’s possible it was the same doe a couple of times, but hey. Could be that she was only one brave enough to get in front of the camera, and the rest of the herd was behind it telling her to work it.
Anyway, it got me to thinking that I should get a couple of cams to put up on the north side of the five acres at our house.
It’s mostly dense woods along a creek that leads to the North Canadian River a mile away, and the dogs are always barking and yapping at things in the night.
I figure there are furbearers using the creek as a conduit from the river bottom to the pans of dog and cat food that people leave out for their pets. In some cases, they may be after the pets themselves.
A few years ago, when I raised chickens and turkeys, I was at odds with all manner of furbearers who considered my poultry pens to be all-you-can-eat buffets.
I set out traps for a few weeks and caught close to a dozen possums and coons, two skunks and a house cat that looked like an identical twin to Kindra’s cat, J.R.
In addition, I have seen coyotes several times and a gray fox that climbed (“Clumb,” if you are from Fitzhugh) over a five-foot welded wire fence to get to a roosting chicken. I had heard that foxes can climb, but I was still surprised to see one do it.
So, I am eager to see what shows up on the SD cards.
There are tales of bears, mountain lions and Sasquatches inhabiting this part of the state.
My preference is that I don’t photograph any bears or mountain lions that close to the house. It would be difficult to get a good night’s sleep after seeing that.
But, Bigfoot. Now, that’s a different story. I don’t necessarily believe in Bigfoot, but I also don’t disbelieve in Bigfoot, either.
After all, we often find surprises in nature. Remember the Coelacanth, an ocean fish thought to have gone extinct 66 million years ago until one was discovered alive in 1938. Since then, several dozen of them have been caught.
Even the Cubs won the World’s Series a few years ago, so anything is indeed possible.
I figure there’s a chance, however small, that the Big Furries really exist and I would like to be the one to get an actual, undeniable photo of one.
A couple of years ago, Kindra and I did the Talimena Drive and stopped by the Bigfoot musuem in Talihina, where I got a bumper sticker that said: “Sasquatch 2024 - a candidate you can believe in.”
Sadly, it didn’t last long and self-peeled itself off my van’s backglass. But I figure: if there are any Squatches in my area, they probably saw my sticker and - if they can read English - immediately realized I am simpatico.
Check back. I’ll keep you posted about what shows up on my trail cam, Squatches or no Squatches.
(And, unrelated to anything else in this column: Vicki Mosley from Prague, thanks for calling the office Monday about your subscription. It’s always good to visit with a long-time reader.)