Eau du Salmo Morte
On Nov 15, 6:22*pm, MajorOz wrote:
On Nov 14, 3:47*pm, rw wrote:
DaveS wrote:
On Nov 14, 11:05 am, rw wrote:
Otter slick?
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Cut "to the chase" for my email address.
The otters seem to rub **** and fishy guts on the "slides" leading to
water. This seems to help keep the mud from drying out, and makes them
slippery. Ive also seen it on rocks leading down from the den area to
the water. Once you smell it you always know what it is. Sometimes
they use culverts as part of their regular trails to deeper water,
food, dens etc. The scat often will have lots of crushed shell bits in
it. *What Im describing is from observation and conjecture; don't know
how it squares with more science based descripts.
Aside from that, though, they're pretty cute. :-)
--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.
Although it hasn't happened to me, Missouri's program to re-introduce
river otters has had the unexpected consequence of cleaning out a
number of farm ponds. *I personally wouldn't mind, as the ponds have
to be "stripped" now and then to insure healthy reproduction and
species balance.
But there are a number of otherwise honorable, law-abiding, sportsman-
minded folks who have turned poacher when seeing an otter making off
with a ten pound catfish from the backyard pond.
cheers
oz- Hide quoted text -
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Aside from the law, its a hard call sometimes as to killing off
creatures that have some annoying habits. I'm thinking of a neighbor,
and others over the years, who saw fit to shoot beavers for this or
that high crime. I can see it if the beasties are flooding a house or
barn or pasture in use. And Ive no special mission to the rat world.
But sometimes it seems some folk just have to shoot something, doesn't
seem to matter what.
As a kid in NJ, I rapidly excused myself from "varmint hunting." And
just as quickly decided i needed to learn how to better raccoon proof
my trap-line sets. Yeah varmint "hunting" is good training for a few
military job specs but . . . well my point is that there is a line,
maybe not so fine a line, but a line non the less between meaningless
killing and the ethics of blood sport. "You kill it, you eat it," is
at least a starting place. And the native American practice of
thanking the Great Spirit after a kill is a good spiritual pause
moment with oneself and kids. Without ethics and reverence for the
prey, its just recreational war against a weak, unarmed lesser of
God's creatures. I think this applies to fly fishing as well as
hunting.
Dave
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