GTA

All Springer/NP/PCP Air Gun Discussion General => Hunting Gate => Topic started by: 454 Big Block Chevy on August 25, 2010, 05:17:48 PM

Title: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: 454 Big Block Chevy on August 25, 2010, 05:17:48 PM
something is deficating on my front porch, almost nightly... and i want to blame a bandit... and mabey hire ed to come dispatch it for me.  any help?  its mainly insects, little beetles, and a few hairs.  i dont' know what is dropping it.

(http://i37.tinypic.com/334re5u.jpg)
(http://i37.tinypic.com/dxxq2u.jpg)
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: 454 Big Block Chevy on August 25, 2010, 05:40:00 PM
we have a large family of toads that lives under one of our bricks, and we invite them.  we have thought several times that a toad is dropping the turds, but its as big as one....
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: JonnyReb on August 25, 2010, 06:13:37 PM
  hmmm.  your gonna have to tell me if it tastes neutral or acidic... we can narrow the species down from there.. let us know  :-X
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: Alan on August 25, 2010, 08:58:41 PM
Break out the game cam - or - ding donger?  :)

(good one Jonny, lol)
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: only1harry on August 25, 2010, 09:11:51 PM
Too small for a bandit.  Skunks eat a lot of beetles and insects when they forage on your lawn.  Have you noticed any small holes in your lawn, like a critter digging?  They are usually 1 to 1.5" in diameter.  It could be a skunk digging for Japanes beetles/grubs.  My guess is it doesn't want to defecate where it feeds(?)  :)
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: Froghunter on August 25, 2010, 09:21:09 PM
Monster Toad!
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: 454 Big Block Chevy on August 25, 2010, 09:27:28 PM
i have not noticed any digging... and i have not been activly searching for it, however.  I do hope whatever i come accross, likes predator polymags in .22 caliber.... :-D
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: redsoxvw on August 25, 2010, 09:35:10 PM
I think my Mother in law has been on your front porch ;).............(Im going to *(&^ LOL)
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: JonnyReb on August 25, 2010, 10:25:03 PM
I think my Mother in law has been on your front porch ;).............(Im going to *(&^ LOL)

  lol So your saying it's bat droppings?  This is a great topic, we should do this more often.. gotta admit it's all i can do to keep from going out in the backyard and taking pics of the German Shepherds dinner from last night just for comparison.. somehow that seems so funny..    This should have been a poll.. ;D
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: FXUD on August 25, 2010, 10:30:33 PM
First off, let me make it clear that I am NOT a poop specialist !   ::)   I have, however, saw those droppings before.  I can not state it for a fact, but my dad told me years ago that it was 'possum poop.  Usually see it full of persimmon seeds, a favorite food for 'possums in season.
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: JonnyReb on August 25, 2010, 10:33:04 PM
 I vote possum!!
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: 454 Big Block Chevy on August 25, 2010, 10:33:13 PM
its full of black beetles....
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: PA1911 on August 25, 2010, 10:55:02 PM
Its not mine, I would have crapped in your mailbox  ;D ;D

Never know what you'll see here ;D
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: Alan on August 25, 2010, 11:26:47 PM
You are in luck.   Possum love predators!  (or is the other way around)
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: gassman57 on August 25, 2010, 11:43:34 PM
Skunk...stay upwind !!!!!
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: 454 Big Block Chevy on August 25, 2010, 11:45:57 PM
its its peppy... he gets a free pass.... i'm not dealing with that BS.  if its a country rat... he's dinner....  i just won't tell the wife...
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: Carl on August 25, 2010, 11:48:46 PM
Why not a skunk? Tabasco makes everything taste better.
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: 454 Big Block Chevy on August 25, 2010, 11:49:43 PM
i'l shoot it in you8r backyard if you have the appropriate hazmat suit for me to clean it with.

my Kahuna's aren't that big.  Harry and everyone else warns against shooting skunks.....
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: Carl on August 26, 2010, 12:08:45 AM
Well, it has to be coming from somewhere, shoot it in the  neighbors yard then. Make a visual ID before you decline to pop it in the head. Besides I have plenty of tomatoe juice.
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: only1harry on August 26, 2010, 10:26:37 AM
It's not possum.  I see the possum's poop every time I shoot one, and Ed will tell you the same.  Possum poop does not look anything remote to that.  It's usually greenish and plentiful like a cat's.. 

It's SKUNK poop - 90+% probability.  They eat mainly beetles.  You may have one living under the porch.  Most skunks live under people's decks and porches, or junk and wood piles in your backyard. 

Try trapping it if it bothers you, or give it some time and maybe a car will take care of it.  The fact that there are no small holes in your lawn is good.  It means you don't have beetles in your lawn so the probability of a skunk living under your porch diminishes, but the poop is not a good sign and he may be living there close to the frogs under your front porch.  It's very common unfortunately.  They also eat frogs so that could be the reason it moved in. 
That is one of the reasons I am getting a game cam, to determine if one lives under my foundation or not.
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: oldpink on August 26, 2010, 11:40:13 AM
Yep, have to agree strongly with only1harry.
Skunks eat beatles like crazy when they're not doing the same to mice and other small rodents.
My folks had one sleeping under the detached shed, but we left him alone, happy to have him out on his nightly patrols devouring mice and other nasty pests.
He never bothered them one bit, and they could watch him heading out for his hunts each day at dusk.
As long as they don't get under my house, as they did with my brother a couple of years ago, I will not shoot skunks.
They're kind of like ground-dwelling versions of bats.
Eat lots of nasty insects, and they keep the rodent populations down.
Just two weeks ago, while at work at night (I'm a third shift security officer) doing my rounds, I unintentionally walked up within five feet of one because it was dark where he was, and his tail was down, making it much harder to see him.
Instead of spraying me, he turned and saw me, then hurriedly ran away.
The little fellow could have really ruined my night, but he was nice enough to save his spray for something more worthy.
;)
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: 454 Big Block Chevy on August 26, 2010, 11:59:16 AM
i only have one spot that a skunk could live "under" and its inside my fenced in back yard.  no real way for him to get in or out.  and the poop is occuring in my front yard... don't really know whats going on with this.  i live in a dense residential area, and my AG shooting must be done in only one very certain spot, shooting into a tree with good backstop.  i really dont' know where the little SOB would be living..
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: oldpink on August 26, 2010, 12:57:21 PM
i only have one spot that a skunk could live "under" and its inside my fenced in back yard.  no real way for him to get in or out.  and the poop is occuring in my front yard... don't really know whats going on with this.  i live in a dense residential area, and my AG shooting must be done in only one very certain spot, shooting into a tree with good backstop.  i really dont' know where the little SOB would be living..

My guess is that he is not living anywhere at all on your property, just passing through frequently and sleeping under a neighbor's shed, in a hollowed out tree, or even well out of the neighborhood.
Where I work, there are at least a dozen skunks, and I see them cover well over a half mile each in their quest for bugs.
They roam quite a bit, since they have to scan large areas of ground to find enough to eat.
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: Rocker1 on August 26, 2010, 01:55:08 PM
 Ed  don't you be coming to th shoot stinking!!!  Thanks David
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: SpringStan on August 26, 2010, 02:08:46 PM
Ha! You just wanted to show off that nice set of calipers! (At least that's what I'da done it for...)  You are TOO funny!

Wish I had a nice caliper, actually. This forum is one of a kind, for sure!

Stan
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: shadow on August 26, 2010, 02:25:10 PM
Skunk :-[     Ed
Title: Re: Who can identify this $)((#?
Post by: only1harry on August 26, 2010, 06:26:06 PM
I wouldn't worry about it too much.  Probably doesn't live under your porch, but a neighbor's or someone else's.  They do travel 1/2 mile or more every night like others said, so he could be coming from anywhere.  But if you find the poop on your porch on a daily basis or every other day, he lives very close, or for some reason he has made your house a regular stop.  He could be returning regularly to try and figure out a way to get to the frogs which he can smell, but maybe not able to get to them.  They have an amazing sense of smell.  They find all their food with their nose because their eye sight and hearing is average at best, but close up they are lethal (and FAST runners despite of seeing them walk slowly most times..) to small rodents and bugs.