Tuesday, January 5, 2016

HIVE TIPPING MYSTERY DEEPENS

The holidays are over.  
The move is over.  

Time to get back to farm stuff.

I think we might have a new clue in the mystery of the beehive that was tipped over recently (CLICK HERE).  These were discovered last week when we took a load of stuff from the house out to the farm prior moving.  I was heading to the barn and saw these tracks going from the driveway toward the barn and shed and then disappearing into dry ground in the back of the property.


 The ground in this spot was wet and muddy and the tracks were deep.  Like a few inches deep.  Whatever it was it had to be VERY large.  I thought it might be deer tracks but whatever made these had to be very, very heavy to sink that far down in the ground.


The only thing we could come up with was a hog.  A wild hog certainly, as no neighbors around us have hogs/pigs (at least that we know of at this point).  No grass was rooted up so it wasn't a large group...this just seems to be one large animal wandering across the bee yard, up the driveway and across the yard to behind the barns.  The bigger mystery perhaps is WHERE DID IT GO?  There is no fencing down that we can find.  Of course, with 11 acres, there is a chance that it's living somewhere on the property that we don't know about, as much of it is still covered in brush/trees.

But are they hog tracks?  Could it be something else?  Maybe a large cow or bull that escaped but found its way back home?

The mystery continues!

31 comments:

  1. Deer. If there are two dots behind the tracks, it is a buck. I think I mentioned that during the rut, the males rub their antlers to get the velvet off. Usually on pine saplings and trees, but he tried the hive.

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    1. I looked for dots but couldn't see any (got out my iPhone and googled 'tracks', ha). I never thought about it being a buck that might have rubbed on the hive. Thanks for that info!!

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  2. Whatever IT is I hope you don't come face to face with it on a dark night lol.

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    1. Ha, you and me both!!!! That did cross my mind. :-)

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  3. Replies
    1. That's possible, it just seemed so large but then again, could be a really large buck.

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  4. Replies
    1. Yep, my thoughts exactly!! "My what big feet you have....."

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  5. I would say deer but we don't have wild pigs here so I'm nt sure what they look like,, tame pig tracks are much the same as a deer track just not quite as tapered at the tip,,
    mybe a wildlife camera set upwould catch it on film,

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    1. Definitely working on getting a wildlife camera (or two or three). Would love to see (at least I THINK) what is creeping around when we aren't there. :-)

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  6. Maybe it is an as-yet-undiscovered species that has claimed your place as a refuge. Carry a big gun. This gives me the heebie jeebies! Ask neighbors if they have encountered tracks or strange happenings.

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    1. LOL now that would be cool but frightening at the same time, ha. Yeah, whatever it is, I don't want to run into it accidentally, day OR night! Will ask around for sure....

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  7. Big pigs can squeeze under fences, so it could have been wandering through again. But to knock over the bee hive it was either after the yummy honey by smell or thought it was a good scratching post. Either way I suspect the bees convinced it otherwise! And pig tracks are not as dainty as deer but smaller than grown cows.

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    1. Thanks for that info, it's a mystery for sure, and one that we may not solve, at least anytime soon, ha. It's worth checking out though, thanks!!

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  8. I think it's a deer because of the long stride, pigs have a much shorter stride. It's a large deer to sink in that much but a deer. Fences are no obstacle for deer, a 4 or 5 foot fence is easy for them to clear.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-F6wiFo3Qc
    Beginning @ 5:35 into video shows a heard of deer jumping a typical cattle fence.

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    1. Wow, you are awesome, thanks for that info and the video. Never thought it from that perspective but with no fence lines down, it makes sense that something that could easily jump it would be the culprit. Pretty impressive jumps there, thanks again!!

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  9. Sure it's not a cow? Large hoof, long stride...sweet tooth?

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    1. Not sure, I kinda thought that too, but not sure where it could have come from, 2nd Family has helped us by walking the fenceline and nothing down or broken.

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    1. Love that. Hey, I'd take that if I could PROVE it, ha. I bet the blog hits would go WAY up with that video, LOL!!!!!

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  11. It's hard to tell without a sense of scale, but my money is on deer. You don't have elk in your area, do you?

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    1. I should have put something down. Very large, about the size of my hand, and deep, and a wide stride. Definitely no Elk. Lots of deer though. Even though we've never seen them up close. We'll see, hopefully!!

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  12. Hog tracks? I hope not. I saw the head of a wild boar mounted in a store. The thing was huge and could have killed someone easily. It was a case of better dead that alive.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. Yeah, I thought about that, a hog this size might be pretty scary in person, alive!! I could be totally wrong and it's a deer (though that would be intimidating too, ha). Thanks!!! Big hugs!!!

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  13. It looks like either pig or boar tracks. Wild pigs are mean ass critters and seem to be able to get anywhere, fence or no fence.

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    1. I've heard they are mean, I don't want to run into one at night for sure.

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  14. I would think that if it was a four legged critter that it would leave more imprints on the ground.

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    1. Hmm....so two legged? Something walking upright? That scares me more, ha.

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  15. Texas is infested with millions of feral hogs. Here is some information on them from Texas Parks and Wildlife: http://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/nuisance/feral_hogs/
    It has comparison pictures of javelina, deer, and wild pig tracks.
    This is from Texas A&M:
    http://feralhogs.tamu.edu/files/2010/05/RecognizingFeralHogSign.pdf It has very good pictures also.

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    1. Thaks for the link, I am checking out the link next. I need some track id guidelines, ha.

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  16. 1st Man,

    Looks like deer tracks, they love free food. Have you thought about putting up a fence around your bee hives?

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