Hunting Season 2012: Story 3, The Mystery at Spur 4

Here are the previous stories about Hunting Season 2012:

Story 1, The Gator:
http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2012/12/hunting-season-2012-story-1-gator.html

Story 2, Hoggin It Up:
http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2012/12/hunting-season-2012-story-2-hoggin-it-up.html

Imagine if you will, a mystery.  A mystery where we park the truck out at hunting at Spur 4 (that's the name of the road.)  Here is the scene.

First we notice a bad smell.  It is the smell of death.  That's when we notice the skin of a hog.  Apparently, someone has skinned a hog right here.  That's when we notice a bunch of of large palm fronds cut down, and laid out on the ground.  They are laid down in a pattern to cover the ground.

We then notice two T-shirts lying on the ground about 60 yards apart.  This is disconcerting, but not as disconcerting as the ripped up underwear lying on the ground in between them.

We thought that was as bad as it could get until we notice the used tampon lying in the middle of the road.  Things had already become weird, but this just solidified the weirdness.

Sidenote:  I know a lot of people are not really believing what I am saying right now.  I usually take pictures to back up my stories.  However, I thought that this crossed the line.  It went right by the boundaries of good taste.  So I didn't take any pictures.

So as we walk back to the truck I take this picture of the creek/ditch at the corner of Spur 4 and the main road.

What you don't see is the hogs head lying in the creek being ate up by flies and other insects.  Yeah, it was pretty bad.

So basically, here's the mystery.

1.  Hog's head thrown in the river.
2.  Hog's skin in the road.
3.  Cut palm fronds on the road in the pattern of a blanket.
4.  2 old shirts 60 yards apart.
5.  Shredded undies.
6.  1 used feminine product lying in the middle of the road.

So if you were Scooby Doo and Mystery Inc. what would you like happened?

I guess is a Satanic ritual was held there sometime in the last few days.  That, and someone completely shit their pants.

Buzzards: Nature's Recyclers

It was a sad day today.  A small deer did not make it across the road.  Well, it kinda did.  It just ended up there dead.  But as this is Florida, and as sure as the sun will shine, meat will not be wasted.  Not with all the buzzards that are hanging around Lutz.

It was a pretty wild scene.  At least 40 or so black buzzards were writhing around like a pit of vipers.  Once I broke my camera out a few of them became camera shy.  But I got a few good pictures of them.

I love that lone buzzard hanging out in the road.  Buzza don't care!

But I was not content to just take pictures.  I took some video clips with my camera.  You can see how excited the buzzards were.  At least that's what I think when I look at them.

I want to report that all buzzards got their fill.  About two hours after I took these photos, there were only two buzzards eating.  All the rest were hanging in the trees and pooping.  To be honest, they took care of that deer pretty quick.  They truly are nature's recycling machines.

Backyard Birds

One of the fun things about living in Lutz is that, it's just far enough out of the city for country living.  I have seen a lot of birds in my backyard.  I couldn't keep enough food in my bird feeder for all of them.  I was seriously going through one pound of birdfood a day.  I must of had half the cardinals in the state of Florida stopping by.  I have also had ducks, cattle egrets, and sandhill cranes stop by in the backyard.

So imagine my surprise when I was working in my workshop (in the front of the house) when I spot a pair of sandhill cranes.  And it's not like they were down the street.  They were just a few yards from me.  I know I wouldn't believe me, especially on the internet.  So I did the smart thing, I took pictures.

That's right.  I took pictures.  The sandhill cranes were digging through the soft dirt looking for worms and bugs.  You can kind of see the one on the left with his beak in the dirt.

As you can see I am pretty close to them, and they don't really seem to care.  They are more interested in the earthworms that are hanging out in the soil.

At this point I am starting to get a wee bit too close. 

And this is where I start to chase them .

The one of the left is not trusting me, and the one on right would not be paying attention.

Now they are running, and I stop taking pictures to chase after them like a retarded 8 year old.  If I would have really wanted to have caught one I could have.  They have gotten pretty lazy.  One of them squawked something at me.  I'm sure a bird translator would have said that it translates as "jerk."  I just can't wait until they come by again.

Vacation Highlights - 2010

Thanks for the memories.  And for the camera to record all these memories.  In this blog I will show some of the more hilarious moments from my 2010 vacation. 

In the following clip, I start my West Virginia vacation in Kentucky.  (Kinda defeats the point of a West Virginia vacation doesn't it?)  Anyway, near the gravesite of Jenny Wiley I came across something very terrible.  I didn't even know they had organizations for this kind of vile, disgusting acts.  I bring you The River Community Deviant Association.

In the next video, I come across some of the local Kentucky wildlife.  Notice how I kept my distance from these dangerous beasts.

In the next video I encounter a relic from the past.  I am also standing in a foot of water.  I also come across some pretty odd stuff.  Watch and enjoy.

I wish I had more highlights, but I have to be careful with what I publicly post.  Since I don't have permission to post footage of the people who were with me, I don't want to show video that would have them in. 

What this mean is that, I have to get off my butt, and start recording more stuff with my camera.  Especially now that I have this new program that lets me move the video over to MPEG format. 

Vacation Highlights - 2009

Vacation is a time for memories.  However, some of us have weirder memories that others.  If you are really lucky you have a video camera in which you can share these memories to unsuspecting friends and relatives.  Or if you're like me, you share them with strangers on your blog.

In this clip, I have just gotten back from an antique shop.  I was (no joke) verbally assaulted by a fat man with no shirt on.  You hear me ask the question, "Was he a Yankee?  Was he a carnie?"  See what my answers were.

In the next video you can hear me discuss what a "mud walla" is.  You may also see a 50 pound catfish jump in the mud walla.

In this third clip, you can see a fox eating mashed potatoes.  That's right.  Don't believe me?  Watch and see.  My Grandmother put some leftover food out for the wild animals, and boy did they come in.  This fox goes nuts for the mashed potatoes. 

The fox stayed there so long, I was able to get a few pictures of it with my regular camera.

After thinking about it, I have to admit.  Grandma does make some pretty good mashed potatoes.

Wild Turkey

When I was on vacation in 2009, I managed to get some great film of some wild turkeys on my Uncle Wallace's property.  Him and a lot of my relatives live in West Virginia so there are a lot of animals running around.

When I first saw the turkeys I was at least 200 yards away from them.  Luckily, the camera I was using has an exceptional zoom on it.  You can hear me talking to my Dad in this clip.

Generally turkeys spook very easily so they won't let you get that close to them.  I figured, hey, what did I have to lose by trying to get a closer shot?  So I moved in for a closer view.  I think I was about 100 yards from them at this point.

At this point, it kind of surprised me that they hadn't taken off in flight.  So I figured I push my luck, and get even closer.  You can hear me say that I was within shooting distance.  And I was.  I was within 50 yards at this point.  You can make out the turkeys very clearly at this point.

Generally when I am trading stories with other folks, I always have to take what they are saying with a grain of salt.  But it also works the other way.  I know they wonder how far I am stretching my tales.  However, I was really glad to get these turkeys on tape so I can back up this tall tale. 

I do wonder, however, if I were to try getting that close to the turkeys during hunting season, just how close would I really get?