In this Issue
February 2005

FIN, FUR & FEATHERS
Coyotes howling, ice does its disappearing act
By John T. O'Leary, Jr.

John T. O'Leary, Jr.

Hopefully your freezer is stocked with fish and game to see you through until fresh goods are available. Fiddlehead ferns, trout, and turkey will probably lead the spring list. I'm contemplating purchasing one of those vacuum units for freezing nature’s goods. I can't bear to see precious cuts of meat and fillets freezer burnt. The many methods I've tried to alleviate this condition have either failed miserably or taken up too much freezer space. It is a pricey unit, but fish, game and vegetables that taste fresh are, well, priceless.

The coyotes were howling out back tonight. I noticed this after completing the snow-blowing chores. Their music is one sound I can live, happily, without. Momma rabbit had better stay close to the rose bushes and raspberry canes. I'm sure she lives under the pool shed. I'm equally sure that Lefty, the English Setter, would come completely unglued if a coyote tried digging under that structure, and would let the whole world know about it. I have to protect the local bunny crop or Msrs. Gadaire, Woodard, and Grimes would have no training grounds for the Beagle pups.

The ice has come and gone a couple of times so far this season. The latest batch is only 2" to 4" thick and carrying a heavy load of rain and sleet saturated snow. Even so, many anglers were out trying their luck this morning, the last pair leaving the ice under near white out conditions, at noon. That last sentence sounds like something from a Steven King novel. Thin ice, white out conditions, it could only be worse if it was one angler, alone. My buddy who sells ice and other rescue equipment considers this job security. Last night we enjoyed a meal at the Lashaway Inn. The waitress commented that the night before snowmobiles were cruising around the pond, but staying close to shore. It seems to me that breaking through the ice at 60 miles per hour, having your sled become a submarine, and having a couple inches of ice, that was your friend just a second ago, trying to tear off your fingers and your face, even in only shallow water would be unpleasant. Imagine the thrill when another machine, running close behind, crashes into you, or mercifully, runs you over. Cold showers are great in August, but we'll pass on the ice water bath in January. By the time you read this, there will probably be a foot of solid ice, but early next season don't let your desire for wall hanger pike or bass, or those delicious perch fillets, put you in a dicey spot.

I'm hoping that this pattern of snow, followed by freezing rain, does not persist. Ice seals berries and buds that song and game birds need in the depths of winter. A foot and a half of snow capped with a crust that a coyote can run on and a deer cannot means that these canids will dine on venison until conditions change. Even if a deer can run on the crust, its hooves offer little traction on the icy surface and injury is likely. Such an animal’s fate is sealed.

Although hunter success was excellent, post-season tracks show sign of a lot of deer. In fact, turkey, grouse, and other upland critters are out there in very good numbers.
I wonder if that isn't about to change though, due to the rampant development taking place nearby. Though Fisheries and Wildlife control close to 2,000 acres in town, and 40 percent of the town is wetlands, and as such should absolutely never be developed, the almighty dollar has a way of skewing Mother Nature. According to the law not too many years ago there was to be a buffer zone of 100 feet around a wetland, which the local Conservation Commission administered. Some have applied a 25-foot No Work Zone around the wetlands, which sounds okay, if you are a developer, I suppose. Each individual case must be viewed and orders written, to maintain consistency. Personally I am in favor of full protection for the full 100 feet, but there can be extenuating circumstances. We'll get into this in the future.

The sale of some large parcels of land locally, obviously for development, stirs my memory to the view from area hills, formerly a panorama of woodlots and fields, or just a great place to watch a sunrise or sunset, now thoroughly obscured by the roofs of houses. Don't people understand that every time a person puts up a new home it doesn't lessen the tax burden, it increases it? When wholesale numbers of residents arise crying with a unified voice for better schools and more and better municipal services everyone pays, including the environment. I'm afraid the only thing that will slow down the beast is a real downturn in the economy. I love nothing better than to see an overextended, greedy, developer go broke. I'd rather see them making a modest living some where else, like in Florida.

Read previous columns by John T. O'Leary, Jr.