Sorry it has taken so long for the next trivia question, and in case you missed the first one which appeared in May 3rd SUN Outdoors Column, here it is:
Question #1:
OK folks, put your thinking caps on, here is question No. 1 in the Great Outdoors Trivia Contest. The tarsal, interdigital and preorbital are all types of what? A) Range-finder settings; B) Trail camera settings; or C) Type of deer glands. Watch for question No. 2 coming up in my Outdoors Guy Blog.
Question #2:
According to the Centre for Occupational Health & Safety, in recent years most Rabies infections in British Columbia and Alberta have been reported in bats; in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, in has been skunks; and in Ontario and Quebec rabies has been reported most in bats, skunks and what other wild animal?
Is it A) Red foxes; B) Raccoons; or C) Eastern chipmunks.
The final question in this year’s Great Outdoors Trivia Contest will appear in next Thursday’s(June 20) Pembroke Daily Observer. (Link to that column will be provided in case you can’t find it, and you don’t live in the Ottawa Valley)
Winner of this year’s contest will receive a nice scent package courtesy of Tink’s!
Outdoorsguy
Answer to Question#1 Type of deer glands,Question#2 is raccoons
Shussh Doug, don’t tell everyone.
You need to send me all three correct answers by email once Question #3 comes out in print..next week.
Thanks
Outdoorsguy
yes the first one is deer glands and the second racoons come over to my house i will gladly give you 20 coons they enjoy a buffet at my neighbours garbage every night they know how to undo the bungee cord and even have figured out how to open the pump strap fatened to the lid
Hey mike..those bloody things have ‘people hands’ I tell ya!
Outdoorsguy
Hi Jeff, saw a nice buck driving to work last week. I was surprised at how big the velvet rack was already
and by the number of trucks pulled over, others where surprised as well. Saw a bear about two weeks ago outside of Perth in a plowed field. It was the biggest bear I’ve ever seen, looked very unnatural.
Imacdon, I also photographed(trailcam) a nice buck behind my place couple of weeks back and was surprised by the amount of growth for late May…guess that’s a good sign!
I’m guessing that bear you saw has really gorged himself in a short time since coming out of hibernation which, I would think, was later than usual this year.
Outdoorsguy
No bears, and haven’t seen much for deer either, all I got is rabbits, lots and lots of cottontail rabbits. I haven’t retrieved my game cam since the mosquito onslaught so not sure what’s traveling back there. I found an abandoned turkey nest with 3 eggs left (unbroken) there right next to the barn, I think she may have bailed when the cows moved in but don’t know for sure. This has been a banner year for snakes as well. I have seen at least 5 Garter snakes, and 2 different Brown snakes around the house. I find that interesting because I only saw my first brown snake a year or two back and I have seen two already this year just around my house. Maybe on a rebound or something. A few frogs out and about too.
We saw a bull moose in Algonquin park one year the opening of trout and that big fella already had antlers over a foot on each side and starting to pan. That surprised me for that early in the year.
Well johan, that’s interesting about the snakes..I will be watching for them on my property. A couple of summers in a row the garter snakes reproduced on the edge of my property..and all the young ones would scurry across the lawn when you walked there..or went to cut the grass.
Never seen a brown snake, but you just haven’t lived till you’ve seen a Northern Water Snake..holy crap those are big. I hear the rat snakes are big too..watched a couple of vids on them.
About once per week, I get pics of the yotes as they travel thru the back fields. Its funny, most of the time its in middle of the night between 12:00 – 4:00 AM, then about every second week I’ll get photos of them right in mid-day taking a tour…buggers!
Outdoorsguy
This time last year or maybe a little earlier I found an abandoned turkey nest. It had 10 eggs, four of them broken.
I watched the nest for two days and when I was sure the hen was not coming back picked up the 6 remaining eggs.
I put the eggs under one of my neighbours chickens. Two weeks latter 5 of the eggs hatched. Only one hen remains
alive today and I’m assuming it’s sittling on a nest of it’s own.
Johan, when you say brown snakes do you mean water snakes?
morning jeff in the 70’s my father and i caught a 7 foot long black rat snake at charleston lake it was on the road so my dad stopped i picked up the snake nearly gave him a stroke when i brought it in the car and we dropped it off to the parks snake rescue area they said some of these snakes get even bigger as well last year in 2012 we were at the big rideau cleaning some lakers when a snapping turtle surfaced like a submarine and grabbed the head of the trout that we had removed it was atleast 3 feet accross and looked hungry you definitely did not want to scratch his chin lol
that’s neat Mike, I have yet to see one of those rat snakes. Like to see one, but not to close to home..hehe
I can remember the first Northern Water Snake I ever saw…back in 1977 in QC’s mighty(150 mile lone) Mistassini Lake. The friggin snake was swimming at least 300 yards from shore!
Outdoorsguy
Last year on a solo canoe-camping trip, I was walking on a big rock along the Ottawa river shore when I almost stepped on a huge Northern Water Snake! Scared the crap out of me. I had no idea we had such big snakes here. I took a great picture of it, not knowing what it was (up till now). Now I know, thanks!
GPG, that is an awesome photo and a rare sighting indeed!
I will try to upload the pic you sent me. You realize the Northern water snake does bite, right? Not poisonous but they’ve been known to snap and draw blood. For an interesting story on this snake, I refer you to my first book – Weird Facts about Fishing – where I included a little tale from my cousin.
Outdoorsguy
Imacdon – no these are called Common Brown snakes and they aren’t very big, or at least not the ones I have seen. I have pictures if you are interested. I bought some butternut lumber from a guy on Devil lake and while we were chatting in his shed I kept hearing a strange noise. said to him that maybe there were ghosts in there but I eventually looked up to see one of those black rat snakes on a truss right above us. It was over 4 feet long and a lot more intimidating when directly over your head, rattling their tail looking at you. He said they often stay in there and he has no problem with rodents. I also have a pic of a Mississauga rattler we came across while moose hunting 4 or 5 years ago. Talk about giving you a scare.
Hey Johan, not that I’m doubting your Massasuaga rattler sighting, well, actually yeah I’m doubting it a little.
From what I know of those things, in Ontario they are found only in the far southern reaches of the province. So unless you moose hunt is SW Ontario, I doubt you saw one.
I would like to be proven wrong though. Man, rat snake hanging over head? No thanks!
Outdoorsguy
I am no herpetologist but I will send a picture and you can tell me what it was then.
Trust me Johan, I’m no expert either..just going by what I remember from College. Perhaps there have been other sightings of these further north, I think we should look around.
Rick, ever heard of a Massasauga rattler up north? I assume this was north of Ottawa?
Anyone else had a brush with these rare snakes?
Outdoorsguy
I don’t know where johan hunts moose but my sister lives near Byng Inlet on Georgian bay .She has seen massasauga rattlers several times over the years, My brother worked for mnr out of Parry Sound. Those rattlers are on the endangered list but are seen and reported all over that area of Georgian Bay too frequently to all have been mistaken identity. There are also moose in that area of Georgian Bay.
OK bob, having now seen johan’s photos of the snake, I can (gladly) say I stand corrected. Although I’ve never actually seen a Massasauga rattler, there is no doubt this is one! Seems they’ve had a couple of rattlers around the moose camp over the years.
I can also tell you that johan’s moose camp is located in the region of Georgian Bay you mentioned, but I’ll let him tell you the rest.
I’m not sure how I’d feel having rattle snakes around my camp, but it would be cool to see one.
Outdoorsguy
Hey BobM , our camp was a few miles south of byng inlet.
speaking of
“..those bloody things have ‘people hands’ I tell ya!”
Imacdon says
“Hi Jeff, saw a nice buck driving to work last week”
I’m having a bit of a problem driving on the same road as a deer
there is no way that buck has a drivers license
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great stories about snakes, they don’t bother me at all, as a kid I used to catch them and keep them as pets, till my mom found out hehe, but I think a rattler would worry me a bit. Can you die from a Massasauga bite?
Hey Iggy, good to hear from you. From I know of Massasauga rattlers, they dont release much venom in their bite, and are not really considered to be dangerous compared to other rattlers south of the border. Ive heard that some of their bite are even ‘dry’ depending..they can control the amount of venow released per bite and I dont think its ever very much.
Still got any of those pet snakes, Iggs?
Outdoorsguy
Anyone else heard about this:
http://blogs.canoe.ca/outdoorsguy/hunting/coyote-cull-planned-for-larose-forest/
Outdoorsguy