Ron,
I was not aware that there is a test available to test saliva for rabies. Would you please provide more information on this subject. I thought that the rabies test involved brain tissue/fluids.

Ron Fry

Here's a link with info on testing for rabies in saliva:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1548802&dopt=Abstract

Also, from a rabies information site:

HOW IS RABIES CONFIRMED (DIAGNOSED)?


Clinical diagnosis of rabies in humans is based on the patient's history of exposure and development of characteristic symptoms. To confirm the diagnosis (usually not possible until late in the disease), rabies virus must be demonstrated in saliva or brain tissue. The virus may be identified on the basis of animal inoculation tests or specific staining with fluorescent antibodies. Other useful diagnostic procedures include identification of rabies antibodies in the patient's blood or cerebrospinal fluid and demonstration of characteristic Negri bodies in samples of brain tissue.

Diagnosis of rabies in animals is similar, in most respects, to the procedure in humans, but the disease is easier to confirm at an early stage, since the animal can be killed for detailed brain studies. While new methods of diagnosis in living animals are under study, wild animals are almost exclusively killed for testing. Animals that die after long periods of illness may not have infectious virus in the brain due to the so-called "auto-sterilization" phenomenon. In that event, the tissue or spinal fluid may be tested for antibodies.

Learned something new. Ain't this place great.

Lt Grey wants to hear one of my funny stories, here it is: I was investigating a hole under sombody's porch looking for the stray cat living there, so I crawled under with a coon light and shined it under and looked, only to see the south end of a northbound skunk, tail up and looking back. Left skin on the concrete getting out of there.

Got sprayed in my mouth doin' the same thing ...shouldn't have been talkin' at the time!

I bet you couldnt find any listerine mouth wash to clean up that dirty mouth. LOL

*** Fab u lous!

Someone told a story at a WCT convention years ago in Chicago that involved someone going after a coyote in a culvert. I believe it was an attempt to capture it for some kind of study. I would love to hear that story again, anybody remember it?

Great stories guys. I like to stop in here at the ADC forum once in a while. There is a lot of good info in here.

About the only ADC work I have ever done is groundhogs under Grandmas garage and coons in her bird feeder. It pays good though...Several cups of coffe and breakfast on saturday morning.

When she had the groundhog under the garage he was a real stubborn one. I couldnt get him into a cage trap for a week. Granny says "When I throw out the scraps he comes out and eats them, Why dont you just shoot him?"

So one saturday morning I go over to visit and she throws out some cantaloupe scraps within 10 minutes he was out there in the sun and scarfing down some cantaloupe. He was easily dispatched with a .22 short.

So I realized why he wouldn't have anything to do with my livetrap, she was feeding him 2 - 3 times a day with fruit and veggie scraps right bewteen his hole and my trap. I had to explain that he most likely dug his hole there because there was free food there every day.


Not as exciting as the above stories but I thought I would share.

Maybe this one belongs on the "let's be careful out there thread".
Complacency will get you killed. I was on a squirrel job and needed to check out the roofline and vent boots so I placed my ladder against the rear of the house and up I went. This was an eight on twelve so I thought nothing of walking it as in my past life I have been not only a carpenter but a roofer as well. I have been on roofs ever since Dad figured out I could get a bundle of shingles up a ladder.
I should have taken a moment to notice that this house was situated straight north/south but I didn't. I walked straight up the rear south facing roof like I was walking down the sidewalk. It was only after I stepped across the ridge onto the north facing slope did I realize my mistake. Both feet went out from under me on the algae covered shingles. A quick left handed grab caught the ridge and was the only thing that kept me off the concrete twenty feet below.
It took a half hour of perching on the ridge to get up the guts to crawl off of that one.

I bet your butt will be sore for 3-4 days from gripping it. LOL Feel like you spent the weekend in county lockup with BUBBA>:)

And the squirels chanted in ever progessive manor......Warrior....Come out and PLayaaa...... Heheheh The funniest part is the roofer in yaa...At ease untill you get freeked out.....I was one of them from 81-2002.... So yes LT...The sun did cook my noodle Aaannnddd Sir Bob.....I had Chicken for lunch......want to guess were the bone and wing tips went???????

This is a great thread. I have often thought about having a contest for the best true story by an ADC guy. I am sure they could have better stories than fur trappers

Well, I'm new here, and I've been an ADC for a few years. I live in WNC, near a community called "Bat Cave." (Honest!!)
First, I want to say that a few comments made by my customer may offend a few folks, BUT they were made by my customer and NOT me.
I was called by a nice middle-aged black couple about a bat issue in their house. I arrived, and after a brief discussion about bats, the laws concerning exclusion and when & such, I went about the process of setting up for an inspection of their attic. I was told about the access being in a closet in a bedroom closet. I got my stepladder, my respirator, and other things and proceeded. I opened the door to the closet, and the smell hit me, so I folded out my ladder, and was putting on my respirator. The guy's cell phone rang, he answered it. As he talked, I set my ladder, got my stuff, and just as I was going up the ladder, my customer said, " shut up ni^^#r, I gots Bat Man here!" HIS QUOTE!!!!!!!!!!
I like to have fell off my ladder laughing! I was glad for the respirator, and quickly climbed into the attic, where I sat down & composed myself!!!
We won't get into the prayer circle they put me in before I left that day,,,,,,!!!!!!!

Just gotta love the public.They will entertain you to no end at times.

I gotta tell about Mr. Brown. I recieved a call from an elderly gentleman about a "mole" problem. So I schedualed an appointment for the following day at 9 am. When I show up, I am greeted at the door by this old fellow, (who I later would learn was 90 years "young"). One of the things I noticed right off the bat, was that Mr, Brown had this hugh set off false teeth, too big for his thin face really, but I tried not to notice. (I mean could be me someday....) Anyway, we walked the property and I learned that Mr. Brown used to, in his younger days, wait on the "ground moles" with a shovel and dig 'em up. Well being up in years, that was no longer possible and the moles had over run the place. So, we agreed on a price and I went about my business of "flagging " runs and setting traps.
After an hour or so of setting some 25 mole traps, he had alot of fresh mole sign. I filled out his paperwork and rang the doorbell but then realized that didn't work, so I knocked on the screen door real loud. Took a few minutes but Mr. Brown fianally showed up. After signing the contract and recieving the check, I left with one final word. "Now Mr. Brown", I said, "When you hire me, you hire a complete mole service. You don't need to check the traps, or move the traps or do anything like that. If you want to see some dead moles, I'll be happy to show them to you, if not, I'll just let you know how many we catch each time. If you want the traps moved for any reason, call me. If a trap goes off, you don't need to call me everytime, as I'll be back in a few days. The only thing I want you to do is call me if you see any "new " mole sign where there isn't any traps. That's all I want you to do. But, whatever you do...don't touch those traps"! I smiled, that big ol' smile and we parted ways.... Well this happened to be a Monday morning and as luck would have it , or not I didn't get around until Friday afternoon. It had been one of those hot, dusty July days, in fact all week it had been in the 90's without so much as a cloud in the sky. One of those weeks , you just can't get enough water, regardless of how much you drink! Anyway, I show up at Mr. Browns about 5 in the afternoon and right off the bat, I notice one of my traps is missing....and then I see it sitting beside the porch... So, I think to myself, that's odd but picked it up and checked the rest of the traps. After I run all the traps I go and knock on the screen door( the other door was open). I yell, " Mr. Brown , you in there"?.... Nothing! Knock, knock, knock... "helloooo, anybody home"? Nothin'! As I turn to leave and walk down the steps, I hear that eirey...screeeeeeech of an old rusty screen door. screeeech... I turn and there stands MR. Brown. I say, "I see one of my traps was sittin' by your porch..." He just stares at me. (?) So I say, a little louder, " I SEE ONE OF MY TRAPS WAS SITTIN' BY YOUR PORCH"... Nothin'... Just stares at me...(?) Well, this is feelin' a little strange, so after one more time without his responce, I just turn and start to leave... As soon as I do I hear this raspy voice... "ai,ai, know you told me not to touch your traps, he starts..., his head hung low by this point. Mr. Brown, what did "you" do?, I ask. Well by this time he's swingin' his low hung head, side to side, as he speaks. :"I know ye told me not to touch yer traps but as soon as ye lift that one rat cheer wasa wigglin' and I watched it and watched it and then...it stopped". ( I noticed he wasn't wearin' his dentures but that's a common practice among elders so I didn't think much of it). So I say, "I told you not to touch those traps.... Mr. Brown, What'd you do" ??? Well, he start's sobbin' " well ai wanted to see if'n that mole was in that trap an' ai know ye tol' me not to touch them traps but ye didn't come back on Tuessday, so I waited and ye didn't come back. So, I waited and ye didn't come back on Wednesday and ye didn't come back Thursday, so this mornin'( Fri.) I decided to pull that trap up to see if'n there was a mole in that there trap... and when I bent over and pulled on that trap, the smell was so bad, I gasped uuuuuuuh, and then my teeth fell out and stuck right on that Son%#@*&^#$@ Mole all covered with Maggets! ...I'll never touch another trap ag'in!" Well, I tried not to laugh out loud, but told him, "Hey,I told you don't touch those traps". Well I saw Mr. Brown numerous times over that summer and not once did he ever have his dentures in. I'm often asked if I didn't want to know what ever happened to Mr. Brown dentures. Did he throw them away? Bury them? Are they soakin' in gasoline? Well, guess I'll never know as I didn't have the heart to ask him!

better not be anything south of his belt buckle...LOL...

I have an Native American friend that does the same thing. He gets up in the morning and waits. Does pretty good on at it Too. Me I probaly have a small pond dug.....Just remenberd one...

.Didn't happen to me, but to the neibor down the road.
It a nice middle class country country home that the roads and the traffic have grown around. This 60ish year old man. Thin, straw hat and bibs and hanky sitting in the front yard in a old Kitchen chair.. Norman, as we will call him, sitting there playing his violin untill he sees mole activity. Then pick up his shoot gun and shoots at the mole. Only problem was he live at a now busy intersection. He was in a legal area to poscess and fire a gun.......But, some Sillly passer buyer call the sherrif..Didn't go well!....BUT......It Was quit a sight seeing him sit there violin a playn and that shotgun over his knee.

I sure hope we get some more stories from you trappers.

So a couple of day ago , i was looking in a attic. I left the acsess open. All of a sudden the coon starts heading for the attic acsess door......luckally he vers right and head out of the house though his coon door..Fast forward to the next day.....I box a cage over the coons hole and go in to the attic again to chase him out. This time i close the attic acsess.....Well I chase the coon into the trap and get ready to get out of the acsess.....only one problem ......you cant open the acsess from the inside of the attic....I laughted......LUCKULLY I am McGivver...