Another Fun Day!

Our newest secretary has figured me out. She came outside as I was about to start the lawnmower. She asked if I would like to go

to an apartment building about 5 miles to the south and remove a raccoon from the basement? Are you kidding? This is what I live

for! Well, it turned out, not to be a slow moving raccoon, but the fastest grey squirrel in the tri-state area! I've got to tell

all of you, I still don't believe I lucked out! And here is why: #1 A good working cage. ( In my case it was a 9x9x26 Tomahawk

because I thought I was going after a raccoon ) #2 A good working flashlight. And #3 a good mirror. Between the flashlight and

mirror I was able to convince Speedy McSquirrel to jump into a room where I was able to close the door and make the capture. So

here's my question: Will I love this crazy stuff at 82 as much as I do at 72?

P.S. I ended the day by removing a dead red fox from a backyard. Made a lot of bucks but would have rather that fox had lived.

What did you do with the mirror?

Last squirrel loose in a house call I had was a red in a closet. I got him with my grabber in a minUte or 2. I was lucky. The client thought I had mystical powers.

Yeah...would you drive to Michigan to do the same?

Good question, Limestone. It was only clear in my own mind on the mirror thing. I thought the animal was in the cold air return because

one of the pipes was disconnected. The squirrel was actually above the return and I couldn't see it. I used the combination of the

light and the mirror to get the squirrel to jump and fortunately leave the room. It's something I won't forget.

Today was another first. I got a muskrat job for a good sized apartment complex. I get there and I'm watching this little muskrat

chase these great big Canada geese right off the pond. So in circling the pond to figure out exactly how I'm going to catch this

muskrat, I scare the geese back on the pond and again, here comes Mighty Muskrat to get those darn geese off his pond. This time

he was ticked! When they hit the shore, so did he and he ran right at them for a couple of feet. This was hilarious, but what

happened later, was Halloween scary. My son and one of my grandsons is doing a clean-out practically across the street from our

house. So I get called over there to help cart away the old insulation and my son introduces me to the customer, and she just

happens to be the gal that hired me for the crazy muskrat job! I tell her about the goose chasing episode and she says, "You

actually saw that? That's why we called you." I'll be glad when Halloween is over. This is nuts! ( I am not making this up )

Went and pulled a mole job yesterday and had a first of its kind catch in a mole run. A full size adult chipmunk caught right around the neck. How that animal got into that mole run is a bit of a houdini act.

Has anyone else caught a chippy in an Albano mole trap before in a mole run? Maybe it isnt such a rare occasion after all for others. I have caught thousands of moles over the years but never caught this before.

This might be your claim to fame, now.

Not in a mole run but I have purposely set Steve's traps for chipmunks and caught quite a few.

I have caught chipmunks and 13 line ground sqr. in Steve's traps.

Well I dont feel so special now.:)

Bob, you may not feel it but to a lot of us you will always be special!

Twice I have had tiny gophers, tiny for here, in trapline traps set in mole runs. Both times it was gopher one way and mole the other. The moles were Townsends and they were bigger then the gophers, which I think are Western pocket gophers.

Ted