# My woodpiles have turned into animal kingdom



## weatherguy (Jul 18, 2011)

I walked up to my wood pile the other day to cut and split and I surprised 5-6 chipmunks, they all scattered into the wood piles, apparently they have all made a nice, cozy home somwhere inside, I also have a skunk living under one of my racks, I took Dennis' advice (backwod savage) and figured Id leave well enough alone, my dogs cant get to that part ofd the woodpile and I figure as long as I keep my lawn grub free, he'll probably go to the neighbors yard for snacking. Yesterday I was stacking wood and knocking some pieces that were sticking out in tighter and apparently disrupted some wasps or hornets, not sure which, its hard to tell when your running 50 mph in the other direction, I only got stung once. I also saw a snake slithering through a few days ago, probably there for the rodents. Do you think I have the animal kingdom covered or do any of you guys have some other type of critters living in your piles.


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## Thistle (Jul 18, 2011)

On my roughly 1/4 acre city lot in older neighborhood there's 2 Mulberry trees,1 large,1 very large,3 mature Black Walnuts in  a row along east fence in back yard.In front yard next to sidewalk & street is a few unknown shrubs left,mostly the past 20 or so yrs the 60 ft wide strip has filled in with volunteer Silver & Hard Maples,Mulberry,Elm,Hackberry,Wild Grape vines & a few assorted unknown Cherries.All of it anywhere from 3" to 10" diameter & up to 40' tall by now.

Its not unusual to see 7-8 Fox Squirrels in the trees or on the ground in back,only days they stay in the nests are when its raining or snowing heavily.Dozens of song birds,guessing 20+ chipmunks live on the property also,see them all over the wood stacks,up 4-5 ft on the tree or along the fence tops every day. Not many Cottontail rabbits lately,neighbor's cat stays outdoors from Spring until Fall,he keeps them scared away pretty much.At night I'll see the occasional Raccoon or Opossum also,2 doors north is an 1/2 acre wooded lot behind apartment building that I seen them go to & from.No snakes of any size,if I ever saw one,it'd be dead in a hurry. :lol:


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## HollowHill (Jul 18, 2011)

Hey, what are you doing in my wood stacks?!  I've got the exact same species, right down to the stinging insects (got nailed yesterday, too, as I was straightening the stacks).  I'm hoping that everything will be hibernating when I have to move them this fall or we could be in for a wild ride - one stubborn redhead vs. snakes, rodents, bees, wasps, etc.  It won't be pretty, but may well prove amusing to those observing from a fair distance.


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## weatherguy (Jul 18, 2011)

I dont like snakes either but they may be doing me a favor. I remember last year when I got deep into the stacks I found a lot of nests made from leaves.


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## Backwoods Savage (Jul 18, 2011)

We also find that red squirrels love to make nests in the wood piles for bearing their young. Chipmunks are another story. It is almost unbelievable how many we destroy every year and every year we seem to have just as many. I did get a woodchuck one time that dug under the wood pile. Once in a while a milk snake. Insects, too many to name.


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## iceman (Jul 19, 2011)

I thought I had it bad!  Noticed a coon in the yard then saw him appear to go under my wood platform.. so having a little one always playing in the yard I called a wildlife guy. Well we spray amonia to try and force him out... BAM!  We ran!  Didn't find the coon but did discover there was a skunk under there! Luckily he didn't get us but did spray off some! ...
So, I have chipmunks, a coon under there somewhere and a skunk, not to mention the mice I have seen lately... 
Actually, now with a 20 month old in the backyard I think I will be selling next years wood and redesigning my layout this coming spring... Can't take any chances!


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## SolarAndWood (Jul 19, 2011)

Not much moves around here for long.


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## fishingpol (Jul 19, 2011)

Had a woodchuck under one of my stacks for the past few weeks.  I "smoked" him this evening, if you know what I mean.  They have eaten too many plants.


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## wannabegreener (Jul 19, 2011)

fishingpol said:
			
		

> Had a woodchuck under one of my stacks for the past few weeks.  I "smoked" him this evening, if you know what I mean.  They have eaten too many plants.



I hate woodchucks. I always smoke them.  I'm afraid they will do too much damage in my yard.

I also used to trap chipmunks.  I got over 400 in 4 years and still have problems with holes all over the yard.

This year I have found 2 dead mice in the middle of the yard without doing anything.   I wish the chipmunks would get the same hint.


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## snowleopard (Jul 19, 2011)

Spiders!  Big fat preggers spiders!  My kids and I were stacking wood the other day and my daughter was stopping to knock the spiders off each piece before she grabbed it.  You can imagine how that went over with her brother and me.  She didn't used to be like this . . . 

The cat that adopted us this summer has been working the woodpiles pretty thoroughly.  Dog started barking at her from inside yesterday, with a "See, I warned you about it, and now it's gone crazy.  Dangerous thing, I tell ya's" bark.  I stepped out on the deck, and she was rolling over in the grass, pouncing on a vole, letting it run, rolling over, catching it.  I called her and she left the vole and came running.  That suggests to me that hunting is abundent.  

Saw her sitting in the driveway eating a shrew a few weeks ago when she had missed an inside meal or two.  She grimaced--she literally had her eyes shut with a "this is so disgusting" look on her face, and I swear she shuddered as she swallowed the tail.   Usually, she makes a quick kill and throws the lil corpses over her shoulder into the bushes.  This cat is so odd, but she's a very efficient predator.


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## trailmaker (Jul 19, 2011)

SolarAndWood said:
			
		

> Not much moves around here for long.



  That looks like a pup that takes care of business!


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## woodsmaster (Jul 21, 2011)

I have seen a couple gardener snakes in my stack. I also have a chipmunk and a lot of daddy long leg spiders. Used to find mice nests ,but hopefully the snakes will take care of that.


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## NA3N (Jul 21, 2011)

My 2012-13 oak pile was a bit disturbed, with a few splits knocked askew, and I bet I know who did it.

Three bear cubs climbed the oak tree that's right outside my bedroom window. One of them bawled for their mother at 5 a.m., and that woke me. Thing is, the oak is inside my dog yard. I deduce that the cubs climbed my woodpile to get over the 5-foot chainlink fence.

What bugs me is why they would climb a tree in my dog yard. And, I found bear poop in the dog yard last summer. I dunno, is my dog yard a shortcut between my bird feeders and the neighbor's garbage cans? Well, yeah...

The bears have been a real nuisance this year. Besides the female and the three cubs, there's a huge male. We get visits about every couple of days now. And at all hours of the day, not just at dark.

It makes me leery to let my dogs out for their 11 p.m. pee. And I board dogs in a kennel up in the back yard. It gets kinda creepy to go up there at 10 to lock everyone inside. 

If I don't show up on here someday, look for my bones...

Nancy


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## NA3N (Jul 21, 2011)

Well, shoot. I'm on here under the wrong ID. 

This is PopCrackleSnap, aka slightly computer challenged Nancy...


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## muncybob (Jul 21, 2011)

I'm not sure what is living under my pallet stacks but I know that a certain field mouse(cute little bugger he is) will surely be under a pile that's been sitting a few days ready to be stacked. I pick up a split or 2 and there he is acting like he's invisible. I nudge him with my foot  and stack the splits in hand. Go to pick up another split or 2 and there he is again! Nudge him again...this happens for about 10 minutes and just about every time I leave a pile for a few days that hasn't been stacked yet...now, when my Aussie Shephard gets an eye on him it may not be such a happy ending.

It will be interesting to see what comes out from under the pallets when I move them this autumn.


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## billjustbill (Jul 21, 2011)

Since last October, I've cut and split about 5 cords and got all of it sitting up off the ground on old pallets.  Half of it Pecan, and the other half is a mix of Mesquite, Hackberry, and Red Oak...  Except for the Mesquite, the rest is "Come and get it for free...if you'll just come and get it" offers of trees fallen in a nearby city park.

In early summer, a single lonely bunny made its home in the pallet space.  With no Mama ever seen, I began feeding it with some greens and "baby" carrots.  As I did, I'd whistle to let him know I was around, and he would stick his nose out and grab a veggie and go back under...  Oddly, every time I started doing that, before the bunny would appear, usually somewhere in the stack a long grayish lizzard would come out, too....  In the late evening, still whistling when meals were left there, it kind of made you feel a little spooky to see that lizzard coming out and looking back at you....

The bunny is now almost a grown Cotton Tail, and still enjoys the carrot treats even though he's more skiddish than he used to be....  I guess I'll never really know if I was also actually training a lizzard to come out when I'd whistle.  A few days back, I was coming out of a shed I'm building about 20 feet from there, and heading away from the stacked firewood was a Road-Runner running in short bursts with its neck sticking way out and then stopping... Drooping out both sides of his beak was what was his lunch and what appeared to be my trained lizzard...

Even though I lost a lizzard, I've gained a new Road Runner as he comes by for a rather erratic inspection of the wood pile two or three times a week....  Because of how he acts and the raised line of feathers that move up and down on top of his head, we've named him "Kramer"...


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