Land exploration at my house

[XJ4IV]

Wel I set out today on a little bit of land exploration and come to find out about half way up the hill behind the house there is a little bit of a clearing
up there where I can drive the jeep up to! WONDERFUL site for pictures... here it is looking out over the valley
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m590/XJ4IV/IMG208.jpg
and a bit to the left to see our house
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m590/XJ4IV/IMG207.jpg
and a cool little dear path that led me up there from the other side of the house
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m590/XJ4IV/IMG210.jpg
I will post more pics tomorrow as I still have yet another 1/4 of the property that Ive yet to set foot on, Ill probably bring my sawzall for low brush clearing...

[bluedragon436]

Looks like some nice views... How much property do you have to explore again??

[XJ4IV]

Also found this little guy hanging out in a bucket...
Is THIS a Brown Recluse?
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m590/XJ4IV/IMG178.jpg

I come from the west coast where our feared spiders have a red hourglass on em http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTjFUHuzC3B6YK33fd82JdTwZByFfH7Y 9qabhpo3U-2bJP6LpQS
or they are hairy
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSRzWTJoSt3hzETi0n0WC1uMomCf5TWd LtWmvX2pg5bIf3JfYOI
Also found this little guy out at my place too...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/charleym143/4366911474/

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTn2EF7VvMg3yCcrQ03b2PckITSe2TOO ZutFiNy0XGmBsBcYXkBbA
and these guys are everywhere
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR1ctPgkqBSlSwyaQO0BS-EbWXwUEGWkOvxYUxG1_WOa3BdeOQw
Yeah Ya gott be on your toes out here... Guess jim has to stay near the house LOL

[XJ4IV]

Looks like some nice views... How much property do you have to explore again??

Somewhere in the area of 14 acres... The previous owner used to own 36 acres up here but he originally sold about half of it but the folks he sold to said they would never use most of it as it is as you can see above... not really usable... but its great for a hike... Dogs loved the hike too!

[bigjim350]

Yeah Ya gott be on your toes out here... Guess jim has to stay near the house LOL

Or IN it.....

[XJ4IV]

Ohhhhh COME ON NOW country boy!

[bluedragon436]

Yeah that is def. a brown recluse... have found plenty of those over the years.. especially at the farm.. I would love to pick up 14 acres of property... and would love even more to have it wooded like that..

[LizardRunner]

Yeppers, that is the brownie. Nice photo of the brown tarantula too. The snake Looks like a pacific diamond back, hard to tell without being close though, but the size indicates a pacific. You really really don't want a bite from that species. the venom is double duty hemotoxic/neurotoxic. Here in Arkansas we have the Western, the Eastern Diamond backs, Cotton Mouth/Water Moccasin, Copper Head, the Coral snake for our venomous varieties. Did capture a few oddities a couple of years ago, One Taipan and an Austrailian Common Brown with a clutch of eggs, and a real goodie, a Bushmaster. Usually I find them good homes with either a zoo or a collector. When wolf first got here, she found a baby snake and was playing with it with a stick. I informed her it was a baby copperhead and she left it alone.

[XJ4IV]

it was a diamond back that we saw, I was using a google pic for reference... I have a friend who is a pest master... He verified its species... then I drowned it! If we werent in a burn ban I would have burned him... the most painful ways I can think of to die!

[saar]

that looks great (not the spider, the view :-) )
It's amazing to think it is right next to anyone's house.

[bigjim350]

Drive your jeep up there and take a pic. Oh wait..........nevermind :D

[XJ4IV]

ACTUALLY I though about having that as my new jeep parking spot! once I get it up and going I oughta bee good to hit that hill

[LizardRunner]

You killed the snake? You do realize they are natures rodent patrol right? But I understand that many folks have an inate fear of snakes for some reason. I tend to just relocate the undesirable species from around the house. There are three "Diamond Back" species in the USA. From left coast to right coast they are the Pacific (nicely agressive and fairly decent quanity of venom) the western (the least agressive of the rattlers but still has a decent quanity of venom) then there's the mack daddy of rattlers the Eastern, copious quantities of venom (one snake carries enough to kill five adult humans) and it's the largest being able to reach 8 ft in length and weight up to 50-70 lbs. The all look fairly similar the pacific will be the lightest coloring and the eastern the darkest along with a wider white oulining of the diamonds.

[4.3LXJ]

Ya gotta watch them though Chip. Had one stalk me once. Not nice.

[xjrev10]

Ya gotta watch them though Chip. Had one stalk me once. Not nice.

This is why I live in northern MN!

[XJ4IV]

You killed the snake? You do realize they are natures rodent patrol right? But I understand that many folks have an inate fear of snakes for some reason. I tend to just relocate the undesirable species from around the house. There are three "Diamond Back" species in the USA. From left coast to right coast they are the Pacific (nicely agressive and fairly decent quanity of venom) the western (the least agressive of the rattlers but still has a decent quanity of venom) then there's the mack daddy of rattlers the Eastern, copious quantities of venom (one snake carries enough to kill five adult humans) and it's the largest being able to reach 8 ft in length and weight up to 50-70 lbs. The all look fairly similar the pacific will be the lightest coloring and the eastern the darkest along with a wider white oulining of the diamonds.

the reason Im on the top of the food chain is because of my intelligence...
Im going to STAY in that position as long as Im smart enough to kill the animals that will kill me without provocation ... I had a friend when I was a teenager that got bitten by a rattler in north texas... this guy was a snake handler... needles to say NO he did NOT get bitten while working with the snake however HE was bitten while out on his property riding his 4 wheeler, he stepped off to move a tree limb and upon reaching down to move it he was struck in the hand, took thirty minutes to get him to the ER he ended up loosing a thumb and a skin graphed for his forearm ... so yeah IM going to kill them before they try to kill me!

[LizardRunner]

Okie dokey. I was not trying to make you angry or even saying you were wrong. I appologise if it came across that way.

I'm not against killing anything that can kill you first or even second or third. Besides, Rattle snake is very tasty.

[jdougn]

Really nice views from your property! The picts of the critters are interesting too. Do you have any idea how large that spider shows up on my monitor! I've seen most of the one's you posted in person. I've never before seen the brown recluse up that close though. Isn't it supposed to have a fiddle shape on it's back or something?
dn

[4.3LXJ]

Okie dokey. I was not trying to make you angry or even saying you were wrong. I appologise if it came across that way.

I'm not against killing anything that can kill you first or even second or third. Besides, Rattle snake is very tasty.

I ate one I killed, didn't want it to go to waste. Not much meat there and I thought it was kind of bland

[XJ4IV]

Really nice views from your property! The picts of the critters are interesting too. Do you have any idea how large that spider shows up on my monitor! I've seen most of the one's you posted in person. I've never before seen the brown recluse up that close though. Isn't it supposed to have a fiddle shape on it's back or something?
dn

Im not positive but I think I recall something like that, I was holding a water pale that it was sitting on, my camera was only about 5 inches away from it, I was a little nervous but still he didnt move very fast so I wasnt TOO nervous!

[4.3LXJ]

The hourglass shape is for the black widow.

[LizardRunner]

The fiddle shape is there, just not as distinct as a black widow's hour glass shape. If you google Brown Recluse photos, you will see different angles of view.