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Posted: 10/27/2016 7:45:04 AM EDT
[#1]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
The farmers have pushed out and burned nearly every fencerow around. The quail and rabbits are not extinct but are few and far between. This is my experience in SW Georgia also. 50 years ago my uncle's farm was five 100 acre fields with fencerows around them. The Quail hunting was epic. Now it is one 500 acre field and there are no Quail around. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 7:45:08 AM EDT
[#2]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I can't find an elk to save my fucking life but that doesn't mean shit when everyone else is tagging out. Fuck  micro-extinction. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 7:46:39 AM EDT
[#3]
pandas would be extinct without human help.
they're too miserable too even breed. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 7:57:52 AM EDT
[#4]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
This may sound weird, but I rarely see chipmunks anymore. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
I know they are not extinct but I haven't seen a horned toad or quail around here in many years. I believe fire ants are the reason, not anything caused by man. Unless you count fire ants being imported in root balls 60 years ago. Do you notice any particular species missing in your area? This may sound weird, but I rarely see chipmunks anymore. fuckers are digging up my backyard like crazy |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 7:59:28 AM EDT
[#5]
Sure have plenty of stink bugs and lady bugs...
Quail and it's been years sink I've seen weasels 
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Posted: 10/27/2016 8:00:50 AM EDT
[#6]
Main problem here in Florida is the lack of habitat. Just about every square acre that isn't owned by the government is turned into a subdivision or a strip mall, which then goes out of business or just has one store still open in it. Around here, we have a lot of wildlife where there are orange groves or farms or ranches, but there aren't as many orange groves or farms or ranches anymore.
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Posted: 10/27/2016 8:07:57 AM EDT
[#7]
Plenty of whitetail, rabbit, squirrels, coyotes, hogs, bobcats, raccoons, dove, opossum and armadillos to go round.
What i do not see as much of is honey bees 
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Posted: 10/27/2016 8:13:08 AM EDT
[#8]
Quoted:
I know they are not extinct but I haven't seen a horned toad or quail around here in many years. I believe fire ants are the reason, not anything caused by man. Unless you count fire ants being imported in root balls 60 years ago. Do you notice any particular species missing in your area? How do you explain quail and horned lizards becoming rare in places without fire ants? WWF if full of cow patties. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 8:14:48 AM EDT
[#9]
Migratory waterfowl of all assortments that would blacken the sky in fall. LM Bass on the hook everytime you cast your line. I was lucky enough to be alive in the '70s to see that before it disappeared.
On the other hand, the whitetail deer hunting has improved greatly. In the '80s, you were the talk of the town if you got a 4 or 6 pointer. Now people kill 8 and 10 pointers all day long. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 8:16:17 AM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Migratory waterfowl of all assortments that would blacken the sky in fall. LM Bass on the hook everytime you cast your line. I was lucky enough to be alive in the '70s to see that before it disappeared. On the other hand, the whitetail deer hunting has improved greatly. In the '80s, you were the talk of the town if you got a 4 or 6 pointer. Now people kill 8 and 10 pointers all day long. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 8:17:12 AM EDT
[#11]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I can't find an elk to save my fucking life but that doesn't mean shit when everyone else is tagging out. Fuck There is simple solution. Leave your rifle in the truck. Walk about two miles into an area with an easy walk in. Try to avoid getting trampled by elk. I hunt for vertebrates every day at work. They are nearly all gone. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 8:21:43 AM EDT
[#12]
I can't remember the last time I heard a bobwhite.
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Posted: 10/27/2016 8:35:29 AM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
This may sound weird, but I rarely see chipmunks anymore. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
I know they are not extinct but I haven't seen a horned toad or quail around here in many years. I believe fire ants are the reason, not anything caused by man. Unless you count fire ants being imported in root balls 60 years ago. Do you notice any particular species missing in your area? This may sound weird, but I rarely see chipmunks anymore. I got a yard full of those little fuckers. PM me you address and send you a box. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 8:35:31 AM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I hunt for vertebrates every day at work. They are nearly all gone. 
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Posted: 10/27/2016 8:40:04 AM EDT
[#15]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
There is simple solution. Leave your rifle in the truck. Walk about two miles into an area with an easy walk in. Try to avoid getting trampled by elk. I hunt for vertebrates every day at work. They are nearly all gone. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
I can't find an elk to save my fucking life but that doesn't mean shit when everyone else is tagging out. Fuck There is simple solution. Leave your rifle in the truck. Walk about two miles into an area with an easy walk in. Try to avoid getting trampled by elk. I hunt for vertebrates every day at work. They are nearly all gone. I understand. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 8:41:59 AM EDT
[#16]
Can't remember the last time I saw a pheasant. Used to see and hear them ALL the time, and I grew up in the suburbs.
Toads seem much more rare now. No garter snakes for years. No crawfish. I blame the conversion of every corner lot into a shitty stripmall. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 8:43:35 AM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
This may sound weird, but I rarely see chipmunks anymore. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
I know they are not extinct but I haven't seen a horned toad or quail around here in many years. I believe fire ants are the reason, not anything caused by man. Unless you count fire ants being imported in root balls 60 years ago. Do you notice any particular species missing in your area? This may sound weird, but I rarely see chipmunks anymore. they moved to Utah I have a TON of those fuckers on my property |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 8:43:47 AM EDT
[#18]
Less quail than there used to be. Now we have more, possum, foxes, coyotes and an infinite supply of coons. We kill so many coons every month it's as if there is a portal to coon world nearby where they are pouring in from.
We also now have chipmunks and groundhogs which I never remember seeing when I was growing up around here. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 8:53:23 AM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
This is my experience in SW Georgia also. 50 years ago my uncle's farm was five 100 acre fields with fencerows around them. The Quail hunting was epic. Now it is one 500 acre field and there are no Quail around. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
The farmers have pushed out and burned nearly every fencerow around. The quail and rabbits are not extinct but are few and far between. This is my experience in SW Georgia also. 50 years ago my uncle's farm was five 100 acre fields with fencerows around them. The Quail hunting was epic. Now it is one 500 acre field and there are no Quail around. From an article on quail hunting in VA: America’s quail population, over the last few decades, has dropped dramatically.
This is not due to overhunting, as some might expect, but due to loss of habitat and to modern farming practices. Marc Puckett, a wildlife division biologist for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries who has been involved in a number of studies of the bobwhite and its habitat, says that it takes very large tracts of land with diverse vegetation to attract quail. Farm fields are an ideal quail habitat—or at least they were during the gilded era of quail hunting, from the middle 1800s to the early 1900s. That was the era prior to advanced farming techniques such as chemical fertilization, and a period when the concept of crop rotation was unknown. Fields that could no longer produce were left fallow, and timber was cut to make way for new fields. The fields that were left unattended grew weeds and early-season grasses, which in the spring attracted the insects that are a major food source for newly hatched quail. Quail thrived in this early agrarian environment. There was plenty of food—and, because farmers used hedgerows to separate their fields, there was good protection from predators. That is not the case anymore. Development and changes in farming technology and techniques, among other issues, have adversely affected the quail. For one thing, there are fewer farmland hedgerows offering cover for quail. Farmers have been removing them for years to add tillable acreage to their land. In addition, farmers long ago started using fescue for grazing stock and as a cover crop. Fields of fescue, a cool-season grass, make poor living space for quail. What’s more, while longleaf pine trees are an ideal habitat for quail, there are fewer of them these days as farmers plant the faster-growing loblolly pines to supplement their farming income. Longleaf pines are also less affected by prescribed burning, which helps rejuvenate quail habitat. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 8:55:05 AM EDT
[#20]
wwf says super fly snuka's are endangered also
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Posted: 10/27/2016 8:55:35 AM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
No, it's farming practices, but not the one he mentions. It's the practice of farming from edge to edge. With no till and gps, you can farm all of your land. No need for windbreaks, so knock down the treelines, and get rid of your hedgerows. They just waste land and steal sunlight from the crops. Predator populations trail prey populations. You're not going to get a predator boom without a preceding boom in prey populations. Yeah. Pretty sure the farmers fall tilled in the 60s - 80s when bird populations were much higher. But I think modern herbicides/insecticides and clean weed free fields are a big reason too. The chicks need light cover they can move through while hiding from predators and insects to eat. Also picture a modern farm vs a 70s farm - recreational mowing of yards and every road edge. Monoculture brome and fescue if it isnt mowed. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 9:06:30 AM EDT
[#22]
I currently live in Pittsburgh, there's no shortage of feral fauna here.
At just about any moment at the four way stop at the end of my street, you can find examples constantly butting heads in pursuit of dominance, often to the point of fatal injury. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 9:09:19 AM EDT
[#23]
We have had big decreases in Mule Deer over the past few decades in Arizona, for lots of reasons. The Coues whitetails are okay and if the Game and Fish wasnt deliberately keeping them in check, the goddamn Elk would overrun the place. The climate is steadily warmer all the time so we have Javelina where there didnt used to be any. You see pigs above 6000 feet now.
Fewer predator hunters and less aggressive ranchers means more lions and bears overall. Quail and dove are cyclic with the rains. I've been seeing bobcats regularly. Of course the coyotes will always be here. And people, too many fucking people , and always more. Its a scourge on the Earth. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 9:10:57 AM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
This is my experience in SW Georgia also. 50 years ago my uncle's farm was five 100 acre fields with fencerows around them. The Quail hunting was epic. Now it is one 500 acre field and there are no Quail around. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
The farmers have pushed out and burned nearly every fencerow around. The quail and rabbits are not extinct but are few and far between. This is my experience in SW Georgia also. 50 years ago my uncle's farm was five 100 acre fields with fencerows around them. The Quail hunting was epic. Now it is one 500 acre field and there are no Quail around. Hawk and Hog populations have ruined most quail hunting. hawk populations came back after DDT and other pesticides were banned. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 9:18:00 AM EDT
[#25]
Lots of stuff has become scarce since the tree huggers started saving shit...
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Posted: 10/27/2016 9:19:01 AM EDT
[#26]
Wasn't the WWF I was thinking of.
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Posted: 10/27/2016 9:27:36 AM EDT
[#27]
Lighting bugs
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Posted: 10/27/2016 9:30:22 AM EDT
[#28]
WWF must have included the spineless republicans in congress in those statistics.
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Posted: 10/27/2016 9:37:57 AM EDT
[#29]
I've noticed republicans have become an invertebrate.
They've lost their backbone. Survived the evolution. Maybe. Does that count? Of course, they may be extinct next year. ETA Fuck! Typed this as soon as I opened the post, didn't read shit. Beat by 7 minutes. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 9:43:49 AM EDT
[#30]
Quoted:
I know they are not extinct but I haven't seen a horned toad or quail around here in many years. I believe fire ants are the reason, not anything caused by man. Unless you count fire ants being imported in root balls 60 years ago. Do you notice any particular species missing in your area? My AO has seen a huge increase in quail population and I have seen horn frogs this year. I'm West of Forth Worth by about 160 miles. We had rain this year and that helps. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 9:44:07 AM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted: It has nothing to do with farming techniques, and everything to do with the predator boom. Coyote, fox, fishers, mink, etc are all doing very well (too well for pheasant). And other less bloodthirsty critters want to eat their eggs, like coons and possum. A lot of farmers are actually practicing "no till" farming these days, to reduce soil erosion. That means that they don't plow the field after every crop, and just plant over the stubble. That should be a huge benefit to pheasants, but it's not enough to overcome all the critters that are trying to kill them. If you want to help the pheasants return, start trapping and killing varmints. But unless a lot of people start doing it, the pheasant is doomed in WI, MI, and MN. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Hardly see any pheasants now. When I was a kid, they were pretty common, enough to be regular roadkill. Now they're rare sighting. You pretty much have to be on private land or one of the "seeded" public hunting grounds on opening day to find pheasants these days. Last time I went to a seeded hunting ground, the hunters were practically elbow to elbow. I kind of blame this on modern farming methods. In the 70's, the rows were still far apart you could walk between them. Now row spacing is like 6" apart and plants are like 3-4" apart it seems like. This isn't the issue, not for the pheasants anyway, but the modern practice of when harvesting the corn, the stalk is sheared off like 2-3" above the ground, and turned into sillage after separating from the corn. Then the field is turned. The harvesters are more efficient and results in less spilled corn. That plus a lack of cover because of the bare stalks leads to fewer pheasants, IMHO. It has nothing to do with farming techniques, and everything to do with the predator boom. Coyote, fox, fishers, mink, etc are all doing very well (too well for pheasant). And other less bloodthirsty critters want to eat their eggs, like coons and possum. A lot of farmers are actually practicing "no till" farming these days, to reduce soil erosion. That means that they don't plow the field after every crop, and just plant over the stubble. That should be a huge benefit to pheasants, but it's not enough to overcome all the critters that are trying to kill them. If you want to help the pheasants return, start trapping and killing varmints. But unless a lot of people start doing it, the pheasant is doomed in WI, MI, and MN. I agree with your "predator boom" but it has everything to do with farming practices.. When all the cover is lost due to fenceline removal, waterway loss, and mowing of ditches and waterways multiple time per season the predators have it easy.. kinda like having only one restaurant in town everybody knows where it is. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 9:46:07 AM EDT
[#32]
Why is the World Wresting Federation's opinion on wildlife even being discussed ??
Who cares what they think ?? |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 12:31:44 PM EDT
[#33]
Weird, I haven't seen a T-rex lately. I remember seeing them wander around, little arms flailing away.
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Posted: 10/27/2016 12:33:23 PM EDT
[#34]
I see bald eagles in my neighborhood on a regular basis and there are tons of manatees in the rivers at the coast.
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Posted: 10/27/2016 12:36:04 PM EDT
[#35]
May more birds than we used to have.
Lot's more tarantula hawks around too. I have also seen many more birds of prey flying around. Other than that, nothing. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 12:37:57 PM EDT
[#36]
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Posted: 10/27/2016 12:44:52 PM EDT
[#37]
The whipper whill. Pretty sure I mudered the spelling.
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Posted: 10/27/2016 12:53:36 PM EDT
[#38]
Quote HistoryQuoted: No, it's farming practices, but not the one he mentions. It's the practice of farming from edge to edge. With no till and gps, you can farm all of your land. No need for windbreaks, so knock down the treelines, and get rid of your hedgerows. They just waste land and steal sunlight from the crops. Predator populations trail prey populations. You're not going to get a predator boom without a preceding boom in prey populations. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Quoted: Hardly see any pheasants now. When I was a kid, they were pretty common, enough to be regular roadkill. Now they're rare sighting. You pretty much have to be on private land or one of the "seeded" public hunting grounds on opening day to find pheasants these days. Last time I went to a seeded hunting ground, the hunters were practically elbow to elbow. I kind of blame this on modern farming methods. In the 70's, the rows were still far apart you could walk between them. Now row spacing is like 6" apart and plants are like 3-4" apart it seems like. This isn't the issue, not for the pheasants anyway, but the modern practice of when harvesting the corn, the stalk is sheared off like 2-3" above the ground, and turned into sillage after separating from the corn. Then the field is turned. The harvesters are more efficient and results in less spilled corn. That plus a lack of cover because of the bare stalks leads to fewer pheasants, IMHO. It has nothing to do with farming techniques, and everything to do with the predator boom. Coyote, fox, fishers, mink, etc are all doing very well (too well for pheasant). And other less bloodthirsty critters want to eat their eggs, like coons and possum. A lot of farmers are actually practicing "no till" farming these days, to reduce soil erosion. That means that they don't plow the field after every crop, and just plant over the stubble. That should be a huge benefit to pheasants, but it's not enough to overcome all the critters that are trying to kill them. If you want to help the pheasants return, start trapping and killing varmints. But unless a lot of people start doing it, the pheasant is doomed in WI, MI, and MN. No, it's farming practices, but not the one he mentions. It's the practice of farming from edge to edge. With no till and gps, you can farm all of your land. No need for windbreaks, so knock down the treelines, and get rid of your hedgerows. They just waste land and steal sunlight from the crops. Predator populations trail prey populations. You're not going to get a predator boom without a preceding boom in prey populations. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 12:56:16 PM EDT
[#39]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
This may sound weird, but I rarely see chipmunks anymore. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
I know they are not extinct but I haven't seen a horned toad or quail around here in many years. I believe fire ants are the reason, not anything caused by man. Unless you count fire ants being imported in root balls 60 years ago. Do you notice any particular species missing in your area? This may sound weird, but I rarely see chipmunks anymore. Shit, come to my house there are shit-tonnes |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 12:58:39 PM EDT
[#40]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
The whipper whill. Pretty sure I mudered the spelling. Whippoorwills need grassy meadows to nest in. We still hear them starting in early spring in the hills of West Virginia. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 12:59:06 PM EDT
[#41]
Quote HistoryQuoted: How do you explain quail and horned lizards becoming rare in places without fire ants? WWF if full of cow patties. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: I know they are not extinct but I haven't seen a horned toad or quail around here in many years. I believe fire ants are the reason, not anything caused by man. Unless you count fire ants being imported in root balls 60 years ago. Do you notice any particular species missing in your area? How do you explain quail and horned lizards becoming rare in places without fire ants? WWF if full of cow patties. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 1:00:25 PM EDT
[#42]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
When I read the thread title I pictured Hulk Hogan at a press conference giving a speech on wild life. I was thinking more like a steel chair to the vertebrae. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 1:05:18 PM EDT
[#43]
It's mostly politically-driven taxonomic shenanigans.
Divide a species into 87 sub-species based on some insignificant distinction (very often it's purely geographic), then declare 7 of these "species" threatened/extinct. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 1:08:21 PM EDT
[#44]
I haven't seen a vertebrate in the white house in a long while....
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Posted: 10/27/2016 1:15:47 PM EDT
[#45]
I see tons of quail and a horned toad at least one a week. I'm guessing I'm further south than you are though.
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Posted: 10/27/2016 4:46:48 PM EDT
[#46]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Yeah. Pretty sure the farmers fall tilled in the 60s - 80s when bird populations were much higher. But I think modern herbicides/insecticides and clean weed free fields are a big reason too. The chicks need light cover they can move through while hiding from predators and insects to eat. Also picture a modern farm vs a 70s farm - recreational mowing of yards and every road edge. Monoculture brome and fescue if it isnt mowed. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
No, it's farming practices, but not the one he mentions. It's the practice of farming from edge to edge. With no till and gps, you can farm all of your land. No need for windbreaks, so knock down the treelines, and get rid of your hedgerows. They just waste land and steal sunlight from the crops. Predator populations trail prey populations. You're not going to get a predator boom without a preceding boom in prey populations. Yeah. Pretty sure the farmers fall tilled in the 60s - 80s when bird populations were much higher. But I think modern herbicides/insecticides and clean weed free fields are a big reason too. The chicks need light cover they can move through while hiding from predators and insects to eat. Also picture a modern farm vs a 70s farm - recreational mowing of yards and every road edge. Monoculture brome and fescue if it isnt mowed. Missouri had scads of quail while lespedeza was still a common hay crop. Where I live in row crop country, the fields are plowed ditch to ditch and any cover is very small and dispersed. I haven't had a quail next at the edge of my yard for at least 5 or 6 years, and the last time I had a meadow lark nest was probably in 1994. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 5:00:20 PM EDT
[#47]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
caterpillars. stopped around '05. used to cover the ground in certain areas for a couple weeks Now you mention it, those too. We used to have the trees covered in tent caterpillars, barely see anymore. Fireflies, same thing. Still some but nothing like they used to be. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 5:03:06 PM EDT
[#48]
Yes. Not extinct, but definitely not where they used to be.
Texas horned lizards (horny toads). I used to catch them by the dozen in the lots behind my house in the Hill Country growing up. I bet I've seen less than 10 in the last 15 years. |
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Posted: 10/27/2016 5:08:49 PM EDT
[#49]
Leopard frogs and box turtles are way down around here. Quial too.
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Posted: 10/28/2016 2:04:31 AM EDT
[#50]
Just to be clear, I don't believe anything from the WWF.
I've just noticed, many years ago actually, that some species are pretty rare around here when they used to be plentiful. The lack of quail and horned toads pretty well coincided with the invasion of fire ants in central Texas back in the late 70's - early 80's. There were quail everywhere and horned toads were very common. There's never been a lack of coyotes here, so I don't think predation by them is what caused it. I miss flushing coveys anytime I tried and picking up horned toads to check out and marvel at their coolness. The wasps that the weirdo Aggies released seem to have done a good job on fire ants but I still don't see quail or horned toads. |
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