It took a while but finally got the "written permission" that is called for when removing such from a Florida WMA. With that in hand Louann and I headded down to the swamp on a cold afternoon last week to get the nest.
Carried the pole saw, a rope, the hand saw and a plastic bag to put the nest in once it was safely down. Tossed the rope over a adjacent limb to keep the nest from crashing to the ground when I cut it lose. Unfortuinately the pole saw was of very little help as the angle of the limb the nest was on kept the saw from getting a bite.
Ended up having to shimmy my old skinny butt up that tree and cut it off with the hand saw. Of course the darn thing did not simply swing down on the rope but rather hung up in a adjacent tree. So I got to climp another tree.
This tree was not as friendly as the first one and when the limb came lose it caused some havock that resulted in my thumb and the hand saw becoming well aquainted. After Louann got the bleeding stopped, by wraping a couple of strips of the plastic bag tightly around it, the nest was now close enough to the ground to where we could cut it lose and let it drop in the bag.
Now we all know how things that are far away, like up in a tree, tend to look smaller than they are. This nest was that way. It would not fit in the bag; couldn't get the thing even close to closed. And because after all the work that had gone into this thing we did not want it to get damaged ridding in the back of the truck it rode, in the unsealed bag, in Louann's lap back to the house.
It was worht the effort though. The nest is 38" tall and near 18" in diameter and in VERY good condition. Louann's spraying it down with a few coats of clear sealer to preserve it. It'll end up in the house someplace............
Carried the pole saw, a rope, the hand saw and a plastic bag to put the nest in once it was safely down. Tossed the rope over a adjacent limb to keep the nest from crashing to the ground when I cut it lose. Unfortuinately the pole saw was of very little help as the angle of the limb the nest was on kept the saw from getting a bite.
Ended up having to shimmy my old skinny butt up that tree and cut it off with the hand saw. Of course the darn thing did not simply swing down on the rope but rather hung up in a adjacent tree. So I got to climp another tree.
This tree was not as friendly as the first one and when the limb came lose it caused some havock that resulted in my thumb and the hand saw becoming well aquainted. After Louann got the bleeding stopped, by wraping a couple of strips of the plastic bag tightly around it, the nest was now close enough to the ground to where we could cut it lose and let it drop in the bag.
Now we all know how things that are far away, like up in a tree, tend to look smaller than they are. This nest was that way. It would not fit in the bag; couldn't get the thing even close to closed. And because after all the work that had gone into this thing we did not want it to get damaged ridding in the back of the truck it rode, in the unsealed bag, in Louann's lap back to the house.
It was worht the effort though. The nest is 38" tall and near 18" in diameter and in VERY good condition. Louann's spraying it down with a few coats of clear sealer to preserve it. It'll end up in the house someplace............
That's huge.
Tell 'er hogdogs said... "NICE!!!"