The Elusive moose and the translocation of red oak

[SwampDonkey]

Hi All:

Since 1998 I've noticed the occurance of red oak seedlings on my woodlot and figured it must be crows transporting the acorns from a nearby stand on Mars Hill Mountain. My woodlot is on the international boundary line with the state of Maine, and this mountain is in Maine. There have never been any red oak on woodlots in my area, except 10 miles away along the Saint John River valley and scattered pockets here and there which become more common on the lower stretched of the river vally. They are also on the lower reaches of the Miramichi river to the east. And I did not realize untill last fall that there was even a stand of red oak on Mars Hill untill in the fall of the year I noticed two stands on the south facing slope. Oak is very common is southern Maine and I don't think you ever run out of oak along the eastern states.

None-the-less I now have red oak where there never was. I finally ruled out the crow theory because I'de see oak germites in clusters of 2 or 3 sometimes. I know crows are smart, but they aren't transporting acorns nearly a mile and dropping them side by side  ;)

Well it just so happens we have always had several moose on the local  woodlots and farm fields. I've seen 1 to 5 at  a time on a small area. They seem to thrive on willow and red osier dogwood since they are like mowing machines around these plants. They also like to strip the aspen, maple, and birch species, but they never ever touch the white ash unless they may be rubbing their velvet on one. I even have seen where they attack white pine and balsam fir stripping all the branches and ripping off the top. Must be an angry bugger  ;D

Getting back to the oak. I've seen seedlings up to 4 meters in height now. The moose do browse them, but only suckers if your stupid like me and mistake the stem for large-toothed aspen. Yup, I was thinning a stand and cut one down thinking it was aspen untill I looked at the buds. oops  ;D My father reminds me off it every now and then, because he knows it p'd be off  :D

Anyway, I found one nice red oak along my road and decided to trim it up. I know moose don't prefer these trees because they have a beat'n down path running by it. And directly across the road and down over a small bank I spot yet another red oak the same height. Well, its no wonder the area is so poplar for moose because there are beaver  pond after beaver pond up along the brook. I have one pond on my lot but its confined by stream banks and a section of the woodlot that never was productive for tree growth, except black ash and white cedar (about a hectare).

I've found several other oak germinates also and GPS'ed most all their locations for future monitoring. I've also out-planted my own acorns. I tried two methods of planting. One method was broadcasting the acorns, very little success. And the other was to bury the seed 1- 2 inches in the soil, very successful. I continue to monitor these also.

It is now January 7th and 2 inches of snow on the ground. The moose always seem to migrate out of the area untill April. I find they move into mixed wood forests for cover, further upstream.

Most of my woodlot is spruce plantation with natural cedar, fir and hardwood mixed throughout. Some poplar-white ash stands and planted eastern larch, planted yellow birch, planted oak, planted butternut and planted walnut. Also, I've seeded oak, sugar maple and basswood. The majority of my hardwoods are white ash , red maple and sugar maple which are abundant throughout. No moniculture here.  ;D

Common sitings in spring through fall are coyote, snow-shoe hair, ruffed grouse, snipe, woodcock, black and mallard ducks, Canada geese in flight, red fox, and my black bear friend. Oh and the swamp donkeys  ;D

I've been following the black bear since he was a cub, his paw print keeps getting bigger. Must be from eating my apples from a tree which was planted many years ago (at least 80 yrs).  Yup, I like bears too  ;)  

Two years ago a male bear and  two cow moose and 1 calf hung around a clover field all spring and summer eating. Yes, the moose can eat clover, they get down on their knees. Bear and moose would be in the field at the same time, but at a distance.  ;D

Anyway, enough on this post  

[Jeff]

Very interesting SwampDonkey. Thanks for this post! By the way welcome to the Forestry Forum!

[SwampDonkey]

HI There

Just cleaned some ashes and stoked the furnace. -15 here this am burrrr.

Just logged on and noticed your on here early this morning  ;D


Getting back to the moose again......

One April day I decided to go for a walk in the upper section of father's woodlot, which is beside mine BTW. There happened to be crust to walk on, otherwise I wouldn't have made it. Even on snow shoes you go to the bottom because over the winter the fir and the hazelnut hold the snow up and leaves air pockets underneath. But, this was ideal walking with 2 inches of crust. While I was up there I found an area of young poplar and white birch where the moose where hangin that winter. When I hit that area it was hard walking because of all the deep moose prints in the old snow. I'de trip up walkin through there. arrrgg! Just north of there was a mixed stand of cedar, fir, poplar and hardwoods where they got shelter. The highway east of there had posting of moose crossings. They tarvel from the head of my brook into the head of another which flows north east into the Saint John. My brook also goes into the same river but first goes over into Maine, dumps into the Presque Isle , then back over on our side and into the Saint John.

check this site out, click the map below, I'm in zone 10

http://www.gnb.ca/0078/fw/nonres-e.asp

If your interested, you can pick up a Big Game Harvest summary for 2002 here, including moose, white tails and black bear.

http://www.gnb.ca/0078/fw/biggame-e.asp


regards

[Danny_S]

Very interesting indeed!  I too live here in N.B. and almost take it for granted the animals we get to witness around here. Dont see black bear very often but I dont spend alot of time out and about the woods either. As much as I love to hike, along with my brother who does as well, we dont get to get out much.  Swamp, I am going to have to look you up sometime and we can have a good chat over coffee  ;)

[slowzuki]

swampdonkey,

We have a grove of red oak growing along my parents property line on the Mactaquac headpond.  They don't seem to grow anywhere else here except a single tree I found up on our property.  Must be the darn crows!

Ken