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A (Hot) Walk in the Woods Today

Started by WDH, August 01, 2007, 09:09:39 PM

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WDH

I spent most of this hot day in one of the finest hardwood forests in this area.  Thought I would share a few pics and post a couple of whats-it?'s.

Here is a grand old cherrybark oak that I got to visit up close and personal.  It is over 5 feet in diameter.



Another view from the other side.



Did I say it was HOT?!!

Here is a another denizen I encountered.  He/she paused only long enough for a quick pic before slithering on into the creek.  A very pretty water moccasin (of course I was wearing snake legging ::)).



Here is an interesting work of art.  No doubt as to the species of this tree, right?  I am sure that none of y'all have done anything like this..........

Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Dodgy Loner

Is that the same cherrybark we saw after we measured the cow oak?  It would be a crying shame to see that land developed :(
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

Lanier_Lurker

Ye Gods, I don't like cottonmouths.

Give me an ornery eastern diamondback any time.  They are hard to sneak up on, unlike those DanG moccasins.

They all give me the willies, but cottonmouths cause me extreme discomfort.

I have handled diamondbacks, canebreaks, and cottonmouths.  When calm, the cottonmouths are easy to handle.  But when they get excited, oh wow.....  They can move in ways that a diamondback could not dream of.

The one in that picture looks like a near perfect specimen.

And yes, it was hot as Hades in Georgia today - with humidity that could rival that found in Louisiana.

WDH

Yes, DL.  You have visited that Quercus pagoda.

LL,

That reptile was a little excited.  Would not hang around for a close up pic.  Unknowingly, I walked right up on it, but it moved when I was about 3' away, so I saw it soon enough to step back and grab for the camera :).  Hot as hades for sure.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Don K

The only pretty cottonmouth to me is one with bodily fluid seeping from various wounds. Of all the hurt you bad snakes that one is highest on my get your adrenalin pumping list.

I don't know what it is about a beech tree for carving into. I guess it is that smooth paper looking bark and as in the pic the carving stays visible forever.
Lucky to own a WM LT40HDD35, blessed to have a wife that encouraged me to buy it.     Now that\'s true love!
Massey Ferguson 1547 FWD with FEL  06 GMC Sierra 2500HD 4X4 Dozer Retriever Husky 359 20\" Bar  Man, life is getting good!

SwampDonkey

Well I got one fer ya. I even had the camera at hand. I walked within 20 feet of the snout of a black bear this morning. It was a small bear and at first I thought it was a 'porky' clambering through the brush until it stuck it's black head out of the brush and tore off after coming 'literally' eye to eye with me.  sail_smiley
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

WDH

A bear would excite me more than the snake did :).
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Lanier_Lurker

WDH, you got that right.

One way or another, I'll deal with a snake if'n I have to - even if it involves having a spastic stomping fit.  I've come real close to being bitten by a rattlesnake - and the best thing you can do is have the sole of your foot facing one if you find yourself too close.  Even the sole of a regular shoe will stop a rattlesnake strike.  I've never had to pin a dangerous snake with my foot, but if circumstances forced me to I would do it almost without thinking.

Thank goodness I only have to worry about black bears in this area - and they seem to be pretty shy (I've never seen one in the wild).  You folks that have browns (or grizzlies) can have them. 

I'm scared enough of unruly cattle. 

Mammals that weigh more than I do really scare me.  Horses, cattle, bears (and they have big teeth), etc.

I don't think I'll ever go to Pamplona and run with the bulls.

Speaking of black bears, one got hit on I-75 over around Cartersville within the past couple of weeks. 

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/printedition/2007/07/25/bear.html

Dave Shepard

I'll take the big cuddley bear over the snake anyday. (Bears are afraid of sasquatches, don't you know)


Dave
Wood-Mizer LT40HDD51-WR Wireless, Kubota L48, Honda Rincon 650, TJ208 G-S, and a 60"LogRite!

limbrat

I had a flat on my belly with brush tight on each side of me one hand in front of me and a big and mad copper head coming up out of the litter between my face and my hand once :o. I knew i was alright if she would have bit me she could have blinded me or made me real sick before i could get to the hospital. But she would not have ate me they prefer a low fat diet. I think bears like grease.

That cotton mouth is a female see how her tail tapers down real fast. Males have sex organs behind there anal vent the females aint got nothing but spine and a little meat so males taper off slower.
ben

WDH

We were not on speaking terms.  I tried to talk her into posing for a close-up, but oh no, she was not having any of that.  She took off for the creek.  I gingerly followed here hoping she would stop and I could get a better pic.  You ever went looking for a snake that you knew was there, but could not see it?  Kind of makes you walk a little tippy-toes :) ;).
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Don K

All of my snake pictures have the snake hanging in the air by their tails with the caption "The one that didn't get away."   :D
Lucky to own a WM LT40HDD35, blessed to have a wife that encouraged me to buy it.     Now that\'s true love!
Massey Ferguson 1547 FWD with FEL  06 GMC Sierra 2500HD 4X4 Dozer Retriever Husky 359 20\" Bar  Man, life is getting good!

tim1234

WDH,

Call me crazy, but I can't see the snake in that second pic.  I am color blind so that may be the reason.  I see a few sticks but no snake.  Where is it in the pic?

It was good meeting you at the roast.  Hope you had a good trip back.

Tim
You buy a cheap tool twice...and then you're still stuck with a cheap tool!!
Husky 372XP, 455 Rancher, Echo CS300, Alaskan 30" Chainsaw Mill

WDH

She is lying under the forked stick, about centered in the pic.  She is the dark olive brown phase of water moccasin.  The long green switch cane leaf (bamboo) that you see coming down from the top of the pic (the green leaf, not the yellow one) is pointing just behind her head.

Note the poison ivy in the northeast part of the pic.  You cannot see the chiggers because they were already all on me :-\.  Several nasty things in concert ;).

Tim1234, I enjoyed meeting you and your family!  DR Buck took a pic of you daughter that I am sure he will post.  She is a doll.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

tim1234

Now I can see it.

Wow, bein color blind, maybe I shouldn't walk in the woods.  I'd have been the dead guy layin next to the forked stick :-* :'(

Tim
You buy a cheap tool twice...and then you're still stuck with a cheap tool!!
Husky 372XP, 455 Rancher, Echo CS300, Alaskan 30" Chainsaw Mill

WDH

I did not see her until she moved, right in front of me.  One of those heart-jumps-into-the-throat events.  She was not aggressive, just trying to get away.  She was probably more afraid of me than I was of her.

Color blindness would definitely be a detriment in snaky places......
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Part_Timer

Sound to me like you just have a way with the ladies. :)

I don't mind a bear as much as a snake.  They just bother me for some reason.
Peterson 8" ATS.
The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

WDH

I went down to the road to put out the trash container and the recycle stuff late this P.M.   Just up from the driveway was a dark visitor lying there about to cross the driveway.  I saw him/her when I got out of the vehicle to dispose of the trash.  He/she was about 6 feet away.  I had obviously disturbed its transit.  I took a pic, and will post it tomorrow.   Not poisonous.  He/she was just trying to make a living.  I left it undisturbed.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Mooseherder

I had to kill another Rat Snake 2 nights ago in the dark. Didn't know it was a Rat Snake at the time again. This is the second one in about a week.
My wife was frantically calling me to hurry up, the cat was whacking at a snake. When I got out there( and letting my 2 dogs out by mistake) I saw the snake reared up and the cat swinging. Got the shovel outta the garage and walked towards the commotion. My almost 17 year German Shepard who was oblivious to the snake was stumbling over to the kitty and the little 7 lb Pomeranion was also too close.
So I whacked it and then realized it was just a harmless snake. Just can't take a chance in the dark.

limbrat

I had a minature dashhound about a 8lb. dog a great little noise maker and a hell of a ratter. He was a pound dog and gun shy so he never went hunting with me but he loved to hunt and did it all the time. One sunday he was after something on the otherside of the pond. A couple of minutes later he came to were we were sitting and jumped in my lap when he landed he gave a little yelp and he was acting funny. He had two puncture marks of the top of his nose with drops of clear liquid on them and his nose was swelling. He took a good solid bite from a good size snake the wholes were about a inch apart. My wife got a phone book and we headed to town about a hour later we were in a emergency vet office $ with a little dog whos head, neck, back chest and legs were badly swollen and he was in pain.
I have a three dog pack Im the alpha dog my oldest dog is about twelve and i have had him since he was a pup and i lost him for over a year hes the second dog if he has another dog to boss around he seems to stay more active and in better spirits so little red the dashound was the omega. after he got bit he would not allow anyone else to hold him and he rode on my lap to town he never tried to do that before so he was scared. The vet gave him a shot of benadrly and a shot of steroids to help perk up his kidneys. The vet said if his kidneys didnt shut down in the next three days he should be ok, he also perscribed half a benadrly tablet and half a baby asprin twice a day and a shot of penicilllin as often as the label allowed. Four days later he was still swollen but was moving around better and didnt have as much pain, Acouple of weeks later he was normal size but was shy to hunt. He whould start nosing around a stump or a clump of grass and something would move and he would jump and them back away.
Untill the next spring we were in the woods behind the house and there was a lot of movement in a clump of muskedines over head and this grey rat snake came down them vines real fast with a pair of blue jays hot on him. The snake was not concerned with us and passed right in front of us. All the action was to much for little red and he jumped on the snake and harassed it untill he lost it. After that he started hunting again.
Acouple of months later a pack of dogs came around with a bitch they were trying to romance red got away with them and i havent seen him since.
I was suprised at how well a dog can take a snake bite if its treated soon.
ben

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