Did You know - outdoor edition

[KEC]

Young bluebirds are known to help the adults feed a second or third brood. Boxes for bluebirds should not be in the shade or too close to thick cover to avoid House Wrens which will trash others birds' eggs. And try to avoid areas with House Sparrows; they will kill nestling and adult bluebirds and Tree Swallows. A male House Sparrow killed baby Tree Swallows in 2 of my boxes recently. Bluebirds like lots of overhead perches to keep watch on their nest. And they get insects by spotting them from a perch and dropping down to the ground to get them. Short grass or barren ground is conducive to this. When cutting firewood I sometimes cut a hollow log full of black rotten wood  that has big insect larvae in it. Or I may debark wood that has been down for a while with larvae under the bark. I have gathered up these larvae (some are huge) and tossed them on a bare spot on the ground near a bluebird nest with babies. Those sharp-eyed birds immediately start scarfing and feeding them to the babies. Bluebirds also are parasitized by blowfly larvae that attach to the feet and wings of nestlings. Those larvae hide in the bottom of the nest. I have removed them from the nest and tossed them on the ground and the bluebirds scarf them up too, giving the baby birds back the nutrients that were stolen from them. Those huge larvae are good fish bait too; though labor intensive to collect.

[Texas Ranger]

The back of our house is mostly glass and in daylight it is a mirror.  Daily birds will leave the  feeders and fly into the mirror, occasionally have to pick them up and place them out of reach of the feral cats that I have not managed to "relocate".  In my youth Missouri we would have quail fly into the windows, down here fire ants have eliminated quail.  We used to set out line traps in my youthful days, fishing line with a loop in the rabbit runs.  I think only the dumb ones were caught this way, but gave us something to do on cold winter days.

[KEC]

Texas Ranger, You could try a couple things to reduce bird window strikes. Tossing some soapy water on the outside will reduce the mirror effect. Hang some netting over the outside. Some suggest putting a hawk-shaped sihlouette (sp) on the window. Researchers estimate that millions of bird are killed in window strikes every year. Many birds, including warblers, migrate at night and are attracted to city lights. They end up flying at full speed into the big windows of tall buildings. Years ago at a TV and microwave tower near my home, someone found dead birds on the ground that had collided with the tower and guy cables. He picked up 1,100 birds and went back a couple days later and found ~800 more. When they stopped using the microwave technology the problem stopped. Something about it attracted the birds. I went there with a friend and saw it for myself, unsettling.

[WV Sawmiller]

KEC,

   Further to your tower remark the head of the wildlife department at AU when I went there had done his doctoral thesis on "Wild Dogs in Alabama". While doing some research for a wildlife class I was thumbing through the Journal of Wildlife Management and I found and read his thesis there. As I remember his conclusions were wild dogs were no longer able to totally survive on their own and required at least periodic supplemental feeding from other sources. I think he found a county dump was a source for one group of dogs but another lived near a TV or Radio tower with long guy wires and a significant number of birds flew into the guy wires and killed themselves or broke their wings and the dogs were feeding on them too.

[wisconsitom]

You look on the sidewalk near the big towers in big cities and see dead song birds.

[KEC]

It's a real shame. Hopefully someone is finding ways to reduce the carnage.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know an atlatl is a primitive tool used by tribes from almost every continent for hunting and protection? It is a spear thrower which basically extends the length of the throwers arm allowing them to throw a lighter spear or dart much longer distances and with greater force than is possible without it. I know various American Indians as well as several African tribes and the Australian Aborigines used them. I understand they were typically made from wood or bone and properly measured probably were tailored to the length of the user's forearm. Some even use some counter weight for balance and extra force.

  I have not tried making or using one but it could well be an untapped market many wood workers and outdoorsmen here on the FF are missing. I bet if I made and took several to my next flea market trip some WV redneck would have to have them for carp fishing or deer hunting.

  Might be a good project for the boy scouts out in Kansas too if there are not too many liability issues (such as using scoutmasters as moving targets). ;)

[KEC]

If I remember correctly, it wasn't that many years ago that, at least in one state, it was legal to hunt deer with that weapon. Maybe PA ?

[WDH]

Anyone who hunts with an atlatl is pretty hardcore, just saying...............We all look for different challenges.  Hunting with an atlatl is not one for me .  I like to eat regularly :D.

[firefighter ontheside]

Missouri is one of three states that allow hunting with an atlatl.  I'm not sure how many deer and turkey have been taken with the weapon in MO, but I'd wager its not many.  Nebraska and Alabama are the other two states.

[caveman]

I've not hunted with an Alati, but I've gigged a variety of creatures with store bought and homemade gigs.  Some of these include frogs, rats, gators (up to over 8'), moccasins, stingrays, and a variety of fish.  One of my heavier gigs was made out of 60d nails with barbs fashioned on the points.  The gig was attached to a 10' section of EMT.

My best ever gig shot was in Palmasola Bay, between Bradenton and Anna Maria Island.  A friend and I were fishing in a shark tournament, and we were getting stingrays for chum and bait.  Over the course of the morning, we had gigged probably 15-20 good sized rays (20-30" span) and then we saw a big one that was roughly 4' across the wings.  Every time we would get just about close enough to thrust the gig and drive it through the ray into the sandy bottom, the ray would scoot off.  After pursuing this thing for way too long, I heaved the gig, which was attached to 12-14' heavy bamboo pole, through the air like a javelin.  The gig hit its mark.  The ray swam off with our gig and the red electrical tap we had wrapped around the end helped us keep an eye on it as the ray swam all over the shallows of the bay.  We eventually got close enough to grab the pole and gaff the ray.  The ray gigging was more adventurous than the shark tournament.

[WDH]

I have heard that circular chunks cut out of ray wings have been sold by unscrupulous seafood purveyors as "sea scallops".  

[WV Sawmiller]

Danny,

   I had heard the same thing about the sting ray wings but really do not care which if they taste the same. 

   I never tried the flounder gigging. I gigged a few suckers in the Spring when they'd be running in the local creeks and I used to be a world class frog gigger. My frog gig was about 3" square with a point in each corner and one in the middle. I'd use a bamboo gig pole 2' longer than my boat. I hunted them on the river where they were used to outboard motor noises and I'd blind them with a 6 volt light hooked to the battery borrowed from the old Avery tractor. I'd just point the boat at them and idle up to them till my gig was within 6" then give a little short jab and he was mine. The main thing was to never move the light or get anything between it and the frogs eyes or he'd jump. I also gigged one big water snake and immediately realized that was not a good idea as he was not happy and he was not easy to get off.

   I had heard people talking about gigging flounders and shuffling in the sand to make them move or whatever then they'd spot one and gig it only to find they had just gigged themselves in the foot.

   I used to spear fish a lot in the Red Sea when I was working a project there in Jeddah. I used a compressed air spear pistol with a 12" pot metal spear at night and a long band gun during the day when the shots were much longer. At night it was just like gigging frogs.

[Hilltop366]

My uncle (fishing captain) would always order scallops when travelling just so he could trip the restaurant up on the fake ones, more than once he ended up with the chef at his table educating them on how to tell the difference.

The price difference might make you feel ripped off even if they tasted the same, we got some local caught ones for seafood chowder a few weeks ago, it worked out to around $1.00 each @ around 1¼" size.

The "grain" in the scallops will be vertical, just like cutting log cookies. I have been told that the fake ones the grain is usually horizontal like a board.

 

[Hilltop366]

The same fishing captain uncle went to a red lobster in Texas once, when he sat down at the table there were pictures of fishing boats on the wall, the picture right next to him was a picture of the boat he was captain of here in SW Nova Scotia.

He told the waitress but said he doesn't think the waitress ever believed him.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know circle hooks tend to catch fish in the jaw/lip instead of deeper in the gut? I don't understand the rationale but several years I changed from J style hooks to circle hooks and started catching more fish and catching them in the lip where they are easier to remove and live longer. 

   During todays catch 2 small flatheads actually swallowed the hook but everything over about 5 lbs were hooked in the lip. I don't know why the smaller fish swallowed it while the bigger ones did not.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know the secret to properly drying bamboo poles for fishing poles, gig pole or push poles is to put it in a place out of the sun to dry? People use to store them in the crawl space under their house or in the rafters of their barn or such. I think the commercial fishing poles sold at most southern bait shops were dried with a torch as they usually has scorch marks on them. Bamboo left to dry in the sun typically cracks very badly.

   Bamboo is a very handy plant useful for many projects but it can get away from you and be a real problem to control.

[WDH]

Bamboo is very hard, flooring is even made from it, but bamboo is not wood, it is a grass  .  Bamboo does not have a cambium which produces xylem on the inside (water conducting wood) and bark on the outside.  It is actually a culm which is the hollow stem of a grass.  

[WV Sawmiller]

   I saw bamboo used for flooring in Indian villages the Amazon and I think I saw it in parts of Asia as I remember. Stalks of bamboo were scored about 1" apart so it would lay flat. It was very strong and very springy with lots of bounce. It was very comfortable to walk on. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know bananas only bear one stalk of fruit? After that the plant is cut down and a sucker off the root or main plant is allowed to grow into the next plant. The ones I saw growing commercially in Cameroon were tied off with nylon cord like guy wires on a utility pole. Also when nearly mature a clear plastic bag similar to a dry cleaning bag is placed over the fruit stalk to keep the fruit growing down instead of horizontal.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know there is an ice cream tree? The Inga edulis is a tree that grows in the Amazon region that has long beans (like nearly 3' long and over 1" in diameter) that grows on trees and is nicknamed the Ice Cream plant. Inside the bean pod is a white cottony fluff surrounding the beans which is chewed and are sweet and taste like sugar water. Some people describe it as a vanilla taste.

Our guide on a trip down the Napo River on 19 December 2008 stopped at a local Indian village had his 16 year old BIL who was traveling with us climb a tree and pick several of the pods which he split open and we chewed the pulp. I see in my journal I described it as something like a thin sugar cane taste.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know in the Amazon there is a big ant called a bullet ant because the bite hurts like the strike of a bullet? They are very common on all the trees and bushes in the jungle. If you watch any of the survival type reality shows on TV you have probably seen the contestants get bitten or warn their partner about them.

  Our guide pointed them out and warned us about them when we did a trip from the Napo River in Ecuador and Peru in December 2008. Fortunately, I cannot personally attest if the description is right. I am a very trusting person and when a knowledgeable person from the region gives me such a warning I tend to believe them. (Now the snake head roasting on stick over a slow fire in the pygmy village in Cameroon for snake bite cure maybe not so much. :)

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know the Gaboon Viper is the largest viper in Africa? It can grow to 6' long, can weigh up to 45 lbs and its head can be up to 6" wide. (WOW!) It also has the longest fangs of any viper at up to 2" long. Its color pattern is similar to our copperhead only it has lighter and darker color and less brown than a copperhead. It is very venomous but fortunately it is not particularly aggressive. It hides in the leaf matter in jungle type terrain and ambushes unwary prey getting too close.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know that while crawfish (Crayfish to some?) are a very popular food for most freshwater fish and I have found lots of them in the guts of large bass, catfish, etc. I have found them to be very poor bait on a rod or set lines? I assume the fish are scared of the large claws. I have even removed the big front pincers hoping the fish would think them helpless and attack them with little change in the effectiveness. A preferred bait is a softshell which is a phase when the crawfish has just molted and is very weak and readily attacked by his normal predators. I don't know how the fish can detect the difference between a hardshell and a softshell crawfish. Bait shops sometimes take hardshell crawfish and keep them in tanks feeding them oatmeal and such to make them grow which in turn makes them molt. As I have discussed earlier I have had very good luck using small crawfish about 1" long as every fish out there seems ready to attack them but if I have larger ones to use I pull the tail off and use the meat inside as bait. I have had some success with that especially when using it on a small jig spinner for bream and crappie. I just put a chunk of crawfish tail meat on the hook of the jig and the spinner attracts them and the meat smell seals the deal.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know that eelskin is made into leather and is very popular in Korea? I assume they must catch and eat a lot of eels there. I came home via Osan in December 1985 and the local markets were full of very attractive leather good made from eelskin which was very soft, buttery feeling leather. Shoes, belt, purses, wallets and I think I even saw coats on display. The eelskin did not seem to be over 4-5 inches wide so it was sewed together to make the larger pieces. The most popular colors were black and maroon. I did not buy any so I cannot verify how well it actually holds up.

   I did not see the tanning process but would love to watch it. Eels are easy to skin sort of like pulling a sock off leaving a tube. I would think would be easy to reverse on a stretching form just like casing a coon or otter or such. I don't know if they salted the hide or what other chemicals were used to tan it.

   I also have a child's blowgun I brought back from Ecuador that is covered in eelskin. The agriculture dog at the airport alerted on it but once the inspector's saw what he'd found they cleared it with no issue.