The Forestry Forum

Just wondering how many of you just like to walk in the woods and admire mother natures work. I know that is one of the most relaxing things to me. Going for a nice long walk in my woods sure is a stress remover. Amazing you can walk the same trail a hundred times and always find something new and interesting.

Gordon

QuoteAmazing you can walk the same trail a hundred times and always find something new and interesting.
Gordon

Gordon, did you ever read the post I made about Horace Kephart?click here (http://www.timberbuyer.net/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl?board=general&action=display&num=54)

There is a section about why we notice the different things.

I too, love to walk in the woods. I have made a promise to myself, to try and do so, more, this spring. I spend a lot of time in the woods during hunting of course, and sometimes neglect spring.

  Spring walks help wake you up from winter. The smells, the newness, all are good for the spirit. Seeing the first curls of a fern, or finding a Morel Mushroom, or seeing the Trilium, finding an antler shed, are all worth the walk in my State.

   I had planned to let the calves and their moms out of the barn by March 3rd (today). Instead, I am still putting other cows in of an evening because it is so cold day and night. I have one more to calve, and she just needed TLC- now with a little shelter and a little extra grain, she's getting pretty vast. Most of the time I'm letting the yearling heifers stay out- they are pretty primed up, and I don't see them shivering much. This herd is getting close to critical mass..
   I want spring to come.          LW

It won't be long L. Today it was 42 here and sunny. But the snow is still up to the windows on my old jeep.

Well Jeff I know what book I'm going to be looking for next. Isn't amazing that some things really never change other than the way we look at them.

They were forecasting two feet of snow for us yesterday in Delaware but now it's going to be mostly rain. I wanted a large snowfall, the sheer beauty and I could make a couple of bucks pushin it. One other reason a day off in this area because a small amout of snow will shut everything down. It's funny to watch the bread and milk leave the store like crazy. I wonder what people do with all that bread and milk?

Thanks for posting that hyperlink Jeff.
Gordon

Oh yeah nothing better than walking in the woods.
Of course most of the woods I walk in is usually piled in skidways along haul roads.

Right now strolling in standing timber is a little difficult because like most of you folks we have about 5 feet of snow on the ground.

But even with that you can't beat a nice relaxing stroll in the forest.
Bill

Today I took a stroll down a haul and skid road then a stroll through a frozen swamp with a timber producer and I will stroll most of the day tomorrow on snowshoes marking timber. The strolls are a little different depending upon time of year and land type. One should woods walk during all seasons for the best appreciation.

I just returned home from a one day excursion to our family's cabin near Detour Village in the eastern U.P. It was not much of a walk as I did not have snowshoes with me and the snow was still 3 ft deep up the drive to the cabin.

We scattered 6 pails of mineral pellots for the deer. We sawn several, and they look like they are doing pretty well. They did not have that "starved look" like they get. They should be fine as I think spring should be here soon.

On my March 7 woods walk while marking timber I came across a fresh deer kill that dogs had just made. My 12 gauge was back at the truck, so it didn't do me any good as a chaser. I will now carry the side arm. Dog packs seem to be getting to be somewhat of a problem.

I had eaten some peanuts along the snowshoe trail and when I came back out to the trail there was an opossum eating the shells. I walked up behind it and tapped it in the rear with my measuring stick before it wondered off. I have since located its den in the hillside.

On my March 8 all day walk, I had lunch in the woods sitting under a hemlock tree during a blinding snow squall. Not good for a picnic in the woods.

Will take another walk tomorrow.

I went out today for a walk and ended up in my new clear cut that I just had done this summer and found very little deer sign. Down by the pond the turkeys have scraped down to top soil and all the stumps I had laid around have been picked clean for bugs or pebbles. Today was the day for squirrels I bet I seen 50 at least. Weather suppose to start warming up a bit so hopefully I can get working on the place........marty8)8)8)8)

Wild dogs, now that could take the fun out of things real quick. In the next county south of me they are starting to have problems with wild dogs. Scary to say the least, needing a sidearm just to go into the woods.

Three ft of snow in the u.p.. I was working in a tee shirt all day Sunday at the house. Then in the afternoon went back in the woods to clean out some ditchs. Nice and peaceful, then the dogs found me (my dogs) I'm straddling the ditch and one jumps down right in front of me knocks me back. The darn dog got me soaking wet in the ditch. Man was that water cold. The dog just sitting there wagging his tail happy to be alive. That was a very long 1/2 mile walk back to the house.
Gordon

Cross country skied in to timber marking site this morning. Then switched to snowshoes until noon when I was able to go on foot. Then back to cross country skis to ski out. Snow was melting fast with south slopes and access road now showing bare ground. Ground now also getting snowfree under the hemlock trees.

Saw 1 squirrel, 2 deer, and 1 coyote.

The maples bloomed here this week. Syrup festival on Whitetop last weekend. I wouldn't know which end of a snowshoe to hit the ball with.

I was up in the U.P. a few weeks back for my aunt's funeral.  I arrived quite early,  so I took a drive out to the land.  Someones doing some heavy cutting back past my place,  so this little bitty road was plowed,  but having the car,  I couldn't see over the snowbanks. Found my shack driveway and climbed the bank.  Dropping down the othe side,  and up to the waist I went.  Well,  I figured I was in for the duration then.  Got up on top of the crust and made it the 200 yards or so to the shack only breaking through the crust a few times.  Stepped DOWN onto the porch.  (It's about 3 feet high),  opened up the shack and checked it,  all okay,  then nature called.  I have an outhouse,  no problem!!  There is a small roof over the back door,  but when I unlatched and pushed,  very little give,  ahhh!!! A drift!  Well,  I got it open enough to get out,  but in looking at the outhouse surrounded by over 3 feet of snow,  with a closed door,  I used a more natural means.  That was quite an adventure!  It never ceases to amaze me,  that after a day of pulling logs out of the swamp,  after a gallon of water and a decent meal,  I still want to take a walk before bed.  Few years back,  deer hunting I got lazy and just kind of propped myself against a deadfall next to the creek,  which had an inch or so of ice.  Ploop!!  Up comes an otter from a hole I had not even noticed.  He nosed around a bit,  then took a long,  sliding skid back to the hole and disappeared!  I'll never forget it!!  Those who walk the woods and enjoy,  and use nature,  are enriched beyond what others can comprehend!!!A cousin of mine has stopped bringing his rifle to deer camp,  but he's out there every day!

   I finally got to do a short walk along I-95 north of Augusta here in Maine- followup to the October trip last year when I thought I'd spotted lichen on the trees. Well- I certainly had- they were infested.. Mostly sickly firs, and very healthy lichen of the genus evernia (abundant) and usnia (less so).

   What I had read about these is that they are an indicator of old-growth forest; and also the overall pollution situation of the forest. Supposedly the lichen are endangered by clearcutting and by pollution in Europe.. In this case, it ain't necessarily so. Trees along the interstate are rarely going to be old-growth, and certainly are going to be targets for pollution.

   What I'm seeing is trees which are dead or dying- or the dying brances thereof- are ideal hosts for these species. That doesn't rule out the clear-cut effect, but throws into question the relation with pollution. I was seeing trees affected by salt definitely, and direct plumes of auto exhaust almost certainly. This is not necessarily the equivalent of acid rain in the forests of Europe.

   All this will push me toward longer and more comprehensive walks in more remote forest area this spring- clearcuts, new growth, old-growth. But I did end up with another wad of lichen. Man, it was bitterly cold up around Bangor..     LW

 
   I love to walk in the woods in the Spring with the flowers just starting to poke their heads
through the blanket of fallen leaves trying to reach the warm sunshine. The trees with their
branch spread wide forming a canopy to shade the ground beneath them.
   I love the smells in Summer with the gentle breezes mixing the aromas of the flowers to
make a sweet air to breathe. The pretty wildflowers blanketing the ground like a living
carpet put there for all to see.
   In the Fall I love the colorful leaves slowing floating down to the ground in a brilliant
blanket to keep the ground warm for the impending winters snow.
   And the sight of winter just makes me wonder is there anything more beautiful then the
first snowfall, the trees collecting the snow on their branches looking at any moment to release their heavy burden  to the awaiting ground below. The smell of everything
clean and fresh.
   Only to give way when Spring reawakens and claims the season again.

So as I don't seem rude for not welcoming Wildflower to the board as I would normally, I must say wildflower got her welcome 21 years ago this August 1st. About time you said something Mrs Admin!

   Hi wildflower! Lovely icon..
  
   2 days after the foray up to Bangor I ran away to a greenhouse in Connecticut that has 7 houses of tropical and sub-tropical plants. I brought back 35 totally impractical plants in 2 1/2" pots- Now for the potting soil and 4" pots- I WILL get my hands in the dirt somehow, for all there is still 3-4ft of snow on the ground. Not quite time to plough yet- and 'hardening off' plants by putting them outside would be a VERY BAD THING :D

Wildflower glad to hear from ya! Guess Jeff pretty much hogs the keyboard. :o

Did you trick him into going for a gallon of milk?
Reguardless, great post and congrats come Aug 1 on the 21st.

Old mother nature sure is amazing !
The kids love the leaf game.

Gordon

Gordon, Download the jukebox program for them. That one is really pretty good. We Get email from all over the world about it. https://forestryforum.com/jukebox.exe

This aint really woods walking, but it was out doors. The Michigan Forest Resource Alliance has an auto tour that runs up US-27 and I-75 starting in Clare, and ending at Hartwick Pines. There are 10 numbered signs along the way that correspond with a brochure that can be obtained at the welcome center in Clare or from Mfra. (www.mfra.org) The problem with the tour in the past has been a lot of people did not know what the signs were for. Well they will have a way to find out now.

We started upgrading the signs to include the MFRA web address today. Do you know how many million people will pass these signs every year?? The kicker is, MFRA includes a big 'ole link to our forum right on its front page!

Here is a picture of my kids (two on the left) and a friend of my son, helping me today, putting up the new mfra.org plaques on the signs.


If you would like to know more about the auto tour, or would like to receive the brochure, or other brochures free of charge, visithttp://www.mfra.org

Tonight we went on the road and added the address plaque to 3 more of the auto tour signs. The Third we got a little crooked because we were trying to rush because of a heavy thunderstorm. We were north of the Muskegon River, almost to Higgens Lake. We had an awsome site! We just got back in the car when a large, mature, Bald eagle swept out of the woods and just in front of us. Looked JUST LIKE THE ONE ON THE SIGN!

Jeff, that's beauty at it's best! Those are some awsome birds to watch fish as well. In this area there are a few eagles but few and far between. Hard to see unless it's a very quiet day at the refuge.

Something there are quite a few of around here are the Osprey. Another beautiful bird to watch as well. The male comes up from down south after winter two weeks before the female to get the nest ready.

Another bird that I admire for its patience is the Blue Heron. Nice long legs, it will stand on one leg in shallow water for ever waiting for a fish to swim within it's reach and then bam fish for lunch.

But the Bald Eagle is the king. 8)
The signs look great.
Gordon

The area I was in has man made nesting platforms built for osprey, In fact one of the signs I have to do is in the edge of thiat marsh. The sign has "floated out of its holes, and will have to be repaired somehow first. There is also a blue Heron rookery on a high wooded knob in the middle of that same marsh. Remember the Houghton lake area from when you were in Michigan Gordon?

I would like to encourage everyone to go to the MFRA.org site and order some brochures. Thats what they are there for. The education is invaluable. They have had requests from as far as Poland and Finland. They send to everyone FREE! They also have a free issue of MUCC tracks Magazine for your Kids.

I expect them to get some requests from you guys, and maybe some ticket sales, and by the way,I asked, and they delivered the cabin last year to the Wisconsin winner!

Jeff,
Good job with the MFRA signs. They are in need of recurring maintenance. You were in active eagle territory. Maybe you remember when there was an eagle's nest there right along the I-27 freeway and young fell to the ground on highway. The nesting platforms were built soon after in effort to get the parent eagles to move nest to safer location.

I'm a regular ticket buyer for the MFRA cabin so will be getting some.

There was an article in a paper south of here last week stating there had been a number of Bald Eagle deaths on man made lakes in the south. The autopsies apparently showed brain lesions. They are looking at algae, the article seemed to be hinting at a Pfisteria type outbreak. Anyone heard more?

I got the signs done today. The last one was the one along the Houghton Lake marsh. I took 4 steel fence posts with me thinking I could drive them in, and anchor the sign to them so it would not keep floating out of it's post holes. The sign sits inches outside of the expressway fence. That close to the Highway, and the steel posts went clear to there top with about 8 smacks of the post driver. I ended up getting it anchored, but will have to go back with lumber to nail across the sign posts to keep it from sinking more and loosening my cables.

The Osprey are already on thier platforms, and there are Blue Heron in the rookery! I will go back in a week or two for pictures. We are creating a virtual tour for MFRA that will change seasonaly. I need some spring photos, so I will wait till it looks a little more like spring. Maybe some of the tour locations will have trilium, thats a sure sign it's spring and not just a snowless winter!

Sounds like you did a great job on the signs Jeff and yes I do remember where Houghton Lake is. Pretty contry, then again the upper two thrids of Mi really is beautiful.

Don I hope thats an isolated problem. That is all we need is another problem with the eagles. Seems like that they start to recover to good healthy numbers and get hit with another blow.

About signs of spring I cut grass for four hours this afternoon on the small John Deere. I hate cutting grass, glad the wife likes to do it or the kids would get lost in the back yard.

The bad news around here the ticks are out hot and heavy already. Before the shower tonight I picked off four of the little buggers. I hate them worse than snakes!!

Oh to spring and wonderful mother nature--she sure could have left the ticks out.
Gordon

Don,

I have not heard of Bald Eagle deaths this far south.  Bald Eagles are on the uprise in north Florida especially close to the Ocean and the intercoastal waterway.  Mullet schools are thick with thousands being in one school and schools following each other up and down the rivers and inlets.

Bald Eagles will spot a single and swoop down to water level, reach below the water with their talons and fly away with a 3 or 4 pound mullet.  If they were to grab more than they could handle their life would be in jeapordy because the water is deep and the currents swift.  Somehow they know what to do.  

This isn't an everyday occurance but is getting frequent enough that most fisherman have seen them lately and can talk about the experience.

Tom, Done won't be able to reply until probably November. He is in Illinois building a log home and will be away from him computer until it is done.

That's cool.  I remember reading his post about that I think.  Doesn't matter. I like ospreys, Eagles and Kites too and just wanted to join in some of this conversation and also bring what I thought was an interesting thread, back to the surface.

I have been watching a  couple of Swallow Tailed Kites soaring over my place for the past 3 or 4 days and stop whatever I'm doing while they visit.
Man, they're pretty.

We have a pair of Red Tailed Hawks that nest very close to our home. In fact they hunt our neighbor hood.

We only have one reservation about them. We have an ankle biter that my wife inherited when her dad died. He is a Yorky that weights about 5 pounds. We do not let him stay out by himself!

Yeah,  I bet a Red Tailed Hawk would give a Yorky a bad time. Have you ever seen the dog hunted or is it just a concern?

We have a couple of big ol' Hoot Owls courting in our front yard a couple of times a week. One puts its face on the ground and spreads its wings out flat and the other sits in a little sweet gum tree and watches. We have a big, solid black, "fixed" cat that my wife worries might get caught.  I would like to see the fight if it happened.  That owl better not miss.

Have you ever seen a soaring Swallow Tail Kite?  They are beautiful.

Never seen them hunt the dog, but the concern comes from watching one actually get one of the neighbors tame rabbits as we stood in the mouth of his garage drinking a "beverage". The rabbit was on the lawn to the front and left of the garage, and the hawk came right over the garage and down on him. It happened within 30 feet of us.

The neighbor ran out flailing his arms and trying to scare the hawk, which just took a little flying loop right at him and them back to it's kill. ( I would say that rabbit was dead or unconcious the second it was struck.) the hawk then flew off with it. Dropped it about 100 yards away. ( I wonder if they do that to make sure the amimal is dead). Picked it up again and was gone.

That rabbit was probably about the same size as scooter.

Jeff, that would not be a nice site to see, scooter being hauled away. I'd keep a close eye on the little dog. If that's not enough to scare you nothing is.

Birds are amazing animals. One day I was walking and there is one trail about 1/4 mile from the house that usually has standing water across it in one spot after heavy rains. Before it has a chance to run out the ditches.

Well I was walking along watching this woodpecker going to town on this rotten tree that I left stand just for that reason. It's actually in the way on that trail but the woodpeckers love it. So I'm thinking about how glad I was to leave that dumb old tree for them and I hear flop-flop-flop. Wings just a getting it. By instinct I ducked and looked around.

Boy did I feel dumb, it was a hen and drake mallard that I had scared up. They flew right over me and off they went. What's worse is that wasn't the first time that had happened in that same area.

I just tilled up seven acres for the man across the road for corn. He had a small corn maze last year that he haunted. It went over very well. So this year he came to me and wants me--get this--to design a corn maze for him. Lay it out and build it because he has so many projects going on right now. Any ideas?

 Wish he would have come to me during winter. Now I've got to figure out how to charge him for my time. The fun never stops. Corn walking-woods walking ur um yea thats pretty close.

Gordon

You got lots of time! Don't you cut the maze after the corn is grown? or do you go in and mark it off when it's knee high so you can see what your doing?

Not really, I'll be planting silage corn and depending on conditions it grows from 7' to 11' tall in a good season. So time will go quicker than you think.

Wait until the corn is about a foot in height, then go in and lay out the grid. Then off of the grid you lay out the trails. Remove the corn from the trails and let the rest grow. It will have two bridges as well going over a large ditch that I will have to plan and build as well.

I'm going to lay out a grid. Unsure right now as to what size would be best. A 5'-10' or 20' grid. Also thought about trying to use G.P.S. if possible instead of laying out the grid by hand.
Gordon

gordon,

Is a Maize Maze for intertainment or profit?  It sounds like a fun thing for a neighborhood project.

A good "Haunted House" project for Halloween. Vary or wave the edges for maximum edge for wildlife.

Tom, actually a little of both. For me the learning curve is going to be pretty steep for the next few weeks getting all of this straight. Should be fun though.

Ron how much of a wave should be used? Please tell me how this will help. Thanks

Plans are for a haunted loop in Oct. and flashlight walks.
Gordon

Gordon,
A chronological chart or pictures would sure be a neat thing to follow on the thread.  Have you considered a historical accounting?

Good idea Tom! Gordon, get yer camera out!

Tom, That is a great idea. Don't have a fancy digital but I've got a trusty old 35mm. If I get the pictures on disk then I could up load them on the net. That would be pretty cool.
Gordon

Gordon, I have a digital, and I would rather have 35mm and a scanner any day for quality. Maybe it's because my digital is a cheepy, but I like to have high quality photos to start with, and I just don't get that with the digital. If you want get double prints and send a copy to me and I can process them to digital for you.

I'll look forward to this!!!

Jeff that is a great idea I'll do that.

Looks like the next week or so I won't be seeing many trees at all. Just field, if I'm not plowing I'll be rotary cutting, also have some grade work to do as well. There is about an acre area the was pooling water but that is easy enough to fix.

Gordon

Gordon,
A varied or waving edge of 66-100 feet waves provides and irregular edge increasing and providing more suitable wildlife habitat area than a straight line cutting.

The irregular edge provides more favorable wildlife cover, shelter, and escape cover.

Gordon and Jeff,
I have an Olympus D-340R 1.3 Megapixel point-and-shoot that does a good job.  It costs in the neighborhood of $300.  In a past life my cameras cost $800 to $1500 and were very sharp with interchangable lenses.  This is no comparison but it amazes me with its sharpness and software.  I have really enjoyed not needing a darkroom too.

Woods driving?????  Last week Saturday,  right before I got home,  I was driving down this little gravel road along the river at dusk,  and spotted a redtail hawk up in a willow tree,  so I slowed to look,  then stopped dead.  About two feet away,  on the limb it was perched on,  was a bloodied fox squirrel,  good sized,  maybe two pounds or so.  They appeared to be having a standoff,  just staring at each other and not moving.   I watched until it got too dark to see.  I have no idea of the outcome.  That tough old squirrel must have gotten in a few licks......

It's a bit of a stretch, but, I guess I-95 and I-10 go through the woods. ;)

It's mother's day weekend and my wife and I drove to Orlando, where I am now, to visit with her mother.

On the North end of Red Bud Lake, one of the many lakes in this area, there was a tall-l--l cypress snag with a Bald Eagle nest in the top.  It was right on the edge of the road right-of-way and you could see the movement of little heads over the top of the sticks.  I don't know how many chicks there normally are but there was more than one.

A little further down the road was an adult Bald Eagle in the top of a cypress snag.  I was feeling really special that I had seen a full nest and an adult all in the same day when, a few minutes later, on the edge of the lake, was yet another adult.  He was preening himself as if he had just finished a meal of fish from the lake.

When I was growing up, I thought Bald Eagles lived "somewhere else".  We just didn't have many.  I guess we must be doing something right because, as Arnold would say, "we're back!!!"

Today I have been sawing Old cypress that has been buried in the muck of an old swamp next to the Okeefenokee. The whole family was out watching and we were having a good time.

While taking a break about 4pm a fawn hopped out of the woods about 100 feet from us and stood in the clearing and watched us as if seeing something new for the first time.  Momma must have been in the edge somewhere but wasn't coming out.

The fawn decided that this wasn't the right place to be and took off across the field away from the place where we figured the doe must be.

Several of the guys took off after it, afraid it may get lost.  About 10 minutes later, after running for a half mile, they got it turned around and herded it back by us where it stopped to catch its breath and stare at us again.  Then it hopped the short distance to the edge and disappeared in the pines and gall berries; we hoped to be with its mother.

That rascal will have a tale to tell.

It's been another hot humid day.  My wife and I  went to the front of the drive to clean up and mow before the threatening showers come.  We need them bad but why do they wait until you want to do something?

While she mowed I got sidetracked, per usual, and got into some of the best plumpest blackberries that we have had in a long time. Off of the tractor I came and before long my face and hands were blue and red.

When she saw that I wasn't going to be any good chore wise, she sent me to the house for a pail and promised to make me something tonight if I would pick them.

Well, the showers did come but I stood out there and picked.  My arms are bloody from elbow to wrist and my fingers look like cactus with all the thorns sticking out.  

After about 30 or 40 minutes of this I charged to the house, having picked almost a half gallon of blackberries and a few high bush blue berries thrown in as well.  My pail contains maybe a quart (liberally). It seems I always eat more than I can
get into the pail.

That's alright though.  She doesn't like cooked fruit, so everything is MINE!

Tonight I'll feast on cobbler.

Tomorrow I'll probably have a belly-ache.  ::) :)

Today we have showers and a high in the low 50s. I also feasted. It is now high school graduation open house time! We were invited to 9 but will only attend 5. No more cooking on Saturdays for a month! The next three are very close, all within walking distance. Next weekend is right next door. Tammy and Stacy will be on a trip to Niagra Falls for 4 days, starting Saturday, so here is my plan. I will fix my plate, wander home, and cover it with foil. I will then wander back. I will continue to do this until I have enough for 4 days. ;)

By George, that's a good plan Holmes!

In destitute times like you will experience is also a good time to frequent the local steak house, Maybe twice, for that special thick Porterhouse.

I got a story, One night there lots of wind you could almost fell it coming throw the walls of the house but I did not think much of it. The next morning I went for a walk and there were a lot of trees down because of the wind so I started marking them so I could go back to get them to get them milled. Well as I was coming around a corner there it was a very very large ash it was at least 4 feet at the base, so I went back to get about 3 weeks later  there were 4 guys there cutting up for fire wood and the guy who owned the land was with me when I went back, but the other guys instead it was on there land it turned out that half of it was on there land but it was all cut up into fire wood all ready so there was not much we could do.

I find cherry and red cedar cut up into firewood on the side of the road and it makes me sick.  Why do they do that?  

I also see people clear an acre of land and throw away the pines,cut them up and put them beside the road for trash pickup. then 2 weeks later there will be a new mobile home there and  3 or 4 months later there will be a big stack of pressure treated pine on the front yard, purchased from Ace Hardware or Home Depot.  They just threw away more lumber than they could have ever used?

Same thing happens here as well. People try to sell the junk trees and trash the good ones.

The man down the street had me come look at a few red oaks, only 18 of them but a beautiful stand. I couldn't even come close to put my arms around them. Boy yes would I love to cut them for him. He was putting a house in the middle of them for his son. There were a few white oaks and Hollys as well in the stand. Plus a few garbage trees.

So I checked with the mill for price and relayed this to him. Gave him an estimate on the value of the trees and cutting, hauling them up to the mill. A couple weeks go by and there are some guys cutting the trees up into---get this---FIREWOOD.

I talked with the father and told him that the price I had given him would buy quite a bit of firewood. Let alone what would be left from the tops of the trees.

He told me that the estimate wasn't squat. Now he had me thinking, because it was top dollar. Now comes the kicker.----The estimate I had given him had per tree at the top for the oaks and he thought it was for all the trees. Well if he would have taken a second to read it at the bottom past the legal mumbo jumbo it had the total estimated value plus or minus.

Needless to say he was fit to be tied. Better than half the trees had been felled and quite poorly might I add. I just left shaking my head. How can a man have that much money and be so darn dumb?

Yes I did cut the rest of the trees after drawing up another estimate at a much lower overall value. Now get this the man was tickled to death with the price. ---go figure-- I still made out quite well on that job.

But I did learn a couple of things from this and glad it didn't cost me any money to do this. Better follow up after giving an estimate and now have my contract setup different than I did before.---live and learn.

Gordon

Fall one of the most beautiful times of year, well next to spring, well next to winter, well next to summer. Well each season has their beautiful points and bad ones as well.  :)

Went for a walk on Sunday, what a perfect day it was. Of course the prime leaf color is over it's still a nice time. Not to hot not to cold but best of all----not a ton of bugs.

The bad thing is it's shotgun season in DE so I keep the kids and the dogs out of the woods for the week long season. But no hunting on Sunday so I don't have to worry so much about a stray slug. You are thinking that a slug doesn't have that much range----ask my mutt---. He took a slug last year and lived to bark about it. He is alot slower moving than he used to be but still is just as much of a pain in the neck as always.

Guess just because he looks like a deer, pretty large and a tan/brown color, proves people always don't know what they are shooting at. Just glad that I wasn't around when it happened man was I some kind of hot. Now I keep much closer tabs on the side boundries of my property during hunting season just to make sure this doesn't happen again.

Be careful and make sure you know whats in your sights
Gordon

 :-/ :)

I am not trying to be in competition with photojournalist who have shown their talents in book after book of  spiderweb pictures.  I was just in awe this very foggy morning with the beauty of the moment.  I was leaving the house and it was so foggy that I was concerned about driving up the driveway.  Monday is garbage day and I was making two trips to the truck , one with the garbage and another with my lunch, coffee and spare blades for cutting that cherry I mentioned earlier.  

As I swam through the fog, I almost walked over this little shrub in the front yard that had been selected by a spider who, last night, had spun this perfect web.  It was glistening with dew and backlit by a rising sun that was hidden somewhere beyond the grounded cloud.

                                                            (https://forestryforum.com/images/YaBBImages/userpics/spiderweb2opt9.jpg)

I had to have a picture of it so I brought my camera back on the second trip.  No spider, but I imagine he/she was there somewhere close by.  I wonder if a hapless insect found himself entwined and became a meal last night.  What a perfect spot, suspended in the middle of the yard where a moth or mosquito attracted to the house lights may run into it.

Then I went to the barn to get my blades and there was a war torn web hanging from the roof of the shed my wife recently had built for me.  At the top of the web sat the spider, patiently waiting, I imagine, for another catch.  He had to have been successful last night because the web has obviously seen several struggles.  The victims are missing though and I will bet they have been wrapped in web and hidden in a dark place up in the eave somewhere.
(https://forestryforum.com/images/YaBBImages/userpics/spiderweb3opt9.jpg)

Excited about having seen this and also being in the right mood to enjoy it, I exited the driveway and passed thousands of webs hanging in the pines on the side and covering the grass along the ditch.  It makes one wonder why they aren't noticed every morning.  Was it the dew that made them visible?  Was it a bunch of tourist spiders stopping off on their way to Disney?  It really makes one wonder why there are such special mornings when you seem to be so attuned to the nature about you.

I wish I were this aware all of the time....it's fun.  It makes me smile.

Cool pictures Tom, come heck or highwater for Christmas I'm getting one of those fancy cameras.  ;) For more reasons than one.

Went for a nice long walk early this morning, with all the kids only lost one along the way. :D She got sidetracked looking at deer prints, we had to double back and ger her. She also found bear prints, well in her mind they were. They were prints from the dog. It was really funny because on the way back all the kids were looking over thier shoulders for the invisible bear they were sure was following us. :)

So one of the dogs comes flying out of the thicket and all the kids go to running. All I saw was hips and hind quarters just a gettin it. I was laughing so hard, then they realized it was just the dog and not the invisible bear. Again I explained that there was nothing to be scared of in the woods but there active imaginations. Kids will really make you laugh at times. Gotta love them little young ones. ;D

Today is Thanksgiving and we have been blessed with a very nice and sunny day. Were having a house full as usual, all the childern, all the inlaws---well most of them. A twentyone pound turkey is cooking in the oven. The ham is being prepped for the oven. Should be a great day. Just hope we have enough turkey. I made my famous stuffing, always a hit. For those of you curious I will be posting the recepie on the knowledge base sometime this week. A little late for use in todays bird but there is always Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Gordon

This is a neat thread, Gordon.  It's just the place for those "feel good" experiences of nature that I run into on occasion.

Here it is December 19th and we are having daily temperatures in the 70's sometimes approaching 80 at midday.  We are really enjoying it and I guess it gets to be too much for the plants too.  Here we are at a time of the year when they should be drawing back and protecting themselves and, low and behold, what do I see this afternoon but a beautiful Azalea bloom.  

This is on one of my dwarf plants.  It doesn't stand out like the regular sized plants do.  I was working on the tractor, not 10 feet away for over an hour and didn't see it until I had my hands full of battery and was headed to the truck to go to town. There in all its glory was this flower.

"Hello, what are you doing here", I asked?  I put the battery in the truck and ran to the house to get the camera as if the flower may be gone before I could get back.  Luckily it wasn't.

Driving to town, I was imagining the good mood the plant must have been in to have provided such a show in the beginning of winter.  Do you suppose they whistle to themselves on a pretty day like I do?

   It is DEFINITELY whistling- or humming- or somehow expressing how in its fullnes of perfection it sings the glory song of life and the one who gave it life. Flowers know NOTHING of war or terror or evil. No one asked the flowers what they thought before the killing started. Flowers, for that matter, frequently bear witness on the killing field to what should be as opposed to what is. Who looks at them? But that flower knows the richness of life and bears witness by its participation in that perfection. I am glad that it called out to you (whistled a 'come-hither')- and that you shared that loveliness with us. 8)   lw

Have you ever heard a tomato scream when you slice them? ;)

No, but I always wondered.    ::) ??

I was reading back through this thread, and specifically where I was talking about seeing an eagle while working on the MFRA forestry tour signs.

When I traveled up for the Capital tree cutting at Crystal Falls, Ada and I sited an eagle and jotted down the time and approximate location so she could pass it on to a DNR wildlife biologist. When we reached Crystal Falls, I mentioned the Eagle to my friend Eva Rice, the past admin of MFRA, and Lorraine the present MFRA secretary, both residents of the area.

They both got funny faces like when you smell something bad. They hate em, They sit in trees in their yards and hunt their pets.

   Never heard a tomato scream- never heard ice scream- but I sure have heard the schlurpy noise a tomato makes as it falls down thru my cuisinart and splats up against the side. It's probably thinking 'life sucks and then you die'- while I'm picturing salsa and other yummy stuff. Hey, I'm an omnivore.. ::)  lw

LW, that reminds me of a joke I saw years ago. It was a blender full of water and a gold fish looking out through the glass with a very perplexed look. The caption was something like "You don't know what stress is!"

Jeff, over on the Mississippi River by Wabasha, Minnesota (The town made famous by the movie Grumpy Old Men) there are lots and lots of bald headed eagles.  I didn't think they messed with pets. They seem to prefer fish but are also very adept scavengers. I wonder if that woman has hawks sitting in her trees.......or maybe a great horned owl.  I've read two stories in Newspapers over the years. One event happened in either Oregon or Washington where a Great Horned Owl was taking peoples pets. One time a guy was walking his small dog on a leash when the owl swooped down and grabbed the dog. A tug of war ensued. I think the guy got his dog back and the DNR had to dispatch the owl 'cause it had gotten too brazen.  Another story was that a hawk tried to take a woman's dog that was on a leash. The hawk had the dog and the woman had the hawk. She slammed that hawk into a wall several times until he decided it best to let go. I think she had to take the hawk to the vet for repair if I remember correctly.       :)

No mistake. Eva is a registered Forester with plenty of wildlife knowledge. She knows her eagles.

Yes she does and lives in Iron County which lays claim to being the Eagle Capital of Michigan. She also worked on the Michigan Sustainable Forestry and MFRA signs displaying the Bald Eagle.

   Unbelievable! Mike's network of buddies has come up with an antler shed already! Seen on the roadside- hopefully not a 'red herring' from a previous year..so Mike is off today (sunny, glorious, 29*) to look for sheds in our woods. Has anyone else seen anything? It seems awfully early. Granted they are not needed anymore, but I thought it was more in January that they started dropping off. :)   lw

March seems to be the big month here when antlers fall off here in PA. There is not set time however and deer don't all lose them at the exact same time. I would think December to be early though. I guess I'll have to read up on it more. :P

Billy

Jeff has been staying in my "special guest Bedroom" until tonight, when the temperature will be to cool for me to have him out in the swamp.  Looking through the back door, I took his picture looking through the front door.  The bathroom is outside to the left........and to the right. :D

   Wow! What an incredible tree! Is that big enough to drive thru? :D :D  Is it by any chance a cypress- that almost looks like a 'knee' at the base- but I'd think if it was a cypress it'd be standing in wqter and the bedroom would be somewhat damp.. Do you have a far shot?   lw

We don't have a "far" shot yet.  It's a "Holiday Inn Oak" ;D, that must have been caught in a fire once upon a time.  The width of the door to the bedroom is only about 3 feet wide.  The tree is pretty good size and Jeff is looking through the front door while kneeling on his knees and elbows.  The "knee" you see is really a deformed portion of a root crown and forms a shelf that would make a real good chair.  It's large enough to support even a substantial derriere.

Here I am looking through the back door at Jeff, who is looking through the front door at me. :D

LW, That is probably a picture of a "Water Oak" on Tom's property and I'm sure there are plenty of cypress around too 'cause Tom lives in a swamp. Let me describe his place for you. ;)

You can't get a vehicle within 1/4 of a mile 'cause of the oozy, organic mud, but Tom has laid out a bunch of boards to walk on so your feet don't get muddy. His home is a one room quaint building, built to resemble a shanty. It is built from rough sawn cypress and oak with handsplit, moss covered cypress shingles on the roof. It has a screen door and screens on the windows to keep the bugs and critters out but no wooden door or glass windows. Inside he has an old potbellied stove that doubles as his furnace, a table made from rough sawn longleaf pine and he uses old orange crates to sit on. He has a handpump in the sink so he can do the dishes. Like he said....the bathroom is outside to the right....or to the left.....or sometimes behind the homestead.  Actually, that old oaktree is better accommodations than his cabin and he's really gone all out to let Jeff stay there. I imagine he laid some boards from his shanty...ahhhh errr...home, to the oak tree so Jeff won't get his feets muddy when he goes for grits and eggs, or grits and fish, or grits and ham, or grits and hash or grits and................... ;D    

   I first met that oozy,organic mud in West by God Virginia- brought a 14' flatbed from Denver, used it during the construction phase on the underground house during the time where they were putting in a new natural gas pipeline- more colors and textures of MUD than I'd ever experienced..

   That flatbed was a real pig in the mud. The worst time was when we went to NC to pick up old I-beams from a bridge- brought them back in February, got all the way home and then hit a puddle and broke thru into MUD- and overnight it froze up around the rear axle. We just about ruined a tow truck's clutch fore we realized it was froze solid.

   Even that paled in comparison to the delight to be had when we slid the I-beams off the truck and some of them slid UNDER the truck- and also froze in. 260# apiece. We got it unstuck eventually, but it was just nothing I ever want to do again. I learned a thorough lesson about the value of preventive roadwork and the value of stone.

   The house is still standing. Between concrete and steel, there's not much to rot. Glass breaks- plenty of that going on-a lot of deterioration. I've been thinking about going back and turning it into a huge greenhouse.

   I don't know. The culture fit me before. Right now-right now New England is home- but let me get down into the south and I can feel it pulling on me.   lw

Amazing the way a thread progresses around here.  ;D

Tom, Jeff, great pic's, were both pic's taken by the same camera? My kids would have a ball with a tree like that. A ready made fort. Bet I could get them to believe that a bear lived there. ;)

It's a small number of trees that really stand out in the forest. You can walk for hours and nothing really stands out and then BAM a tree like that. What a beauty. The Mrs and I were looking at the pic's and not only a ready made fort but a seat to boot. It doesn't get any better than that.

Charlie, I was reading your post on Toms place. Had to stop part way through to wipe the tears from my eyes I was laughing so hard. All I could think of was an old B & W movie of the swamp. A name comes to mind---Uncle Toms Cabin. ;) But something tells me you might be streching it just ALITTLE bit. The reason I say this is he has a puter, so he has to have--sum lectric out dare at his place. I'm thinking you might be holding alittle bit of a brotherly grudge stemming from the famous can of peas post. :D :D  

I've got a few acres on my property that has a nice no bottom mud. You know the kind, if you drive the tractor through it at the wrong time of year----she is sitting on the frame in seconds flat. :-[   Not to bad if I've got the skidding winch on the back. But this always seem to happen when I've got the boxblade, rake or rearbade on the back of the tractor. Now having a loader can help to work your way out.

Got the tractor so tight last winter that the bucket just kept going down down down. couldn't work my way out. Ended up cutting down a couple of small trees to put under the bucket so it had something to float on and crabbed myself out. Not a fun afternoon. Getting the tractor to move that first couple inches is always the deciding point of move or get ---stucker-- :'(But live and learn. ;)

Gordon

I'm not especially a "cat" lover but have had one for about 13 years that thinks he's a dog and I have really gotten attached.  He got snake bit over his left eye the other day and we have been very concerned with his health.  It hasn't bother him much but I just know he was to lose his eye.  Well today I took him to the Vet for the second time and saw a yellow eyeball peeking out from what I thought was a destroyed eyeball.  The tissue under the upper eyelid had swollen so much that it looked like a blood and "Yech" filled eyeball.  I noticed it in the truck on the way to the Vet and was really happy all of a sudden.

That stupid cat is beginning to like riding in the truck.  He was standing on his hind legs looking at everything through the windows and constantly meowing that "hunt" meow that a cat will do.Real nasal and loud.  I hope I don't have to start taking him to work with me now.  I guess I'll know better when he is better.  If he jumps up into the cab then I've got a problem. :D

Well on the way back to the house (I had to leave him at the Vet) I was thinking about setting my mill up this afternoon at my next job. It's raining pretty hard so I'm not too pressed.

I got down my driveway about the to the grape vines and what is walking towards me in the drive but a BIG Emu.  You know, one of those Ostrich type birds that got real popular a few years ago.  

I stopped the truck and was sitting there idling  and he/she walked slowly up to the  hood.  I opened the door and  he bolted and ran about 15 yards away.  Man, you don't have to worry about me catching one of those guys.  It took him about 3 side steps and  he was 40 feet away.

I cranked up and drove slowly toward the house and he followed but disappeared between glances in the rear view mirror.

Somewhere out here on my place now is an Emu.  You never know what you are going to find in a Florida Swamp.

My wife brought the cat home from the Vet tonight.  He had been anesthesized to lance his forehead and is drunk as a skunk.   He can't get on the furniture because he falls off he can hardly stay on the floor......he has few inhibitions and takes off through the house even though he knows he is only allowed in one room.  

I've been laughing at him all nite.

He knows I'm laughing at him and will get mad, turn his back on me and sit down in the middle of the floor.

Hey Tom, We grow some really serious high grade catnip up here that gives the same effect.  Want some?  Shucks, if you want the cat to go snake hunting, this stuff would get you some serious results.  The biggest problem is that ceiling fans get unbalanced when cats go for rides on them. :D ;D ::)

Hey Tom! Did you eat that Emu for supper?  What did he taste like?  Chicken or snake? :D  Or are you going to catch him and train him to offload for ya. ;D

One of them got loose up here, the picture in the paper was pretty good. Two deputies were just making a three point landing, a third in flying tackle..of air. The fugitive was some feet away making an escape :D.
I dunno I think I'd have to call in a 250 lb turkey :D.

Well the other day a friend of mine wanted me to go and take a walk through some woods 72 acres and a house he was looking at. he wanted my opinion of what the woods were worth in their present state. A very nice piece of ground but only a couple of problems that I saw with the property. First it's WAY overpriced and two not much if any timber value at present. So that was what I told him and of course not what he wanted to hear. But I also said in ten to twenty years with the proper management this property would have some kickin timber on it.

What is worse is some event either an ice storm or high winds and an ice storm combined made about ten-fifteen acres of the property look like this. Alot of pine in this stand.

(https://forestryforum.com/images/YaBBImages/userpics/blowdown.jpg)

gordon

It was one of those afternoons that come around so seldom these days.  We had had a rough week and had got a lot done so we indulged a little on this Sunday.  Mary and I went out to breakfast and then visited the folks.  After scaling two loads of logs,  Mary went to figuring them up and then got back to preparing taxes for family and other folks.  I had a couple more hours of a clean up job I wanted to get done so I worked on that.  

I came in the house about 2:30 and announced to Mary, having gotten my chores done,  I was going to go on a "tour-de-farm".  She gave me her blessing and told me to have fun.

I'd been out about a half an hour on the ATV driving the logging roads around our 215-acre farm when I looked down to see the white points of this antler sticking through the leaves right there in the trail.  I was quick to stop and pick it up.  I looked around the area for about an hour for the mate but did not find it.
(https://forestryforum.com/images/YaBBImages/userpics/Antler.jpg)
If we didn't get the trophy in hunting season,  at least I got part of it today!

I took it up to my folks to show them as I had found in on the ridge about 200 yards behind their house.  Mom had seen from one to five bucks at a time behind their house all summer and fall.  Even after Chris had killed a 9 pointer and I a 5,  she still saw this one with BIG horns (as she calls them) up until the last couple of weeks.  Now she knows where it went.  

I had found only one other pair of antlers and they were together in a low spot in the woods.  Saw one just barely sticking out of the deep leaves and then the other by digging around with my feet.  They were larger than this one but had already been chewed on by rodents – beings July when I found them.

I don't know if this picture really fits on this thread but here goes. It's a picture of my oldest girl having some fun cleaning out one of my drainage ditches.

(https://forestryforum.com/images/YaBBImages/userpics/RavenditchF.jpg)

Now if I would have made her do it she would have wanted NO parts of it but when it's put out as being cool to make the water flow then I've got more help than a little bit.

Kids ya gotta love them ;D
Gordon

Gordon  Either you got yourself a keeper or you figured how to bamfoozel her into a little effort. Did you throw some silver dollars into that ditch for stimulation or have to promise her a trip to Disneyworld !!  Them kids are pretty sharp nowadays you must be a pretty sharp pop if you convinced her a shovel was a fun thing to utilize,  way to go !!  ;)

That's not "shovelin".  That's hydrodynamic engineering. ;D

That youngin is learning a valuable lesson there.  Always let the water do the work.  You just move enough of the obstruction to guide the flow.  Useta love building dams and such from all the road sand during the springtime. :D

  Welcome wildflower your nomber 1 flowed you set the standed keep it up and welcome.

   'hydrodynamic engineering'--that's a family tradition with the wakefields. 2 generations now since the first kids figured out what happens when you just EASE a piece of plywood down over the entranced to the culvert over on Muddy Brook road during spring thaw..Mike and Tony did it, then Mike just kinda quietly mentioned it to Jeremiah and Joe a few years ago..yup, still works just great- time for dad to go move it out of the way again. Serves him right for opening his big mouth.. I'm waiting til someone breaks the news to Kimberly, who will doubtless need to see for herself just how it goes.. I hope mum's the word till she's a little bigger..lw

The season is different but the walk is the same.  Robert Burns walks again.  "Whose wood these are", matters not to the walker, merely the walk.  The Trilums are out whites and purples, some Wild Orchards are hanging their heads under the forests canopy, the colors of the Sun.  I am still waiting for the Wild Iris of rais their lavender and purple heads.  

   The "Woody Woodpeckers" are sure making an awful nois this year.  Seems they have arrived much earlier, or perhaps it is me that is late with everything?  After all of these post I have read today, perhaps I should do another "walk-about" .  the rain is fun to hear working  its way through the rapid blooming maples and the low hung boughs fo the Douglas Fir.  I saw my four blooming Wild Dogwood yesterday shining brightly in the warming sum.  Today, they have some  chills, I am sure.  It has been warm a cosey in my Woodshop, feet up and resting till the noon hour and an empt stomach.  It is surely a time for a walk after the food.  I will do that and perhaps share this evening.   Sometimes, though, I can be a birt selfish about my woods, dark and deep.  I will do my best to share and paint a picture of the treking trudge.  Thank you all for Being.  You do make a difference in the Forests of our land.  :D

Today, Sunday, April, 14, was a lazy day.  I was so keyed up, this afternoon, that it was difficult enjoying being alone. I was determined to get away.  I went fishing.

The North end of my property is defined by a tidal creek called Thomas Creek.  No, it wasn't named after me, It has a long historic past and I don't even know who that Thomas was.  Perhaps nobody does.  There is a documented skirmish on Thomas Creek in the Revolutionary War that took place about the crossing of Kings Road (now US-1) and the creek.  No one knows exactly where.  People were pretty sparse around here back in those days.

My place is on a southerly bend of the creek next to a point that looks all the world like a chicken heart.  I've called it that for so long that the neighbors now identify with it.  It has West Landing on one side and me on the other.

In 1986 I permitted and built a dock across 280 feet of marsh and swamp to get to the water.  The approach to the dock is still swamp and it takes a dry period and a determined individual to reach the dock by land.  I go down there regularly but seldom to fish.  Usually, I am just trying to get away to a quite place.

Today I took a little spinning pole with 6# line and some shrimp left over from supper.  They weren't too good, having been frozen, so my wife had not cooked them and we had filled up on other fare.  A fresh pot of coffee in my two quart thermos accompanied me and I made my way to the dock in my four wheel drive across a soggy swamp floor.

Putting a small #8 hook and a split shot on my line and baiting it with a small piece of shrimp, I threw it into the creek and sat on the dock with my feet dangling off of the end, almost touching the black, silty water.

The tide had just turned and there was not much current.  My line lay limply in the middle of the creek and my attention was drawn to other things that I hoped would clear my mind.  

There was a loud roaring as the wind intermittently picked up to whistle through the pine trees and over the tops of the swamp hardwoods.  No mosquitoes or other obnoxious insects were present to bother me.

Across the creek, in the swamp on the other side, I noticed that a wolf pine that had stood almost alone for years had died.  It must not have been too long ago because the needles were still on it and the limbs were full of pine cones.  It was as if it had anticipated its fate and had put on a full flush of seed to make sure it had replaced itself.

A loud knocking began and I determined that it was coming from that tree.  We have Piliated woodpeckers here that can tear a tree apart faster than a wood chipper.  This pine, although retaining its needles, must have already been attacked by insects to the extent that the woodpeckers had discovered it for a banquet.

To the west, the creek turned north out of sight around the bend and I could see the tops of a grove of dead cypress over the top of the swamp where a big gator lives.

The water began to move as the tide fell and my line tightened a little as it was swept slowly in an arc to the east and along the bank.  I didn't care.  The water is deep, dropping off directly to twelve feet within four feet of the bank and I decided that a fish could be there as good as anywhere.  I sat on the handle of my rod.

The current began to run harder, though still lazily, and alligator gar began to move on the surface at the center of the creek, snapping the flotsam occasionally with their toothed beaks.

A mullet could be heard breaking the water with a muffled swish, followed by a smack as he fell back from his aerial antics.  A loud Kerwack straightened me up as predator fish caught a frog or minnow in one of the narrow runoffs that crisscrossed the marsh behind me.

The sky darkened and a light rain fell.  It dampened me just enough to cool me off.   A front must have passed because the air didn't return to its higher temperature.  

My line tightened.  I grabbed the rod from under my legs and set the hook.  Glorious days, a fish.   I loosened the drag to prolong the fight of what I knew was a little fish.  He ran this-a-way and that-a-way trying to escape, but I was too smart for him.  Shortly he came to the surface and I landed an eight inch channel cat, so young and fresh that there were no scars on his skin and I wondered what might be going through his mind as I gently caressed his stomach to calm him down and removed the hook.   I returned him to the creek, non the worse for wear and imagine that he will have quite a story to tell to his friends tonight.  No more fisherman than frequent these waters, he may never again feel the bite of a hook.

I rebaited the hook and noticed that a small island of marsh peat was beginning to surface beneath my feet.  I cast the rod, sat on the handle again and directed my attention to this little piece of ground.  It was riddled with holes and there was a fiddler crab at its highest peak, waving his one big claw.  A female was a little further back under the dock on the same island watching his display.  Then another fiddler, one with a smaller pincher, came out and confronted the first one.  The first one saddled up close to the second and they waved their pinchers at each other.  The larger reached out and ever so gently caressed the smaller ones pincher and then closed his pincher on it.  The second must have know he was outclassed because he turned tail and ran as fast as he could to a hole about eight inches away.

I broke off a small piece of shrimp and threw it onto the island.  As luck would have it, it fell right in the lap of the big fiddler and he grabbed it so fast I could hardly see him move, then down the hole he went.  I finished cutting the shrimp up into small pieces and littered the top of the little island with them.  These crabs would have a feast tonight.

Oh no!  The sand flies (no-seeums) were beginning to come out.  I hadn't noticed that the sun was getting so low.  I covered myself with some cutters repellant, for what little bit of good that would do, gathered up all my stuff and made my way back to the truck which was waiting in a wide part of the trail a couple of hundred feet in the woods.

The trip back was slow.  I never like to drive fast back there because it tears up the ground, and any marks the tires leave are there for years.  In four wheel drive and low range, I crawled back "uphill" through the swamp to the hardwood ridge behind the house.

It was a great afternoon.  I kick myself for not doing it more frequently.  "Perhaps I won't have a job next week", I think to myself as  go into the house and remove my shoes.

"Did you catch anything" asked my wife?

"Just a little catfish, I turned him loose", I said.

Thanks for taking me fishing with you my friend. I have been trying to crunch all of my computer responsibilties for the last, and the next week into this weekend and needed to get away. I feel like I was sitting there with you again.

(https://forestryforum.com/images/YaBBImages/userpics/toms_dock.JPG)

(https://forestryforum.com/images/YaBBImages/userpics/toms_fishing_spot.JPG)

Thanks for sharing your afternoon of repose and reflection with us, Tom.  It is always good to stop and smell the flowers, even if they smell like a marshy creek at low tide. ;)  Its amazing how those places teem with life, with none of it demanding anything from you, save maybe a little blood for the skeeters.
I guess I've always been a little backwards, but I used to find time to do things like that, and now that I'm older, I don't. :-/ I need to get back to it.

What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon 8) 8)  You call that a tidal creek.  Is the water brackish as I would assume?  Being from the land of freshwater I've never been around a tidal creek.  How far are you from the Atlantic?

Yes, this is a tidal creek.  Salt water from the ocean makes its way 20 miles or more into the creeks draining the fresh water swamps.  The range changes depending on the amount of rain and the size of the creek..  We've had little rain and the salt water is deep in the creeks.   My spot is a brackish area right at the cusp of the Salt/Fresh line.  I see some salt water fish species like Black drum, Red drum (channel bass), shrimp, mullet and a few others that wander up this way.  I also see brim (blue gills and red breast), channel catfish, black bass, Alligator Gar and other fresh water species.  sometimes a Striper will show up but they are usually in the saltier water to the east.  I suppose I am about  25 miles from the ocean as the crow flies but the land is flat and the salt can come in a long way.  The tide fall at my dock is about 4 feet. Storm surges cause the water to leave the creeks and I've seen the woods full of water armpit deep for 700 feet from the creek.  That doesn't happen too often but when it does, my dock is under 3 feet of water or more.  It undulates now where it used to be as flat as a sidewalk because the wood has floated the poles out of the ground and they never completely resettled.  It doesn't bother me though, as long as the thing is stable and solid.  Some folks think it is an Old Decrepit dock but in fact it was built in 86 or so and has weathered many a storm.

Tidal creeks are full of life but your right about the smell.  Of course, I like the smell too.  Being brought up around salt water smells like rotting seaweed and decaying fish; and freshwater smells like alligator dens, muck, peat and the cool smell of decaying vegetation just brings fond memories to my minds eye where other folks hold their noses and run to the high ground. :D :D

Dang Tom that veiw alone is worth the walk. A beautiful picture, makes you wonder what people actually like about living in the city. I'll take lower pay to live in the country any day of the week over city livin. But thats me. Nothing is better than walking out your front door and all you hear is chirp chirp of the animals instead of the honking of horns.

Speaking of animals the other day I was walking next to the pond and noticed the ground moving under my feet. No I had not been drinking. So a closer look and this is what I saw. Now those aren't stones that is sand around that toad. It's a close up.  Do  you all get the idea of how small this critter actually is?
(https://forestryforum.com/images/YaBBImages/userpics/toadf.jpg)

Oh and to get my daughter to shovel, shoot thats easy it's getting her to stop. She loves working outside or for that matter just being out in the woods, actually all of the kids I should say love messing around in the woods. That is the cool thing about my land it's one big playground for a kid, myself included. It might not be the best timber land in my area by a long shot but it's where I hang my hat. ;)

I love the smell of tidal waters, or the ocean for that matter. Like you said Tom it brings back many childhood memories. Isn't it amazing what kind of memories a smell might bring to mind. So did you and Jeff catch any fish or just get some great relaxation time?

Gordon

Gordon , nope no fishin that day, just relaxin.

My Favorite river to relax by is at my Mother in laws house. The muskegon river is in thier back yard. A large canoe livery is up steam a few miles, so sitting at the mom in laws on a hot day and relaxing can be described with two words.

Nekid Canoers!

Somebody throw a bucket of water on Jeff!!  ;D  

Yes, there is something very attractive about aromas from the past.  I guess that's why I always roll the window down when a cattle truck passes me on the highway. It brings back fond memories of childhood summers, spent on my Grandpa's little dairy farm in South Carolina.  Shucks, I don't even mind the scent of the occasional passing skunk!  What I really can't stand is the odor of perfume, especially the musk oil kind. It'll turn my tummy in a skinny minute. I guess I'm just a country boy at heart.  Thank you, Lord!

 8) 8)

Because of the effects of anesthesia during surguries my smeller doesn't work too good.   Usually it doesn't work hardly at all and then it gets turned on  a thousand percent for  a few minutes.

My favorite smell is fresh mowed grass.  I love that hay smell.  Even onions in it doesn't bother me too much.  When my nose works at the same time that I pass the tractors mowing the sides of the rode, my window comes down too.  I've even been known to pull over and stop for awhile.  Ah that's glorious.

Some of the best smelling fresh mowed grass I have ever encountered was in the mountains around RidgeCrest N.C.  There were some fond memories from the Baptist Boys Camp that I like to admire when they are recalled.

I can still smell the grass on the side yard of the Daniel Boone Hotel in Boone N.C. too.  We used to play there one summer along about 1950, sliding down the terraces on cardboard boxes with my brother, cousin, a neighbor named Mast and the girl who was the daughter of the owners of hotel.  I wonder what ever happened to them.

ah yes, smells of the south. I discovered one while down to Tom's that we don't have up here. I smile and long to smell it again when I think about it.


Krispy Cream Dounuts!!

Have mercey, Krispy Creme dounuts still warm, I LOVE THEM. A dozen doesn't last long at all. Or the rasberry filled glazed. Now that is a smell. UM UM good.

Or honeysuckle on a spring day..  Or rearend grease for a smell that just stays with ya.

Gordon

"  My Favorite river to relax by is at my Mother in laws house. The muskegon river is in thier back yard. A large canoe livery is up steam a few miles, so sitting at the mom in laws on a hot day and relaxing can be described with two words.  
Nekid Canoers!  "

Ha Jeff!  I knew I thought you were familiar!   You have that sign on saturdays in the summer don't you!? You have the two lawn chairs, the big red cooler of ice, and the hand painted cardboard sign that says "toll river,  beers or b@@bs".  I have landed my fishing boat on the opposite bank a couple times to ensure public safety and check live wells for bikini fish.  

I was about six years old, I guess, and Granddaddy got me out of bed in the wee hours of the morning to go hunting. Excited but still asleep, I got dressed and went to the kitchen where he had fixed a breakfast of eggs, bacon, grease toast and boiled coffee.  We were soon in his car and headed west toward Okeechobee.  

Granddaddy had friends there who were large land-owners and he was continually being invited to hunt on their properties.  We drove down a long sand road, heading North off of Okeechobee Road, Fla. Route 70, in the proximity of an overpass that went over something, maybe the railroad.  Soon we arrived at a large two-story cracker house sitting in the edge of an Oak hummock where lights were streaming from the kitchen windows in the back onto a large group of cars parked at the side of the house.  Granddaddy parked and we went inside.

There were a lot of really old men in there having a reunion.  They had to have been in the neighborhood of fifty or sixty years old each and some were probably older.  I was the only youngster there.  They were drinking coffee, some eating breakfast and all slapping each other on their backs, laughing and telling stories.  I was given a cup of coffee and they each acknowledged my existence with a handshake and a "Good mornin' master Tom" or some such greeting. I then sat in a chair in the corner taking it all in.

After about thirty minutes, as if by signal, they put their coffee cups down and left for their cars to get their guns.

  Granddaddy got his gun, took my hand and we began a hike down a meandering cow trail into the plains that surrounded the house.  The other men chose their own paths and we all eventually went in different directions.

I could see by the moon and my footing was sure.  Granddaddy was six feet one inch tall and his long legs provided long strides that caused me to have to run every three or four steps to catch up. The air was cold.  It was close to Thanksgiving and we were after a turkey.  I kept my eye on his shotgun that he carried across one shoulder sometimes and held in his hand at others.  It was one day to be mine.

After what seemed to have been an awful long time, we arrived at the hummock that Granddaddy had chosen for our hunt.  We went inside and sat beside a large Water Oak tree.  I squirmed trying to find a spot, on a root,  that my little behind could withstand for the duration.  Granddaddy sternly whispered, "you're going to have to be still, don't move a muscle, don't even breathe."   I got the message and for the next millennium sat as still as I could imagining each branch to be a turkey on roost.

The sun slowly came up and, eventually, dimly lit the clearing in front of us.  No turkey.  I was freezing to death.  My hands were inside of my coat sleeves.  My knees were drawn up tight under my chin. My hat was pulled down over my ears and nose to capture the warm breath as it came out of my mouth.  

After a morning that would have seemed long to Methuselah and tried the patience of Job, Granddaddy arose and exited behind the tree.  I didn't move a muscle.  I heard water running.  

Directly he returned, sat down next to me, put a clutch of tobacco in his mouth, situated it in his cheek as he wet it good, stretched his arms out over his drawn up knees so that they rested limply on the elbows and after a long pause said, "Son, it's cold enough out here to freeze a fellows talley-wacker off."

Stunned, I offered no reply.  Granddaddy had never before, ever, said anything like that around me before.

I stretched one leg out in front of me, pushed my hat back on my head a little bit and answered, "Yes sir, it is".  I smiled inside knowing that I must be growing up.  "I wonder what that tobacco tastes like", I thought?

No, we didn't get a turkey that morning but I had a grand old time.  I'll never even forget the smells.

It had been a blistery day not getting above 20 degrees with the wind hard out of the north. About 4:00 pm I was coming back from a short visit with my folk.  I was about to pull up to park in our driveway when I got the urge to drive down to the creek about 1/4 mile down the hill.  I got out and checked out the mostly frozen over creek and then walked up among some sycamores to see if any needed to be harvested.  Just thinking...

The sun being relatively warm,  I continued en route to another patch of sycamore and walnut I call my "log warehouse".   I had just stepped through the barbed wire fence and got my balance back when I looked down and spotted an antler just lying there waiting for me to pick up.
  
(https://forestryforum.com/images/YaBBImages/userpics/AntlerJan2003a.jpg)

We had closed in a couple of erosion areas in the field last fall and had planted it in wheat and grass.  The deer had kept it cropped as close as a putting green.  I made several widening circles around the area and the hayfield without finding the mate.  I even checked back across the fence into the rough I had just been in but the chances of finding it there would be slim.

The erosion repair was L shaped – running about 75 yards in one direction and 40 in the other.  I decided to walk up the long leg to see what I could find.  I could plainly see something bright sticking up about 50 yards up that way but didn't get my hopes up.  There were a lot of roots and other debris sticking up.  But to my surprise,  it was another antler.  And although it was the opposite side of the one I found,  it was not a mate, but considerably larger - a real wall hanger.

The real excitement is going to be showing it to my son Chris.  I had found an antler last winter but not the mate.  He spent considerable time looking for it. (Ealier find story) (https://forestryforum.com/cgi-bin/board/YaBB.pl?board=hunting;action=display;num=983501547;start=80#83)  Now he's got two to search for.

As Buckwheat says: "Is-mus' be my lucky day"

How much does it cost to sleep in the sawmill shed, buy a nonresident license and hunt with Bibbyman next year? :o ;) :D

Jeff if you ask him real nice he might even let you sleep in the smokehouse. Has walls on all sides and heat as well. 8) 8) 8)

Gordon

Wild mushroom are finally starting to come out on our farm.  I've been taking granddaughter Brook one evening and then Alex the next on short mushroom hunts. (I'm too old to take both at the same time!) I can't tell you how many May apple plants, flowers, and a few pretty rocks we've had to pack home.  "We" have found a few mushrooms.  

This evening was Alex's turn.  She followed behind me picking May apples here and there and talking my leg off about kindergarten stuff.  "We" did manage to find one dried up mushroom about the size of my thumb under white oak tree.  

Then we crossed over the ridge to another little wooded draw.  We were walking along a fence with woods on one side and hayfield on the other about to inter the woods again when Alex exclaimed, "I found one!" Dog gone if she hadn't.  It's a wonder I hadn't stepped on it as I was a "nose" ahead of her.

(https://forestryforum.com/images/04_01_03/wsalexmushroom.jpg)

Then for the next half hour I had to hear about her eyes were better than my eyes.  Probably my glasses were dirty.  Maybe they were too old and I needed new ones.   ::)

Now there is a great Picture!

Oh how those times are to cherish.


When my sons were young we would go to the river and hunt shark's teeth. These are the teeth of prehistoric sharks that have laid in the river bed for millenia upon millenia.  One of the boys could pick up handfuls while the rest of us had only a ffew.  I usually found the least.  I wish I had pictures, it's only in my mind.

I've been nursing a torn muscle in my right arm so I have been forced to find activities other than skidding tops and working on the barn site.  The last couple of days my wife and I have been taking the dogs for walks in the woods and hunting the elusive morels.  We managed to find and stumble on (she finds, I stumble on ) about two pounds of the black morels.  They don't hold very well so we had to fry 'em up and consume them  8) 8).  Man, that was good eatin' ;D
The sun is shining again today and the air is warming so I hope to bag some yellows in the next day or two.

Hi folks,
   I got to reading this thread this morning and realized that I hadn't taken a walk in the woods since new years. That's way too long, but the snow got deep and life got in the way
i guess. Thanks for reminding me to make time for the important stuff!
    Winter sure did prune my woods pretty good, alot of limbs down some four inch pines have been topped. The hard woods of course had it easier but still have more fire wood than I'll need net winter! I even found about a load of fire wood all blocked up, must of had a case of c.r.s. and forgot I cut it!
   Thanks again for the walk it was fun and iit won't be so long next time.

Welcome to the Forum, Breederman.  

There's several threads around here that will shock you into doing something you forgot.  It happens to me all of the time. Just keep Perusing and you'll find them.  :D

This is one of my favorites too. :P

Finally got some woods time up in west virginie last weekend. Went up and took a nice long walk on my father in laws property up in the mountians. Beautiful views and a great time.

Here is a picture of the view looking to the east.
(https://forestryforum.com/images/04_01_03/wvmountianviewf.jpg)

Here is a picture of the road going into his property. keeps the honest people out anyway.
 (https://forestryforum.com/images/04_01_03/buddystrailgate.jpg)

Gordon

Wow!   Pretty.   Have you been tempted to move yet? :D

Yes it is very pretty country. Temped to move yes but that would never happen. No work up that way and I've got my own property to keep care of in the flat land of DE..

What always amazes me about WV is they will build a house anywhere. Side of a mountian no problem. Take a step off the front porch and your going for a long fall. Makes for some interesting driveways though.

Gordon

I had a chance to do some late season doe hunting this afternoon.  I had just entered the wood about 40 yards from the house when I about stepped on this dead gray fox.  There was no sign of struggle or having been shot but its left ear had been gnawed off all the way to the skull bone.  I had not seen a gray fox with so much red and black on it and was not sure what it was.  I lifted its face with the toe of my boot and it was still very limber – showing it had not been dead long.  

(https://forestryforum.com/images/04_01_03/wsgrayfox1.JPG)

Good photograph of the fox. I understand that the red and gray cross breed, causing a blend of colors. Maybe that happened here.
Mystery as to what caused its demise. Could it have been a poorly place shot that grazed its head near the ear? Just a wag on my part. It doesn't look to be in tough condition, like it might have been starved or in poor health (admittedly its health was poor when you found it, or shortly prior to that time ;D ).

Maybe that was a red fox that was so old that its hair turned grey and then died of old age?   :o ;D ;D :D

Hey Bibby,
One time bout 15-16 years ago I was scouting new territory for the trap line and found a grey fox like yours...with no sign of trauma....
I put 2 and 2 together and figured it out ...

    we had a gully washer the night before...brief but strong rain...I found him in a steep ravine...he had denned up in a not to good spot and got caught and drowned, washed out and left hight and dry for me to find...sold his hide for $30 a good find!
Don

Well, allow this new guy to add on to the post if you will....


Being stuck here near Philadelphia , PA ....I often dream of taking long walks in my old stomping grounds of north central PA. There are many little towns that are just a small spot on the map.......... Mountains covered with trees, the smell of fresh air and wildlife.....



Wake up in the mornin, fresh pot of coffee brewing, double smoked bacon on the well worn coleman stove, eggs cooked in bacon grease.... oh yeah...... fried potatoes as well...

Throw a daypack on my back loaded with my usual bottle of water, snacks and go for a nice early morning walk....looking for deer, elk...anything natural...... now thats living.

You can take all this big city life and stuff it. I guess I should be happy not everyone like the hills, or else it would be so less special. But for me, once it's time to retire from the military, I'll be heading for the hills, never to return to city / suburb life.

QuoteWell, allow this new guy to add on to the post if you will...

Wake up in the mornin, fresh pot of coffee brewing...

Do you work for Maxwell House?  ;)

Welcome to da forum jjmk98k

No, not for maxwell house.... But I do enjoy that brand of coffee....

 I do work for you, and everyone else on this board!

 8)

been on here for about a week and have gain a lot of good information and a TON of chuckles.... :D

@ jjmk89k

Here's a few more chuckles  :D  :D  :D  :D  :D  :D

Back to the woods....

If anyone has read some of my posts, they know I enjoy the woods also. I especially like walking my trails on my woodlot and spotting moose and sometimes a bear track, deer or coyote. Just today, I noticed a couple moose have come back onto the woodlot for willow and hardwood tips. Tracks everywhere. I was thinking to explore my hardwood alittle to see how much the buggers ruined, but my walk led me to another part of the lot. The moose typically move out of my area for the winter when the snow is deeper, but so far we only have about 8 inches. They seem to be bothering the fir somewhat also by breaking them down and scraping the bark clean to the cambium. Must be one mean moose.

BTW, this post wasn't meant to be funny, just maybe a little smile   ;D

regards

About time for a revival of this thread.  

Woods walking today.  Thought I would try to find a couple of these trees big enough to saw.

(https://forestryforum.com/images/03_21_04/dw2.jpg)

(https://forestryforum.com/images/03_21_04/dw1.jpg)

Is that a burnning bush?

Nope ;D

Might be a State tree though.

I love seeing the new growth on trees in early summer and enjoy wandering around in the woods looking at it all.
The new growth on tamarack looks so soft ..... i just want to rub my face on them every time I see one. I've tried a couple of times to take a picture that would convey the softness of the new needles .

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11412/jmtamarackclose1OP.jpg)

Looks great sprucebunny. I've planted about 3000 , I think, on my woodlot. I have a japanese larch on the lawn and it has more swooping branches. Looks even more soft and fury than a wild tamarack. Has spruce sized cones also. Don't let a saw fly worm crawl on ya when your doing that rubbing. They're harmless of course. ;D

Wife hollered, "Tom, come look!".

I went to the back room out under my pear trees was a family of Coons.  Raccoons.   They were millng around the grass at the base and finally climbed up in the tree and started eating my pears.  "Where's my shotgun?"

"Don't you dare", she scowled.

I went back to the computer. They were cute though.

"Tom, come look!".
I went back and there was a deer browsing on the lower branches.

If I want some pears, I better get out there and pick some, eh?   Hopefully I can get them to ripen indoors.

Deer and two fawns have been vandilizing father's pears and apples. One apple tree is totally stripped of fruit and leaves. There is only 2 pears and 4 apples left. Mother's lillies have been another target of bambie. The coons have been feasting on my cherries and leaving my raspberries alone. I've picked a washtub full of raspberries already. :)

DOG-gone If I know what kind of tree Larry has------I sawed some of that stuff before and it has real pretty creamy-pink colored WOOD 8).

Been marking timber on a back woods tract, been there for a three week period, saw a black bear the second week, and again the third week.  This is the second, or third, bear I have seen in this county in Texas.  it ranks up to the 4 cougars I have seen here.  Both of these or "rare" in Texas, I am glad to be living in a time when the critters are coming back.

Crossing Red Bud Lake again (I think it is actually Lake Jesup, one of the St John's river chain of lakes) I noticed a large stick nest on a sign over the highway.  It is probably a Bald Eagle nest since Ive seen them there. (mention is made back toward the beginning of this thread)  I also noticed that almost every roadway light had a large Osprey sitting on top of it.  What a thrilling experience to see them sitting there, stoically upright as if they commanded the world.   This must be an excellent place to view fish-eating raptors.  It has large lakes full of fish with cypress swamps for shorelines.

Do you have special pieces of high-way that you look forward to crossing because of birds, special plants or just the lay of the land?  This is certainly one of mine.  It's on the 417 in Ovieda.

Several roads along the St. John river valley in Carleton county have bald eagle and osprey nests on hydro line towers and posts as well as privately erected poles with a platform bolted to the top. The birds return every year. Also, seen some geese on the river on Boxing Day, first time for me to see this late this far up river. The Osprey and Bald Eagle are a major success story for come back in New Brunswick. I don't remember not seeing any in my time. We used to fish on the river and they would catch salmon from the river down by Kingsclear at Burpee Bar, the eagles would steal them from osprey or eat dead ones.

One of my favorite places in summer is what we call the 'North Pole Country' Fishing brook trout in an endless supply of streams and lakes, hearing the night hawk dive in the air for insects at night, staying at logging camps or just sleeping on an old mattress in the back of the pickup, picking blue berries in August. Finding new places to explore because the forest companies built new roads. I've got to go back this summer, been almost 10 years.  ::)

You should visit our St. John's River basin sometime.  It's a large, north flowing river of 310 miles that drains swamps as far south as a little town called Wabasso, just north of Vero and South of Fellsmere where the 54,500 acre Blue Cypress Water Management area holds Blue Cypress Lake as its crown.

Tom, I have had the pleasure of visiting both. I grew up on the Banks of the Northern St. John, rather Steep Banks at that (Mom is still there) and Stayed at a Fish Camp just west of Deland for the Southern St. John who also rented out Houseboats. We have some friends that turned us on to that place. Both are beautiful areas, one a little warmer than the other. :D
Fishing  is better on the southern. ;D  But the Fresh Springs right off the waterway are incredible and COLD.
I remember my father racing his car on the Northern St. John in Winter the most. :D
This is part of the St. John in the border town of Grand Falls New Brunswick, about 15 miles south of Mom.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13635/GrandFalls3.jpg)

Funny thing is I see the Northern St. John that is 2000 miles away more often then the Southern one 2 Hours away. :D

Mommas will do that to you, Mooseherder.  :D :D

Mom and dad are heading in your direction in Feb. Tom and Mooseherder. Any more room for more snow birds down there? One of these winters I'll come down and tale boards for ya Tom, give them knees a rest for a day or two. ;D :D

Yep, got room fer ya SD, just no mercantilable wood. ;D

Swamp Donky,
give us a little itenerary or at least a trail and I'll bet you'll get a list of things for them to visit a mile long.

This is what I found that had been working on one of my dead fir,

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10436/thecfarm1tree.jpg)

A pilated woodpecker.The hole is about 3 feet long.

This is the mess he made on top of the snow.

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10436/thecfarm3%7E1.jpg)

Had not snowed here for a couple weeks.He's been busy.I've only seen about 4 of this kind around here.I've heard them many times.but don't see them too often.

I saw one today to cfarm. As first he flew past me across the road into a poplar when I was walking up the road. About 30 minutes later on the way back he was on the opposite side of the road and hammering on a rotten maple stump on the ground. He wasn't too scared, but I didn't have a camera.  ::)

I like being in the woods at all times of the year, right now is the best time while all the trees are blooming and everything is greening out. We have two nesting pair of pilated woodpeckers on our property between us and our neighbor. Speaking to him we have decided to leave as much standing dead timber as reasonable to safety for them. They are quite a sight and loud as well.

Our neices are on Spring Break so we took them for a walk in the woods today. It's funny how you look at trees differently after aquiring a sawmill. I always did eye trees different than say my wife since I also do woodworking, but now with a mill I really look at them differently. ;) Here's a picture of an Old Growth Douglas Fir tree we came across.(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/14260/big%20tree.jpg)
I think this tree would need some trimming to fit on my mill. :D But seriously, I prefer milling the 2-3 foot diameter trees and leaving these old growth ones for future generations to enjoy.

Here was our reward when we reached the top. (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/14260/gorge%20view.jpg)
This is the Columbia River gorge as viewed from the top of Cape Horn on the Washington side of the river. That is Beacon Rock sticking up in the distance. We were actually looking down at a couple of hawks as they were flying by.

 
It's time to bring this one to the top again 
  I strapped on the snow shoes and went for a walk this morning. First time I have been in the woods since early November due to long days and no help at work. Today was my first day off since January 12th.  It's been too long with out seeing my piece of the earth. :)  Only spent about an hour wondering around but it was a great hour. The only sound was my crunching, temps around 20F, perfect for strolling my out of shape body around that hill.  No animal sitings but with my loud aluminum shoes that is not a big suprise. Did see some tracks ,but they were people ones. probably the new neighbors checking out the new neighbors wood lot. ;)
  Taking a walk this time of the year reminds me that I need to say to heck with it all once in a while and go for a walk more often.

I forget about the picture of that rotten fir the woodpecker worked on.I was having some wood cut last year at this time.Last year I could walk where ever I wanted with no shoe shoes.This year is some differant.Probaly 3 feet of snow in the woods.I am cutting some firewood and it's alittle bit of work doing it.The snow depth is a real bother.

(https://forestryforum.com/images/04_01_03/wsalexmushroom.jpg)

Five years ago I posted this picture and told the story of Alex and her first mushroom.

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsMushrooms_2008_004.JPG)

It's been too dry in past years to find hardly any mushrooms.  But this last winter and spring has been pretty wet.

Sunday evening I went down to a corner of the farm to try to find a corner marker that is located high on a bluff.  After an hour of climbing and looking I gave up and headed back to the Mule.  There at the edge of the creek, in the path I'd just went up,  was mushroom the size of a goose egg.   I found no others.

This evening I returned to the area and searched a 100 yards down the creek and still didn't find any more.  Then I returned and hunted about 50 yards up the creek.  Then I spotted two nice ones.  I took a few moments to look around and found a total of 6.  I started picking and soon found more and had a hat full.  I moved on a little further and found a whole patch! I decided to wait for the girls to come home and bring them down to assist me.  It was fast and frantic there for a bit.  I'd point one out now and then but they soon got into it and were finding most on their own.  Brooke had never found one and it was quite a thrill for her.  Alex was down on her hands and knees searching for them. 

I finally pulled them off when we got the patch exhausted and we headed back to the house.  As we crossed a small stream with the Mule,  I looked over and spotted another nice one under a multi-floral rose bush.  Both girls went after it but Alex got it.  But Brooke found yet another one before getting back in.

I'm sure this was the biggest single haul of mushrooms I've ever found.  I did find a shirt full of large red ones one time that had more weight.

Apparently it's a good year.  My sister said there was a guy on the gas station parking lot selling them for $38/lb.

Nice batch of shrooms.

Not to take away from Bib's story, or that Bib doesn't know his shrooms, but those look similar to what they call 'magic mushrooms' and they do grow around here. I knew of a couple of characters that got messed up real good.  ::)

Ok, it probably did take something away from the story.  :-\

It is important to know what is good to eat and what is not...

There are Morels...


Missouri Department of Conservation (http://www.mdc.mo.gov/nathis/mushrooms/morels/)

My mistake, the magic kind are not morels. I don't know if it was a lapse in memory or distribution of misinformation coming from others. Anyhow, my memory is cleared up now.  Obviously, mushrooms are not my realm and I stay well clear of them. ;)

I was goona say.... :D

Yeah, don't take me woods walking in search of mushrooms. You might not fair too well.  :-\

The boss caught me lusting after Bibby's shroom pics this morning.  On the way out to chop trees she handed me a Walmart bag and told me not to come back until it was filled.  Knowing this would mean an early work release I accepted the bag gladly.


(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10125/tree.jpg)

Last tree was standing dead...and hollow so I left it for the Pileated woodpeckers.


(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10125/spring.jpg)

A little spring that emerges from the ground and runs about 50 feet before disappearing.  Good thing my right leg is 6" longer than the left or I wouldn't be able to navigate these old hills.


(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10125/treefence.jpg)

Fence posts command a high price here so we rely on trees.


(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10125/red_flowers.jpg)

Red flowers.


(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10125/white_flower.jpg)

White flowers...or weeds?


(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10125/dogwood.jpg)

Dogwood flowers are just about gone now.


(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10125/diasy.jpg)

Wild daisy.


(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10125/purple_flowers.jpg)

Purple flowers.


(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10125/Mayflower.jpg)

Were getting close to the shrooms now...I always find some close to Mayflowers especially when they are in bloom.


(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10125/stream.jpg)

The disappearing stream has re-emerged and runs about 100 yards before disappearing again to emerge someplace I know not where.

In case your beginning to suspect I came home empty handed...your right. :-[ :'( :-[  Course I could go on and tell ya about the bear cave, the high bluff, or the cows grazing across the lake. ;D

I wish you would.  I enjoyed the walk in the woods and wished I could have been along.  My wife yearns for a place with a spring and a stream like that.   

Those "hills" are green and alive and wet and make me want to be there.

Quote from: Tom on April 29, 2008, 05:31:00 PM
I wish you would. 

Second that! :)

Don't hold back now, you already opened the door. ;D

Come about August when the heat and humidity makes it about like a Turkish bath - just with a lot of bugs.

The girls and I went out mushroom hunting again this evening. 

I dropped them off at a little stream and told them to work their way up around along it up to where I was going to cut the ice storm damage out of the logging road.  In just a few minutes,  Brooke was right there.  "Where's the mushrooms?"  I told her she'd have to hunt for them.  She whined around a bit and didn't find any.  "I'm starting to get bored.  I just want to pick them."  I told her if it was just a matter of picking them then they would call it "picking mushrooms".  But we are hunting for them so you have to hunt.  I sent her to where the big patch was the evening before incase more came up or we missed one or more.  She wasn't into it.  I did spot one and she picked it.

We drove the Mule on up the steep hill where my dad told us he'd always found a few around a couple of red oak trees.  As we drove past the first one,  I spotted a couple.  I sent Brooke to that tree and Alex to the one further out on the other side.  Although the tree was only 20' away,  Brooke had trouble finding it.  Finally she did and spotted one, then two, and so on.  I think she found 6 under that tree.  I told her to look under another red oak a little further down the hill.  Again, it took a lot of pointing and discussion for her to find the "black" tree.  I know she knows better.  She was just being difficult. She found two more there.  Alex made a good effort but didn't find any more.

We went on up to the top of the hill and stopped by another red oak.  The girls looked around it while I ranged out a bit.  They didn't find any.  We walked around a bit and Alex stumbled.  She jammed her sack of mushrooms right down on a jagged stump about 3" in diameter impelling her sack of mushrooms.  They were completely mutilated.  But they had been large mushrooms so some good size parts could still be salvaged.

Not finding any more, we decided to give up for the evening.   Both girls were tired.  But they perked up when they seen the Mule and ran to it to get there first to lie on the seat.

We had another meeting and decided since we found most of the mushrooms around the trees Grandpa George had told us,  we should give them the mushrooms.  This we did. It was enough to make them a "mess".

We got home and Mary was cooking up a batch along with some pork steak and hot rolls.   Umm!

Were is the best place to find em tatsy umbrellas.  I ve never been but want a little info on em. The only thing i hate is darn ticks. They are out in full force already.

As far as walking i found a good place to go its a Mo conservation area. Its an archery range its about 1 mile around it. All chat path and in the shade. Ive been enjoyin it alot. I need to take my bow with me and practice as i walk around it.

 (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/waDad_spring_2008.JPG)

Dad and I have made and broke a number of appointments to go mushroom hunting over the past three weeks.  It really came down to what he really wanted to do was check on a couple two or three ginseng plants. 

Well, today was the day.  He came down to the sawshed and we jumped in the Mule headed up the long valley to the last point on our property.  He directed me to drive up to the end of the logging road.  He got out and struggled his way about twenty feet to where he remembered seeing them last three years ago.  He was getting frustrated that he didn't see them.  Finally he spotted a couple of small ones.  He has come to the conclusion that someone had dug the larger plants that he remembered were there.

He wanted me to see them as I can only spot them when someone points them out.  They all look like small hickory sprouts or poison oak or something.  When I see the real thing, then I can tell the difference. 

After we looked over the ginseng plants,  he hunted mushrooms a few yards from  the Mule and then worked his way back and got in.  On our return,  he had me stop a few places and sent me out to look for mushrooms around places he'd found them before.   I ended up finding two morel mushrooms.

Dad and I have spent many hours together in the woods.  I doubt if we'll get to spend many more.

I'm pulling for you that you get a bunch.  Don't waste any opportunity.  :)

Found 8 today on the side of the railroad track out behind the shop at work.
It was the most fun I have had at work in a long time.

Yep, savor those opportunities, Bibby.  No better partner to spend time with than your Dad....
And you found a few mushrooms to boot.

My hike up the hill turned up the first bear sign of Spring.  I have a couple of maples that went down in the snow this Winter, 200 yards up the hill behind the house.  I got them limbed and partially cleaned up 6 or 8 weeks ago and am about ready to start cutting up for firewood.  Up there today and discovered a bear has been digging for grubs and hanging out right in the middle of where I had been cutting.  No indication that he's been any farther down the hill but think I'll go up and run the chainsaw for a couple of days, see if I can get him to move on.

We were camping in the North GA mountains trout fishing this last weekend, and we had a bear visit every night.  The bear had figured out the "bear-proof" trash cans that the Forest Service had installed.........

I've seen a couple yearling cubs so far, no new borns and no adults yet.

Nice time of the year to go walking in the woods.  The ticks, snakes and spider webs are not out yet.



(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wscliffoverhang20090322aa.jpg)

Alex, Brooke and I took a little hike over the fence onto a neighbor's land to show the girls a group of three cliff overhings.   I hadn't been there in maybe 20 years but I found them.  This one (Brooke left and low of center) is about 20' deep, 20' high at the highest point and maybe 70'. You may be able to see Alex's white shirt sleves in the back of the overhing.



(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wscliffoverhang20090322bb.jpg)

Alex setting on a natual stone bench well under the overhang.



(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wscliffoverhang20090322cb.jpg)

Here is a much smaller one about 20 yards from the larger.  I figure that's where the inlaws staid when they came to visit.  There is a third and smaller yet overhing just below this one.

No bats yet? ;D Trees seem to like them overhangs as well as you guys. ;) I got a few days before I see bare ground.  ;D Robins should be here this week, they've been seen 30 minutes away.  :)

Quote from: Bibbyman on April 29, 2008, 12:04:59 AM
(https://forestryforum.com/images/04_01_03/wsalexmushroom.jpg)

Five years ago I posted this picture and told the story of Alex and her first mushroom.

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/wsMushrooms_2008_004.JPG)

It's been too dry in past years to find hardly any mushrooms.  But this last winter and spring has been pretty wet.

Sunday evening I went down to a corner of the farm to try to find a corner marker that is located high on a bluff.  After an hour of climbing and looking I gave up and headed back to the Mule.  There at the edge of the creek, in the path I'd just went up,  was mushroom the size of a goose egg.   I found no others.

This evening I returned to the area and searched a 100 yards down the creek and still didn't find any more.  Then I returned and hunted about 50 yards up the creek.  Then I spotted two nice ones.  I took a few moments to look around and found a total of 6.  I started picking and soon found more and had a hat full.  I moved on a little further and found a whole patch! I decided to wait for the girls to come home and bring them down to assist me.  It was fast and frantic there for a bit.  I'd point one out now and then but they soon got into it and were finding most on their own.  Brooke had never found one and it was quite a thrill for her.  Alex was down on her hands and knees searching for them. 

I finally pulled them off when we got the patch exhausted and we headed back to the house.  As we crossed a small stream with the Mule,  I looked over and spotted another nice one under a multi-floral rose bush.  Both girls went after it but Alex got it.  But Brooke found yet another one before getting back in.

I'm sure this was the biggest single haul of mushrooms I've ever found.  I did find a shirt full of large red ones one time that had more weight.

Apparently it's a good year.  My sister said there was a guy on the gas station parking lot selling them for $38/lb.

Almost a re-run of last year.  I wend down to the patch and looked around.  Found one.  Then another. Then two more.  Then no more.  Went off in another direction and came back and found two more.  Went off in another direction and came back and found four more.  On and on it went for about an hour.  I ended up sticking sticks in the ground beside 19 mushrooms. 

When the girls got home from school, we went down to "hunt" them.  Brooke found one right off that I hadn't found but she walked by several that I sticked and didn't see them.  In fact, she pulled a stick and flung it away!  I corrected her but she still didn't see the stick to mushroom relationship.  Then she caught on.   We all found a few I hadn't seen before but the girls still missed three I'd sticked.  We got 28 total.  They were not as plump as last year and not as many.  But it's early yet.  Maybe more tomorrow!

 We have had an old fashion winter with quite a lot of snow with the first snow from December still here. It warmed up and rained overnight but stopped mid morning, so  I strapped on my snow shoes and took a walk.The last time I was out their was a soft crust that made it hard going, today it was soft and wet.Fridays wet snow left a lot of twigs all over but I didn't see any major damage from the snow load.We heard some noise during the storm so could have some damage on the other side of the creek, but I couldn't cross today to look.
Our old three legged beagle even went with me following along in my tracks as I went looking for deer beds. She doesn't go with me much any more, I think she enjoyed herself.I know I did.

Yesterday was overcast with freezing fog at our place but with no wind and the temps in the mid 20's Patty and I decided to check up on all of the dozer work we'd done last fall. We took our resident labrador retriever along much to her delight. At first it was chilly but soon the walking warmed us up with both of us shedding hats and gloves half way into it. The first problem we noticed was a tile drain pipe that a big chunk of ice going down the creek had torn loose. We'll have to do some dirt work and redo it as soon as the ground firms up and dries out. Next we headed to the back woods that Patty doesn't get to see much of. I deer hunt there in the early winter but it's just to rugged and buggy to go there any other time of year. We noted a huge cottonwood tree growing along the bank that had finally fallen in to the creek. It fell straight across making a temporary dam until the spring floods come along and push it further downstream. We came upon a new tile line that a neighbor had cut from his place over onto ours to dump into the creek. Of course he'd not asked permission to do so and if I wanted to be a hardash could pull it back out but life's too short for those things the older I get. We noted the trees that needed cut and wondered how much the big grove of walnuts growing would bring at harvest in a few years. By now the overcast was getting darker and with a long walk back to the house we reluctantly headed back for home. One things for sure though I never tire of those walks in the woods.

One of the reasons Norm to have a presence one in awhile on your woodlot, even if the unannounced drain diversion wasn't a big issue. I keep getting the neighbor's field rocks dumped on my woodlot from off the end of his field. The line is marked red and I keep it marked, but you know how people are. ;) I also get them dumped in my back yard and machines tramped down through my planted trees at least once a year. I put signs up there last year to let them know they don't own it all yet. :D :D

The same guys dumping in the woods did it on dad's farm to. They have 100's or acres of their own, but want to dump on you. Gets old fast. ;)

Swamp Donkey,

Get a letter-to-the-Editor written about this fellow in the neighborhood (you) who was just paid Three and half million dollars for gold-laden rocks that keep appearing on his land.  It's assumed that they are thrust up by the ice in the winter, but no one knows for sure. They just keep appearing.  The windfall of so much money was unexpected and gratefully accepted. The rocks are to be stored in place until the purchaser retires and builds his crusher.  Much of the rest of the stone is to be shipped to the Western U.S. for landscaping and stone homes.  It has been like a gift from heaven.

Maybe he will steal them back.  :D :D

We've moved a mountain of rocks off these fields over the years. :D There was one huge pile we "built" from one season of picking off one field, it was picked after it was plowed, after it was harrowed and after it was planted and hoed. The next guy that bought it, said we never picked any rocks off the place. He was blind or something, because all the roads had wet sections built up with rock and most buildings where built on field rocks. :D There is one mountain of rocks dad moved from fences and rock piles that was 20 feet deep and 100 yards long, off same field. :D

Need rocks? :D

Quote from: SwampDonkey on February 28, 2011, 10:07:33 PM
Need rocks? :D

No thank you, my land has plenty, plus the ones my wife keeps telling me I have between my ears............

Bruce

Yeah-but!   You'll never get rid of them if you keep convincing everybody how much trouble they are.  You have to make other folks want the fool things.  Then you can sell them.  :D

Would you get taxed for a building if you piled up a bunch of these rocks into a rock pile that looked like a 30 room castle and plumbed it?

 :D :D :D Tom, you ought know better than suggest such things. Fear not, here is your very castle. This is the Lewis castle (See the L on the rock section of the flu) in Perth-Andover,NB  that my grandfather slaved to help haul rocks to build. The last two occupants said it was the coldest place on earth to heat. :D :D

It's now an inn and restaurant as you can see on this website:

http://www.castleinn.ca/

I find it funny you guys talking about rocks. I have yet to see one anywhere on my 69 acres in tenn. Across the road there are monster rocks on mine nothing.

I had about a six hour woods walk yesterday, I carry a small hatchet for vines and such, sometimes a pruning saw,  orange tape, binoculars, although I dislike pistols have added a small one to my tote bag. What I like about the hilly terrain is the exercise is so great, we have a rocky glade up on the mount that I try to get up to, the view is always great; on the clearest of days, as they  say, "you can see forever!" Always something interesting in the forest.

You should have seen some turkeys, or at least some scratching activity.

I saw scratchings,  if I don't put the chainsaw up may not have turkeys. I had worked thinning a clearcut, noticed scratchings, thought they were after dogwood berries or grapes but found some of the oaks actually had acorns, but the thing about it is the toms are beginning to establish their strutting territories.

My neighbor had bought a track loader a couple years ago. He went up and down every point and ridge and hollow running his turkeys over to our property. ;D Unless turkeys are baited, don't think they care for much disturbance and will lite out for safer country.

Stepson is coming up to flag the deer trails.We still have plenty of snow to see the trails.He's looking for some antlers.We are feeding deer and turkeys too.Deer wil eat and leave and than others will come and go too and so on.Them turkeys get there,they don't leave until all the food is gone. Looks odd to see 10-14 turkeys eating and 3-4 deer at the same time.

Quote from: Gordon on March 01, 2001, 06:52:27 PMJust wondering how many of you just like to walk in the woods and admire mother natures work. I know that is one of the most relaxing things to me. Going for a nice long walk in my woods sure is a stress remover. Amazing you can walk the same trail a hundred times and always find something new and interesting.

I most definitely agree with you. I do love walking in the woods as well, but not alone 'coz I'm kind of scared. Haha. But it's always a relaxing thing to do! :)

This is the wettest winter and spring we've had in many years.  I figured it'd be a hazard just to stand in the wood for fear mushrooms would pop up under you and tip you over.  But pickin's have been slim.   About a month ago I found one little gray mushroom about the size of a pigeon egg.  Then about a week ago I found two more.  Last evening I walked about a mile and checked every likely spot I knew and everywhere in-between and found one nice white one.

Today was a rainout at the sawmill but slacked off in the afternoon.  So I went to check on some old hot spots I'd not checked in a couple of evenings.  Still none.  But I kept on going.  Long story short,  I ended up finding 9 real nice, fresh and large white mushrooms. Normally I wouldn't brag but it's the most encouraging outing I've had this season. 



(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/3175/wsmushrooms20110425.jpg)

I found these under a large ash tree but the rest were found under red oak trees - one and two at a time.

This has been an awesome year for mushrooms.

More than 20 right here, we found 40 a few days ago.

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/17472/2146/Photo05032200.jpg)

I never see those kind here, are they in oak forest?

Mostly what I see are ones with white, brown or red caps, probably poisonous. We do have a similar one to those, but it's orange/yellow.

Morels , They are just starting to show up around here.

We find them in all areas of our woods. From old growth sugar maple to newer poplar stands to mixed stands of every hardwood species.

I don't know how true it is, but I've heard morels are often found around tulip poplars.

There seems to be a mushroom epidemic in this area. Stories of people finding hundreds of them. I know I've been seeing for sale ads selling morels all over craigslist, something I haven't seen till this year.

morels is what they're called around here too, find them around the dead chinese elm and cottonwoods.

When I lived and worked in northern BC it was a big deal to go mushrooming. There were several camps set up to buy all you could pick for cash.

SD, Start testing which ones are good to eat and let me know.
Have some pictures in the camera to help with the investigation. :D

I gave my good 'shrooming book to my brother a few years ago. So he claims. :D ;)

They're selling for $50.00 a pound here.

Weather-wise, that sure is a cold wind for being out of the south.  ::)

A little walk among some potential spruce log trees.  ;) This was on a relative's lot, along a hiking trail that takes me 2 hours from the house, out to some sawmill land and back in by my uncle's woodlot and across neighbors. Hasn't been much wood cut here for decades. These spruce are at least 90 feet tall. They go way up there. ;)

The spruce are growing on alluvium. A little stream is just to the right of the trees.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o_yjFTgILo

Very nice.  Those spruce like limbs.

Yes, shade tolerance has it's trade offs. ;) Luckily they are fine knots, and not "cow shade" knots. ;)

Talk about a walk through the woods!  I started at the very first of this thread, written in 2001, and literally walked through 10 pages of woods.  What a fun trip.  I had forgotten about many of those posts and enjoyed brother Tom's stories.  This thread is a Classic and very enjoyable. :) 

Thank you Charlie.  After I read your post, I decided to click on page 1.  It was a very interesting read.