Animal Tracks

The story of an animal traveling through a forest is left by it's tracks. At times the tracks are difficult to see. Tracks consist of bent grass, a dragged leg, or a foot print of the animal.

There are three types of tracks; the nail walkers such as deer or horse; the flat walkers like a squirrel or bear; and toe walkers like a cat or dog.

In our forest, where white tail deer are abundant, the prints of the deer depend upon: the material it is walking on; the movement of the deer; whether walking or running; and the size of the deer. It also depends on the season of the year.

The prints vary in size depending on fore or hind legs. For example: fore: 3"x 2" - hind: 2-3/4"x 1-1/2".

White tail deer track looks like this:

A Surprising Challenge

Many times surprises occur when one goes into the woods. The surprise is often the sight of a beautiful deer or a red fox.

Recently, we arrived at the front gate of the driveway to the cabin and, to our surprise, a 12 inch in diameter balsom had been blown down and blocked the driveway.

It was 4:30 p.m. and it would be dark by 5:30 p.m. As we were surveying the situation, trying to decide how we were going to remove the tree, we heard this friendly voice. It was our neighbor who lives up the road. He had been hunting and had seen the fallen tree earlier in the day.

"Do you have a chainsaw?" he asked. "Yes, let's go get the saw from the garage." After putting gas and chainsaw oil into the chainsaw, we proceeded to remove the tree. My neighbor is a nice young man who loves the woods. He was very willing to help out.

He first worked on cutting off the branches. I grabbed the cut off branches and placed them into the woods away from the driveway. Soon, he started cutting the trunk into 16" to 18" pieces. These pieces were tossed into the woods and soon the tree was completely removed. All this was completed in about 30 minutes.

It's nice to have good neighbors who help with such surprises!

Burn Piles

It has been approximately a year since the logging operation in our forest. The logs were hauled away and new growth has begun.

A large pile of branches that were trimmed from the logs and some dead trees remained. It is dangerous to set the pile on fire during the summer months; but, the winter with 15 inch deep snow is ideal. A still day, without any wind, is just perfect to light the 15' high pile on fire. Our logger cleaned off some snow, poured some fire-starting liquid on the pile and lit a fire.
The fire was large and the ashes and remaining pieces of branches and trees were reduced to a pile approximately four feet high. After five days, the pile was still smoldering, but more snow fell, putting the fire out by covering the ashes.

Spring will arrive in a few months, the new growth will continue and the forest will renew itself. What a marvelous transformation!!

Gobal Positioning Systems (GPS)

A GPS is a positioning device that is a mini computer for road and water travel that can be used in the wilderness. It eliminates the need of using a map and a compass.

The GPS device will give your location per latitude and longitude with fair accuracy. The device uses signals from a number of orbiting satellites, usually a minimum of three satellites is required.

Our GPS device is an older version, hand- held, battery powered, Garmin, Model GPS12. It gives the satelitte status, our position in latitude and longitude, a compass navigation and map to our point of destination. We use our GPS for mapping and locating the boundary of our property.

Before leaving on your trip, plug into the GPS memory the location of your cabin, car or motel. Then proceed to travel, hike or boat ride. When you want to return to your point of origin, enter the cabin, car or motel from the GPS memory and the GPS will guide you back to that beginning location.

Of course, it is a good idea to have a good map and a compass with to see the overall picture of the trip.

Lost

Some years ago, my mother and her friends planned a blueberry picking trip. They knew of a great spot in the woods near the old cabin where blueberries were abundant. The time was late August and the blueberries at the their best.

The blueberries are of low bush variety, several feet high and thick with many green leaves and when in bloom they have white or pink blossoms. The blueberries grow best in sandy or peaty soil that must be acidic and drained to a depth about 16 to 20 inches. The underlying soil below the sandy or peaty soil must have abundant mositure for the blueberries to thrive.

The group was having a great time enjoying the harvest of berries. Each of the group proceeded to pick, going in their own direction, spreading out and following where the best picking was. Soon the group was spread out, far from each other, but still enjoying blueberries. Time passed.

My mother found herself isolated from the group. She thought she could call for help, but there was no response. She walked back to where she thought her friends were, but couldn't find them. Evening was approaching. A little panic settled in.

My mother collected her thoughts and looked for a clearing nearby to sit down and rest. She had a nice pail of blueberries to eat when she felt hungry. Just, maybe, her friends would stop by or call. She waited. Darkness came. She curled up and fell asleep.

Her friends looked for her, calling her name, but could not find her. They called the sheriff's office and explained about the lost person. The sheriff stated that they would form a search party in the morning which included an airplane and pilot who was trained in searching for lost people. The area to be searched was somewhat remote, but well defined.

My mother was an experienced outdoorswoman and did not wander, but stayed near the clearing where she stopped early the previous evening. Morning came, and my mother awoke to the noise of a low flying airplane. She waved at the pilot and the pilot tipped the wings to acknowledge her wave. Within an hour the search party arrived. Needless to say, my mother was happy to see the group.

When she arrived home, her friends stopped by to ask about her night in the bush. She talked for hours about her adventure. She even got her story in the local newspaper. Mother was an ideal survivor in that she didn't panic, collected her thoughts, sat down and rested, had something to eat, and had a strong belief in her friends who would help in finding her.

A Special Treat From The Forest

You can put them in pies, pancakes, pastry, muffins, coffee cakes, with oatmeal or other breakfast cereals or eat them with cream and sugar. Blueberries are in the woods of our area.

The blueberries are a small fruit that grow on bushes. The plants are about 12" high and grow with many green leaves. The berries grow in small clumps of six to ten berries.

The plants grow best in a sandy or peat soil. The soil must be acidic and drained. Below the drained depth a source of adequate moisture is required for the roots of the blueberry bush.

Where do you find the blueberries? Sometimes we find them in sunny open rocky areas where the rocks provide pockets of the sandy soil which has accumulated and the bushes can grow. We look for open large rocky areas with a scattering of small trees and shrubs. We have found the blueberries along side of the road where some peaty soil may exist. They can also be found in peat bogs.

Blueberries begin to ripen during July and reach fruitation during August. This is the best time to pick the berries.

It is desirable to eat the blueberries as soon as they are picked as the berries are fresh. Another option would be to freeze a thin layer of berries placed on a baking sheet and when frozen, place them in freezer bags or containers. Blueberries freeze well and keep for a long period of time when frozen.

Wild strawberries, raspberries and blackberries are also found in the area. Our favorite is the blueberry, especially mixed into a big batch of pancakes.