Site Discussions

Wow!!.. I just stumbled onto this website and this article brings back so many good memories…heated with wood for years and somehow through several remodels I lost my stove allowance.  I always remembered the old saying “when you heat with wood you are warmed twice:  once cutting the wood…and twice from the heat produced from the burning”...thank you for the article….

Thank you.  I too am a backyard sawyer and would like to thank you for the research.  Always wondered what causes those burls.  Pacific Northwest Woodworkers

We currently have added a beautiful boy cat to our family. Our outdoor raccoon family raised him for four months. Cleaned him, fed him, played with him, watched over him. The night we trapped him was the only time I was ever afraid of them. They tried to free Finn.  They were trying to rip the doors and windows off. It was heartbreaking. Especially because Gonn stayed with them when they we’re repeatedly trapped . He wouldn’t leave them until they were set free. Our Vet was not sure Finn could be socialized but he is a kind, loving,gentle boy. Brought up by a mother that had one baby, then a month later she brought her runt out, then she adopted two abandoned or orphaned raccoon kittens…she had four babies and then took Finn in too. The babies are gone. Mama is having more babies and Finn is the most wonderful kitten! He has brought love, laughter and belonging to our family of animals, our children and grandchildren. My raccoon do not eat any meat -won’t touch it.  But they like boiled eggs and dog food. Some respect, some territory and space to be free and a little help when it’s cold outside or a drought. They like to play games but do not like heavy energy. Help each other out on our journeys…that’s all it takes. They do no damage here, don’t dig in the garbage and just need some trees left up that are a decent size. Our cat has huge haunches and shoulders from his vertical upbringing.  The raccoon don’t stay. Like everything on this planet…the time we share with them is temporary. The teens leave home, come back once in a while but they have things to do…

Thanks for this educational article on forest succession. I think too few understand the value of early successional forest as habitat for the animal species we love to see, or at least to know are out there. Because of the high stem density,  dense cover and a high volume of vegetative and insect life, food is provided for species such as woodcock, ruffed grouse and warblers, including the threatened Golden Winged warbler. Deer, bear, turkey and countless smaller mammal species also thrive here. Because of the extremely high carrying capacity this early successional habitat provides, I’ve come to call it the “coral reef of the northern forest” and now enjoy seeing a clear cut patch begin the cycle of succession anew.

Enjoyed the article! I drive a school bus and am charmed when I see wild turkeys which is not very often. I am curious about sleeping habits and predators. I live in an urban area and wonder what their predators are.  We are inundated with wild geese and there seem to be no predators for them.
Thank you.

Kwai, I am a member of the above tribe, I was wondering if the name for Hard’ack came from the Abenaki like Popasquash Island of Maquam shore ( Maqam meaning Beaver)?

How do you catch a shew?  My cats have killed two plus a mouse, just this year.

I saw a catamount on Route 21 between Route 22A & Route 4, It ran across the road, about 20 ft ahead of me, chasing a deer around 11 pm on 6/16/17.

Hi Carolyn,

Thank you for the article! We are in Nelson, BC Canada and we just moved into a house out of town in November. Every morning we have had a visit from 6 hens that walk through our yard. One of the young ones broke its leg when it was a baby somehow and the neighbours all thought she would die, but now she is still limping around; they call her Limpy. Anyway this article was very helpful because they haven’t been coming around lately and we wondered where they go now that the cold has set in. What do you think will happen to Limpy this winter? Will she have a flock?

Thank you,

Anna

I totally agree with the contents of this article. I’ve been engaged with the same firewood tasks for many years at my Starksboro woodlot, without mechanized equipment.This physical activity nourishes my mental and physical strength. I’ll continue this task until I leave planet earth. Living easily brings on a quick and certain death.

Great article and good advice about not planting a large quantity in the first year. I planted 200 (100 norway spruce, 100 nordmann fir) the first year. Make sure the trees are at least 5 foot apart.

Does the damage done to the interior of a tree trunk (bole) have a name? I’ve found the annular rings “delaminated” as it were perhaps as a result of wind torque.

Thank you. Another reason to have a good hand lens at hand, and to get on your knees to look, look, look.

Thank you so much for this piece! I grew up in Canaan, VT, (raised by parents who worked at Ethan Allen in Beecher Falls, and went out to dance at Bear Mountain back in the day) and continue to make pilgrimages to Brousseau Mountain to overlook this region from the north, and often take the 105 corridor to visit my mom, who now lives in Island Pond. Many stories of friends who ventured out into the region to hunt back in the day. One got lost and returned with frostbite and one heck of a story.

You probably know Allan Peterson, who worked for Champion for many years. He’s the father of one of my classmates, and a mentor of mine.

I just wanted to drop a note to thank you for your very thoughtful piece, especially your observations in the final paragraphs about witnessing changes in the landscape (both internal and external), and the importance of “allowing that inner compass” to guide one’s actions. As I write this, I realize the debt I owe to Mr. Peterson and his role in my life as a mentor. 

You Champion foresters are a good lot.

Best,
Jeremy

To be completely honest I think people buy into the new color patterns because it looks cool and all the “professional” hunters wear it, I’m 16 and if I could find it nowadays I would wear nothing but old school camo and obviously orange!!!

I have a bowl made of burl wood, it looks like a fungus on the bottom.

After retiring from the Army after 34 years, I settled in to find ways to keep myself busy, so I hunt. I have an addiction to dry aged meats. This led me to buy a walk in cooler. I hunt in Texas and Oklahoma and Alabama . With generous bag limits. 4 in Texas and 6 in Oklahoma and Alabama. I limited out this year now. 16 deer. Where I differ from many is careful shot placement. I wait for a neck or head shot to save meat quality. I hang the tenderloin rib sections and hind quarters in my cooler to age up to a month. The rest goes into smoked sausage. The money spent on the cooler is worth every penny. It allows consistent temperature and humidity control with constant air circulation resulting in a finished product that is second to none.

This is a fine piece of nature writing—-full of interesting accurate information and smoothly and engagingly written. Bravo!

We are fortunate to have both red and white nuthatches. The reds are way less timid and with a bit of training will eat right out of your hand.

I will grant you, Tom, that things may have gotten a little mumbo-jumboey at the end of the essay. What I was trying to say – beyond simply telling a non-traditional hunting story that didn’t cast the hunter as the hero, and telling a cautionary tale that might be of use to other hunters – was that the ugly side of the pursuit – the mistakes, or in this case the series of mistakes – create a spiritual depth. To use a religious analogy again, if life were perfect, if people were perfect, there would be no need for church on Sunday. Pain, mistakes, loss, can be a catalysis for growth. I think a lot of the good ethics hunters have are born out of stories like this, which is both unfortunate and fortunate.

I think your criticism of the actions in the story, and the other criticisms, are fair and warranted and I’m glad people are pointing out the lapses in good judgement. I’d caution, though, against seeing it as a simple matter of the wise and the virtuous versus the incompetent everybody else. In my observations, these kinds of mistakes happen when hunters develop a degree of competence, and we’d all be wise to note that. In the same way that most chainsaw accidents happen when you lose your fear of it, not when you first pick up the saw, many of the elements in the story – from the bad shooting to the not bringing a good compass – happen after you’ve had enough success to think you’re too good for any of this.