Site Discussions

Almost as good as “Old Deercamps Never Die” years ago in Field and Stream…wish you would submit more to F&S !  Ed still around?

It’s a good question, Alane. And I don’t have a good answer. My guess is that because there’s so much land and a low enough human population density, hunters may play a smaller role in the overall deer population swings than they would in southern parts of NY and VT. If there’s less of an effect, the deer population can tolerate longer seasons. The real people to ask would be the NYDEC. As for feeling safe, I’d wear orange but otherwise go about my business without concern. There are about 4 “incidents” per 100,000 hunters in the U.S. each year, and almost always the accidents feature self-inflicted wounds or 2-party wounds (one hunter accidentally shoots his partner). Here’s the source of that info: http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/nyhrsi2015.pdf. The bottom line is that you stand a much, much greater chance of being injured colliding with a deer in your car than you do getting shot by a hunter. There’s no reason not to enjoy the woods and feel safe.

Well done Mr Mance! I enjoy your always informed, often poetic articles but this one was beautiful, and a compliment to your art. The ADKs sound idyllic but my recent hunt on opening day in the Northeast Kingdom simply reminded me of how fortunate we all are to revisit old trails and stands ( like old friends ) here in most parts of the Northeast. Thank you !

Hi Ms. Lorie,

In our neighborhood we have one very lonely wild turkey. We use to have 5, but someone complained and now we only have the one. We all feel badly as he/she goes up to black cars and truck and even front glass doors and acts as though he/she is trying to show attention to his/her own reflection. A neighbor of mine has a porch that this lonely turkey will sometimes lay down and hang out on and actually play with my neighbors young dogs with the glass door between them.  Should we just leave him/her alone or should we call someone to catch this lonely turkey to bring him/her to a place where there are other turkeys? My neighbor has been feedings it and this turkey already knows when it’s eating time. Should we just leave him/her alone and just enjoy it’s company when it’s around or should we call someone to come pick him/her up and bring it to a place with other turkeys. Thanks so much and I enjoyed reading your article….it was very interesting and informative. 

Kathy G.

Another wonderful thing about this tree is that it is pollution sensitive, so when you see those beauties your are also seeing a fairly healthy environment.

I can see a stand of tamaracks tucked into the dark green firs on a neighboring hillside in Corinth, VT. They are like a glowing yellow beacon and make me smile.

Wonderful article.

Could someone please explain to me why hunting season in the Adirondacks is so long? It begins around Columbus Day and ends after the first week in December, around the 8th. In Vermont the season is 16 days, if I understand correctly. I’m a hiker who would love to enjoy the fabulous fall weather and colors, but hesitate to do so. Why is the season so much longer than in Vermont? I do notice Vermonters hunting here, I guess since their season is shorter. A little equal access for other outdoor enthusiasts would be very nice.

We travel several thousand acres surrounding a four man camp and for several years we have not seen a rub or hooking pole…there are bucks in the area, not plentiful but there. Is this a density problem with lack of competition? The buck/doe ratio is way off, would an earlier sex hunt over several years help this situation?

All species of wood splits different. And being green or dry matters. Twisted or knotty wood is difficult. Nice strait Oak, Hickory and other hardwoods split well. Seeing twisting or knots on the logs usually determines problems, it means the grain is not strait, stopping the slice through force. Elm is nearly impossible to split by hand.

Striking the wood with an axe with little force will usually determine the difficulty. Little force meaning not enough for the axe to stick tight in the end grain. You can be amazed how easily some 18” to 24” logs will split with 3-5 light wacks.

My husband just saw a mountain lion run across our road a few days ago. When reading the comments, I found it interesting that someone saw them on I-91 around here a couple years ago. That’s just 2 minutes from my house.

Our 30-year old, 30-foot tall dogwood began to get dead branches last year, and this past spring we found three new dogwood saplings nearby.  They flourished all year with no special care from us (we were overseas) and are now well-established. I like to think the parent tree was feeling its mortality.

Don’t let the cherry fool you. Although the trees can look impressive, Adirondack Cherry is at the bottom of the food chain as far as wood quality for some reason. And I think because of soil quality it red rots very easily. Yes you went to a beautiful place indeed.

Sounds like a great place, similar to many of the thousand plus acre hunting clubs in this area. “... not a lot of deer per square mile” is almost a requirement if you want large bodied deer, especially in relatively poor habitat where the forest understory is dominated by beech. It would take some deer exclosures to really know, but it may well be that the deer are a large part of the reason that the understory is dominated by beech—the deer would have eaten almost everything else first.

I am a hardwood sawyer. I see and have some of the most amazing figured, burled, “deformed” woods. My attention is turning to ingrown burl wood.  Small “nodules ” of pure burl.  Though most are way too small to turn, they produce some spectacular figure and grain.  It is quite obvious that it is the trees way of repair.. I am fondly personally studying these characteristics and have some other thoughts on neurological or hormonal deformities.

I really enjoyed this article and learned a lot. Good info explaining how turtles can survive the winter. Also, I do try to stop and help any turtle I see heading onto the road. We sure don’t see as many as we did growing up.

Love this programme and what you are doing for people. You guys are great!!!

Best advice is to keep the water fairly cool to prevent them from sprouting legs! Keeping the water in a cool dark place will trick them into hibernation sagely worn no danger of freezing. .. you can even place the water in an area cooler than the house that is safe from freezing.  We keep our house at 65 in the fall and winter and that is cool enough but you can keep them in an area 45 F to 65 F and that will keep them from morphing. The cooler the better.

I spend the summers in Ontario, CA about the same latitude as the above writers from <aine, VT and NH. This spring (?) a female grouse started striking my white cap as I drove near her area, once knocking it off. This continued all summer, with 8 “attacks”. It happened to others who visited me, so I’ve got witnesses.

I’ve never seen such a display in 49 years there… and the hen and the male both did it,, and would boldly follow me down the bike trail and eat the corn I’d throw them, always with fierce looks and fearless. Towards the end of the summer, I could rev up my 4 wheeler and they would come, once bringing their now-grown clutch. Weird! And now I can’t even think of hunting them.

And then there’s Interstate 91. What kind of hullaballoo occurred when that went in? Without it, our scenic state would have far fewer hikers, skiers, and tourists to appreciate it and bring their dollars to our perpetually struggling economy. It enabled some internal employment, too, both short and long term, meanwhile allowing residents to get to jobs and resources in other states more easily. But it’s an eco-unfriendly travesty to the landscape caused by government force and commercial interests, just like the skyline drive would have been and wind towers and solar farms are today. Would we be better off without it?