Site Discussions

Thank you, sir, for an excellent tutorial. We are building some top bar hives for our new property and look forward to trying your method. We saw many honeybees this summer so we know there’s a hive close by. Hopefully it’s wild and does not belong to the winery a mile away…

While splitting oak, I found a large, orange grub inside the log.  I’ve never seen another like it.  After photographing it, I placed it in a standing white pine, compromised by a lightning strike, in the hope it may survive.  I have a picture if you have an email address I can send it to.  I’d love to know what this grub will become.

Rachel
Thanks so much for your article about winter tadpoles.  I knew some of what you wrote about, but I loved how you presented the 4 factors that influence how quickly tadpoles develop.  I never thought about their situation quite like that and it makes really good sense.  I wondered if over-crowding might actually speed up development because, as the pool dries, the habitat may be disappearing?  But this would be difficult in terms of feeding and getting oxygen?  I have found the dessicated carnage in vernal pools that have dried before the tadpoles are ready—seems so sad, but I know it is part of the cycles…

Thanks again for your thoughtful treatment of this topic.

Ted

Dave,

Not New England or New York, but I was stationed in Adak, Alaska in 1964 to 1966.  I was a Coast Guard Lieutenant commanding a Loran Station on the island.  We had a “White Alice” installation on the island that was part of the Dew Line of early warning radars.  This installation was still manned through the time I was on Adak.  I left the Coast Guard after this tour and returned to Mystic Connecticut where I have lived since.

Carl Strand

My mom has 2 butternut trees on her property. One is very old and only produces a few nuts a year, I doubt it is infected I have not seen signs of it.  My sister told me of another and I will check it out this spring, and contact you of it looks good.
My question is: I would like to purchase a few butternuts from Arbor Day Foundation, do you feel they may be a bit resistant to or am I just gambling?

This type of conservation is why bird hunters and their organizations, such as Ducks unlimited, are so important in the overall conservation efforts to protect birds and their habitat.  Charles is right when he suggested that other species benefit when one species is protected.  I firmly believe that hunters have a role to play in the conservation efforts in this country.  No matter the politics, good conservation efforts should bring together multiple players with vested interests.

Thank you so much. My father would take me and my brother out to do this when I was about 5. Recently when I talked with my brother about this and looked at the old bee boxes we where not sure how to make it work. I recently started keeping bees which is why we dug out the old bee boxes. Again thanks.

While doing routine winter maintenance on wood duck nesting boxes in Jan of 2004, a cache of meadow voles was found in a box. Shortly after, during a period of extreme cold (-20C) which lasted at least seven days, the body of a starved northern screech owl was found in the box.  lying on the frozen vole bodies.
Tony

I think a new revision is needed to open these lands to the public for current use. The states’ departments need to start working together. Fish and Game is trying to get more land opened to hunting, this would be a great way!!! How does that ball get rolling?

Here’s a question; should the land owners be allowed to do the logging of their own land-use property? That’s putting money directly into their pockets after they have received the break.

I was rescuing a guinea pig near the woods (someones Pet) and I thrust my hand (like an idiot) into a fuzzy bunch of green leaves. A neighbor called it poison ivy but I have to say it was worse. My hand became almost something I couldn’t recognize! It turned bright red and had gloppy bubbles all over the fingers…it was oozing, I called it creepy holly but I don’t know what caused it. blisters on my wrist would pop, the discharge was so gold it looked weird. It wasn’t poison ivy but what the He—was it? My right hand (three fingers) hurt to this day, weeks later…throbs and hurts slightly, I felt I almost lost the 3 fingers ghastly. I’ll be careful after this!!!

They can survive pretty low water conditions, Judie, so I wouldn’t worry. And they won’t move into your house. They love cattails (they eat the roots in winter, so the brown foliage on top doesn’t matter), so if you want to help them out encourage the cattails.

The best way how to cut a tree which leans different direction than you need it to fall down is to have a helper. Number one, you should always have safety gear like a hard head, safety glasses and gloves. Take a rope (make sure it is much longer than your tree) and either climb it or install a little log and the end of it. Throw it around stronger limb, make a knot (slippery eight loop) http://www.netknots.com/rope_knots/slippery-eight-loop. Make it tight and hook it up behind truck or atv. You can also use a few guys to pull.
It depends how big the leaning tree is. It if is bigger tree, please don’t risk anything and call your local tree guys. It is not worthy to save $1000-$2000 to risk your life.

Anyway, when your rope is tied and person in the truck or the atv ready, you can start cutting. Cut 70% notch into the tree with the length of 80% of the trunk’s diameter. Cut down slide first and then make upward cut to complete the notch. Make sure that your guy at the truck or atv start pulling little bit more. Then make the back cut toward to the corner of the face notch. While you cutting make sure your helpers pulling the rope more and more. This job needs to be done precisely. Your tree should start moving towards to your helpers, if you need to, cut little bit more and then escape the area by going on the left or right.
Bob - Eastern Tree Service in Birmingham, Alabama

There is a muscrat family living in a small pond near our house.  I do not know the depth of the pond and am wondering if muscrats can survive in this condition?  The pond is surrounded by grasses and reeds which will soon freeze and die.  Can I put any food (bird seed, corn Etc) next to the pond to provide extra food for the muscrat family?  I would hate to see them freeze or starve, but I also don’t want them to come in my house!  Thanks…

In the past 10 years or so, twice, I’ve used a brush saw to cut the beech in my woods. The saw did a great job but the stripped maple and beech have returned in force. I’m losing this battle.

I’m surprised at the low levels of glyphosate recommended in the article. If I understand correctly it would require about 3.4 ounces of my 47% glyphosate product that I purchased from Home Depot. That seems to me to be a very small amount. How long does it take for a beech tree to die. How long for the ferns?

I have regeneration of oaks in my woods. They grow next to the ferns and beech. Will this product hurt the oaks or hard maple?

Have you ever tried using a mist blower sprayer? The kind with a gasoline engine? I think Stihl makes at least one model. I don’t own one but I would like to know if anyone thinks it’s worth the cost.

I’ve had this happen to me once - a deer that I hit and didn’t recover - one that I never found out was whether it had survived my arrow or not.  It is not a good feeling and I wouldn’t wish it on any hunter. 

All we can do as hunters - especially bow hunters - is to practice, practice, practice during the off-season. Know our maximum effective range and NEVER shoot beyond that at live game.  Never take shots other than broadside or quartering away with a bow.  Never take shots at moving deer with a bow. 

If all bow hunters followed these four steps there wouldn’t be half the unrecovered deer that there are. 

The rise in states allowing leashed dog trackers is a mixed blessing in my opinion.  On the positive side, a well-trained dog can find most deer that humans with their limited capabilities would never find.  This allows hunters to put tags on deer they wouldn’t otherwise be able to put a tag on.  Then again, nothing is ever wasted in nature.  A deer that dies and is not recovered will become food for numerous creatures - just not the hunter and their family.  And I wonder if many hunters now take less than perfect shots thinking, “If I don’t find him I can always call a dog tracker.”  This was a great read - and eloquently sums up a feeling which I pray I’ll never have again.

Dave, Beautiful piece!  I appreciated reading this immensely this morning, and I’m feeling (and sharing) the pain of our mutual friend.

There’s not much that even a good friend can say to take away the sort of pain, sadness, and frustration that losing a deer can bring.

Bowhunting is never a sure thing.  There are complications that can arise as swiftly and silently as the deer itself.  These things are just plain part of the deal.  The best that we can do is learn from each experience and move forward to the next opportunity.

Shake it off and get your tail back out in the woods, Hiya!  There will be another chance - a time for redemption.

Be well, and good luck during the rest of your season!

I’d like to make handles for my tools,hammer,axes and a custom handle for hatches. Thank you for any help you might have. Phil

Dave - Great story,sad story. Some of us have been there. Should be required reading for all hunters new or old. Tell Hiya the sadness will eventually fade.

I don’t hunt and don’t want to. But I know something about the feeling of the lost-deer aftershock . . . from hitting one with a car. We didn’t know for sure what the impact had done. We couldn’t find it. We still wonder, vacillating between damn-the-deer—it ran RIGHT IN FRONT OF US, leaping off a bank from above-car height, there was absolutely nothing we could do—to OMG, we hurt it, did we hurt enough to kill it mercifully or is it out there suffering a hideous death, or was it just a glancing blow and it’s fine and the shock was all on us?

We’ll never know, just like Hiya.

Dear Dave,

Thank you for telling the hard truth.
Sometimes the best stories don’t have an end, but a deepening. They always make us feel included and I, neither hunter, nor an opponent of hunters, was included in the pain and the mystery.

Steve