Site Discussions

The story is very well told.  I think it would have given me chills even if I wasn’t Isaac’s father.

A great article about the nostalgia of deer hunting in Vermont. Yes, we old hunters remember the great meals, camp camaraderie and many good days in the woods. For too many of Vermont’s dwindling number of hunters, the memory of actually seeing deer and bucks 25 years ago, is what keeps us buying licenses and not becoming migratory deer hunters, spending our vacations and dollars in New York, Ohio or Texas where there are good game populations.
While earning my wildlife degree at UVM one of the key concepts taught was that habitat was the keystone of healthy herds. Unfortunately, much of Vermont has become marginal deer habitat with little early successional forest,agriculture or openings of any kind. While most of the US is enjoying record populations of deer and growing numbers of hunters (the latest USFW report shows an increase of 9% in hunters while VT has had more than a 9% decline)who are spending 33% more on their passion, we see declining numbers. It is hard to keep a young hunter committed when they go the whole season seeing few deer, so the future will not be brighter unless we change logging practices, educate landowners about habitat and get the VT F&W re-engaged in supporting game populations as a high priority. I am not another unhappy hunter as my wife and I have harvested two nice bucks this year on our 200 acre, high elevation Windham home site. Last year I took the heaviest archery deer in the state. The good news is that VT has great deer genetics, the whitetail is a wonderfully resilient animal and with a little habitat work we can have great hunting again. We do need to get started on this before all the old hunters with long memories depart for the Happy Hunting Grounds and I don’t mean Iowa.

1st December 2012: Coming home from Dorset at 10:30 pm we saw a large catamount run very fast across Route 30.

Dave - not much seen up here in north Starksboro yet - by me anyway. Seen some nice looking deer hanging from some neighborhood buck poles, though, so I am keeping a good thought - and am also glad I got a doe permit for muzzle-loader this year to improve my odds. It seems as though with a warming climate that the weather most conducive to hunting is now early December - I’d be curious to know what folks think of that.

Great article, Dave.
I come from a long line of deer hunters also and, yes, the food has definitely changed!
My grandmother, Betty Smith, used to have men calling her weeks before deer season to line up the home made VT maple baked beans that she was so famous for. Now I am the baked bean maker. Although unlike my grandmother, I hunt. So the cooking and baking starts about a week prior to the season which usually consists of home made breads & rolls, beans, chili, all the canned goods from the gardening season, 3 different kinds of quiche, lasagna,and the list goes on…I won’t get into the sweets. We have only had 1 deer harvested a 172lb fork horn (one side of the antlers was broken off) just to clarify…Well, I’m leaving work and on vacation for all of next week, maybe I’ll report back with another deer!  Best of luck to all my fellow hunters, and BE SAFE!

This has really helped me with my project in 9th grade biology and also has really informed me too.

I just saw a catamount outside my home in Granville! We’re located way out in the boonies on a back road kind of behind Rochester near the Green Mountain National Forest. My German Shepherd, who normally never barks or growls at anything, has been going nuts in the mornings for a few weeks now. I know that we have a lot of bear and moose out here so I usually just yell at her from the other room to stop barking. This morning however she was going exceptionally crazy so I went to the window she was barking out and there it was! It was about 6:20 am and the sun had come up just enough that I could clearly see a HUGE cat. It was moving at a pretty good clip at first but slowed for a moment and looked towards the window the dog and I were looking out before taking off again and darting into the woods across the road. Can’t find any tracks but I’m going to keep looking.

Thank you for putting into words something I have always felt.  During the storm’s 80 mph winds I was compelled to go outside and experience mother nature.  We are surrounded by mature oaks, ash and beech and they were so impressive in their bending and whipping.  We lost several large trees but it is awe inspiring that we didn’t loose more.  How well they fought the wind!  In extreme weather I often wonder what the Native Americans of our area would have been doing during such a storm.

A very well written article.  What each of these states did not realize in their decisions is that for the vast most part, the savings they might have achieved in their fire protection / forestry budgets was shifted and moved to their social programs.  Most observers in those area where fire towers were located & needed left their jobs and could not find work. The State added to the needy payrolls of welfare, the towers became derelict, and we all lost out in this transition. Today, I would be much happier knowing that I’m paying $20,000 a year for an observer on Mt. Adams in the Adirondacks than an unemployed individual in Newcomb NY. who can not find work.  That IS a problem all over America….but what looks good on paper for some is not really good for others.

Nice perspective! Couldn’t have said it better myself. The guys dancing behind the weatherman were hilarious! >:-)

Hey folks, I was just on a recent foray with Dr. Rick Van Der Poll (not sure if I spelled this correctly). He is a well respected authority on mycology. One of the other participants brought this fungus in. We did not get to try brewing any tea as it takes over night to make. He says it has a somewhat strong flavor and a little goes a long way. If anyone is interested in making a tea with it you would do well to find a proper recipe.  And as with any mushroom or fungus be sure you know what you ARE REALLY EATING and only try a small amount in case you have allergic reactions to a particular one.

We have 8 large, old oak trees…and have often wondered why their leaves just seem to hang around and hang around….except for the multi-billions on the ground that we rake into huge piles. I can use SOME as mulch, but most get sucked up by big city machine that then takes them to the landfill to be turned into topsoil. Your article and the various theories are quite interesting. A few oaks are native to the tallgrass prairies here…perhaps after a long cold winter the remaining leaves added nutrients to give the prairie grasses a boost?
A related topic: acorns. Many more than usual this fall. A Master Gardener suggested the trees felt stressed by the drought and produced more “babies” to ensure long-term survival. Any thoughts?

To answer your question from Montana: this is not a birch-only phenomenon; you can find these conks on all species of birch, as well as on hophornbeam and occasionally on other hardwoods.

This sort of looks like something in my backyard but I attributed it to pine beetles. I know my grass but trees not so much. Is this a Birch only phenomenon?

I vote for standardizing the classification of maple syrup, but I would vote to keep it simple…Light, Medium, Dark and Extra Dark.

I had heard it somewhere that the singing of the birds wakes up the trees in the morning.
Can you comment on this?
Thankyou
Connie danner

“The European starling was brought here by Eugene Schieffelin, a New York drug wholesaler, who thought it would be really cool to have all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare flying around in American skies. In King Henry IV, Hotspur refers to the mimicry of the starling and says “Nay, I’ll have a starling shall be taught to speak nothing but ‘Mortimer’ ….” Schieffelin released 60 in Central Park in 1890 and another 40 in 1891. Unlike most of the Shakespearean birds he introduced, the starlings “took.” In a few years, they could be found from coast to coast.”

—This from Michele Patenaude’s 2010 piece on Pigeons. Check it out at: http://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/birds-too-close-for-comfort

As a lover of maple syrup my guess is that,barring “tradition”  the new system is more descriptive to the consumer than the “old method”. My tastebuds are the real test of the product.  And in my opinion, all of the grades are delicious.

I think the proposed new system makes sense. Calling a spade a spade, as it were.

I don’t see mention of grade C, though, which is reminiscent of caramel syrup and absolutely yum!

I whole-heartedly support the effort to standardize the maple grading system. My only concern is that once the rest of the word figures out that the very dark syrup (currently “grade b”) is just as good as “grade A” syrup, it will sell out of our sugarhouse even faster.