I am pleased to announce that seven of the current North Woods Guides are now available on the I Phone. If you might be interested in downloading while your on a hike the address is naturalguides.com They are very reasonably priced, or you can just pick up your hard copy right through us. Have a great day!!!
Archive for March, 2009
Guides on the I Phone
Friday, March 20th, 2009Finally!!!!
Sunday, March 15th, 2009At last Spring is finally here. Although I may be a bit premature cause I’m sure there is at least one more snow storm somewhere on the horizon. There always is it seems. But today was beautiful, I saw my first Redwinged Blackbird and yes I did pull over and turn the truck off. There were at least a dozen singing in the trees. On top of that a small flock of turkeys, 30 or 40 deer and maybe a couple thousand geese, way to many to count but they completely covered about a 30 acre field. Everything seemed to come alive today. There is nothing like spring, my favorite season. The peepers should be out in a couple more weeks if the temperatures stay up. I’ll write a little about them later this week. It;s days like today that make life worth living, simple things if you just take a moment to notice.
Antler Hunting
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009With the snow quickly dwindling now is the best time to do a little horn hunting for shed antlers. The deer here I have found usually drop their antlers between December 20th to around the first week of January well before they enter their traditional yarding areas, atleast from my experience. If you know the area they were hanging around in the fall, walk the deer trails and you may get lucky. I like to walk through the bedding areas and the trails leading to and from them. I have gotten lucky on several occasions and have found some very nice antlers. If your really lucky you’ll find a matched set but do date I have only found one of those in all the years I have spent looking. It is a relaxing way to spend some time in the woods and enjoy nature.
Signs of Spring
Friday, March 6th, 2009Yesterday was a very uplifting day for me. No, I didn’t hit the Mega Millions although that would have been great, I saw my first Robin, actually ten of them. That was about 30 miles from here so their still a couple weeks away from arriving in my front yard. What’s it all mean, well that finally after months, way to many months winter is finally leaving. It is my least favorite season by far. In as much as seeing a Robin is the traditional sign of springs arrival, for me it’s hearing the song of the Redwinged Blackbird. In the rush of everyday life to get from here to there I can always find the time to pull the truck over and just sit and listen to them sing. It’s kind of like a toooo-weeeeeeeeee , for me it is the ultimate sign that the cold days of winter are over. It gives me the feeling like almost the rebirth of nature, that everything is new again and the long anticipation of warm weather has finally arrived. If I could throw on a backpack at that moment and go for a hike I surely would, but as always some responsibility somewhere is calling , I pop the truck in gear and rush off but this time with with a smile of satisfaction and a sincere appreciation of nature. Funny how one small bird can have such an effect on me. Happy Hiking!!!
Bird Feeders & Carpenter Bees
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009I learned the hard way this winter about bird feeders. I have been building a house for the past few years and decided this winter to put some hanging feeders on the porch. They had side trays built into them for suet which I figured was a good feature since the suet would last longer than the bird seed between fillings. The problem was the house is pretty much all wood exterior and wood attracts carpenter bees and suet attracts wood peckers. The combination of bees, woodpeckers and suet has turned into a major headache. The woodpeckers have been having a field day tearing my beams and rafters apart. A few weeks back I eliminated the suet all together but yet the woodpeckers know the bees are there now so they still come back. Pecking and hacking and pecking and hacking my once pretty beautiful house apart. Had I never put the suet out to attract them I’m pretty sure they would never have discovered the carpenter bees in the first place. Another lesson learned in life albeit an expensive one. My advice forget the suet unless you have vinyl siding.
Happy Hiking!!