Friday, December 30, 2011
Have you seen one?
As I was driving down the curvy roads of Mansfield last winter, I noticed a large animal lying off on the shoulder of the road. He had unfortunately been hit by a car and was dead. He was longer and heavier than a fisher cat, with similar thick brown fur that was slowly turning white as the soft snow fell from the cold grey sky. I was curious about the animal, so I pulled over to get a closer look. My boys were in the back seat with their basketball uniforms on and reminded me that we were already running late for the game, so I needed to make this observation a quick one. I was amazed to see that the poor animal was a river otter -- and a big one at that. I looked down at the water he must have called home and decided to take a hike …
Friday, December 23, 2011
He joined a friend at Walden Pond.
A couple weeks ago, my friend called me and invited me to join him at Walden Pond in Concord for a late season fly fishing adventure. He assured me that although it was December, the big brown trout were cruising the shoreline eating very tiny insects during the unseasonably warm mornings we were having. I wasn't seeing many deer in the woods, so I thought it would be a good idea to take a morning and try and see if I could hook one of those big browns. On my drive out to Walden Pond, I started thinking about Henry David Thoreau and the short but fascinating life he led. He was born in 1817 and died only 44 years later, about two months shy of his 45th birthday, in 1862. At 16, he graduated from Harvard and took a job as a school …
Friday, December 16, 2011
The youthful times with dogs are precious.
When I was 4 years old, I met my first best friend, and his name was King. By the time I was 10, the King and I were spending most of our time running around the woods of my youth, exploring hidden rivers and old dirt roads. He was a tough reddish brown shepherd lab mix with a lion-like mane. He loved chasing cars and chipmunks. I remember one day he caught Freddy Eli's Ford and ended up with a giant cast on his front leg that quickly turned brown and tattered from the neighborhood dirt. Eventually, he couldn't take it anymore and the cast broke free. The break healed well enough so that he could continue to chase chipmunks, and I remember all of us kids standing around a particularly unfortunate little rodent we all thought was a goner…
Friday, December 9, 2011
He'll hang a branch from one of his favorite trees near his wreath and Christmas tree this holiday season.
There are two types of trees that grow in our backwoods, deciduous and coniferous. Deciduous trees produce larger leaves that drop to the ground in autumn, whereas coniferous trees keep their thin needle-like leaves throughout the year, shedding only the oldest leaves, which are usually lower down on the tree and do not receive as much sunlight as the newer ones above. In New England, the big leafy deciduous trees draw most of our attention. During springtime, those little colorful buds start to blossom off the twigs of strong grey branches and the whole world starts singing along with the song birds as the new growth represents a fresh start and the guarantee that warm sunny days are just around the corner. When the summer heat finally …
Friday, December 2, 2011
Magazine article says white nose syndrome hitting four local species.
When the inevitable cold air of December makes its way to New England, the little brown bat takes to the hills in search of open caves to literally hang out and sleep through the cold winter. Bats belong to an order of mammals called Chiroptera that have some fascinating characteristics. They have evolved bald skin flaps over really long fingers to soar through the night catching tiny mosquitoes with the aid of an highly advanced sonar system. They are one of the most successful groups of mammals on earth, represented by 1,240 species; which means one out of every five mammals is a bat. They evolved about 50 million years ago during a lush period of significant global warming in what is now North America. They are the only mammal …
Friday, November 25, 2011
He feels transported to a 'middle earth.'
From where I sit, up high in a sturdy hemlock, the base of the tree in front of me looks like a perfect place for a hobbit to live. The roots below are exposed and grow downward into the tannin-rich circles of deep black holes in the ground. As the sun is just about to break over this wild swamp on a chilly Thanksgiving morning, I am transported to a middle earth setting straight out of The Lord of the Rings. The sky is a light yellow and the old maples are silhouetted against the soft sky. The green moss on the roots together with the lavender colors from the millions of wet decomposing maple leaves on the ground give the whole swamp an incredible aura of purple haze. This year's high water table made my trek in here a bit soggy as I …
Friday, November 18, 2011
Trees remind him of life's simple things.
This week, many of the oak leaves finally decided to let go of their mother's arms and fall freely to the colorful ground, ready to accept the beginning of their decomposing stage. With this month's warmer than usual temperatures and light and variable winds, they have held on a little longer than usual, but sooner or later during the great month of November we have to clean them up. The other day, I was lost in the sound of my gas-powered leaf blower aimlessly blowing the oak leaves and pine needles into a semi-organized pile when I noticed a woman riding by my house on her bicycle. She was pointing in the direction of my front lawn and saying something to me, but I could not hear her over the noise of the blower. I quickly shut it …
Friday, November 11, 2011
Learn about the Ringtail and the Cacomistle.
As I quietly stepped into the pitch black woods trying to beat the big buck to the magic spot, I heard the sound of an animal crashing through the undergrowth, snapping twigs and branches along the way. It wasn't loud enough to be a bolting deer, but I wasn't sure what it was, so I quickly made my way up my tree stand and prepared for some quiet time while I waited for the early morning light to illuminate my surroundings. Just as the night was passing the flicker of light to the new day, I heard a strange noise in the tree next to me, so I looked over and saw the large body of a raccoon hugging the white oak. I must have forced him up the tree when I entered the woods. After staring at each other in the grey twilight, he slowly and …
Friday, November 4, 2011
It's about nothing.
One of my favorite Seinfeld episodes was the one where George and Jerry are pitching their new TV show to top executives and they tell them that the show is about nothing. "Nothing?" the executives ask incredulously. George leans toward them with confidence and repeats, "Nothing." When I am out in the woods hunting for whitetail bucks, I often think of George's comment because most of the time "Nothing" is happening. Sitting perfectly still in one spot for many hours waiting for a glimpse of a large, intelligent, mostly nocturnal creature seems like nothing to most people, but for me, it's an exercise in patience, relaxation and spirituality. In front of me lay a stand of maple trees that continue to grow ever so slowly from seed to fallen…
Friday, October 28, 2011
The deer are visible from Halloween to New Year's Day.
The rust-colored leaves are falling off our trees and the air has a little nip to it. Some rain and wet snow are in the forecast and the skies are a steely gray color. As you glance up to the clouds and wonder how it is possible that Thanksgiving is less than a month away; the cold north wind softly brushes against your face. I can remember when I used to feel depressed when this time of year spun around, but these days, like millions of other men and women across North America, I anxiously anticipate the beginning of November and the arrival of the whitetail breeding season. Like clockwork, the normally nocturnal and reclusive bucks become extremely active and more visible, spending all of their time chasing does, breeding and fighting…
ruben figueroa
2:48 pm on Monday, March 25, 2013
i seen one today but i guess it got hit by a car on route 138 in front off goulf course was wondering if there breeding out hear in canton since i seen one it was about 4 feet long more ›