WEBVTT - Ep. 127: THIS COUNTRY LIFE - Know Your Trees! 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:09.240 Welcome to this Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:13.680 from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living. 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.040 I want you to stay a while as I share 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:18.479 my stories and the country skills that will help you 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:22.360 beat the system. This Country Life is proudly presented as 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.880 part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:29.960 outdoor podcast the airways have to offer. All right, friends, 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:33.040 pull you up a chair or drop that tailgate. I 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:39.120 think I got a thing or two to teach you 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:45.080 know your trees. Tree identification is more important than maybe 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:48.080 some folks think, and being able to tell the difference 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:50.960 between a red oak and a white oak could be 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:53.720 the difference in going hungry or coming home with a 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:57.880 sackful of supper. Trees on the landscape tell a story. 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:00.720 It's never too late to learn the difference, says, and 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:03.720 it's never been easier to do it right now. Why 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:06.520 it's easy right now because right now is when we're 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:10.320 talking about it, and the amount of information available has 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:14.240 never been greater. I'm challenging you to know the woods 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:17.640 you're rambling around in. The more you know, the better 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:20.000 it's going to help you in every pursuit that you 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:23.200 have that takes place in the woods. No, you trees 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:26.160 us up next. But first I'm going to tell you 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:36.360 a story. In high school at Warren, Arkansas, I took 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:39.800 a two year forestry class at the Votech campus along 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:43.720 with my old watermelon stealing buddy Greg Hayes. I'm starting 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:45.759 to think this guy may have been a bad influence. 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:49.800 But our teacher was a bona fide of registered forester 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:54.600 and his name was Fred Burnett. It's still Fred Burnett anyway. 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:59.160 The Warren Votech took students from all over southeast Arkansas 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:05.080 and offered welding, construction, trade, nursing, business courses, and forestry. 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:09.720 The forestry class was absolutely outstanding. It was also hard. 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:13.760 We had to learn to identify seventy five different species 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:17.280 of trees that grew in Arkansas along with their scientific names, 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:20.200 and be able to identify them by their leaves and 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:23.680 the characteristics of their bark, limbs, and twigs. I loved 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:27.720 it and everything about it. The majority of the instruction 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:31.000 weather permitting was always outside, which is where I wanted 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:34.600 to be anyway. There were around on fifteen of us 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:37.919 I guess in the class from four different area high schools, 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:41.680 and like little Turkey polts following a mother hen we 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:45.840 trailed mister Burnett all over the school campus learned about 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:50.000 all the aspects of trees and where they grew. I 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:53.440 remember exactly where we were standing a week into school 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:56.000 when he looked at me and told me to identify 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:59.760 a tree and give him the scientific name. We had 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:02.080 just are studying this stuff, and we were at the 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:05.959 south entrance to the school campus that doesn't even exist anymore. 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:09.600 Beside the driveway where the votech bus was parked was 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:12.560 a tree, and everyone in the class was waiting for 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:15.800 me to screw it up when I said American sweet 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:20.880 gum liquid AMBARSTI rest of Fleua, correct, said mister Burnett. 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:24.639 And that was forty one years ago, and I remember 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:28.240 it like it was this morning. Lucky for me, it 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:30.720 was also the first one that I had learned. I 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:33.480 could tell you about ten different trees before I started 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:36.640 that class, but the scientific names, and that was the 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:41.160 gravy of the tree ied game. We were also blessed 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:44.840 to have a school forest about fifteen acres of mixed 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:48.360 pine and hardwood, and that was our real classroom. That's 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:51.400 where we made money to finance school projects and trips. 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:54.280 Those woods are gone now and have been for quite 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:58.440 a long time, but back then, selling firewood was our mission. 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:02.040 I can't imagine this kind of curriculum in schools now. 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:06.240 Maybe I'm wrong, but we had chainsaws and we used them. 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:09.400 A lot of us had used them at home before 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:12.240 we ever got to high school, and those that hadn't, 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:15.640 mister Burnette taught him how to do it. We'd take 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:19.479 turns notching and cutting trees, trimming the limbs, cutting the 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:23.080 log into firewood links, and then take a bolting axe 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:25.120 or splitting them all, whatever you want to call it, 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:30.520 and split the wood for stacking. At school. Chainsaws, bolton axes, 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:34.599 sledge hammers, steel wedges, single and double bit axes were 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:38.000 all at our disposal. It looked like a children's prison 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:40.840 gang out there, and mister Burnett was the warden. Now. 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:44.200 Having kids from different schools, especially those from rival schools, 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:48.560 always put an extra dynamic of competition amongst the students. 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:51.880 Terry was a guy from just such a school. He 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:55.960 was a good guy, a good athlete, but always competitive. 0:04:56.920 --> 0:05:00.680 Everything was a competition to him. Terry told me that 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:03.080 while I was pretty good with a chainsaw, that there 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:05.279 wasn't a cut off section of wood that he couldn't 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:08.719 split with a double bit axe. He then proceeded to 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:12.000 demonstrate it by easily splitting a cut red oak and 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:15.840 the pieces ready for the fireplace. Terry was a show off, 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:20.480 but Brent was diabolical, and when he said there ain't 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:22.640 a cut off piece of wood out here that I 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:26.320 can't split, being at my limit of having to listen 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:29.200 to him say how good he was at everything, I 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:32.200 accepted his challenge and rolled him up a two foot 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:37.040 in diameter and beautifully round cut of sweet coat. Now, 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:40.440 anyone who knows anything about splitting wood and burning wood 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:43.640 knows that oak cut offs split good when they're green, 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:48.040 and great when they've been put up to dry. Sweet gum, 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:51.680 on the other hand, do not. The twisted woven grain 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:54.560 of the sweet gum is terrible for splitting, and it's 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:58.160 basically useless as firewood. Whoever cut it down that day 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:00.760 must have just been practicing, because I can assure you 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:04.120 mister Burnett wasn't about to have us split it up 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:07.599 and stack it for sale. But that wasn't Terry's challenge. 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:11.160 He said there wasn't a cutoff out there that he 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:15.320 couldn't split with a double bit axe. Well, remember Greg Hayes, 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:18.800 my partner in Watermelon Crime, my lifelong to this very 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:22.760 day friend, that's more like a brother. That guy, Well, 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:24.799 I blame him for what happened next, because he should 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:27.240 have stopped me. He knew just as well as I 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:29.039 did that he wasn't going to be able to split that, 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:32.480 especially with an axe. You could have loaded that thing 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:34.280 up in a cannon and shot it through a fire 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:37.080 truck and not knocked the bark off of it. Sweet 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:40.680 gum doesn't split well. But Terry, he was a competitor. 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:43.680 He knew the challenge that lay before him, and he 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:47.279 walked around that end table size cut off, sizing it 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:50.440 up and looking for a weak spot. He was toting 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:53.000 that double bit axe like thor toased his hammer as 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:56.440 he tried to stare it down. He stopped and looked 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:58.560 up at each of us like he knew something we didn't, 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:02.400 and he grinned and he spit on that cutoff, marking 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:06.120 his spot. I looked at Gregg and we smiled. Then 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:09.560 that cat slowly raised that axe above his head and 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:13.320 with one mighty stroke, he landed that axe blade precisely 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:16.559 where he'd planned, and was as surprised as that both 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:20.200 of us when the axe bounced straight back, hitting him 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:22.680 with the opposite side blade on the forehead above his 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:26.400 left eye. It was a bang bang play. None of 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:28.920 us had time to react. Before the love of humanity, 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:32.000 I wasn't trying to kill him. The amount of litigation 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:34.600 that would take place in these times makes me shudder 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:38.239 to imagine what would happen. But those times were different. 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:41.120 He had a two hitch cut on his head that 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:44.280 bled pretty good for a few minutes. Mister Burnett applied 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:47.040 some galls from the first daid kit that he kept 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:49.280 with us and took him to the school nurse and 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:51.680 the nursing students got to work on a real live 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:55.800 dummy instead of a plastic one. He came out of 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:58.600 there smiling after having all those gals fussing over him 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:01.200 and wrapped up like he been loaded in a cannon 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:03.880 and shot through a fire truck. But that was all. 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:08.280 No one got sued, No one got in trouble, not 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:12.320 bad trouble. Anyway, mister Burnett had what I'd call a 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:15.880 meaningful exchange of ideas with all three of us, and 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:19.200 that was it. This wouldn't be the last adventure in 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:23.240 that class, but that's for another time. But before someone 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:26.960 writes in it says anything negative about the supervision or 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:29.720 that there was a lack of it, let me remind 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:32.960 you that we had all gone through safety training and 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:36.319 chose to ignore what we knew were tried and true 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:40.880 practices of safety in that setting, Mister Burnett couldn't be 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:44.079 everywhere at once to keep idiots from causing their own calamity, 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:47.920 just like a coach can't be to prevent an athlete 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:51.240 from injuring themselves, or or my high school a teacher 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:54.079 at the time. I filled a pipe full of stlene 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:57.640 stuffed full of wet paper towels, lit it and shot 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:01.080 them across the shop and agg class like a Roman candle. 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:06.199 That was all on us, nobody else. Mister Burnett will 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:08.800 go on to become the forester at a Central Arkansas 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:12.840 military base and eventually retire as the fire management officer 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:17.400 for the Arkansas Forestry Commission. You don't rise to those 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:21.880 positions being inattentive or characters. He's a grandpa now, and 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:25.320 a good man and a great influence on me, And 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:34.000 that's just how that happened. It's been said the best 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:36.320 deer killers probably don't know what kind of tree they're 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:40.199 sitting in, So why does it matter. It matters because 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:44.400 all animals operate on the three necessities of life, food, water, 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:48.280 and shelter. Food and shelter can be provided by trees 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:50.959 and water. Well that can be located by the types 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:55.160 of trees that you observe. Trees are also a static 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:57.679 identifier for a whole bunch of stuff. They'll tell you 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:01.080 the potential wildlife that lives there. They can tell the 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:04.280 air you're entering or leaving as different species grow in 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:07.679 different terrain types. They can tell you the general health 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:11.760 of the ecosystem you're operating in, and possibly be a 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:15.120 barometer for your potential success in that space, or at 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:21.679 least the opportunity for success. Healthy trees usually dictate healthy wildlife, 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:25.280 but not for all wildlife. Sometimes the absence of trees 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:28.760 is even more beneficial, or at least in that same area. 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:32.120 And stay with me, there's no one that likes an 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:36.760 open hardwood bottom more than me. Seeing that grand overstory 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:41.319 of giant oak trees is both peaceful and nostalgic. It's 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:44.720 our nature to love things and to have order, and 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:48.679 the neat defined contrast between an open hardwood flat and 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:51.640 a briar laden thicket is a prime example of how 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:55.960 predators in prey coexist in the same space. One time, 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:58.000 my dad and I was squirrel hunting and sleaning over 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:01.200 bottoms where I grew up. Peanup was treated, and we 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:03.880 were going to him by cutting across a thicket from 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:07.200 one spot of timber to the next. I was sitting 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:10.360 behind him on our big buckskin horse with the toes 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:12.800 of my boots dug in behind the bend of his knees, 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:15.760 and my hands were running deep in his pockets of 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:19.199 his old army green hunting coat, and I was squeezing 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:21.440 him as hard as I could to hang on with 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:23.880 my face buried in the middle of his back, as 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:26.440 we rode through a patch of briers so thick a 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:28.360 rabbit would have had the toe to hatchet with him 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:31.559 to get around in. We busted out on the other 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:33.720 side and I could relax and look around. I remember 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:37.240 telling him how much I hated those thickets, and that 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:39.720 I wished all of it could look like the open 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:43.000 timber we were riding in now. And I never will 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:45.440 forget how he described it looking when he was a kid. 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:48.600 He's just something. When I was your age, I could 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:52.720 run barefoot from Mount Eby to the Califorard. Y'all just 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:54.520 gonna have to trust me on that one. That's a 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:57.600 long way from down the river through the woods from 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:00.400 those two places. But he said, I didn't have to 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:04.360 worry about stepping on briars, getting hung up in BlackBerry thickets, 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:07.679 or even slowing down to look at deer tracks. When 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:09.400 I asked why he wouldn't slow down to look at 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:11.960 deer tracks, he said, because there wasn't any deer in 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:14.920 here to make them. Now, don't get me wrong. They 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:17.440 were deer in Arkansas way before my dad was a 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:20.800 little boy. Fernando de Soto was trapsing around here for 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:23.440 about a year starting in fifteen forty one, and he 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:27.319 was trading goods and visiting with the Caddo Indians who 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:30.360 were wearing buckskins that came from here, and the meat 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:32.800 that they ate was a large part of their diet, 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:36.040 and I can dig it. Less than an hour ago. 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:38.320 Alexis had me lay out a package of burger to 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:40.839 throw out for supper tonight. Those folks knew what was good, 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:44.760 and we do too. His point to why of the woods, 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:47.400 the open woods looked so good to me was because 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:49.440 we were out there to catch stuff and eat it. 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:54.120 Now here's another side note. He was making a point 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:57.160 about predators. But don't anyone think for a minute that 0:12:57.200 --> 0:12:59.160 he was about to eat one of the squirrels we'd 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:02.120 kill that day or any other day. He wouldn't at 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:05.120 one if he'd have been starving, slapped to death. He'd 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:07.280 help me skin them and even cook them for me, 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:10.760 but eat them, not buddy reeves, and not for any 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:14.560 amount of money. He gave them away to neighbors, traded 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:19.079 them to a man down the road for snake bite medicine, 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:23.120 and anyone that wanted them. But he wouldn't eat one. 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:27.600 And why he wouldn't eat one, that's a whole other story. Anyway, 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:30.200 He told me, the better that we could see, the 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:33.040 better chance we had of slipping around and getting close 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:35.559 enough to something to catch it. It worked the same 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:39.800 way with animals, And while that didn't endear me the thickets, 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:42.760 it did make me realize that, you know, they were important. 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:46.680 It's one of the necessities of life. We talked about shelter. 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:50.360 Those thickets are where deer lay up to have their 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:53.160 phones hidden from any and everything that was running around 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:55.760 trying to make a bamb sandwich out of them. They 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:59.000 also hold the brows and a million other goodies and 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:02.440 reasons why they're beneficials to a multitude of animals found 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:05.520 in and around them. Maybe we'll talk about thickets one day, 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:07.880 but this day ain't it. We're talking about trees and 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:19.520 importance of knowing the difference. You don't have to know 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:22.720 the scientific names of trees, but it's important. It's hunters 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:25.880 and observers, the wildlife that we understand as best we can, 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:30.200 the environment that we find ourselves operating in. Being able 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:33.120 to tell the difference in mass producing trees, evergreens and 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:35.440 decideous trees that's the ones that lose their leaves in 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:38.640 the fall is one of the best eras in your quiver. 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:42.880 And not all decidus trees lose their leaves at the 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:46.080 same rate or begin at the same time. If your 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:48.920 summer scouting and you looking to hang a stand in 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:52.040 that perfect spot where trails come together, and you want 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:55.200 to be there for an October bow hunt in Arkansas, 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:58.240 and you choose a tree with limbs that come out 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:01.760 at a ninety degree angle with great leaf cover, you'll 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:04.080 be shining like a diamond and a coach. But by 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:07.320 the time that October gets here, because the tree you 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:11.240 select is more than likely a black gum. Now that's 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:15.040 Nissa silvatica. It's one of the first trees in the 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:18.080 woods to lose its leaves, and usually by October it's 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:21.640 as barren as a ten year old dough. However, the 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:24.520 fruit of a black gum can be made into jelly 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:27.920 for us to eat, and animals from turkeys to songbirds. 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:30.520 The coons, bears and squirrels and a bunch of others 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:34.760 love them. Deer not so much. They'll feed on the 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:37.800 seedlings and the leaves up to a point. Then, as 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:40.400 the sample of matures the leaves lose they're attraction, the 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:42.880 deer bove on to something else, and the other animals 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:45.720 I mentioned take advantage of what the deer crossed off 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:49.880 their menu. Also, the black gum tree is very susceptible 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:52.360 to heart rots, which can cause them to become hollow 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:56.120 over time, but with there wood being so strong, they 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:59.600 can still live for a long long time. This creates 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:03.840 shelter and dens for mammals, birds, tree dwelling critters, bats, 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:07.280 and spaces for honey bee hives. All of that in 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:11.640 one tree. That's just one of more than one hundred 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:14.760 different species of trees that are native to Arkansas. In 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:19.280 Louisiana and Kansas, you're looking at about the same number. Well, 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:21.600 you say to yourself, I hunt out west, and there 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:24.880 ain't many trees out there anyway, and thanks, you ain't 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:27.560 enough to make a different to any kind of plans 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:29.240 that I'm going to make when I hunt out there. 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:32.480 Well guess what it should make a difference. Because New 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:36.000 Mexico and Arizona they sport over one hundred and thirty 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:41.160 different species. In Utah that's close to two hundred and fifty. Obviously, 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:43.320 all of them ain't providing food for game. But you 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:45.440 have to remember that shelter is just as important, and 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:48.760 it's one of those three basic requirements for life. So 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:52.360 keep that in mind. Speaking of shelter, my friend MARAE. Means, 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:57.120 who is the Large Carnivore Program Coordinator for the Arkansas 0:16:57.160 --> 0:16:59.760 Game and Fish he told me once when they were 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:03.360 due and some bearden studies now bearding studies, when they 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:07.280 locate a breeding age seals that have been radio collared 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:09.600 and they hit them with the old razzle dazzle knockout 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:12.760 shot and get all the biological data they can muster 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:15.879 from her in any cubs she may have betta and 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:18.199 I went on one this past March, and man, what 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:22.040 an experience it was. Anyway, Myron and his merry band 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:26.000 of biologists, veterinarians, and technicians tracked a collared sound down 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:29.399 in South Arkansas, where it's common for mama bears to 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:32.479 use tree cavities to den in since the areas are 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:36.159 prone to flood. I guess this old gal was prepping 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:39.120 for the big one, because Myron said she was located 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:43.560 over eighty feet high in a huge bald cypress tree. 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:46.760 That's tax odium to stitch them for you folks keeping score, 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:49.560 and just some more gibbers for those that ain't. But 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:54.520 bears are funny creatures and I dig them. Now. I 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:57.119 can't speak much about the trees out west, but I 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:01.280 can talk about those I find here. Orcus alba, the 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:05.120 white oak Man. It's a blessing and a curse all 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:08.400 rolled up in one. Now. How could something that produces 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:11.760 nature's best acorn, preferred by animals and humans alike be 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:15.439 a curse. Wait a minute, did I say humans? I 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:19.720 sure did. I mentioned the Caddo Indians earlier. Well, that's 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:23.280 just one tribe of Native Americans that were trading deerskins 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:25.840 and others such plunder to the Sodo and his crew 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:29.400 while towding a lunch bucket full of acorn based groceries 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:32.639 to the meet and greet. My friend Rick Spicer is 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:37.959 a flint napping, acorn eating bushcraft teaching guru. If there 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:40.440 was such a thing as a human Swiss Army knife, 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:43.760 mine would have a Rick Spicer blade in it. Y'all 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:48.440 check out Rick's Instagram page at packrat Bushcraft and give 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:50.000 it a fallow. I'll share a link to it on 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:53.000 mine and post up his step by step method in 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:57.600 the recipe he uses to make cinnamon acorn bread Cinnamon 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:00.520 acren bread. Y'all know I'm gonna try tow, so you 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:03.240 might as well join me, all right. The Curse of 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:06.280 the White Oak Acorn is mainly to bear hunters hunting 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:09.119 over bait. I don't have the energy to fuss with 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:11.320 folks about baiting or not baiting. I ain't what we're 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:14.879 talking about. Save it for another day and somebody else 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:18.080 what I'm talking about is how white oak acorns can 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:21.639 absolutely ruin a baited bear hunt. Simply put, when they 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:24.480 start falling, a black bear will crawl over a mountain 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:28.000 of doughnuts to eat one acre. Your bait will die 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:32.040 deader than disco literally overnight. Knowing the trees in your 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:35.639 bear hunt area is crucial. If the acrons start falling early, 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:38.600 you may have to swap it up and change up 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:41.200 your tactics from standing hunting to more of a spot 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:45.280 and stalk. By knowing tree I D. Knowing your trees, 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:47.760 you can look for a stand of white oaks, check 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:52.000 for bear sign, focus your efforts where you're likely to 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:55.439 cross paths with the bear or the bears that have 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:58.960 abandoned your bait. Now, I know I've been talking about 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:02.480 bears and and white oaks, but that's only example. Your 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:05.920 target species could be focusing on the acorns of red oaks, 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:11.800 pinoaks for salmon fruit, or beech tree masts whatever. Late winter, 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:14.399 when the acorns are all but gone and there's no 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:17.760 frogs or crawfish or bugs around for coons to eat, 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:21.760 we'll go to areas where we know there are groups 0:20:21.760 --> 0:20:26.800 of deciduous holly trees. That one's called alex decidua. Some 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:31.560 folks call it apossum haul or a winterberry tree. That's 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:33.879 probably the best name for it, because they'll have fruit 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:36.960 when everything else is gone, and when that's the case, 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:39.920 we'll be treating in those spots on a regular basis. 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:43.359 A lot of you may know that before I turned 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:45.359 to a life of fighting crime that I worked in 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:49.320 the woods managing timber. For those that didn't, I used 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:52.919 to work in the woods managing timber. Tree I d 0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:56.639 was crucial and allowed me to do my job cruising timber, 0:20:56.680 --> 0:21:00.280 which is taking a survey of the mertionable timber on 0:21:00.359 --> 0:21:03.560 a particular property, either by measuring every tree on it 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:08.639 or through a measured sampling of designated intervals. Required me 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:11.560 to tally the different types of trees to estimate the 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:14.800 value of the timber on that land. You should be 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:17.879 doing the same now every time you hit the woods, 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:20.920 but not for removing timber, but for removing whatever you're 0:21:21.000 --> 0:21:24.280 chasing out there, or at least finding what you're looking for. 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:28.239 Everyone I hunt with is always looking for sign, and 0:21:28.280 --> 0:21:31.080 I'm the same. But maybe just as important as a 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:34.720 sign you're seeing is where it's located and what's around it. 0:21:35.440 --> 0:21:38.199 Are they just passing through to get to an area 0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:41.399 of food or shelter. The shelter doesn't have to be 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:44.800 a place where they sleep. Shelter can be described as 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:48.440 a secure place in which you know they breed or 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:51.320 they rest. How about a like a big oak flat 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:54.160 or a pine ridge where a gobbler has a strutting 0:21:54.240 --> 0:21:57.520 zone or white tails bed during the middle of the day. 0:21:58.080 --> 0:22:00.840 Of course, you can substitute elk and deer or whatever 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:03.840 you're after. All I'm saying is to observe the terrain, 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:07.919 what's growing there, the environment, the wind, everything that you 0:22:08.000 --> 0:22:10.880 can file in the old noodle data bank for retrieval 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:13.280 when you run across it again, you know somewhere else. 0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:18.399 Being able to easily identify the trees and what uses 0:22:18.440 --> 0:22:22.440 them will make your scouting quicker and more effective. When 0:22:22.480 --> 0:22:24.560 all things are the same, it may be the difference 0:22:24.560 --> 0:22:27.240 in setting up in a sweet gum grove or a 0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:36.399 bunch of white oaks. Now, I'll close out with this 0:22:36.520 --> 0:22:39.600 story here that demonstrates the necessity of tree I d 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:43.879 Back in my timber management days, me and mister Leon 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:46.439 were marking timber to be cut and We're half a 0:22:46.480 --> 0:22:49.840 mile from the truck when I found a forty pound 0:22:49.920 --> 0:22:54.680 pine knot covered in dried gray mud. For those unfamiliar 0:22:54.680 --> 0:22:57.640 with a pine knot, it's the rich heart or sapwood 0:22:57.680 --> 0:23:00.840