wanna feel dumb?

[wareagle69]

So i was out in the bush again yesterday with allan, doing some bird hunting(opening day) was nice and quiet not really anyone out there, so we were discussing topics here and there, now when it comes to survival , i feel like i have it covered, can start a fire with a spark, can build a shelter, can find water and can navigate, i know which trees are which and even know a few plants.
so does this mean i know the forest?
apparently not, here are some questions aked of me yesterday

1-why is that tree straight and the one ten feet away not

2- why is that birch peeling more than that one 10 feet away

3-why is the wiind blowing here and not there

4-what do these little white bugs tell us

5-why are there black flies here and not back there 100 ft

6-the wolf we are tracking, why did he not eat the ant hills

7-how long does it take for an ant to rebuild its nest

8-what happens when you pull one ant out of a line and move him 100ft away

9-this wolf, what does it mean for the birds we are hunting

10-and here the worst one" having trouble starting the fire?"
i was trying to catch a spark for about 3 mins when he tosses a 410 shell to me and says try this. last year i saw allen do this, cut the end off of it and now yu have the plug and powder all dry and ready to start, awesome idea. but i told him no and went to my pack and got out my tinder box and used some steel wool, fire right away, feeling the pressure.would rather have not used this wool,. but that is the reason i keep my absolute positives in my tinder box, nice to experiment with new stuff but if all esle fails a 410 shell or my steel wool always works
so the cool thing was seeing him clean a grouse by stepping on the wings and pulling the feet towards the head, the breast popped right out, also then cut into strips and cooked over fire, then for the legs he split a small branch(green) down the centre then grabbed a twig for cordage and inserted the legs in the split and then bound them. vey tasty lunch i gotta tell ya, no seasoning needed, could have eaten 4 or 5 birds.
also we stopped on the trail and had a fox walk right up to us about 30 ft away before he decided to leave the trail.
so studying wilderness survival is all well and good, but stuyding micro climates of the forest or whathave you is a ture way to know the land, problem is, you don't find this kind of info in a book you have to go out and live it, but truthfully, i could probably stare at that birch for a week and not tell you why it is shedding bark more than the other one.
time to shift my focus, yes i can survive, but i want to truly know the bush, and in the end that will help me survive even better
thanks allan.

[2dumb2kwit]

wanna feel dumb?

Hey, Hey, Hey........oh, wait.....you meant....never-mind.

[2dumb2kwit]

So i was out in the bush again yesterday with allan, doing some bird hunting(opening day) was nice and quiet not really anyone out there, so we were discussing topics here and there, now when it comes to survival , i feel like i have it covered, can start a fire with a spark, can build a shelter, can find water and can navigate, i know which trees are which and even know a few plants.
so does this mean i know the forest?
apparently not, here are some questions aked of me yesterday

1-why is that tree straight and the one ten feet away not

It was trying to grow around the other one.

2- why is that birch peeling more than that one 10 feet away

Sunburn. The first one blocked some of the sun, off of the second one.
3-why is the wiind blowing here and not there

Deflection.

4-what do these little white bugs tell us

It wasn't really that girls first time.

5-why are there black flies here and not back there 100 ft

Check for scat.

6-the wolf we are tracking, why did he not eat the ant hills

Stomach bugs.

7-how long does it take for an ant to rebuild its nest

Trick question. Everyone knows that the uncles do it.

8-what happens when you pull one ant out of a line and move him 100ft away

You know that you have waaaay tooo much time on your hands.
9-this wolf, what does it mean for the birds we are hunting

That you are distracted.

10-and here the worst one" having trouble starting the fire?"
i was trying to catch a spark for about 3 mins when he tosses a 410 shell to me and says try this. last year i saw allen do this, cut the end off of it and now yu have the plug and powder all dry and ready to start, awesome idea. but i told him no and went to my pack and got out my tinder box and used some steel wool, fire right away, feeling the pressure.would rather have not used this wool,. but that is the reason i keep my absolute positives in my tinder box, nice to experiment with new stuff but if all esle fails a 410 shell or my steel wool always works
so the cool thing was seeing him clean a grouse by stepping on the wings and pulling the feet towards the head, the breast popped right out, also then cut into strips and cooked over fire, then for the legs he split a small branch(green) down the centre then grabbed a twig for cordage and inserted the legs in the split and then bound them. vey tasty lunch i gotta tell ya, no seasoning needed, could have eaten 4 or 5 birds.
also we stopped on the trail and had a fox walk right up to us about 30 ft away before he decided to leave the trail.
so studying wilderness survival is all well and good, but stuyding micro climates of the forest or whathave you is a ture way to know the land, problem is, you don't find this kind of info in a book you have to go out and live it, but truthfully, i could probably stare at that birch for a week and not tell you why it is shedding bark more than the other one.
time to shift my focus, yes i can survive, but i want to truly know the bush, and in the end that will help me survive even better
thanks allan.

I had to add more.....my message was to short.

[wareagle69]

sorry dude have to answer no to all your answers

[Riverrat]

1-why is that tree straight and the one ten feet away not

Better nutrients in the soil, or the wind is stronger where the crooked on is.

2- why is that birch peeling more than that one 10 feet away

Better nutrients, which could make a big differance in age of tree.

3-why is the wind blowing here and not there

Heavier Forest blocking the wind flow or different terrain?

4-what do these little white bugs tell us

Here we call them snow flys, means start of cooler weather, if it is the ones I am thinking about.

5-why are there black flies here and not back there 100 ft

No idea...

6-the wolf we are tracking, why did he not eat the ant hills

same as above

7-how long does it take for an ant to rebuild its nest

Depending on the level of damage, over night...

8-what happens when you pull one ant out of a line and move him 100ft away

He heads for the line again

9-this wolf, what does it mean for the birds we are hunting

Same as you...looking for dinner?

10-and here the worst one" having trouble starting the fire

[owl_girl]

about the tree, i think it was leaning away from the other one to get better light when it was growing up

[wildWoman]

Hey that's fun! Will you provide the right answers?!
My guesses:

1-why is that tree straight and the one ten feet away not
The crooked one might have had another tree drop on it and had to grow around it or snow damage done to itself.

2- why is that birch peeling more than that one 10 feet away
I would guess it has do do something with sun exposure - maybe more sun?

3-why is the wiind blowing here and not there
Because it got deflected by a hill over there or trees close by.

4-what do these little white bugs tell us
White bugs?

5-why are there black flies here and not back there 100 ft
Maybe now you are where there's wind blowing.

6-the wolf we are tracking, why did he not eat the ant hills
I don't think they eat ants.

7-how long does it take for an ant to rebuild its nest
One ant? Rebuild a whole nest?

8-what happens when you pull one ant out of a line and move him 100ft away
She's going to start searching for the phermone trail in all directions and if she finds it, keep following it again.

9-this wolf, what does it mean for the birds we are hunting
What birds are you hunting? He might flush out grouse and waterfowl, depending on what he's up to. I'd be checking the sky for ravens.

[jrock24]

1-why is that tree straight and the one ten feet away not
It grew at a different angle to get more sunlight.
2- why is that birch peeling more than that one 10 feet away
Because the wind is blowing harder, causing the peeling process to go faster.
3-why is the wiind blowing here and not there
The straight tree deflects the wind more.
4-what do these little white bugs tell us
??
5-why are there black flies here and not back there 100 ft
The wind blew them here.
6-the wolf we are tracking, why did he not eat the ant hills
He had other prey.
7-how long does it take for an ant to rebuild its nest
?
8-what happens when you pull one ant out of a line and move him 100ft away
He trys to find his way back.
9-this wolf, what does it mean for the birds we are hunting
It means the birds will not be low, I would look into the trees.

[your_comforting_company]

so does this mean i know the forest?
apparently not, here are some questions aked of me yesterday
...
also we stopped on the trail and had a fox walk right up to us about 30 ft away before he decided to leave the trail.

so studying wilderness survival is all well and good, but stuyding micro climates of the forest or whathave you is a sure way to know the land, problem is, you don't find this kind of info in a book you have to go out and live it, but truthfully, i could probably stare at that birch for a week and not tell you why it is shedding bark more than the other one.

time to shift my focus, yes i can survive, but i want to truly know the bush, and in the end that will help me survive even better
thanks allan.

very true. surviving is only one aspect of naturalism. When you get afield and start feeling it. wondering, experimenting, thinking.. that's when you start making connections TO your environment. It kinda plays out like an infant learning colors. The neurons and synapses in your brain actually rearrange themselves to do the computations. It's all really scientific yet simple at the same time. I have definately found myself wondering about things in the middle of doing something else. just yesterday I stopped work to look at a plant and took a moment to memorize every detail I could. Why? maybe OCD. or maybe my brain has rewired itself to be more observant of inconspicuous plants on the wayside that most people dont notice. (the plant was a hibiscus flower btw).
These simply aren't things that you can learn from a book. you have to go feel the tree. stand in it's shade, breathe in the wind and at the end of the day, you just realize that it doesn't matter WHY, only that it does without human consequence and what it means to your situation. for example, this tree has bark ready to use and the other one you can use later

p.s. those little white gnats.. they are fuzzy right? they tell you "screeeerrreeeerrreeeerrreeeeeee" when they buzz by your ear haha. seriously though, we have them most of the summer and you notice them most when the wind isn't blowing and the temp and humidity is high.

[Jayden Tor]

1-why is that tree straight and the one ten feet away not
There are many reasons for this, disease, insect infestations, sun exposure..

2- why is that birch peeling more than that one 10 feet away
The tree is A) growing faster than the other one, B) older than the other one as they tend to peel more with age, C) it has recently been attacked by some sort of munching critter(s) and is shedding to avoid being eaten.

3-why is the wiind blowing here and not there
The dynamics of the trees, landscape, etc will all have an effect on if the wind will blow light, hard or at all in an area.

4-what do these little white bugs tell us
One thing it does say is that there are a lack of predators in the area, IE birds, probably the ones your hunting?

5-why are there black flies here and not back there 100 ft
They are probably attracted to a source of moisture, or perhaps there is a critter in the vicinity, they follow the byproducts of mammals.

6-the wolf we are tracking, why did he not eat the ant hills
I'd hazard a guess at this one. I'm gonna say he didn't eat the ants because food wasn't scarce. He was probably hunting something more filling.

7-how long does it take for an ant to rebuild its nest
Not long.

8-what happens when you pull one ant out of a line and move him 100ft away
It's gonna seek out the chemical trail of her colony.

9-this wolf, what does it mean for the birds we are hunting
An early warning system for the birds if the wolf sees you before he gets his dinner.

I'm looking forward to the answers on this one!