A Year in the Forest

A few days ago I found the front leg of a deer.  Today I found part of the backbone of a deer, I assume the same one.  It was quite a ways away from the leg on the other side of a ravine.  I have looked and tried to follow my nose in vane searching for any other sign of the deer.  No Luck.  No smells. Nothing but the front leg and partial backbone.

Walking through the forest my nose did alert me to something, however.  I smelled something very sweet and looking around found a ripe pawpaw under some rose bushes.  Few things smell as sweet.  It seems the walnuts that have been falling the past week or so have finished.  I did not hear one fall today.  I did see several squirrels on the ground today.  They had been keeping themselves in the trees.

The leaves continue to fall and cover what were bare dirt paths that I use.  If I didn’t know where to go, it would be hard to follow the paths in some places.  There is not really much color, mostly yellows.

The only mushrooms, growing at the moment and not being immediately eaten are some honey mushrooms covering a large log.  I don’t expect them to last long.

  As promised here is the view down into the valley today.  I noticed today that in some areas of the forest, especially under the aspen the forest floor is covered with fallen leaves.  In other areas, dominated by other trees the forest is almost bare – the leaves have not fallen there yet.  Looking down into the stream bed you can see an area where the leaves have not fallen very much.  You can see a little color starting to show.  The most color is the maple and sumac on the edges of the forest.

Yesterday, I saw lots of mushrooms coming up and it was still moist.  Today it is dry and the animals have harvested most of the mushrooms.  I was able to gather enough of various varieties for dinner tonight though.  There was not enough of any one kind left.  I don’t have anything to base it on but my gut feeling, but the efficiency of the animals in harvesting the mushrooms and other edibles in the forest makes me feel this is going to be a harsh winter.

I started out the day by going a different route.  I went down the ravine to harvest a Bear’s Tooth Mushroom I have been eyeing from the ridge top.  While going down the ravine I spotted something I have been looking for for quite a while, a fox den.  We have several foxes and I have always seen them going toward one area.  That is where I spotted the den.  Here is a couple of pictures of it.  One from afar.    And another closer up.    Foxes usually have several dens that they wander between.  This one looks active right now because of the well worn path going to it.

Going further down the ravine I did find the Bear’s Tooth Mushroom.     I also found a ripe paw-paw.  The only one this season.  A paw-paw tastes like a super sweet banana.  The black walnuts are falling with so much rapidity that I almost got hit twice. 

All told we got about an inch of rain, much needed.  The forest is much quieter when it has rained.  I can hear the leaves falling now.  The crows and squirrels, however, made enough noise that it was far from quiet in the woods.

With the rain and cloud cover the temperature last night was almost the same as the high today.  With the rain and warmth I expected many more mushrooms to be up.  All I saw was a new Sulphur Shelf and some new Honey Mushrooms busting out.  There was also some as yet unidentified mycena mushrooms on several dead logs. 

I encountered a deer, it is getting to be a daily occurrence.  As usual the deer snorted at me before it ran off.  I did not get a good look at it because it saw me before I saw it but it sounded like the Buck I have seen earlier.  Its getting scary that I can identify the deer by their snort isn’t it?

I am seeing more places where the ground has been rooted up where some animal was looking for something.  Wonder what it is.

It was another cool morning and I took extra time and went some places I normally don’t.  Actually I was looking for another Hen of the Woods mushroom but did not find one.  The trees are starting to turn colors, the maples and sumac are turning red. I did notice that the Bear Tooth mushroom I found and harvested earlier in the summer has come back.  I will go get it when we have finished the Hen of the Woods.

The most memorable event, however, was an encounter with a deer.  It saw me and snorted as usual and then ran up the same trail I was on.  I took out my camera and began taking pictures as I moved slowly closer.  It seemed as if the deer was fascinated with the flash.  Here is the first picture I took.  You can see the deer way down the trail, look for the two eyes looking at you.    Here is a picture just before the deer bolted.  You will notice it is much closer.    And notice the white tail as she runs away.