WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Well, it’s about 50 degrees outside in central Ulster County and I’m betting this sugar maple is thinking about running on this New Year’s Day. Last year, I tapped early in January, and probably could make syrup this first week in January since temperaturesContinue Reading
WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Christmas tree time; Picked my balsam fir up at Bell’s Christmas Tree Farm near Accord, Ulster County. The Bell Family spends all year growing them, and on the day of your cutting, will shake it free of debris & bundle it for the rideContinue Reading
WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Learned a great tip @ last year’s Deer Processing Demonstration from Jake Rosa that I used this year while cutting up my deer. After skinning the deer, take a small blow torch & lightly burn away all the hair that sticks to the frontContinue Reading
WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Winter seems to have come early to the Catskills this year. Took a walk up to Balsam Lake Mountain fire tower a couple of weeks ago and winter has definitely set in there. The tops of mountains seem to have anywhere from 1 to 1.5Continue Reading
WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? This season I got a chance to hunt the Shawangunk Ridge. I have never seen so much bear sign in my life. I must have crossed (no exaggeration) about a dozen bear tracks. Seemed like more bear than deer! Some were small, some medium,Continue Reading
WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? This one apple tree in Arkville, Delaware County miraculously is holding onto its leaves & some are even still green as of Tuesday, November 20th. Despite summer’s abundant rainfall & fungi stampede, fall’s wet, windy weather, and winter’s early arrival of snow, this tree’sContinue Reading
WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Fall foliage was sort of “sub-par” this year. Can’t really complain. The last 2 years have been awesome. Normally, I don’t notice American beech for its fall foliage, but this year beech seemed better than normal. Instead of a brown-drab, beech was showing aContinue Reading
WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Some strong winds hit central Ulster County over the weekend and sought out those “weak unions” resulting in torn branches and stem-failures. One tree in particular seems to always have problems–‘Bradford’ pear. Bradford pear was planted abundantly as an ornamental street tree in urban/suburbanContinue Reading
WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Over the last 2 days, I’ve been cutting trees over in Pawling, Dutchess County for a study led by SUNY ESF for improving habitat for New England cotton-tails. Burning bush is an exotic shrub that has become common in many parts of the HudsonContinue Reading
WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? I have showed this red maple tree’s foliage in previous posts. The tree sits in front of my house; It’s foliage is one of the best I know of, despite this year being terrible for red maple in general. When I first moved toContinue Reading