The Retriever, Dog, & Wildlife Blog

Posted in West Virginia | 10 Comments

10 Responses

1. on February 8, 2013 at 9:15 pm | Reply massugu

   Hah, excellent example of protective coloration.

   
   
2. on February 8, 2013 at 9:45 pm | Reply peg4x4

   Umm~ could you please give me a hint? I don’t think it’s up a tree.

   
   
   • on February 8, 2013 at 9:49 pm | Reply retrieverman

     There is no deer there.

     
     
     • on February 8, 2013 at 10:24 pm | Reply massugu

       But if there was you’d hard put to see it. Some of the deer around here get so dark their backs and sides look almost black. Conversely, I’ve talked to local rangers who’ve spoken of piebald deer in these parts.

       
       
     • on February 8, 2013 at 10:48 pm | Reply peg4x4

       Thank you!
       I couldn’t find a deer,so now I know I was right..
       Love your blog,I am learning a lot from you.

       
       
3. on February 8, 2013 at 10:26 pm | Reply dobermann

   Red deer in Europe become grayer in winter too.
   Looks like regrowth woods. I wonder how big the trees in that area were 500 years ago.

   
   
   • on February 8, 2013 at 10:27 pm | Reply retrieverman

     It’s secondary growth. I have a photo of an older oak tree that is from the original forest.

     
     
   • on February 9, 2013 at 9:23 am | Reply massugu

     Our Eastern forests were heavily timbered, so the vast majority of our woodlands is regrowth–much of that tertiary growth. As Scottie has mentioned before, if you let a field lie fallow in this region it quickly returns to woodland on its own. Unfortunately, w/ overpopulation by Whitetails and the introduction of diseases such as Chestnut and Elm blight, the mix of trees is not primarily that of the optimum mast producers–beeches, chestnuts, oaks, etc–that would normally grow here.

     
     
     • on February 9, 2013 at 10:40 am | Reply retrieverman

       This land was mostly pasture land 40 years ago.

       http://retrieverman.net/2010/12/23/old-cars-in-the-snow/

       (Miley sans gray muzzle).

       
       
       • on February 9, 2013 at 12:47 pm | Reply kittenz

         Same here; even though the mountains are very steep and valleys very narrow, most people were subsistence farmers who kept the land cleared all the way to the ridges (where it’s too rocky for crops or grass to grow). Of course people also had orchards and shade trees, and they harvested various nuts from wild trees too. There are a few stands of virgin timber left on private land, and a few individual trees of great age that have been preserved here and there, but most of the timber here is second or third growth.

         
         

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