Discovering journaling

Today is a nice warm, sunny day. I figured it would be a good day for finding tracks, so I went for a little walk.

Just in the woods around the house I came across the tracks of red squirrels, rabbits, a very small bounding critter, and a few different sets of canine tracks. What struck me was the absence of deer—they were around not very long ago, maybe last month, but today not a sign. Could they have eaten all of whatever it was drawing them here?

I headed down the road to the hardwoods, really just to get out of the house for a while. More squirrel tracks, this time grays, and more tracks from tiny little animals. For some reason, however, I don't find tracks from these very little creatures very interesting right now. I should figure out why that is....

Anyway, before long I came across a trail with abundant canine tracks, and for some reason—maybe snow conditions—found ID'ing them quite difficult. I'm still not sure whether they came from red foxes, coyotes, or neighborhood dogs. There was definitely more than one animal, and they might have been of different species. Different sized tracks with different strides right next to and on top of each other is what was confusing. Mother coyote with juvenile(s)? Red fox? Both at different times? Neither? Bah, who knows.
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Yesterday I made myself a little journal. Journaling is something I've read and been told is important for a long time, but I never made a habit of doing it. My reasons why were somewhat varied—taking notes is something I've never really done, even in school, and I never had a "good" journal to use—but when it comes down to it I was making excuses.

I'd been considering journaling more seriously for the past few months, but kept telling myself I didn't have a good enough journal. I wanted something that was big enough to write in comfortably but small enough that I wouldn't need to put it in a bag. I don't really like the idea of carrying around a big spiral notebook around for some reason. Considered buying a nice leather journal around Christmas, and then again yesterday, but really didn't want to pay $20-$40 for one. So I made something that I thought would work.

What I ended up with is pretty decent, not perfect. I'd like it a little bit bigger for writing purposes, but it easily fits in a (cargo) pocket. And we'll see how the cardboard holds up....

What I did was simple:

1. Took 12 sheets of plain white paper and cut them in half
2. Once cut, I folded those sheets in half—the result is 96 plain white pages that measure ~5 x 4 in.
3. Used some recycling center–bound cardboard to make a cover, this from a shoebox—RocketDog is apparently a women's shoe company, but the logo looks kind of cool and was perfectly sized so I don't care
4. Pushed holes through the paper and the cover, and then "sewed" some thread through to keep it all together
5. Added a length of milkweed cordage I had around as a bookmark/closure strap.

I only made it yesterday, but already I'm starting to see the importance of journaling first hand. I think as long as I keep it with me I'll use it plenty. Why I didn't do this months/years ago, I have no idea.

In praise of natural materials

This is a weird post for me to do (in my own opinion) because it's contrary to my habits. I'm not a "gear junky," don't do or particularly care for reviews, I'm averse to brand-loyal fanboyism, and frankly I don't care who uses what. But I've still been considering making this post for a while, so I'm just going to do it. I'm happy with what I've been using and want to give my take.

If this post is promoting any brand, it's Military Surplus Wool specifically, and Military Surplus more generally. In my experience, milsurp stuff is often the best bang for the buck. People always point out that there are competing or better values from the "civilian market," but here's my take on it: since military gear is uniform—that is, it's the same and there is a lot of it made—it's very easy to find. It might be possible to find similarly priced, quality civilian gear on eBay, but in my experience, if you're looking for a specific piece it's much harder to find. (I'm not going anywhere important with this....)

Until last winter I'd never really thought about my clothes at all—not from a fashion standpoint, not from a function standpoint. My wardrobe was essentially t-shirts and jeans, top to bottom, with some flannel shirts thrown in. It was all black, shades of gray, navy blue, with a few other colors slipping in. At some point I realized that I didn't really have any good clothes for being in the woods.

I've now put quite a bit of thought into my clothing choices. I went from owning zero pieces of wool clothing (socks excluded) to having several shirts and two pairs of pants. It went from an almost monochromatic color-scheme that wasn't fit for blending into the woods to now being made up of about 50% greens and browns. That thought I've put into my clothes has paid off, I think. I've ended up with (frankly) more than I need, and I didn't spend a ton of money on it all, either.

Rain

Something I meant to do more of beginning in the spring, and for the most part have failed to do, is scout out some areas on state forest land to do some deer hunting. I'm new to deer hunting but it's something I really want to do. Last year, and it'll probably be the same this year, I spent the first week of rifle season in Alpena county—and then I didn't even get out during the second week.

This year I'd like to get out almost every day during rifle season. I bought a recurve bow this summer, I've been shooting it, and even though I will continue to shoot it I'm not sure whether I'll be confident enough to hunt with it. What I'm thinking of doing is buying a combination license and at least sitting around with a bow to see if any deer walk close enough to think about shooting. We'll see.

Anyway ... I went out the other day to scout one of the areas I thought would make a good hunting area. This area is near a swamp but the forests are pretty varied. I think I've found a few spots that might be OK, but I'll have to check them out some more.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the area has been (essentially) become inaccessible to motor vehicles, which means it hasn't seen much human traffic since the last time I was there (in June).

I found coyote tracks and deer tracks (and, as seen below, many times right next to each other), but no car or human tracks. If it remains mostly unvisited I'll definitely think about hunting the area.

This was a strange find. It looks like a crayfish claw—but where did it come from?

The weather was nice when I left the house. I wasn't expecting it to change, but I was wrong.

A pretty heavy downpour hit me on the bike ride home. I saw the clouds moving in and decided to try to "beat" the rain, but I actually just made sure I'd be stuck in it. A mile or so from home it basically stopped, but by then I was throughly soaked and cold.

Introduction Post

I feel weird making another blog. Not too weird, but weird—and here I am, drinking a beer and petting my cat and uploading pictures and making a blog.

Introduction posts are weird and I'm not sure anyone ever reads them but I'll do a short one.

This blog is something I've considered for a while. I like wandering around in the woods. I believe it's also human nature to want to share our experiences. Since I don't have a lot of friends, and only a handful of friends who are into the same things as I am (namely wandering around the woods), I'm hoping to share experiences with the innerbutts. There is no replacement for real human contact, but I can understand why people try.

When I wander I often look at/for: trees, edible plants, plants that have other uses, animal tracks and signs, and anything else that's interesting to me. I try to listen to bird language and try to spot wildlife. If I don't scare them off I try to stalk closer to them. I'm usually not that good at it but it's exhilarating nonetheless.

I'll try to keep posts interesting. I'll try to keep some pictures in them, because people like pictures. I'll try to do them often, too; I wander around often enough so I should be able to post almost as often.