Differentiating Between Oaks

We often get into some deeper discussions in our blog beyond what you have before you today.  

However, I think today's discussion will assist those that are new to the outdoors to see some things you have not otherwise seen the next time you head out to your neck of the woods.  

Today we simply want to take a quick look at the differences between white oaks and red oaks.  

There are many species of trees out there and one of the most prominent for us here in Kentucky is the oak tree.  While there are many subspecies of the oak, we want to help you identify whether the oak you are looking at is of the white oak, or red oak variety.  

To help folks remember, I usually say that "Reds are not Round".  If you take a look at the leaves being held by my lovely children, you will notice that the leaf on the left, has rounded edges and ends, while the leaf on the right has more pointed ends.  You are looking at a white oak on the left, and a red oak on the right.  Please bear in mind that these two species can more definitively be defined and classified as well, but today lets not worry about that.  

To further help you determine, lets take a look at a few other aspects of these two species.

White Oaks

• White acorns taste better because of there are fewer tannins in them.  These tannins are what give red acorns there bitter tast.
• The cap of a white oak species most often covers about 1/4 of the acorn.
• The acorns tend to be long and narrow rather fat and round.
• They grow at the ends of the branches of the current years growth on the tree.

Red Oaks

• The cap of a red oak species are usually nearly flat on top.
• The acorns are short and fatter and almost round.
• They acorns grow in clusters on last year's growth of branches.

Why does any of this matter?  Well the easy answer is that most people that go on hikes enjoy seeing wildlife.  Most wildlife that eat acorns prefer to eat the acorns from a white oak rather than a red oak.  So if you are seeking wildlife for viewing or hunting, find yourself a cluster of white oaks and  take a look around.  Chances are you will see some tracks, scat, other disturbance or even the critter itself around you.  

Seeing Rather Than Looking

Several of my facebook friends have been circulating the photo you see to the left.  There is a face within the photo that you may have a hard time finding (answer below).  I want to take a look at a few things that may help you see more stuff in the outdoors on your next trip (or possibly on your next facebook outing). 


To begin with, there is very little doubt to me that the face was photoshopped into the photograph. The shadowing on the face does not resemble the shadowing around it and the face is incredibly two dimensional.  At the same time, this IS a 2D photograph which allows alot of things to be lost in translation from in-person viewing to seeing the photograph.  

The super-cool author at a recent tracking class

In a general sense what most of us do is that we look at things, particularly in a woods setting like the photo above.  In that particular picture, for those of us who are not used to the outdoors,  the big pile of rocks might be the only thing that looks different.  "It all looks the same", we might say.   What we want you to do, is to not just look around you but to see around you.  There are plenty of things to consider but all that I want you to consider in these photos today is what trackers and other like-minded individuals call disturbance.  


If you take a look at the picture above with me holding a flashlight on the ground, you will see that there is a very intentionally placed shoe print (track) on a somewhat muddy surface.  What I want you to notice is the area directly outside of the track itself.  That area is light brown in color and almost shiny.  Whereas the track itself is rather dark brown and not shiny.  Imagine for a moment what that particular area looked like before the track was made.  Then by considering what it looks like with the track in it, you will note that it is disturbed.    If you don't see how leaves typically look when they are on the forest floor then you might not recognize that when they are stepped upon, turned over, or twisted slightly that they will indicate a disturbance.

Dude in camo

Take a look at the picture labeled as Dude in camo and ask yourself, "Why do I see his left arm and the binoculars so easily?"  I love this photo because there are some things that are hard to see (his right shoulder) and others that are easy to see.  You will notice the binoculars have very defined edges and are shiny whereas the things around them are not.  The woodland pattern camo he is wearing on his left arm simply has broader patterns than both the vegetation in front of his chest as well as the straight line trees behind his left shoulder.  These are just a few of the reasons you see the arm and binoculars.  Some of you may have also seen the outline of both his nose and mouth under the camouflage veil he is wearing.  This is because the lines of his nose and mouth, do not follow the diagonal lines of the veil, which in turn do not match the straight lines of the trees.......I could go on and on, but do you see these things? These things are not necessarily disturbance per se, however they are very different from the other lines around them and that is why you can see them rather clearly.  


The next two photos were taken when I attended a Scout class in North Carolina under the instruction of Mr. Richard Cleveland of Earth School and Mr. Tom Laskowski of the Mid-West Native Skills Institute.  I am no photographer so there is much left to be desired there.  However I do think these two photos next to one another highlight what sort of things you can do when you purpose to hide something from sight in the woods.

What you are looking at is an opening to a very big hole that my my teammates and I dug.  This hole was actually big enough for me to get myself and some of my gear down into it.  We placed the vegetation that surrounds the black blob in the middle picture.   There is both moss and trees and plants that were put there to in essence draw your eye away from the opening of the hole.  This could easily fool the eye of those of us who did not know how to see it at the beginning of the week.  By the end of the week of training however this sort of stuff stood out to most of us just as a pink elephant had been standing in the same place.  This is because we had spent about 15-20 hours a day for the entire week looking for such disturbance.  


So, to summarize.....look for disturbance, lines that don't seem to match up with others, very defined edges (the woods rarely have those), colors and value change, these and many, many more, are the things that will help you to see more on your next outing.  


If you want some help them with this, then please come to one of our scout classes in 2012, or....better yet invite me over for lunch and take me out in your neck of the woods to walk around.  I'll do alot of things for a good lunch with good company. :) I consider myself very much the beginner, but hopefully I can help you get started on seeing things rather than just looking at things.

Hiking in the Rain = Aikido = Being More Like Jesus

I noticed on my facebook page today that there were quite a number of people complaining about the several days of rain we have had here in November 2011.  Therefore I almost had to aggravate them all by putting up that I like hiking in the cold November rain.

I do actually love hiking in the rain, it was not just an empty aggravation.   The most obvious reason is that I almost always have the place to myself (see comments above regarding complaints about rain).  "Who in their right mind would go out in the rain?"  Well,....either my mind is not right, or the answer to the question is me.

I remember many years ago, my family and I made a commitment to one another that we would spend time in the outdoors every weekend, rain or shine, hot or cold, busy or not busy for an entire year.  And we did exactly that, no matter what the weather, we went out in it and hiked, had picnic, swims, rock throwing competitions.  As I have said before, nature has a way of offering things for free that you cannot buy anywhere.  I could not list the benefits that year offered us as individuals and as a family unit.  Not the least of which, is that we now know that walking in the rain and getting wet, has a lot more flair to it than running in the rain, trying not to get wet, and getting wet anyway.

Most critters out there will wait out a rain, while at the same time, some critters will get up and move about because of the concealment that is provided by the rain.  So there is still lots of interesting stuff to see and be part of.

I guess for me personally, it is a challenge taken on by not many.  The martial artist and survivalist in me wants to be prepared for the worse.  I train and teach others for self-defense situations, that may never occur.  I train in and teach others how to survive in the wilderness, for situations that hopefully will never occur.  All this training, and hiking in the rain,  is there to help me grow as a person, to learn how to live with adversity and deal with it and not avoid it.

For my Aikido friends out there, it is like irimi, where when an attack is imminent and you enter in to it.  For my Christian brothers and sisters out there, it is a lot like Christ the Messiah, going out to, the authorities that came to take him away to be crucified.  He could have easily hidden and run.  For my nature friends out there, it is like hiking in the rain, you know exactly what I mean don't you?

In My Daughter's Hand

Originally written, October 1995

A leaf,

has died and fallen

to the land.

But now,

has come alive again

in my daughter's hand.

Don't be Afraid

I am going to use this column to answer a simple question that came up during one of the survival classes I was teaching here in Winchester. One of the ladies that were present asked what was “out there” that we need to be afraid of. I am assuming the “out there” she was referring to was the woods, and hills of our great outdoors here in Kentucky. The answer is quite simple if you are the type of person who is rational and calm. That answer is nothing.

What I mean is that there are not any deadly species of animal, snake, insect, etc out there that are actively in pursuit of you here in Kentucky. Yes, we do have species of venomous snakes here in Kentucky and they could actually “bite” you, but it is not likely. I have some good friends at the Kentucky Reptile Zoo in Slade who make a living being around snakes. If you have never been to their facility you need to check them out. I don’t know if they still do, but I have attended a couple of their public programs and had many great conversations with them. They are the ones to seek out for information regarding venomous snakes. With that said, I think I can with confidence inform you on how to not get bitten by a snake. Stay away from them, don’t antagonize them, and most importantly just let them be! If you do happen to come across and snake then simply back away from it slowly, and move on.

In all honesty, that is the answer to staying safe while being outdoors. It is also a very ecologically sound way of making your way outdoors. Make it a habit of simply observing wildlife and not trying to have an interaction with it. Those things are around more than you realize and they don’t seek you out, nor do they purpose themselves to come after to you. It would be a nice gesture if you simply did the same.

As for spiders and such, keep the same thing in mind. Let them have their space and they won’t bother you. My family and I had a flower bed for years at our home that had many, many “families” of black widow spiders in them. They like certain spaces to build their webs in and we knew that was so we stayed away from their space, and guess what they stayed away from ours. I could spot one of them out in the flowers and make my way into the flower and bed and they would scatter back to their “home” for safety.

As for other bigger critters like bears and such, again keep in mind that you need to stay away from them. They are not prominent here in Central Kentucky but they are finding their way more prominently in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, many thanks to the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife! Two things to keep in mind if you are in bear country are to stay away from their food, and stay away from their babies called cubs. If you keep this in mind, you should on most occasions stay safe.

Poison ivy is always a concern and so is something like stinging nettles too. If you take them time to study your plants, you will always find jewel weed next or near these as well. The juices that come from crushed jewel weed, put onto the skin soon after contact with poison ivy, etc. almost always dilutes it to the point that it has no effect.

The biggest danger in the woods, and the way most people find themselves hurt is to be close contact with a species of animal we all know and love. This species is affectionately known as “the idiot”.

For you see it is this guy and/or gal, who wants to show off, or simply strut their dominance on a critter, or on a rock, or in a wild river that will get you in trouble. As I stated at the beginning of this article, simply stay rational and calm and you should be OK. If you have someone in your group that enjoys being the center of attention by taking ridiculous risks, then avoid being with them in the outdoors. In my opinion, nature and the great outdoors of the fin, fur, feather, and flora variety is one to be observed and marveled at, not necessarily dominated. Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good venison steak over beef any day, but there are great ethics and responsibility that go along with hunting as well. (I suppose that will be another column for another day).

So in summary, enjoy what surrounds you! Don’t be afraid. There is much to see, and experiences and memories to make in our great outdoors of Kentucky. I hope to see you on, or off, the trail.

Boys will be boys

The great naturalist Jon Muir once said, “When a man comes to the mountains, he comes home.” I agree, for it is in the mountains, hills, fields and trees that boys get challenged, often get pushed to limits and then find themselves not lacking. Obviously, I am no psychologist but much has been written on these things by those more educated on the psychology and/or sociology of boys becoming men. What I do know is that I just spent the weekend sleeping outside with a low of 3 degrees, climbing through caves, and jumping off very tall cliffs attached to a rope. I was joined by a good friend of mine, and our sons, mine is 11 years old and his is nine. Did I mention we had a blast?

For some of our female readers, most notably my wife (the mother of said eleven year old), this may all sound a bit, crazy. For those of you who think this, you may actually be right. I humbly submit to you that it is a good crazy though. I don’t know about boys growing up to be knights in shining armor. What I do know is that I personally like it (you do not have to agree) that we want our boys to grow up to be men. Part of doing that involves doing somewhat dangerous things such as climbing mountains, dangling precipitously off of ropes, paddling down dangerous rivers, etc. So it was this past weekend when I and my eleven year old son spent the weekend outdoors.

I remember once a trip that my own father took me on. We took a small overnight hike through a part of the Red River Gorge. I will never forget several things on that trip. One was that a small portion of our hike was alongside the side of a cliff in which at any moment I would fall off to my sure death and destruction, but I didn’t. We also only had a sheet of plastic and a very thin sheet blanket to cover us. I surely thought I was going to freeze to death during the night, but I didn’t. I put my shoes next to the fire during the night to dry them out. I kept putting them too close and was instructed by my dad and my uncle to pull them back or they would catch on fire. Well, you know what, I didn’t and they caught fire. I had to hike out barefooted. When we started I did not think I was going to make it out, but guess what I did.

So it went for me, nearly 30 years ago, and so it was for my son last weekend. Challenged and pushed to our self-imposed limits then finding myself, and my son too I suppose, meeting those limits and learning how to push myself through them. I am not saying that going out and climbing Mt. Everest is a good idea. I actually think that is a useless endeavor, but I do understand why they want to do it. Some people have limits and others know those limits and try to get past them. A friend of mine (actually he married into our family) is one of the Special Forces, Army ranger types. You know what I mean, the go-getter A-type personality who meets all obstacles head on and busts on through them. He told me a long time ago after graduating from Ranger school some very good advice. He said that Ranger school was not about learning how to be ten foot tall and bullet-proof. It was learning how to recognize where your limits are and then how to work through, or around them when the need arises.

Nature study and awareness skills can be done the same way. You don’t have to run a zip line, crawl through caves, or other like-minded fun to be pushed. It may be a challenge for you to know your birds. Don’t blow it off and say, “There are just too many, I can never learn them all.” Rather recognize that is a limit that you want to overcome, and work through or around it. You like the outdoors, and want to see some interesting sights, but can’t make yourself get a backpack and put 15-20 miles under your boots on a hike, then don’t. Recognize that as a goal and go out and walk a mile or two instead. Your may meet your goal of learning more about nature and the more natural things around you.

Yes, boys will be boys, and girls will be girls. We all need to meet our obstacles and go through them and if you cannot do that, then go around it instead. With that said, I hope to see you on or off the trail somewhere soon.

My love affair with trees

Hey don’t tell my wife, but I am having a love affair. I am having a love affair with trees, really I am. No not in the sense that you are thinking, but I really do love trees. Again, not in a tree hugging sense that is prevalent for many political conservationists. What I really mean is that I like trees, a lot.

This enjoyment of trees for me started at an early age while I was on a particular squirrel hunt in the Daniel Boone National Forest, Pioneer Weapons area. I was around 12 or 13 as best I remember and had invited a friend to come. I won’t mention his name because this small story is a bit embarrassing for guys like he and I, I also think he reads our articles from time to time. I was told by my dad to go out a particular trail and sit down by “the huge white oak tree”. He said we could not miss it, because it was exceptionally large, and then gave very good details about where to find it. As my friend and I started on our little trek, we saw one of the finest whitetail deer bucks I have ever seen. I can still picture him now, some 25 years or so later. With that aside, we trekked on towards our white oak, not realizing that neither of us had the faintest idea what a white oak tree looked like.

My dad told us it was no more than a few hundred yards down the trail. After walking for what seemed like forever and not seeing this special tree, we determined that we had walked too far and in our minds were lost. Although in reality, we had never left the trail and were less than a mile from our drop off point. Nevertheless, in our minds we were lost and we started yelling and walking back towards our starting point. At some point we ran in to my dad, who had stopped along the way and was fortunate enough to bag a couple of squirrels. Lesson learned I suppose. On our way back my Dad stopped to point out the big white oak and how to identify it compared to the other trees. So began my love affair with tree. I would like to mention a couple of prominent species that are easily identified in our area.

Up until that point I thought trees were pretty much all alike. You know what I mean, kind of woody at the bottom, kind of leafy at the top. So I started a serious study of trees, and like a lot of outdoorsman, tried to develop a keen awareness of those that provided certain benefits. For example, there are red oaks and then there are white oaks, and then many, many subspecies of each . Animals, including humans, typically find that acorns from white oak species are more palatable. Both still tend to be bitter to taste at anytime, but by running them through 2-3 good rolling boils of water, you may find them easier to eat. Native Americans would dry and crush them into flour used for cakes, resembling flat cornbread of today. I have done this and found it to be A LOT of work, for a little food. This is one more reason to respect those that lived off the land for centuries before us.

You can use pine needles to make a good tea in the outdoors, you basically put the needles into water that has already been boiled and then let them steep. I particularly enjoy white pine needles over Virginia pine needle. Both have the benefit of providing lots of vitamin C, and beta-carotene.

No good article on trees in our area would be complete without at least mentioning the best of the best, the American chestnut. This species virtually covered our “neck of the woods” here in the Appalachians for centuries, before it died out. There were two distinct killers, the chestnut blight and the onslaught of settlement both here and in faraway places. These huge trees had fruit (nuts) on them that were much more than just palatable, considered a sweet-tasting for many. No preparation needed, just pick them off the ground and enjoy! Unfortunately, you can no longer find them in widespread growth anywhere. There are isolated trees through ought the Appalachians and even into the Northeastern US.

As I write this, I realize I could write another whole article just on the American chestnut, so you must wait until it appears to read more about how this beautiful species affected our economics, our diet, and the ecology of our surroundings.

Until then, pick up a copy of Illustrated Book of Trees by Wallace Grimm, it has been my go-to source for tree study for years now. Regarding the chestnut, I highly recommend the American Chestnut: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of a Perfect Tree by Susan Freinkel.

Also please don’t tell Derek Powe that I told the story of us getting lost on a squirrel hunt when we were kids.