Field Work

[ozark trout fisher]

As some of you probably know by this point I am a forest/woodland researcher. Here are some pictures of my office.

[DownStream]

You have a great looking office sir. 

[Johnsfolly]

OTF

Got any openings ? I do have a background in limnology/plankton ecology with four years of field experience, though only partially serious about an opening. Love the photos. Can't tell what type of snake you've photographed.

[ozark trout fisher]

20 minutes ago, Johnsfolly said:

OTF

Got any openings ? I do have a background in limnology/plankton ecology with four years of field experience, though only partially serious about an opening. Love the photos. Can't tell what type of snake you've photographed.

Unfortunately they only let me fill the $10/hour summer help type jobs, LOL.

Snake ID is still a weak point for me. I have some ideas what it is, but I'm not certain. Obviously it's not the clearest pic, which doesn't help. 

[MoCarp]

I went to University to become a wildlife/fisheries Biologist, fell in to sales ( money was too good to pass up) and never completed my last 15hrs,

I loved the studies, fell in love with our plants /trees even went on milk runs looking for plants /trees I never saw before

from looking for Lesquerella filiformis or Missouri Bladder pod, on glade areas or ash junipers (Juniperus ashei)

in San Antonio they call ash junipers mountain cedar very common there...and they cause some nasty allergic reaction when they are blooming

call me weird but I got great satisfaction finding a 120 foot tall shag bark hickory on a prairie river bottom creek... never measured it but if its still there in may be record size

[ozark trout fisher]

1 hour ago, MoCarp said:

call me weird but I got great satisfaction finding a 120 foot tall shag bark hickory on a prairie river bottom creek... never measured it but if its still there in may be record size

 

If I called you weird for that I'm not sure where that would put me. 

Where I work in Indiana, the Tulip-poplars (well named, their flowers look exactly like orange and yellow tulips) are some of the most impressive trees I've ever seen. Straight as an arrow and 100+ feet tall on the regular. Never stops being impressive. 

Shagbark hickories are one of my favorites too.....especially when they are old, that bark is just one of the weirdest sites you could possibly find in the woods. I can't really do any research on them (beyond basic, non-obtrusive measurements) because their bark is considered critical habitat for an endangered bat species. But they are very cool trees. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

I bought a wooded lot in the St Louis metro area that had a shag bark hickory on it.  I left it in place but after grading the lot it did not do well and had to have it removed.  Even the guy at the tree company commented on the rarity and size.  I still have 6 persimmon trees though and the deer love them.  They eat the low hanging fruit in the fall then take to jumping to get the ones higher up.  My neighbor called me and said you have jumping deer out behind your house.

[ozark trout fisher]

53 minutes ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

I bought a wooded lot in the St Louis metro area that had a shag bark hickory on it.  I left it in place but after grading the lot it did not do well and had to have it removed.  Even the guy at the tree company commented on the rarity and size.  I still have 6 persimmon trees though and the deer love them.  They eat the low hanging fruit in the fall then take to jumping to get the ones higher up.  My neighbor called me and said you have jumping deer out behind your house.

I have some persimmon trees on a property I've recently acquired near the Osage River. Deer and other wildlife aside, I love persimmons. Get them after they are ripe and you basically have kinda tangy peaches, and in plenty on a good tree. They are great in pies. Gross as it sounds the best time to get them is very soon after they've fallen on the ground, sometime in October. Less chance of getting an unripe one that way. 

The sensation of eating an unripe persimmon really freaks some people out to the point they don't eat them at all...but it isn't that bad unless it's actually green. 30 uncomfortable seconds and a bad aftertaste, and you're in the clear. 

Persimmon wood is also very pretty and fun to work with. It's in the ebony family and looks/acts like it. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

The varieties I have are huge ones compared to what I've seen other places.  I give them away.

[Johnsfolly]

5 hours ago, ozark trout fisher said:

Shagbark hickories are one of my favorites too.....especially when they are old, that bark is just one of the weirdest sites you could possibly find in the woods.

They are a favorite for grey and fox squirrels as well. One of my prime hunting tactic is to camp near a shagbark in late Aug when the hickory nuts are ripening. Squirrels can't lay off of the nut and the sound of them cutting the hickory nuts always gives them away.