Coyote Scat - The Story Inside The Poop

Right now, in the western North Carolina backcountry we are in the prime of the deer rut and the bucks are going crazy. Rubbings and ground scratching are everywhere you go. This is very exciting to see, but if you look closely there is also a lot of other wildlife movement going on around the mountain man area equally as exciting yet much more elusive.

On a hike this week in the Raven Knob backcountry, I consider this the biggest prize of all, and I've been studying the pictures closely to unravel the mystery. Found this hair-clad scat right in the middle of a trail, somewhat aged but still not too old and in excellent shape for dissecting. (see picture on right) Very hard to see unless you were walking slow and looking carefully. I spent at least 45 minutes picking it apart, first finding a small bone fragment which I thought was part of a lower jaw, but no clear tooth. (see picture below)

 I proceeded to investigate all of the mostly grey hair dung, finding several more bone fragments, ...then there it was under the mummifying-like hair, a very discernible half digested squirrel skull (see picture directly below) and some perfect rear molar teeth (used for grinding), and also including orange front teeth (used for cutting-see last picture lower left side) indicating a rodent, with the size indicating a squirrel. That was an exciting moment!

 Now, the mystery was whether this was from a coyote or a bobcat, which were the two best possibilities for this area, although coyotes are much more present. If there had been some feathers, then I would start leaning with the cat, but there were none. A bobcat would also be more likely to cover his excrement, or at least leave some scratch marks, but no indication of that either. Therefore, I tend to conclude that it was a coyote who brought down the squirrel.

Lots of action in the backcounty and a lot of fun clues that most people never see because they never look. The mountain men were professional trackers, trappers, and scouters because they spent most of their time doing it. Their very lives depended upon catching all of those little elusive clues in the cycle of life. While most of us today lead lives that don't allow us to put in the necessary 'dirt time' to become a professional survivalist and tracker, we can still learn a lot about what makes the natural world around us tick. Next time that you're in the woods, walk slow, be quiet, listen more, and look for the tiny clues that tell the full story, and you will surely discover action equally as fascinating as the deer rut.

Every Kid Needs To Master The Bow & Arrow

Excellent example of how to prop a good shot!

Archery is probably not the best choice possible for very young kids, but middle schoolers generally have a just-right amount of maturity and body strength to master the archery range well. Learning to command the bow & arrow with confidence is a great outdoor activity that every child should learn and for good reason. To be a successful archer requires a good deal of patience and concentration, plus it is an excellent exercise in hand-eye coordination and all of these attributes will have a positive effect upon their time spent back in the classroom. It's also just plain cool knowing how to shoot well.

I had about an hour with each group today at Camp Raven Knob. Archery is not as simple as it looks and only the very attentive kids will get it right upon my first instruction and safety talk. But that's OK because with most of these kids it's their very first encounter with a bow and arrow.

Very proud of his shooting!

To shoot straight and to shoot well takes lot's of practice and even more patience. And of course, a good instructor that can point out mistakes and suggest improvements makes all the difference with easing that sometimes stressful  learning curve.  This is one sport where a child can improve their overall target shooting greatly in a short period of time if the instructor is on his toes.

Out of today's 85 students, there were about 5 who were good (...v-e-r-y good) from the first shot onward. Upon my inquisition,  most of these skilled shooters came from homes where their parents had already introduced them to archery because they were deer hunters. Those kids

Another picture for Mom!

could make these little compound camp bows work in overdrive, hitting the bulls-eye of the target with a resounding 'thud' and most of the time with the kind of power that would certainly take down a deer. They had a good stance, their elbows were always high, and their aim was right-on. They could have starred in the movie 'Hunger Games' and passed without a flinch. They were just plain good and their classmates admired their skill.

Standing beside those good shooters was one little fellow named Connor. He missed the target every time no matter how many pointers that I gave him, no matter how many times that I placed him in good stance. I was the most frustrated but Connor had a great attitude, always smiling, and vocalizing that he was going to hit that target with every next shot. He was one of the smaller kids and his arms just weren't the strongest but he kept at it with a smile. The struggle didn't

Excellent shooting stance!

faze him. During the last shooting rotation Connor managed to hit the red outlining of the bull's-eye and his classmates yelled out with a resounding cheer and clapping. Connor left the archery range feeling great!

Retrieving arrows and safely carrying with two hands.

Today I saw mostly a lot of rookie kids who had never shot a bow in their lives and had trouble learning the basics of skill, stance, and technique.  But I also saw them greatly improve their confidence in shooting as they continued practicing and asking good questions. Most of all they needed someone who could just be aware of their struggle to learn and to help them improve.  They needed someone who could remember their names and cheer for them to everyone when they hit the target. They needed someone to foster their patient accomplishment of a new skill, then to acknowledge it.  Hopefully I was that person for them today. I went home tired so maybe I was.

I'm sure that even Robin Hood himself would have been very proud of today's archery classes  because I sure was. I imagine that they'll have something swell to talk about with their teachers and classmates tomorrow at school and maybe their grades will improve too. After all that's what looking at the BIG picture in life is all about and mastering the skill of shooting a bow can play a big part in that picture.

Creek Stomp: Learning To Appreciate Creek Ecology

One of my favorite 'Learning For Life' classes to teach is the Creek Stomp, where middle schooler's learn to appreciate the building blocks of clean water. Spring is a great time to get kids outside into natures classroom where they can splash in the water, learn to gently uncover rocks & leaves, then dip their nets for the creepy crawlers that make their home in this watery world.

     

Yes, we call the class a creek stomp but it's important first to lay the framework for fostering a reverence for the delicate creek life before setting the kids loose to explore on their own. Therefore, about a 20 minute discussion is integral to forming that relationship with the  creek  and I try to use several props to maintain their swaying attention and for keeping the class interesting.

 

I might start out with some trivia questions to see what they already know and to make the experience participatory and hands-on from the very beginning. During last week's classes I showed them the skulls of a whitetail deer and a beaver then asked which of these animals depends on water for their very lives. Sort of a trick question because even though the beaver spends most of its time in the water, they both depend on the water for life, but a few of the kids always got the answer right.

Watersheds are also important to clean water so I use the 3,200 acre Camp Raven Knob as my prop. Here we are surrounded by mountains and own the entire watershed so the life of our lake for swimming, boating, and fishing is safe. I put my hands together with fists' to demonstrate how a watershed works, with my knuckles representing the surrounding mountains and my fingers the valleys below. I then ask them to tell me exactly where they think that the water flows when it rains in their immediate area and they get it right as they observe the contours of the wooded terrain.

The discussion continues with the ecology of the area surrounding the creek and the effects of   pollution. We talk about the uses of water and sometimes the discussion even leads to the Saura Indian tribe, the first people to live here in our valley many centuries ago which leads to other great discussions. Sometimes our talk becomes so interesting that I have to pinch myself to stop so that the kids can get into the water and practice what they've learned before our precious time is gone.

The group is paired into teams of two and they're assigned a small minnow net and a cup for collecting what they find. On shore I have three trays with a little creek water in them for the 0-1 legs,  2-4 legs, and for 6-8 legs. After a short demonstration about how to gently lift the rocks and leaves in the stream and how to move around gently with a reverence for the creatures living there, I then set them off on their own creek ramble to see what they can find.

 These kids are smart and not only quickly learn to respect the environment around them, but also begin to understand the origins of and the importance for clean water. Now they have a very powerful hands-on experience that their teachers can expand upon back in the classroom. In the Great Outdoors learning once again becomes 'real' again.

An "End Of The Trail Mystery" on a Creek Ramble

Hands-on learning comes in many shapes and forms. Woodshop class and woodcarving are most certainly a powerful catalyst for extending a child's eduction to a higher level but they aren't an exclusive end to a well balanced curriculum. These pictures are from a creek ramble that I joined on a wet, moist morning a couple of days ago with one of our more adventurous groups.

This mountainside forest was prime for discovery after the previous days warm rain. As seen in the picture to the right, the mist was heavy as we walked up the small stream to it's source. Our 900 acre campus is a true mountainside ecosystem that is a very fragile environment as it is the upper limits of the watershed source that feeds life to the land for hundreds of miles from the mountains to the sea.

This is a special place hidden in a deep Blue Ridge mountain hide-away deep in the forest which is full with life... and the kids know it. All of our creeks follow the steep mountainous terrain upwards and end with the discovery of a cold trickling spring where underground cracks and shifting rocks determine the changing course of our streams over time. This is prime environment for the birthplace of deep woods life and these creeks have it all. Everyone loves to ramble in the water where a new discovery awaits with every step. Just look at the salamander cuddling an acorn in the picture to the right.

During this creek ramble we found crawdads, frogs, spiders in their webs ridden with early morning dew drops, red newts, lizards, salamanders, a garter snake,thick cushy mosses, plus the lichens and fungus which clinged to the outcrops of exposed rocks gradually breaking them down into new soil over thousands of years. Such discoveries are a teachers mecca where potential lessons can be found in abundance and where a kid can learn answers that he won't forget.

The greatest discovery this morning was found in the pictures shown below. On a gravel bar beside the creek one of the boys discovered a pile of animal bones which was complete with skull, jaws, ribs, and legs. Although the bodily tissue had decayed, this was a relatively recent "end of the trail" for one particular animal. This was definitely a raccoon and looking at the evidence which also included bits of fur, this woodland bandit had most likely expired approximately 2 to 4 months ago while also considering that spring floods hadn't dispersed the evidence left behind.

From Wood Trails - Dave Brock

Finding the final spot where an animals life has ended is a rare and special event that has always been one of my greatest anticipations whenever I enter the forest. Such finds usually don't last long since Mother Nature has a very quick way of cleaning herself up. Field mice gnaw away bones and antlers quickly just as a creek side track is washed away with the first rain. Most hikes into the woods will reveal the "parts and pieces" to the puzzle of an animals mysterious life trail, such as tracks, feathers, disturbed vegetation, or a freshly dug hole but none of these compare to the thrill of finding a place like in the picture above.

This is the "end of the trail" for one animals life and this final place (sort-of) brings full circle the mystery found in a pile of bones. The complete mystery of that animals life still can't be completely solved but it causes one to pause and to consider that animal and its part in the web of life. The woods are full with lessons about both life and death but you have to get your hands dirty and your feet wet to discover them.

Note: All of the pictures above were taken during the course of the one-hour creek ramble described above.

Outdoor Education: Drama At Its Best

Today I had the opportunity to work with a group of kids in the woods who were experiencing some behavioral issues and they couldn't make it to class. Normally I like to use woodcarving in these situations to get the hands busy and the mind engaged in producing some positive results. That's not always possible when the kids aren't at an acceptable level of "calm, cool, and collect" that is essential for safety during such activity with carving tools.

Sometimes I have to switch gears and look for other ways to make sure that our precious time isn't squandered and another opportunity to learn isn't lost. This is when the digital camera comes in handy and I'm able to save an otherwise lost day. This hot July weather has brought out an amazing movement of wildlife and I've found wonderful opportunities to capture some amazing wildlife shots using the micro lens of my camera. I immediately got the kids busy to see how much wildlife activity that they could identify and I told them to think "small" because on just one of our mountain trees there were probably a thousand scenes of natural drama if only they could find it.

Within minutes a couple of the boys brought me a nice slimy salamander from the nearby creek but most of the sightings were close at hand right where we sat. An army of termites were busy all over the logs where we sat, moving in and out of their holes with their wings buzzing in activity. This was a great opportunity to talk about natures cycle of life and how all this activity going on all about us kept the forest alive and well.

The grand jewel of the morning was when one of the boys yelled for me to come see a spider in his web as it devoured another spider. These kids were ecstatic over their find and so was I as I pounced over a log while flicking the on-button of my camera. This time it's the drama produced in the trap of a spiders web as one vibrant and determined predator spider captures a Daddy Long-Leg spider, spins it into the trap of its web, then injects a paralyzing poison and proceeds to suck out it's nourishing body juices. Just don't get much better than this! Here's the video of that amazing event:


On a nearby rocky hillside we spotted a groundhog but he quickly vanished into his hole... no ordinary "human" hole but a special hole that only an animal can make which aerates the soil in the forest helping it to breathe, drain, and continue the cycle of life. To some this was only a groundhog but the story goes a lot further for those observers who ask questions and wonder about the complete story which is usually beyond what the eye can see.

On a few occasions the kids aren't able to make it to their regular classes but that's when new opportunities must be found to learn because time is precious and our kids are just too important to  observe from the side lines. If you're a teacher, a parent, or a youth leader always be looking for ways to engage the kids in your charge because the most powerful classrooms in the world are those found in the Great Outdoors. Get your kids hands dirty, their feet wet, and with a little direction their own curiosity will lead to some of the best lessons in their lives.

Note: All of the pictures used in this article were taken on location during the last couple of days in our outdoor classroom with the kids. These were only a very few of the creatures that we found.