Posted by: "Rich Peet"
> What I was unable to find in the Pan Handle was remote Big Woods with
> some Cypress. I also wanted wet, without road access. All of the big
> woods area in the Pan Handle I found were fairly flat with access.
> These area are heavy hunting areas and large woodpeckers would have
> been noticed.
>
> Ark and Mis have large Cypress areas that are very difficult to
> search. I was amazed that the IBW was found so close to an interstate
> highway. I would never have searched that area because I would have
> ruled it out due to the background noise.
We all tend to read too much of our feelings or needs into what wildlife
might do. I've found frogs living their lives in all kinds of places I
would say are too manmade or damaged for them. They don't have our concerns=
.
We also tend to get too cocky about what we think is the habitat for a
species. I know I've found frogs in habitats that others assured me they
would never be found in. And lots of times in scouting a area during the
day for the night's frog foray I've looked at some bit of water and said
nothing would be there, only to find it stuffed with frogs at night.
I'd not read too much into hunters not finding them and telling you. All
the hunters I know around here are focused on what they are hunting when
out and blind to just about everything else. Though I would think dove
hunters could be a danger to IBW's just shooting at them for fun. The
good ole boys may also not tell city slickers what they know just
because they don't like them messing in their outdoors. The city
slickers tend to come in and bulldoze everything flat and plant a city
slum in the country and that's definitely resented. I've talked to
landowners who are really angry at birdwatchers who just tromp through
their place like they owned it. Or environmentalists who want to control
their land and dictate what they can do with it with no regard for their
needs. City folk do not value the country and are destroying it as fast
as they can. City folk are the enemy of country. I could rage on, I'm a
country boy.
Here in the south river bottomlands are often practically wilderness.
It's a fairly narrow but very long habitat that's really little
explored. People may travel the river some for fishing, but don't wander
through the land much. And often there are really large swamps hidden
along these rivers. Maps don't necessarily even show this. The area also
has some carolina bays that can be fair size. More and more those are
being destroyed by logging, but I know of quite a few in Georgia that
probably have hardly been penetrated. Certainly there's plenty of
cypress in those.
You really need to travel by air over the area to realize how much is
hidden. A ultralight would be ideal for this and I've often wished I had
one.
Walt
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