Back at Cabin #6 Somewhere in the Northwoods

[Stan Hillis]

Great pics, Garry. Thanks.

Is that sentinel pine really virgin growth? If it is it must be existing in some really poor soil.

Best, Stan

[mobirdhunter]

Originally Posted by Stan Hillis

Great pics, Garry. Thanks.

Is that sentinel pine really virgin growth? If it is it must be existing in some really poor soil.

Best, Stan

Stan, these scattered giants are indeed considered virgin growth, and are probably in the 300-400 year old range. The native forests of Northern Minnesota were comprised of White and Red Pine, part of the successional growth over the area after its most recent glacier receded. Over a long period of time the glacial till and moraines eventually produced these pine forests. The area is comprised of sand hills and bogs/swamps, and it supports a wide variety of plant life. I'm sure that the soil is very acidic, so no matter how rich, it probably does not allow good uptake of minerals by plants, but it obviously suits the pines well enough.

Coincidently, there is a spot not too far from where we stay, call the Lost Forty, where there is a small contiguous stand of virgin pine. It seems that through some error by surveyors, the land was never plotted for harvest, and so was never logged. It's a really unique area (https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/chip...a/?recid=26672), a kind of time capsule for what the forest looked like before the loggers took all the pine back in the 19th Century.

If you're thinking that pine does not look very large, the picture does not do it justice. These are massive trees. As a tree farmer, I'm always drawn to trees wherever we hunt, and we always photograph them when we come across them. If we make it to the Lost Forty area again this year, we'll snap a few photos and post them.

Here's a virgin pine that has died not too long ago. Again, I'm not sure the photo captures its size well, but you get some idea of what these behemoths looked like when the loggers arrived.

[mobirdhunter]

We got a late start yesterday, and found a new-to-us spot that looks to have potential. The wind blew a gale, making it hard to track the dogs, and making the birds hunker down. Aspen had several grouse points, but we had no chances from those. He did find one, lone woodcock, and the CHE did its job. I forgot to mention that this gun is an 0 frame 16, and it weighs right at 6 lbs. (in perfect agreement with the research letter). It's about a pound lighter than the DH (and has two inches more on the barrels). At this stage of our trip, it's nice to carry a bit less weight. We are all dragging at this point, and will take a "rain day" off today.