Stuck in a Rut

As I had to stay close to home this weekend, I decided to spend some time observing the rut in my local woods, Poor Park. The woods were wonderful, especially in the evening sun light.

I set myself a number of rules. Firstly, I would observe from a stand-off position and not get too close. If I was spotted by the buck more than twice , I would withdraw for an hour. More than three times and I would leave the woods.

I also wanted to identify a good stand or two in order to leave the camera traps in place for a week. I started my mission by doing a recce of stands. I started on the east side and made my way west.

I knew a couple of areas from previous years and  I wasn’t surprised to see ground scrapings and rutting signs in these places. In fact there were four main areas scattered throughout the woods; but unlike previous years, there was little sign of the aggressive thrashing and burnishing against the trees.

I had heard some bellowing over the week, but again there wasn’t as much as previous years. Perhaps the weather had affected the start of the rut. It has been extremely mild. However, it wasn’t long before I heard the bellowing of the stag deep in the most inaccessible part of the wood.

I managed to get close enough for a sighting with the wind nicely in my favour. The huge palmate antlers actually clashed against low branches as he moved slowly towards the stand to the far east of the wood. I followed on a parallel course about 30 meters behind. To my delight, the stag moved into more open ground, but he was speeding up, making me less cautious where I was stepping.

My National Geographic money photo was getting closer and closer as I moved in. I lifted the camera to get a nice moving shot when, suddenly, it seemed as though the whole wood had woken up. I had stepped on a large twig which sounded not just like a gunshot, but a canon shot! The stag jumped and proinked out of the woods and ran into the open ground and away across the field.

The next day, I was a little more fortunate. I spent all day on and off following and observing the stag. I withdrew quite a few times and I was spotted twice. I was interested to notice that that there was definitely a lack of aggression this year and I came to the conclusion that the rut hadn’t really commenced. I hadn’t witnessed the stag covering any does – and despite another fully formed stag in the area, their was no aggressive display.

My last task was to set the camera traps and sit down for a well-earned break. As I did so, I was concentrating on the ladybird on my notebook so much, I missed a photo opportunity of a young pretentious stag that casually wandered in front of me about 7 meters away. By the time I collected up the camera, I could only get a couple shots of his rear end!

Thanks for the visit.

Stuck in a Rut

As I had to stay close to home this weekend, I decided to spend some time observing the rut in my local woods, Poor Park. The woods were wonderful, especially in the evening sun light.

I set myself a number of rules. Firstly, I would observe from a stand-off position and not get too close. If I was spotted by the buck more than twice , I would withdraw for an hour. More than three times and I would leave the woods.

I also wanted to identify a good stand or two in order to leave the camera traps in place for a week. I started my mission by doing a recce of stands. I started on the east side and made my way west.

I knew a couple of areas from previous years and  I wasn’t surprised to see ground scrapings and rutting signs in these places. In fact there were four main areas scattered throughout the woods; but unlike previous years, there was little sign of the aggressive thrashing and burnishing against the trees.

I had heard some bellowing over the week, but again there wasn’t as much as previous years. Perhaps the weather had affected the start of the rut. It has been extremely mild. However, it wasn’t long before I heard the bellowing of the stag deep in the most inaccessible part of the wood.

I managed to get close enough for a sighting with the wind nicely in my favour. The huge palmate antlers actually clashed against low branches as he moved slowly towards the stand to the far east of the wood. I followed on a parallel course about 30 meters behind. To my delight, the stag moved into more open ground, but he was speeding up, making me less cautious where I was stepping.

My National Geographic money photo was getting closer and closer as I moved in. I lifted the camera to get a nice moving shot when, suddenly, it seemed as though the whole wood had woken up. I had stepped on a large twig which sounded not just like a gunshot, but a canon shot! The stag jumped and proinked out of the woods and ran into the open ground and away across the field.

The next day, I was a little more fortunate. I spent all day on and off following and observing the stag. I withdrew quite a few times and I was spotted twice. I was interested to notice that that there was definitely a lack of aggression this year and I came to the conclusion that the rut hadn’t really commenced. I hadn’t witnessed the stag covering any does – and despite another fully formed stag in the area, their was no aggressive display.

My last task was to set the camera traps and sit down for a well-earned break. As I did so, I was concentrating on the ladybird on my notebook so much, I missed a photo opportunity of a young pretentious stag that casually wandered in front of me about 7 meters away. By the time I collected up the camera, I could only get a couple shots of his rear end!

Thanks for the visit.

Wilderness Immersion Course

Our Woodlife Trails Wilderness Immersion Course does exactly what it says on the tin. It immerses participants into the wilderness; in this case the wonderful setting of Hatfield Forest.

Last weekend, 7 participants did exactly that. After giving them the tools of the trade, they all, without exception, came back with some stunning stories of what they observed and how close they got to the wildlife after a night spent alone in various parts of the forest. In fact, throughout the weekend we had some really good sightings all round including fox, badger and buzzards.

Of course this was partly due to the abundance of food on the forest floor and the start of the fallow deer rut.

As well as observing wildlife at close quarters, we all had the opportunity to study deer signs …

… and homes of various creatures.

The wonderful weather helped our 24 hours “on-the-trail” and classroom sessions.

Even so, our base-camp set up was available just in case and it also provided a central admin area.

Hatfield Forest was, as usual, spectacular.

Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a superb course.

 

Thanks to Griggers who helped out on the course and supplied the excellent footage and some of the (better) photos.

Wilderness Immersion Course

Our Woodlife Trails Wilderness Immersion Course does exactly what it says on the tin. It immerses participants into the wilderness; in this case the wonderful setting of Hatfield Forest.

Last weekend, 7 participants did exactly that. After giving them the tools of the trade, they all, without exception, came back with some stunning stories of what they observed and how close they got to the wildlife after a night spent alone in various parts of the forest. In fact, throughout the weekend we had some really good sightings all round including fox, badger and buzzards.

Of course this was partly due to the abundance of food on the forest floor and the start of the fallow deer rut.

As well as observing wildlife at close quarters, we all had the opportunity to study deer signs …

… and homes of various creatures.

The wonderful weather helped our 24 hours “on-the-trail” and classroom sessions.

Even so, our base-camp set up was available just in case and it also provided a central admin area.

Hatfield Forest was, as usual, spectacular.

Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a superb course.

 

Thanks to Griggers who helped out on the course and supplied the excellent footage and some of the (better) photos.

Corporate Events

Woodlife Trails staff have experience with dealing with corporate groups. We recognise the importance of providing your company with the management skills required to be successful in today's highly competitive markets. We also recognise that value for money is an over-riding factor in deciding the type and amount of training to provide delegates.

We can provide your company staff and management with a rewarding day or weekend in a woodland environment that develops and tests a huge range of management skills such as decision-making, team-working, communications, leadership, confidence and trust.

“Thanks for giving us the opportunity to really appreciate our surroundings and to learn skills that are useful both in business and our personal lives. A very exciting and challenging day…”

These programmes can be made challenging to enhance decision making skills and develop team work, but they will also be enjoyable and fun. We can tailor any course or session to your event requirements with our “pick and mix” Bespoke Courses.

All the skills required to undertake events such as our Team-Tracking Event take a minimum amount of time to learn thus maximising the time to put all the skills into practice.

Our scenarios are realistic and fun. Our unique woodland environment is challenging but safe. Our debriefs are succint and always link to the workplace.

We can either concentrate on specific areas or provide general management skills training. You can work with us to design the event, or leave our expert course designer to design an event based on previous tried and tested programmes.

Our course designer is qualified in designing management skills training and all our staff are trained and experienced in dealing with corporate groups.

Feel free to contact us at info@woodlife.co.uk if you require more information

Corporate Events

Woodlife Trails staff have experience with dealing with corporate groups. We recognise the importance of providing your company with the management skills required to be successful in today's highly competitive markets. We also recognise that value for money is an over-riding factor in deciding the type and amount of training to provide delegates.

We can provide your company staff and management with a rewarding day or weekend in a woodland environment that develops and tests a huge range of management skills such as decision-making, team-working, communications, leadership, confidence and trust.

“Thanks for giving us the opportunity to really appreciate our surroundings and to learn skills that are useful both in business and our personal lives. A very exciting and challenging day…”

These programmes can be made challenging to enhance decision making skills and develop team work, but they will also be enjoyable and fun. We can tailor any course or session to your event requirements with our “pick and mix” Bespoke Courses.

All the skills required to undertake events such as our Team-Tracking Event take a minimum amount of time to learn thus maximising the time to put all the skills into practice.

Our scenarios are realistic and fun. Our unique woodland environment is challenging but safe. Our debriefs are succint and always link to the workplace.

We can either concentrate on specific areas or provide general management skills training. You can work with us to design the event, or leave our expert course designer to design an event based on previous tried and tested programmes.

Our course designer is qualified in designing management skills training and all our staff are trained and experienced in dealing with corporate groups.

Feel free to contact us at info@woodlife.co.uk if you require more information

Team Tracking Event

We had a great Team-Tracking event on Sunday at Hatfield Forest where 11 brave souls volunteered (or at least, I think they volunteered) to try and put some newly taught management skills into practice in a woodland environment.

There were a few more tools to add to the toolbox as the guys and girls learnt how to enhance their senses and, of course, they had to learn a few tracking basics. Despite the crash course they all, without exception, quickly picked up how to identify and link evidence on the woodland floor and were soon putting it into practice in a competitive scenario; proving that tracking is a fantastic media for developing many aspects of team and individual skill areas. It also shows that tracking is an easy skill to learn but it takes a life-time to master.

Unbelievably, the difference in times between the two teams (The “A” team and “TrackWise”) was a mere 30 seconds over a 45 minute track. Nail biting stuff!

Well done to everyone who came along. We hope to see them again.

Next weekend – We will be immersing 8 people in Britain’s “Last Forest” as we run our extremely popular Wilderness Immersion Course.

Can’t wait!!

Team Tracking Event

We had a great Team-Tracking event on Sunday at Hatfield Forest where 11 brave souls volunteered (or at least, I think they volunteered) to try and put some newly taught management skills into practice in a woodland environment.

There were a few more tools to add to the toolbox as the guys and girls learnt how to enhance their senses and, of course, they had to learn a few tracking basics. Despite the crash course they all, without exception, quickly picked up how to identify and link evidence on the woodland floor and were soon putting it into practice in a competitive scenario; proving that tracking is a fantastic media for developing many aspects of team and individual skill areas. It also shows that tracking is an easy skill to learn but it takes a life-time to master.

Unbelievably, the difference in times between the two teams (The “A” team and “TrackWise”) was a mere 30 seconds over a 45 minute track. Nail biting stuff!

Well done to everyone who came along. We hope to see them again.

Next weekend – We will be immersing 8 people in Britain’s “Last Forest” as we run our extremely popular Wilderness Immersion Course.

Can’t wait!!

Woodlife Tracker Knives

Woodlife Tracker Series

Here very soon !!!

We will soon be taking orders for these knives. In the meantime, to gauge interest, please fill in the form below (no obligation.)

Here's a quick overview:

Woodlife Tracker DJP belt knife

Specs:

Green Micarta Scales (Removable – not as picture)

 

 

Woodlife Tracker DSK neck knife

Specs:

Green Micarta Scales (Removable – not as picture)

Woodlife Tracker Nessie Camp knife

Specs:

Green Micarta Scales (Removable – not as picture)

 

Kydex Sheaths as standard

Woodlife Tracker Knives

Woodlife Tracker Series

Here very soon !!!

We will soon be taking orders for these knives. In the meantime, to gauge interest, please fill in the form below (no obligation.)

Here's a quick overview:

Woodlife Tracker DJP belt knife

Specs:

Green Micarta Scales (Removable – not as picture)

 

 

Woodlife Tracker DSK neck knife

Specs:

Green Micarta Scales (Removable – not as picture)

Woodlife Tracker Nessie Camp knife

Specs:

Green Micarta Scales (Removable – not as picture)

 

Kydex Sheaths as standard