The day is Friday July 2 at 12:00 and the weather is not good, its raining slightly so I hope I can get all these sketches down without any of them getting ruined. For the first 15 minutes of this trip I began looking at the features of the spot I had chosen and discovered a very nice looking while still somewhat intact. As I picked up the log and began to move it I observed in to be in decay class 3-4 with a diameter of 7-12 inches. It looked to be a hard wood as well as part of a blow down. There were also various insects living within and underneath. There was also an unknown fungus growing near the larger end. It was partially hollow and made an excellent winter hiding spot for squirrels and chipmunks. One species of plant that I was unfamiliar with was wild sassafras also known as sassafras Albidum. I used an app called seek which uses picture of leaves to identify them. One interesting fact about this plant is that it is banned by the FDA for being in food or drink due to a chemical called safrole which is also a carcinogen.
The process of sketching was definitely something that was new to me. I had never really dabbled in drawing or even art really since elementary school and art class. Sketching in the woods was also a new experience for me due to the fact that as a hunter I am constantly looking around and observing everything without much detail and sketching really forces you to focus on one thing for a longer period of time. It was challenging for because I was very easily distracted when drawing by either a noise or a movement. For next time I do want to work on focus more on one thing at a time, as well as that hemlock cluster growing in my friends backyard. I also didn’t have solid white paper so I sketched on the backs of notecards if thats okay.