Central Maine Hunting Report: November 27, 2007

Procrastination has always been my strong suit. I am truly a professional at it. November is a crazy busy month for all us IF&W biologists. This week’s Outdoor Report competes for time along with closing Swan Island for the winter and the collection of deer season biological samples. Add in personal chores such as raking leaves and replacing an old leaky toilet, yes, even the “honey do” list gets honorable mention here, and there is little time left for a rousing Outdoor Report. Yet my Sunday evening approach to this report has much more to do with waiting until the last minute than it does with too heavy a workload. Maybe I was just waiting for something to inspire me…pondering out of the ordinary topics rather than hurrying to the first fixation that landed in my lap.

I have had little time for hunting this season, but I have spent a lot of time walking in the woods. I consider that to be the best time for pondering…and observing. Like watching a chipmunk, cheeks filled, scurrying along lichen covered stonewalls. My grandfather from Caribou called chippys “short legged deer” because of the way they run with their tails in the air. I contemplate whether this nickname is commentary relating to his deer hunting experiences. While set in the momentary smile of my grandfather’s “short legged deer” reminiscence, I start to pay attention to the stonewall that this little deer was running on. Ah, I found my inspiration.

Throughout the history of agriculture in Maine, and New England for that matter, stonewalls played an essential role. Stonewalls were more than just the mere ornamentation that they serve today. Stonewalls were used as fencing, boundary lines and animal pounds. The period from 1775 – 1825 was known as the golden age of stonewall building.

By the mid-1800′s, more than 70 percent of the land in New England had been cleared for agricultural purposes. As farming grew more fashionable, the need for satisfactory fencing also increased. Before stonewalls were widely used, wooden rail fences were the sensible solution for fencing in a farm. This quickly became a pickle because once the land was cleared for a farm; few trees were left to build the wooden fences. In addition, these fences would also rot over time and need to be replaced. Farmers soon switched to using rock in their fences to replace the wooden rail fences and to make use of stone unearthed as fields were tilled and cleared. Oh, but there was a vicious circle. Although some farmers had ample stone with which to build their walls, others did not.

Once the act of making fencing out of stone became the standard, farmers were faced with the problem of obtaining the stone. Some farmers could build a wall with stone that was found on their farmland. Many farmers however, had to steal or buy the stone.
Interestingly, in the 1800′s when a stonewall was finished it needed to be inspected by a “fence viewer”. A fence viewer was a public worker that would inspect fences to make sure that they were structurally sound. If a stonewall was deemed sound, then the owner was not liable for damage done to another farmer’s crops by his animals.
Today, New England stonewalls are so popular that they are disappearing from their centuries old resting spots. These fencing relics are being dismantled, placed on pallets and shipped throughout the Northeast. It is now entirely possible to buy a 200-year-old New England stonewall at a local landscape center. In part, their value is derived from the weathered look that newly quarried rock cannot imitate. I have always wondered as I followed a stonewall or climbed over one, how old it is.

Dating a stonewall is actually accomplished, roughly, by “aging” the weathering. You see the faded blue jeans look of an old stonewall is caused by the growth of lichen on the stone. Lichens are symbiotic plants composed of a fungus and algae that grow on stones at a slow and regular rate, some only 1-millimeter per year. The lichen can be measured and then calculated to see how long it has been growing. This dating method is called lichenometry.

I think one of the most mesmerizing pleasures of walking in the woods is stumbling upon an old stonewall and realizing just how enormously changed the landscape has become. The old stonewall has a story to tell and I listen attentively. Sitting down and letting my eyes wander down its length is indeed inspiring. A worthy topic for this Outdoor Report and a grand playground for my grandfather’s “short legged deer”.