Pennsylvania Game News - August 2009 - 54

lution is to stuff any part of the plant and as much as possible into a pot of water and boil it for half an hour or more until the water turns deep orange. Bottle and refrigerate it or freeze it for longer term use and spread it on the rash. This herbal remedy works. Not all the native wildflowers of August have herbal properties. Some of my latest discoveries are merely interesting and occasionally striking, such as spikenard (Aralia racemosa), which I found growing on our road bank. A member of the Ginseng family, round umbels of greenishwhite flowers grow on a smooth, black stem and, later, clusters of dark purple fruit catch my attention when walking up our road. On that same road bank, panicled hawkweed (Hieracium paniculatum) supports a yellow, dandelion-like blossom or two on horizontal stems. Unlike the nonnative orange and yellow hawkweeds that grow in fields, panicled hawkweed is a woodland wildflower. So, too, is smooth false foxglove (Gerardia laevigata), which is said to be para- sitic on the roots of oak trees. Its bellshaped, golden flowers blossom on our Laurel Ridge Trail but are often nipped off by deer. Still, a few manage to bloom every August. Wood nettles (Laportea canadensis) have made a terrific comeback since our deer numbers have decreased. From none to hundreds, maybe thousands of plants, which have spread from stream bank to road bank, they have bristly stems with stinging hairs, as I discovered when I first examined the unknown (to me) plant several years ago. Their branched, greenish flowers and alternate, egg-shaped leaves are their identifying characteristics. All of these native August wildflowers, in some way, reflect the white-tailed deer that roam our square mile. White snakeroot thrives because deer don’t eat it. All of the others have increased, made a comeback, or made their debut because we tried and succeeded in reducing our deer herd by using dedicated hunters who take between 38 and 45 deer off our square mile of property every year. Books in Brief (Not available from the Game Commission.) Hunting the American West, By Richard C. Rattenbury, Boone and Crockett Club, 250 Station Drive, Missoula, Montana 59801-2753, 406-542-1888, www.booneandcrockettclub.com, 416 pp., hardcover, $49.95. This book is a must read for every hunter, conservationist, gun and sporting art collector or history buff who has dreamed of the epic grandeur and adventure of hunting on the western frontier. Hunting the American West explores the pursuit of big game for life, profit and sport from 1800 to 1900. The book has stunning photographs and illustrations, and the engaging narrative draws extensively on the writings of original participants and observers of the subject and affords unusual insight into the diverse methods and motives for hunting big game in the Old West. Readers get the real feeling of the artistic expression engendered by the Western chase, and the rise of the hunter-conservation movement, which led to the founding of the Boone and Crockett Club. 54 GAME NEWS

http://www.booneandcrockettclub.com

Pennsylvania Game News - August 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - August 2009