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Emma Howle samples muscadines that are found growing in the woods. They also make ideal food for deer.

Each year following the spring green up, I take several of my high school students to the woods behind the school for a lesson in tree and plant identification. This is the usual conversation that follows: "What kind of tree is this?" I say pointing to a white oak. "It ain’t a pine tree," says the student. I’ve learned not to be shocked when I hear responses like this. However, it makes me aware of the need to educate students not only with textbooks but with woods wisdom as well.

There was a time in Alabama when just about every country youngster knew their trees and plants. In the winter, the white oaks, water oaks and red oaks provided the best squirrel hunting. In the summer, the only blackberries youngsters were interested in were the ones that went into cobblers instead of the ones used to send text messages and make calls.

Getting youth to be wise about the woods means more than shooting at the range and buying the latest camouflage. Learning the food sources available in the woods builds confidence and knowledge of God’s natural bounty intended for both humans and animals. In addition, they become aware of the value of natural resources that so

often get taken for granted. With this information, children go into adulthood realizing you have to strike a balance in the outdoors between economics and natural resources.

Summer is the best time of year to teach tree and plant identification because the leaves, fruit and other mast will be on the tree or vine. Having a tree identification book handy while taking the youngster through the woods helps if you are a little rusty in tree identification. If you and the child are on the way to the lake for fishing or to the river for a campout or canoe trip, use each opportunity in the woods to identify wildlife food sources.

Woody shrubs and plants

Associating a pleasurable experience such as eating something sweet with tree and plant identification helps the child remember the name of the food source. For instance, in the summer when you point out a patch of Japanese honeysuckles, huckleberries or blackberries, take the time to let the child eat the berries or taste that drop of sweet nectar from honeysuckles. When you stumble upon a muscadine vine loaded with fruit climbing up through pines or hardwoods shake the vine so the child can eat the fruit.

When I was 10 years old, I had every wild huckleberry and blackberry patch staked out around our family farm. Once they were ripe, I would bring a bucket and fill it

Jake Howle takes a closer look at honeysuckles he plans to sample. These evergreens serve as hot spots for deer.

High School junior John Daniel takes a close look at the acorns on a chestnut oak.

with them knowing that if I put in the labor and contended with briar hooks to the ear, the reward would be a delicious cobbler. The wildlife know these berries and other soft mast taste good, so they stay in the areas where this food is available. Keeping these concepts simple for children helps them realize it would be hard for wildlife or humans to starve in the woods during summer.

Trees

In the fall, the sound of white oak acorns plinking and plunking the ground acts as a ringing dinner bell for deer, turkeys and squirrel. Teaching children how to identify the white oak by its white, papery bark, lobed leaves and all important nuts will have them spotting white oaks everywhere you go.

As a boy, it was easy for me to identify the post oak. Not only was this tree an abundant nut producer for wildlife, it helped us on the farm. Once cut into six foot logs, we would split this tree into four quarters with wedges and a sledge hammer producing four posts out of each log, hence the name "Post Oak." Consequently, every time I see a post oak in the woods, my back and shoulders seem to ache a little.

Any story you can relate to the child about a particular tree will help them remember the identifying characteristics. For instance, the persimmon tree, which has a rough bark in square chunks and produces a purplish orange fruit in late summer into fall

produces an extremely hard wood. Not only was the wood once used in golf club heads and axe handles, my grandfather would cook wedge-shaped pieces of persimmon to harden the wood even more for splitting firewood or wooden posts.

Just about any animal that has a digestive tract loves persimmon fruit. Deer will stand on their hind legs to reach the persimmon fruit before the raccoons, opossums, wild turkeys and coyotes get it. I use the persimmon trees on our family farm as an ambush site for coyotes because they visit them daily when the fruit is dropping.

Visit www.arborday.org, then, go to youth education. Click on "fun for kids" for games and activities that foster interest in tree identification and food source information.

In early autumn, persimmon fruit turns purplish orange serving as tasty food for all wildlife.

If you don’t live in a rural or remote area, many of these food sources can be found in your backyard or the local park. For instance, ask the child why the squirrels are always around that huge white oak at the south end of the ball field. Why do we always see a flock of turkeys in the edge of the hay field under the red oak tree in November and December? With some practice, children become quick to pick up on wildlife food sources.

Many successful hunters have learned to look to the tree tops and see where the squirrels are nesting to find ideal spots for whitetail deer. The squirrels know where the sweetest nuts are found and they often make their nests in these areas. In addition, deer and turkeys know where these trees are located and the heavy producers are regular stops on their daily route.

Involve kids directly when identifying trees and other wildlife food sources. Let them see, touch and even taste the foods that sustain wildlife. That way, they can go beyond just knowing whether the tree is a pine or hardwood. They will gain valuable woodsman skills.

John Howle is a freelance writer from Heflin.