My Dad bought the property now known as Warbler Woods Bird Sanctuary in 1950. He bought it to have his own land to hunt on and to do a little farming, but I am sure his main motivation was simply to have land that his family could roam and enjoy. Not that he ever told me directly - I was only six.
By six I was a hunter. I killed my first big game that year - an armadillo - at the Hunting Lease. I hunted at the Farm also, for rabbits, squirrels, and later for dove and deer. Mostly I was a roamer; I loved to walk through the woods as quietly as possible pretending I was Daniel Boone. I have been doing that at the Farm, or Warbler Woods since 1950. All my hunting now is with binoculars and camera, except for a few rattlesnakes.
My Dad was very busy at the "Farm" for several years. He replaced most of the fencing, but the fence along the First Field at Friesenhahn's was never replaced. He bought a push brush cutter with about a 3-ft blade that could be used horizontally or vertically. He used to to clear brush, mainly between the Old Barn area and the corner at Dean Road. He would make huge piles of brush and then burn them.
The Farm quickly developed simple names for the main features. The main gate and only gate initially was on Dean Road, near the Old Barn area, across the road from the Schmidt farm. That part of the Farm was the First Pasture and the First Field. They extended to a cross fence and gate. Beyond that gate was the Second Pasture and Second Field. That main gate still exists, but the entry road has long been abandoned.
A second gate was built into the Old Wiederstein fence. A road had to be cleared along the cross fence that joined the main road from Dean Road to the cross fence. Another road was cleared from the second entrance road to what would become the Picnic Grounds. The main road went through the cross-fence gate then veered to the right and then left to reach the area now known as the "Sparrow Hole." That second entrance is now our main entrance, and the road that was difficult to negotiate is now our driveway.
My sister and I liked to walk up the creek bed past the Old Barn into the woods dominated by huge Cedar Elms. These had limbs close to the ground that enabled us to climb a ways into the trees. The mouth of the creek bed and the area under the big trees were full of what we called Milkweed but which was really Frostweed. Sadly a number of these trees, including my favorite, died a number of years later following one of our droughts.
My Dad also wanted animals. By the time I was eight we had a small herd of cattle, mostly Herefords, and we gave some of them names. A calf was named Baby Giant, after my Little League team, the Circle H Giants, which my Dad helped coach. Soon thereafter my Dad added Spanish Goats.
There has been a long series of projects at Warbler Woods.
-Don Schaezler
By six I was a hunter. I killed my first big game that year - an armadillo - at the Hunting Lease. I hunted at the Farm also, for rabbits, squirrels, and later for dove and deer. Mostly I was a roamer; I loved to walk through the woods as quietly as possible pretending I was Daniel Boone. I have been doing that at the Farm, or Warbler Woods since 1950. All my hunting now is with binoculars and camera, except for a few rattlesnakes.
My Dad was very busy at the "Farm" for several years. He replaced most of the fencing, but the fence along the First Field at Friesenhahn's was never replaced. He bought a push brush cutter with about a 3-ft blade that could be used horizontally or vertically. He used to to clear brush, mainly between the Old Barn area and the corner at Dean Road. He would make huge piles of brush and then burn them.
The Farm quickly developed simple names for the main features. The main gate and only gate initially was on Dean Road, near the Old Barn area, across the road from the Schmidt farm. That part of the Farm was the First Pasture and the First Field. They extended to a cross fence and gate. Beyond that gate was the Second Pasture and Second Field. That main gate still exists, but the entry road has long been abandoned.
A second gate was built into the Old Wiederstein fence. A road had to be cleared along the cross fence that joined the main road from Dean Road to the cross fence. Another road was cleared from the second entrance road to what would become the Picnic Grounds. The main road went through the cross-fence gate then veered to the right and then left to reach the area now known as the "Sparrow Hole." That second entrance is now our main entrance, and the road that was difficult to negotiate is now our driveway.
My sister and I liked to walk up the creek bed past the Old Barn into the woods dominated by huge Cedar Elms. These had limbs close to the ground that enabled us to climb a ways into the trees. The mouth of the creek bed and the area under the big trees were full of what we called Milkweed but which was really Frostweed. Sadly a number of these trees, including my favorite, died a number of years later following one of our droughts.
My Dad also wanted animals. By the time I was eight we had a small herd of cattle, mostly Herefords, and we gave some of them names. A calf was named Baby Giant, after my Little League team, the Circle H Giants, which my Dad helped coach. Soon thereafter my Dad added Spanish Goats.
There has been a long series of projects at Warbler Woods.
-Don Schaezler