Where DO the critters play? Often those who plan to move to the country have dreams of deer, squirrels, all sorts of birds, fox, raccoons, eagles, etc. as being a part of where they live.

I love to help folks purchase a dream property -- a getaway -- out in the country where the air is fresh and there is plenty of elbow room! Interestingly I often hear little snippets in the conversation about seeing or feeding animals on the new property they wish to purchase. Perhaps they wish to watch the birds, feed the deer, or even hunt for the family food. Then they usually tell me the kind of land they want. Often the kind of land they want and the dreams of critters don't go together.

The critters like to play on the edge; the edge between woods and fields, between ditch and bank, or in particular along the swampy edge of wooded wetlands and fields. They play there because the cover which protects them against predators is better. Usually the variety of their favorite foods are most plentiful at the edge or even deeper into the wetlands, down in the ditches, or deep into the thickest thickets of the woods. Swamps, creeks, marsh, wetlands, ditches, briar patches, cut-over-timber, new growth of trees, or even fields that have not been farmed in a few years are favorites of the critters.

Most people tell me they want only high ground... BORING!!!! OR, they want only old growth forest. Old growth forest is a nearly sterile almost desert environment. Only the giant trees flourish, and they flourish only at the tops where the upper branches reach for sunshine. As a result, in mature forests, these boring, sterile, lands are almost devoid of wildlife. However these woodlands, with the most mature trees, bring the most money as more people want them. I sell this type of property too. But if you want to live where the critters play you can purchase more land, for less money, and have far more interesting natural landscaping too.

Where the land is "heavy" with lots of solids and clay, where it is flat, solid, fertile, and covered with an abundance of animal and vegetable life, you will sometimes find that there are drainage ditches to carry off the excess water of a torrential rain. These ditches and the ditch banks are often home of ducks, geese, otters, ground hogs, quail, pheasant, grouse, and all manner of song birds. The deer as well use these ditches, to feed on the abundant varieties of food and to travel low and out of sight of any predators.

Deer, raccoons, fox, beaver, most birds and other such pleasant critters live near the wetlands and where the fields and forests meet. Almost nothing lives in the deepest and oldest woods, except a few insects, a few snakes, and... way up in the tops of the trees, some birds.

Cut-over-timber-land; which is considered ugly by most people attracts great numbers of wildlife as the land is a new ground and full of life, birth and sprouts of all kinds. It is this cut-over land where new trees, grasses, and even wild fruits grow to attract every kind of critter in the area. The so called conservationists would lead us to believe that cut-over-timber-land is somehow bad, evil and nearly dead. As usual they are entirely wrong. Cut-over-timber-land is rich and wonderful in life, birth and rebirth.

Where do the critters play? Usually in the land that is less expensive and considered less attractive by humans!!!!

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