More Woods Shots From South Florida

[Mistwalker]

Well, the tropical storm coming into the gulf is apparently generating a lot of severe thunderstorms and knocking out power in a lot of places to the south of here. It is also apparently causing a significant chance of tornadoes and we have a 50% chance of seeing a tornado here in this area. While the power is still working, and I still have access, I thought I'd share a few more shots from south Florida.

The rivers in the area are in flood stage from all of the rain from the last few weeks, so a lot of the dirt roads in the woods around the rivers and swamps are a little soggy and up over my hubs in some places.

My go-to gear in this area has been my snake boots, and the “mini-kit” I've built around a TOPS machete and the two large utility pouches on the sheath. I have it rigged up with an improvised bladric set up using some paracord for now. Since I usually have another knife on my belt as well on my right side I carry the machete on my left side and I like how it draws from there.

I haven't typically been a machete fan. I like the thickness of the Ontario machetes but hate the plastic handles and carppy rivets of the ones I have. Most other commercially available machetes are too thin to suit me. I am really liking this one so far. I really like the thickness, I love the handle, it feels great, handles well, and I really like how it cuts.

Lots of small critters here

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[Mistwalker]

Lots of orb weavers too. Always interesting when you're focused on something in the distance and this...

turns into this.

Lots of them here, best to pay attention or you end up with one on your face and an accelerated heart rate.

Lots of small frogs around

Lots of fungi

And several owls

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[Hawkeye5]

Man.... What a cool post. Thanks Mist.

 

[Dr. 904]

I always enjoy you taking us readers on your walks. Thank you so much! Did you encounter any mammals.

 

[miltmaldo]

Sweet love the pictures . What type of camera did you use.

 

[WILLIAM.M]

Great Photos my Brother

That Machete looks defective--better send it to me right quick for proper LONG term disposal

 

[kgd]

Great stuff Mist, for some reason this thread Really brought me back to my trip last year around Talahasee...That black water and palmettos'....I definitely want to go back to N. Florida some time. Love the tree frog shots and the first owl. Fast lens or just cranked up ISO??? Looks like the former. As for a machete, I'm partial to the Condor short bolo 12" x 1/8" thick. It doesn't tire me out but eats through wood pretty good, but in Canada, whacking through vegetation doesn't happen too often!

 

[DRMUDD]

Wow, awesome pics! Lots of neat stuff to look at in south Florida. Just how big are those spiders???

 

[jstn]

Great pics, stay safe with the incoming storms!

 

[Mistwalker]

Man.... What a cool post. Thanks Mist.

Thanks Hawkeye, glad you enjoyed it.

I always enjoy you taking us readers on your walks. Thank you so much! Did you encounter any mammals.

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoy the posts. Not many really, and only at a distance so far.

Sweet love the pictures . What type of camera did you use.

Thank you, most of these...maybe all, I'm not sure... were taken with a Nikon D90.

Great Photos my Brother

That Machete looks defective--better send it to me right quick for proper LONG term disposal

Thanks bro, glad you enjoyed them. Nah, that's just an optical illusion I guess, I'm good

Great stuff Mist, for some reason this thread Really brought me back to my trip last year around Talahasee...That black water and palmettos'....I definitely want to go back to N. Florida some time. Love the tree frog shots and the first owl. Fast lens or just cranked up ISO??? Looks like the former. As for a machete, I'm partial to the Condor short bolo 12" x 1/8" thick. It doesn't tire me out but eats through wood pretty good, but in Canada, whacking through vegetation doesn't happen too often!

Thanks Ken, yeah Florida is a fun place to visit. I normally prefer to visit in the winter...but. It was an overcast evening and I was shooting some shots for an article so just had the 18-55mm lens with me. Those shots are severely cropped as the owl was about 10 or 12 meters up. I was surprised they came out as clear as they did. That owl was HUGE. Eh, my first experience with Condor wasn't really a pleasant one. I'll give 'em another go later as I know one experience is a bad way to judge a company. When I learned how long I was going to be here, learned the area I was going to be heading to, and saw the weather that was comming I decided I wanted a large machete and one from a company I already have faith in. So rather than have my wife send my Ontario...which I really don't have all that much faith in...I ordered a TOPS machete. I wish I had ordered it sooner though, I really like how it handles. Yeah, I don't do a lot of it back home either, but sometimes in the river bottoms it gets a little thick, plus I have some other trips to the deep south planned for later on.

Wow, awesome pics! Lots of neat stuff to look at in south Florida. Just how big are those spiders???

Thank you very much, and yes there really is. Well, if they were willing to sit still and I held them in my hand with several of them the legs would overhang my finger tips and sides of my palm.

Great pics, stay safe with the incoming storms!

Thanks man, and I'm doing my best to.

 

[caine]

Nice photos as alwas. I hate those spiders. We use to call them banana spiders. I have seen some huge ones. You see any snakes ? Liking that tops sheath

 

[TomTerrific]

I love the critters, esp dragon flies and spiders.

Really good shots.

 

[jpr9954]

That was a nice post. I loved the pictures of the spiders and other creepy-crawlies.

 

[crossada]

Those owl pics are amazing.

Stay safe Mist.

 

[Mistwalker]

Nice photos as alwas. I hate those spiders. We use to call them banana spiders. I have seen some huge ones. You see any snakes ? Liking that tops sheath

Thanks bro, glad you enjoyed them. Yeah, some of these are pretty big, and disconcerting when you turn around and have one bigger than your hand just a couple of inches from your face Haven't seen any. Heard one rattling the other day but in thick palmettos I couldn't see through and I decided it wasn't worth the risk of pissing it off and having it strike above the top of my boots just to try to get the photo. Yeah, I'm really liking the sheath too, I'm liking the whole thing

I love the critters, esp dragon flies and spiders.

Really good shots.

Thanks man, glad you liked the post.

That was a nice post. I loved the pictures of the spiders and other creepy-crawlies.

Thanks man, glad you liked the pictures, I like capturing the small things in pics.

Those owl pics are amazing.

Stay safe Mist.

Thanks man, yeah I've enjoyed getting to observe the owls.

 

[tradestar]

East coast or west coast? Looks like Port Charlotte. I'm north of ATL now but lived in South Sarasota County for 20 years. I miss that place. Great pic's, they bring me back. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Mistwalker]

East coast or west coast? Looks like Port Charlotte. I'm north of ATL now but lived in South Sarasota County for 20 years. I miss that place. Great pic's, they bring me back. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks man, glad you enjoyed them. These shots were taken in an area just about 35 or 40 miles north by north east of Tampa.

 

[Joezilla]

If you look closely on the machete...it says "Polo" and "Joe" on it....

 

[Mistwalker]

If you look closely on the machete...it says "Polo" and "Joe" on it....

Does not. It says "Leo" and "Joe" on it. But I don't care whose name is on it, this one is mine

 

[plattj1]

Mistwalker -

Great job on the close ups and on spotting the owls, I have spent a lot of time looking for them, they are really tough to spot during the day like that!

JP