Mounted search and rescue

[Karen Nesbitt <spanishequines@yahoo.com>]

Regarding corn...and the statement:

"Green corn will grow back and will stand up again like green grass." 

Windblown green corn "might" stand up again...but the above statement is not exactly true..  If the staulk is broken (shattered) even at a young stage, the corn plant is pretty much irreversably damaged and will more than likely discontinue it's growth.  It does not grow back like grass.  Perhaps the plant  Irv was more referring too was a sorghum or shattercane which resembles corn in many ways?

   You absolutely cannot mow corn like grass.  If the corn plant is the height of a toddler  

   and  broken, it is going to  remain so.

 

Sorhgum, which is a plant that resembles corn and is raises in many parts of the country, it on the other hand can get damaged and will rejuvinate to an extent.  Sorghum, by the way is not to be fed to horses.  It is also not always planted in rows.

 

In searching bean fields, bean plants will become unreversably damaged and so the subject too will leave a damaged path if heading through a bean field.

 

Wheat, if in a green stage can take some traffic and bounce back, but once the stem in the heading out phase to which it will soon be producing seed, again, it will be susceptible to irreversable damages.  Rye is a tall stemmy annual too that is much like heat, but once in a more mature stage, suffers from unreversable damages.

 

Nowadays farmers more and more are raising tall mischanthus grasses.. these grasses are not mowed until quite late in the year....it  would be extremely difficult to find someone lost in a miscanthus field.  The grass, depending on variety can be over 12 feet tall at maturity and would be very difficult to traverse in a stage much over thigh high or toddler height.  The stems are bamboo like and one would have to push themselves hard to go through a field if on foot which would be very exhausting.  Mischanthus can be razor sharp and if you grab a hold of it, you may slice your hands depending on the stage of growth.  If you ride in a field of it in the spring, you can cause punctures to your horses hooves due to the spears bayonets poking up from the ground when it is young.  In the fall when the plant gets to a drying stage as are many other crops, this plant is highly flammable.  (Hence why it is also grown as an energy crop!)

 

Many of the CRP setaside fields are planted in wild grasses, or wild flowers and if the ground has been set aside for several running years, small tree growth such as poplars will appear if in wetlands and thickets of raspberry brush will appear to which you will wish you had a pair of chaps if going through that.  It is not likely a subject will go through it unless they are derranged or desperate.  A poison ivy feild is tender vegetation.. while most will avoid its contact however an unwitted subject may go through that and  you may have no alternatives but to go through areas loaded with it.  Again, those chaps  and some gloves and calamine if you are allergic are gonna come in handy!  Darned poison ivy in my neck of the woods is like a superweed.  The plant by the way thrives hardily on AIR POLLUTION....

 

It would do well for searchers to learn about plants so that they know what might be in the ground lying ahead as certain plants only exist in marshy areas for example and other plants exist only in drier areas.  You can avoid getting stuck in an unexpected bog if you are familiar with the flora and fauna.  You can tell a lot too about the soil, just by the plants that are growing on it.. certain plants will only grow in say high alkaline soil, or maybe sand or black dirt.   If you know your soil underneath you can seriously avoid issues too say of getting your horse mired  if all of a sudden there is a change in vegetation. While a subject might not be aware to the changing ground underneath in measures to survive, it will help you better in your searching to know how the plants normally grow so you can know too if they are damaged in tracking.

 

Wildlife can indicate the habitat and you can know that if you are seeing certain species, say for example, numerous dragon flies... you have a marsh nearby.  Buzzards can indicate decomp is near. Seagulls can tell you that there might be water around or if their is a garbage dump nearby.  Lots of coyote tracks, a carcass or kill may have taken place.  Learn your sounds of various birds and other animals.. they too can be a big help in being cohesive to your surroundings and can tell you much about what you cannot see directly.

 

Learn your wildlife and plant habitats and you will know more how to search an area as well

 

K. Nesbitt

VMSAR

Iroquois County - Illinois