Wildlife Wall Decor

With the rapid urbanization taking place around the globe it can be difficult to preserve our vision of nature. Few of us have the opportunity to live in areas that have rich wildlife and scenic landscapes. One of the easiest ways to satisfy your desire to experience the wilderness or countryside is through artwork.

As citizens from rural communities continue to migrate to cities, it can be therapeutic to maintain a connection with the country. Country wall art is an easy way to quench your nostalgic thirst for home. Art is no longer limited to simple paintings; you can find a variety of exquisite pieces, everything from metal wall hangings to lamp shades.

To be considered a home-decorating master, it’s essential to know how to add character and flare to a dull space with simple accents. For example, a handmade quilt or beaded tapestry that you may have just lying around the house can be used for an aesthetic indulgence. Hung from a blank wall, such items produce color and texture to any living space. It’s being able to think outside of the box that will give you the most original pieces at a next-to-nothing cost.

Now let’s talk furniture. How can you apply these ingenious tactics to pieces of furniture that aren’t holding their own in the decorative-style department? If you’re one of the many people who have an ever-so-popular glass table, you’re in luck. To turn this lifeless chunk of furniture into a sassy and original piece, grab your etching tools and let’s get to work. Using a stencil to guide you, hundreds of designs can be produced to give you the ultimate etched glass table. And presto, you’ll have an original piece of furniture in no time!

Do you have the desire to travel and fish for you dinner along the way?  Outdoor Life magazine, May 2008, pages 36-43, lists 12 open-road great fishing spots in the U.S. that will bring you fishing experiences you’ll remember.  The requirement is a rod and reel, assorted bait and fishing gear, and one tank of gas.  For more information in your area, refer to the magazine. 

Here is the list:  (1) Seattle to Portland, 173 miles . . . king salmon, small mouth bass, steelhead, muskies, and sturgeon;  (2) Las Vegas to San Diego, 333 miles . . . stripers, bass scallpin, calico and barracuda;  (3) Orlando to Miami, 350 miles . . . bass, crappie, tarpon;  (4) Dallas to Houston 239 miles . . . catfish, crappies, stripers, redfish, white bass;  (5) NYC to Buffalo, 396 miles . . . small mouth bass, steelhead, salmon, walleyes, pike, and trout;  (6) Phoenix, AZ to Show-Low, AZ . . . trout, bass, crappie, and walleyes;  (7) Milwaukee, Wis. to Minneapolis, Minn. . . . steelhead, bass, pike, walleyes, tiger muskies;  (8) Huntsville, Ala. to Gulf Shores, Ala. . . . smallmouth bass, crappies, blue catfish, spotted bass, redfish, king mackerel, groupers, red snapper, tarpon, and cobia;  (9) Ft. Smith, Ark. to Memphis, Tenn. . . . crappies, catfish, bass;  (10) Bismarck, N.D. to Pierre, S.D. . . . salmon, catfish, sauger, large and smallmouth bass, walleye, pike, and perch;  (11) Boise, Id. to Salt Lake City . . . crappies, bass, and catfish;  (12) Washington, D.C. to Raleigh, N.C. . . . shad, stripers, red drum and spade fish, large and smallmouth bass.

Bow hunting with a cross-bow, long-bow, or compound-bow demand different styles of hunting, and each have their own set of problems and type of equipment.  It seems there’s a revolving technology shift during the previous centuries, from long bow, to cross-bow, to compound-bow, and today . . . back to cross-bow.  This paradigm shift is connected and/or influenced by political, social, physical, and economical events, each having their own place in history’s archives.

For example, not all states in America have the same hunting and fishing seasons, and each state has special requirements for licensing, as well as age limits.  Available materials and the cost of equipment also create changes through the generations.  For more information, read the article in Outdoor Life magazine, May 2009, pages 46-52.

For years I had searched high and low, near and far for a Beatles poster that truly encompassed the melodic spirit of this legendary band. More than just a concert poster or a snapshot of the group, I wanted an artistic ability and the essence of the band to be captured in the masterpiece I had constructed in my head. The representation that stood out to me over and over again was the Abbey Road album cover. It seemed to be everywhere I looked.

And when I was least expecting it, I stumbled across the vision I had waited endless nights to discover. I hadn’t even been looking for it at the time; instead I was out and about looking for picture frames for my bedroom. But there it was, Abbey Road all over again, but this time the images leapt out of the picture in an amazing new way: 3d wall art. Never had an image I’d seen hundreds of times look more alive and vibrant. I bought it without hesitation.

Fishermen, hunters, vacationers, hikers and bikers, be on the alert . . . ! The wolf population is on the rise.  According to Field & Stream magazine, June 2009, pages 36-38, the count of “Canis Lupus” (gray wolf), in the USA has risen to 5500, and in North America 65,000.  The roaming area of a pack of wolves in the USA is approximately 25 to 150 square miles, whereas in Alaska and Canada, it’s 300 to 1000 squares miles. 

Other interesting facts are:  the largest gray wolf (male) recorded is 175 lbs.  The bite strength of an adult is 300 pounds per inch (psi); a German shepherd is 750 psi; and the adult wolf is 1500 psi.  The numbers of humans recorded killed in North America is ONE . . . ! Yet, the estimated deer and elk kills in the 48 states each year are 80,000.

Something to think about . . . when the goverment takes away our guns . . . rest assured these kill numbers will change radically.  When gun control takes over, only criminals, terriorists, and law officers will have weapons for control.

Today, information is more abundant, affordable and user-friendly.  The best teacher, of course, is a member within the family, passing information to others.  However, where there are no fathers or older siblings to learn skills of hunting and fishing from, experience is taught and information is shared by friends from printed materials written by experienced outdoorsmen.

Every young hunter can glean wonderful insight into hunting strategy from the Whitetail Handbook published in the Field & Stream magazine, August 2008 and 2009,  pages w1-w30.  The reader can learn tactics for successfully hunting the elusive whitetail deer for food, for sport, and even wildlife management conservation. 

My neighbor, who lives across the street, is the king of porch and yard decor. Since we first moved in, he has had at least 20 windchimes adorning his porch, metal signs decorating the front of this house, and hand carved wooden ornaments in his yard. I thought it was a little much at first, but then I realized that my neighbor just takes pride in his home and enjoys finding and making new pieces of decor. His holiday displays, especially his fleet of lighted reindeer for Christmas, are especially impressive.

My husband and I decided to add some tasteful metal yard art to our front yard, since we felt ours looked a little plan compared to our neighbor’s yard. We found a nice wrought-iron decoration that featured a few butterflies fluttering on the end of a 4-foot-tall stake. We inserted the stake into our front yard, amongst some plants in a front flower bed, and immediately loved how it looked. Our neighbor noticed it right away and came over that same day to tell us how great it was. If I’m not mistaken, I even think he might have been a little jealous!

Everyone seems to have more free time in the summer. Even though many people work full-time during the day, the sun is up longer and the days stretch on with plenty of light for activities and projects in the evening. Unlike the winter, when early darkness encourages going to bed early, summer seems to make people more energetic. Home construction and remodels are common in the summer, for example.

The summer may inspire you to change the look of your home. But keep in mind that changing the decor doesn’t mean you have to repaint every wall and buy all new furniture. Simple changes can make a big impact; try rearranging your living room furniture and painting one wall an accent color that coordinates with your existing decor. Or, for an easy change, find some beautiful wall decor to adorn your living room. If you’re not into time-consuming paint jobs and annoying paint fumes, this may be the option for you.

In some areas in the United States, deer population is so highly over crowded, hunters are invited to become part of the extermination army, managing the number of deer given to an alloted acreage.

The deer’s age is the primary criteria for determining extermination.  Recently, I read an article written by Doug Howlett, “How Old’s That Buck?”  It identifys unique signs that a hunter can see for determining the age of a whitetail deer.  Some of the signs are the shape of  the deer’s antlers, legs, nose, eyes and other visible signs . . . individually or combined, they are all important in identifying a whitetail deer’s age, especially when it comes to managing the numbers of deer.