Bag your weed!

[RobG]

If you are like most hunters you've run into one of these bastards while walking into your hunting area in the dark.


Or maybe even a less obvious one.



These are houndstongue plants, and if you believe the billboard by Belgrade they are associated with dogs, who then I assume place them on livestock.

Thus they are often found where livestock have been present, especially on public land. They can be real easy to miss when walking through riparian areas with lost of tall plants.


This is another weed I run into leaving me coated with these sticky black seeds. I don't know its name. It can be as tall as your thigh, but it is spindly so it is easy to miss.



There area couple more plants in the Montana area with burs smaller than houndstongue, but I don't have good pictures nor do I know what they are called. One is tall like the black spike plant and has claw shaped burs. The other has tiny burs and is close to the ground. Both are spindly and easy to miss if you aren't looking for them.

If you find these covering you, don't pull them off and throw them on the ground! Try to remember to bring a plastic bag and put them in there. Or put them in whatever you packed your lunch in.


And if you really want to unimpress a rancher, show up at his door covered in these burs and ask if you can hunt his land ;

 

[BeartoothFront]

Houndstongue is all over the area I hunted this year. Somehow my hunting buddies didn't get any on them and I'd come out covered in it. I've been told if you split it in half with your fingernails they'll die. I've also been told the seeds can survive 100 years in the ground. Scary thought!

 

[Kneetopia]

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

Commonly called beggar's lice. There's another one here that looks like a little V shaped insect. Weed control is a full-time battle for me.

 

[RobG]

Commonly called beggar's lice. There's another one here that looks like a little V shaped insect. Weed control is a full-time battle for me.

That is what that little damn claw burr is. Hackelia virginiana. Thanks, I've been wondering for years. Good pictures of it here: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/virginia-stickseed

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

Yeah, We have a plant from hell called Beggar's Lice also. Makes ya want to just throw your socks away! John

 

[RobG]

That is what that little damn claw burr is. Hackelia virginiana. Thanks, I've been wondering for years. Good pictures of it here: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/virginia-stickseed

I see about every annoying bur including Hound's-Tongue is called beggar's lice. The one I was thinking about but don't have the pictures has a flat burr that reminds me of a crab shell with claws on the edge. The Virginia Stickseed I referenced above isn't present in Montana according to that map, but Nodding Stickseed is and the burs look close to what I remember. https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/nodding-stickseed

 

[RobG]

The spindly plant with the black seeds appears to be Anise Root, a native plant to Montana.

 

[onpoint]

Yeah, right - the weeds are my dogs fault..... Birdhunting on USFS.....

 

[hnt4life]

Houndstongue is only viable for two or three years in seed form. It is easily mitigated by hand pulling. I try to pull weeds as I see them while hiking and hunting, along with picking g up garbage. This might make me feel better, or may actually have a meaningful impact. I think the former would be the best explanation.