Around and About

The boys playing chase. I caught them as they came out of the woods and ran towards the meadow area.

Today I decided to take a l walk and see what stories the snow had to tell me.
I was not disappointed.

Coyote tracks in an unoccupied are of the gelding mules wooded lot.

Big Coyote.

Bird tracks. Probably a crow.

Rabbit tracks.

Above, deer trail towards the old oak tree.


And I just had to add this magnificent creature...

No explanation needed.

A Day Spent Tracking and Wandering

Small coyote track, my small hand for comparison.

On Wednesday I heard a lone howl of a coyote that would have sent shivers up my spine had I not been seeing this 'yote for a few months.  He/She has a trail that runs through my neighbor's cattle pasture and up into the woods.

I was hanging out laundry and caught sight of him trotting away.  I am assuming that it is a He because he is quite large and we watched him chase another coyote away just before deer hunting season.

I thought since we'd had a nice snowfall on Monday night, it would be fun to go out and see if I could track some coyotes and perhaps see what story the snow tracks would tell me.

I picked up the large coyote's tracks fairly close to our fence line and began to follow them.  Mr. Yote had a meandering track and it appeared that he was a lot more interested in rabbits than in any of my stock.

No, Morris did not go on this hike with me.  He gets pretty nervous when he smells coyote [smart dog] and he would run around and mess up the tracks I was looking at.

I followed several sets of tracks of 'yotes.  Most were smaller than this fellas tracks.

In some places the tracks were mingled with deer and rabbit tracks.  I lost the tracks in some of the heavier trafficked areas, but was able to pick them up again by carefully studying the snow.

Clever coyote walked right across this pile of downed limbs.

Interestingly enough, in some places, the tracks lead right across deer beds. I am sure they were not both there at the same time.

Nicely formed deer bed.

I didn't find any dens but I spent about two hours following tracks and I found a beautiful view of our place from the neighbor's pasture.

Our house and shed in the distance.  Coyote tracks in the middle of the photo.

I did a lot of looking and finally found The Big Boy Tracks!  He is huge, but he is not a wolf.

A wolf's tracks would be nearly as larger than my hand.

Big Boy Tracks

Wolf tracks for comparison

Later I did take Morris for his daily hike and he stuck pretty close to me in the creek bottom.

The trail we normally take was full of coyote tracks and places where the 'yotes had 'marked' their territory.

We are coming into the 'dogging' season for coyotes, so I imagine Morris will be spending less time with me in the woods and we'll do our daily walks on a leash on the gravel road.

Treasure Hunt

January 4th

Off I went into the woods with Morris trailing me.  I haven't been able to be in the woods since....well.

Since I went with the hunter to retrieve his dog...that we didn't actually retrieve.  That was before we had the wicked December 29th snowstorm.

The air was cold and crisp and the sun almost felt warm on my back as we headed towards the creek bottom.

I thought I would regret not wearing my snow shoes and I did.  Even though there was a pretty good critter trail, I still had to 'break trail' through the deep snow.  We'd had over 9 inches of the stuff about a week ago and it hasn't gone away. 

Morris kindly let me break the trail as he hopped from one boot print to another behind me.
As soon as we got to the creek bed though he was happy to lead.

Walking along the first section of the creek bed was pretty good though.  Morris did his thing. He checked every twig and rock in case he had to leave some scent behind.

You can see that there had been a lot of animal traffic in the past week through the creek bottom. 
I was actually surprised by the amount of turkey tracks we came across.

Some of the turkey tracks were huge!

I made the bend in the creek and looked down at the ice formation. In the sunlit area across the creek the ice was melted.  Here in the northern cold shadows the water slowly dripped from the land above and made beautiful ice formations.

Since daylight is always an issue in this valley, I hurried up and walked down the trail wasting no time other than to call Morris every time he lagged behind.

He was in a sniffing and 'marking' mood and I was in a 'let's get this road on the show' mood.

When I got to the main part of the valley I stopped and just listened and looked around.  The sun here was so bright that the snow actually hurt my eyes and I'd wished I'd brought sunglasses.

I looked at my watch and was disappointed to see that it was already late in the afternoon.  I'd wished I'd had more time to hike to the east side of the valley where the ravine had filled with blue ice from the spring last winter.

It wasn't going to happen today.
So instead I walked back over to the creek bed and found the old coyote den.
It had icicles on it!

I didn't see any sign that coyotes were using this little cave.  One year I found a den that was in use and the area was littered with bones.

I looked down in the creek at my feet and saw what looked like a vertebrae laying in the water. I stared at it for a few moments and then looked carefully around to see if I could see any other bones laying about.

I wondered then if it hadn't washed down into the creek from the hillside above.
Morris came up alongside me.  He was doing his Jack Russell shake and quake. Either he was cold or he was nervous.  
I reached down and removed the leaves.

Oh!  I found a treasure!

A raccoon skull in excellent condition.  What a treasure! I had been looking for another intact one to paint and decorate and here I'd stumbled on one accidentally.

Which is how I always find my 'treasured' skulls.
I walked a bit further downstream and Morris kept getting more hesitant and clingy.

I'm sure he smelled coyotes or was just plain chilled.  So I leaned down and asked if he wanted 'a ride' and up into my arms he climbed.

I decided to turn around head home with the cold and tired old dog in my arms.  I couldn't blame him, the snow was up past his chest if he got off the trails and true to his nature he ran full out everywhere he went.

Besides, I'd already found some interesting tracks and had the bonus of finding a real treasure of a raccoon skull.

On our way home I stopped a few times in the narrowest part of the creek bed to grab some shots of the sunlight above us reflecting on the waters.

This is of the same spot, one standing and the other shot laying in the snow with a very low tripod.  It made quite a bit of difference in the reflections.

A thought about shooting in these conditions.  The camera is going to be confused between the warm tones and the brilliant whites.  A bit of editing will help keep the snow white and the colors as they should be.  

I hope to get back out today and see what is on the other end of the valley.

However we have the farrier coming at 10 am to trim feet and look at Siera's foot.  We may have to go with a special shoe to help her one frog grow back ... more on that later.

The Tracks Tell Stories.

I took a short walk yesterday afternoon after our trip to town.

It was late in the day and the winds were not howling. The sun was shining.

Morris started leaping around as soon as I grabbed the camera bag.

I figured he'd be okay for a short trip so I let him come along.
I also figured I wouldn't need the snow shoes.  

Hmmm.  Shouldn't 'figure' like that!

The coyotes are busy this time of the year, it is mating season and we found plenty of tracks.  All the animals right now are keeping to well worn trails.

I realized quite a while ago, that I like to take the same trails that the animals do.  Well, it makes sense, it is near the water and the going is easier.

After all the creek is the life-blood of the forest and its creatures.

In this trail there was quite the mix of raccoon, 'possum, coyote, and deer.  The animals were walking over each other's tracks and drinking from the same open areas of water.

Morris was not impressed.  The 'yote tracks must leave a scent and he really kept close to me.
I normally don't take him for long walks during the Coyotes' mating season for this simple reason.

He gave me this look and kept shivering.  I picked him up and we headed back towards home.  When we got away from the coyote tracks, he ran ahead plowing through the deep snow and the hard icy crust.

When we got to the 'Merry Meadow', I stopped to take some photos.  He was clearly in a rush to get home.

I had to call him back a few times to make sure he didn't get out of sight.
Lucky me that he is such a good ol' fella and he actually will come back. 
That is, until he reaches the shed, then no matter what he is headed to the back door and will leap on it until you catch up and let him in the house.

The deer have been out browsing and digging under the scrub apple trees in the evening or early morning.  I found several deer beds in the Dexter's summer pasture.

I wanted to go to look at these tracks better, but Morris had other plans.  Besides, I really did need the snowshoes!

By the time I got home I was quite warm and even sweating from slogging through the crusted snow.  I kept cursing myself for not wearing my snowshoes.

Today is supposed to be bitter cold.
But it is sunny and I have goggles and a face mask.

I want to go back out and 'read the stories' in the snow.
I can hike so I stay out of the wind so it won't be too bad.

Afternoon tracking and a visit to the ice cave

I wanted to hike back to a place we call the 'ice cave'. Depending on the amount of snow and melting and freezing that occur during the winter, this rock formation can have some incredible ice formations.

Hubby thought he'd do something different also.  He got his varmint rifle and camouflage on.  He was going to hunt coyote, while I tracked for coyote in different parts of a large tract of land.

We parted ways at the our creek and I continued on.
I was going to look for raccoon, coyote, deer, and any other tracks I could find while we still had snow.

I was still hunting the elusive coyote dens.  I wanted to know where the coyotes were the busiest this winter. With good reason, they would see Morris as nothing more than a mere snack and an impostor now that it is coming on to the mating season for them.

Not far up the trail that leads to the top of the ridge I did come across very a large coyote track.
At least I think it was.

I'm not sure if this track is similar in size to the one I found last week.

Here is a shot of that one again.

From now on I'll bring my mini tape measure.

The track got quickly mixed up with deer and other tracks including squirrels and rabbits.

Rabbit track:

I crossed what we fondly call the 'Velodrome' which was planted last year, but I'd call the crop a pretty miserable failure as it never made it to harvest.

I hurried down to the ravine where the ice cave was. There was a small 'ice falls' but not much of one.  I found a safe area further down the ravine to climb down and study the tracks at the bottom.

I thought that I'd finally spotted a coyote den.

When I walked up above it and peered at the tracks, it was obvious that it was another raccoon den.

But the 'falls' were still worth the trip.

I circled the ravine and came up so I could walk across the small section of rock that made the top of the ice falls.
I looked down and was able to see the well traveled trails of the raccoon in the dirt and snow.

It is hard to tell the depth and steepness of this ravine but it is deep. 

The view from the top is pretty deceiving.  But at this point I am still half way below the ridge behind me.
The back valley creek lays at the very bottom of this ravine.

The weather folks had called for rain/sleet/and ice so I turned around and headed back home.

I took the snowmobile trail down into the first valley so I could find my husband without disturbing what he was doing.

Imagine my surprise when I found the 'hot spot' of coyote tracks.

I found so many tracks where I hadn't seen any just a few days before.  The coyotes were on the move and it meant that I'd have to either leave Morris at home or keep him very close for our hikes for the next two months.

I think I actually enjoyed walking slowly and trying to figure out the tracks of animals more than anything else.

I found hubby and we headed towards home together. He'd used the e-caller and nothing had come in. We both agreed that our long afternoon in the woods had been very enjoyable.

If the weather holds, I plan on hiking to the back valley to walk it and perhaps get some nice photos.

It is another difficult place to get to, but well worth the hike.

I used to ride back there with Badger all of the time. The cattle are now long gone from this land and the brush is taking over making it difficult to get through unless you are on foot.

Tracking.

Yesterday was very temperate for January.  After morning chores and going after small bales of hay, I thought I'd take a hike.

I just took a small backpack, some water, and the varmint rifle.
I was going to look for coyote sign and see what the other animals have been up to in the woods.

No DSL camera, no dogs, just me and my little point and shoot.

I went up the dead end road.
I stopped to look at some tracks.

I want to believe that these are dog tracks although there has been two sightings of a wolf.  Our neighbors have some dogs that run loose and I am assuming that these tracks belong to one of them.

My first goal was to check out The Hole.  When I was out with Dixie a few days ago we had come past what we all fondly call PeeWee's Hole.  It is the entrance to a cave ...and when PeeWee and his brother were young they had a ladder to get down into it.  The brothers are gone now and the hole more of a memory than anything else.

When I went past The Hole last time with Dixie, she was so curious that I was afraid she'd go down the hole. 
Knowing that her main goal in life is hunting, I got hold of her and dragged her off.  
I wasn't about to have her go down there.  
Two years ago another one of our hounds went down after varmints and hubby had to climb down and get the dog.

Here is a view of The Hole from yesterday.  A lot of snow has melted and I was able to get close enough to check it out.

Clearly it is being used as a den.  
But I couldn't tell if it was coyote or raccoon.  
So I followed the melted down dirty trail into the woods.

Clearly, it was a raccoon den.  

And the raccoon had been active withing the past 24 hours.  The other trail led into the picked corn field, the trail through the woods led directly down the steep hillside towards the creek.

I walked on.
I decided to go to one of the more remote locations on PeeWee's. I call it the East Ravine.  It is located on the far eastern portion of the property and is not very easy to get to.
It is a what we call a dry run.  Flood water and snow melt pound down these ravines and flow into the creek in the valley.
This one is unique because the sun rarely touches it.  
In November my son and his wife had visited and we hiked through this ravine.  We found a small spring.

Here is a shot of my son's dog, Teslin, near the small spring in the 'East Ravine'.  This was in early November.

Here is what it looked like yesterday.

I was quite surprised.  The spring must put out a bit more water than I thought.  We've had quite a few thaws and freezes which probably explains the build up of the ice flow.

However I don't recall this ever being like this in any past years.

The waters seem to be frozen in motion.  I could hear some water trickling under the ice and the top of the ice was wet also.
Of course the temperatures were above freezing.

The color variations in the ice were also interesting. 

There was a blue tint to it in places and others had a reddish tint to it.

I took some shots then went down to the Big Spring and walked in the valley and up the creek to get home.

I really want to get back to the East Ravine today while the temperatures are still nice and the ice is still thick.

PeeWee's Ice Cave will have to wait until Tuesday.