The DOC had great weather for a great day.  It was warm but not so warm that the snow melted. Consequently, we got to learn about and identify a number of different animal tracks.

Prior to our start a hunter warned us to keep an eye out for a mother bear with two cubs. Apparently, momma bear was not happy with him and approached him earlier in the week. We found no bear tracks, but then we did make a lot of noise as we sang Jingle Bells while climbing the mountain.

We did see a lot of tracks: turkey, fox, deer, squirrel, raccoon, and voles ( We scooped the snow off the top of the vole tunnels to see their tracks.).  We also saw a number of tracking clues such as scats , digs, debarking, trails, and hair.  The debarking was more likely caused by a porcupine since it was high up in the tree, higher than if a rabbit had done it.  The deer hair and snow markings were indicative of a hunter who was dragging out his or her kill.

Three out of the four basic animal tracking gaits were observed: Straight Walker, Hopper, and Waddler.  We did not see any Bounders.  Straight Walker is the most common gait for Continue reading →