Snow Sure Can Tell a Story

Beautiful sunrise this morning

This morning I headed out to a west side gate to do some bushwhacking, with hopes of finding an antler shed. I wasn’t twenty minutes into the hike when I looked up and there stood a moose about seventy yards out looking at me. Only carrying my point and shoot today,

 I decided I would trial this moose for a while and see where it takes me. Was I surprised when a topped a small ridge and there were seven moose beds in close proximity to each other, and another three beds a short distance away.

 One of the distant beds had specks of blood visible outside of the depression made by the snow from  the moose’s warm body. Long shot but I thought maybe a bull might have had some blood loss with dropping an antler. Tracks were plentiful but looking carefully I was able to stay on this particular track following it backwards. It took me about a quarter mile to an area that was very thick with saplings. Plowing through this thick area for a while sure had me focused thinking I might find an antler hanging from a sapling branch. No luck today. I marked the location on my GPS. With that much sign in a relatively confined area, it’s sure to have an antler or two to be found.

Looking at each bed you could clearly see where a cow and calf had been laying. If would guess that three or four moose are using this as a wintering feeding & bedding area. If moose dung was worth money I would hit it big this morning!

Tracks of deer, coyote & moose where plentiful. 

I did see where a porcupine has been making a regular visit.

Jim

Memorable Morning From The Past

Wind this morning kept me in so I decided to spend some time organizing my Quabbin pictures. It didn’t take very long for me to get side tracked with seeing a few bear pictures. It got me to thinking that right about now; sows are giving birth to cubs in New England. In about three weeks or so Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife will be in checking den sites with collared sows for cubs. I wonder how many bears have dens in the boundaries of the Quabbin? In my Quabbin hikes over the last several years I have seen several sow’s with cub(s) that had no collar or blue ear tags, and one last summer that was collared. Also last summer two bicyclists stopped me and showed me pictures of a sow with cub(s) they had just seen. Again, no ear tags or collars.
 Above is a 2012 sow with a second year cub and below the story and thrill with this experience
The wildlife photo opportunities have been endless over the last several years. The most memorial wildlife experience occurred late summer early fall 2012. With the many miles hiked, I have learned  Quabbin and now have several areas I like to spend most of my time. This morning’s Quabbin hike would be about as eventful as it could get. Dawn started with me settling in at my favorite swamp. A number of immature wood ducks caught my attention. Surprisingly I went undetected. With most of my morning arrivals, I am greeted with squeals and the flock taking to the air. After about fifteen minutes you could sense the quite. I looked down the swamp, and on the opposite side two bears were working their way towards me. It was a sow with a two year old cub. The stage could not been set any better. Light wind blowing from east to west with me sitting on the west side of the swamp, cloud cover to minimize the sun and two bears that were in no hurry to leave. Over the next thirty minutes these two bears put on a show. They would run after each other, climb deadfalls, roll and swat each other. They were both enjoying the easy conditions that late summer brings with abundant food and warm weather. The enjoyment of this experience far outweighed any picture I could have taken. Just glad I had the opportunity to go undetected and watch. This has truly been my most memorable wildlife experience.