Wow! A bit chilly this morning. It’s “0” degrees with
a -22 wind chill factor OUCH!!
I decided
to stay in this morning and catch up on some things. I did hike 8.5 miles
yesterday checking trail cameras. It was a beautiful day for hiking with temps
reaching the mid- thirties.
Trail
camera activity was slow but I did get a surprise. My first January bear! It appears to be a yearling that hasn’t quite
figured out its time to den. My guess that it’s still out in about because it
has found a sustainable food source. I have not found a pile of bear scat with
any sunflower seeds in it. So maybe it’s the abundant acorn crop or this bear
just hasn’t figured it out yet. With below zero temperatures this weekend and a
wet snowy day coming on Monday, just might make this bear think about finding a
den.
So, along
with getting a January bear video, there was enough snow for it to leave
tracks. I took the opportunity and followed the tracks backwards to see what I
might learn. The bear located a new bank beaver lodge and stood directly on top
of it looking for food, I’m sure the aroma of beaver castor caught its
attention. Continuing tracking the bear, it took me to a second beaver pond. There
it looked into a bank beaver tunnel where a beaver deposited a scat pile at the
tunnel entrance, again no food opportunities. Continuing backtracking the bear
crossed a hardwood ridge covered with about an inch of snow blanketing any
acorns. I broke off from the bear tracks at this point.
It was a
very good day tracking and hiking.
(3) Different
bobcat tracks
(1) Bear
track
(1) Moose
track
5/6
coyote tracks
Many deer
tracks
Beaver Scat - Bear checked tunnel entrance
Jim
