We had some nice warm weather on New Years Eve, so
my partner and her boys went with me on a hike out in the
southeast part of our property. We came across a beaver
pond that had drained a couple years ago when a dam burst;
the pond never refilled and there were a couple beaver
houses left high and dry. The boys had a fun time exploring
them, but even the younger lad was not quite small enough to
wriggle up the runway into the chamber...he did manage to
snap a flash photo inside the tunnel...
We hiked back quite a long way to a pond I haven't visited in
years...almost forgot how to get there...here they are taking
a break on a bed of junipers....
It was nice to get out for a walk on a mild day; we saw thousands
of tracks, especially wolf tracks. Our wolf population is in a high
cycle right now, and the deer are in a low cycle, so I expect to
see the two slowly reverse in the next few years, as seems to
happen around here. The county has a $50 bounty on wolves,
and apparently a couple guys just north of us shot an entire
pack...15 wolves. My personal preference would be to just
let the natural cycles come and go, and take a bad deer hunting
season in stride when it happens....
One nice thing about being surrounded by wolves is hearing them
on a clear winter night. I love letting out a howl on the doorstep
and getting an answer; more than once the answer has come from a lot closer than expected (like 300 meters!).
Amongst the other tracks we saw were raccoon, rabbit, deer,
fisher, mink, beaver and muskrat.
my partner and her boys went with me on a hike out in the
southeast part of our property. We came across a beaver
pond that had drained a couple years ago when a dam burst;
the pond never refilled and there were a couple beaver
houses left high and dry. The boys had a fun time exploring
them, but even the younger lad was not quite small enough to
wriggle up the runway into the chamber...he did manage to
snap a flash photo inside the tunnel...
We hiked back quite a long way to a pond I haven't visited in
years...almost forgot how to get there...here they are taking
a break on a bed of junipers....
It was nice to get out for a walk on a mild day; we saw thousands
of tracks, especially wolf tracks. Our wolf population is in a high
cycle right now, and the deer are in a low cycle, so I expect to
see the two slowly reverse in the next few years, as seems to
happen around here. The county has a $50 bounty on wolves,
and apparently a couple guys just north of us shot an entire
pack...15 wolves. My personal preference would be to just
let the natural cycles come and go, and take a bad deer hunting
season in stride when it happens....
One nice thing about being surrounded by wolves is hearing them
on a clear winter night. I love letting out a howl on the doorstep
and getting an answer; more than once the answer has come from a lot closer than expected (like 300 meters!).
Amongst the other tracks we saw were raccoon, rabbit, deer,
fisher, mink, beaver and muskrat.
