Animal tracks in the woods

[JCM 9,248]

Out on the trails picking up the mess from the previous storms today and found some larger than usual tracks in the remaining snow. At first I was thinking a young moose which we have had roaming the trails but thinking this probably is a 3 ish year old Buck ?  What say you @WHX24    @pullstart    @Ed Kennell  your expert opinion appreciated. Still some snow left out back. Also brought a nice load of white birch bark in for getting the woodstove fires a jump start when needed.

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 67,932]

Buck tracks Mister Jim

[WVHillbilly520H 10,374]

Jim, your whitetails are bigger body wise than our southern version, so a 1.5yo your way could have the body of a 3.5-4.5yo down here. This fella was probably 3.5yo...

[adsm08 2,156]

I ran across, and put down, a white tail buck about that size this morning. I walked up on it while squirrel hunting, it stood shakily, and only made it about 30 feet when it tried to get away from me. We were initially concerned about CWD.

 

Unfortunately since it is flintlock season and I was squirrel hunting, I had my Gamo .22, so I had to call my dad to bring me a different gun. Once that was done we looked it over good, found one front leg broken and the other not broken, but definitely injured. It was starving too, not really enough meat still on it to make it worth butchering.

[WHX?? 48,925]

Yep bigger buck Plunge, older tracks but rounded fronts indicate a buck. Say I know you guys got moose wandering around up ther but any Elk? 

I was going to post this in 2020 hunting but I had these brutes right outside my kitchen window tonite. The one in back had a nicer well formed rack. Pretty soon will hit the woods lookin for sheds. 

Birch bark like that makes for a great fire pick up Jim... burn them hot tho they like to leave creosote. 

Sad....Hit by a car adsm? 

Edited January 2, 2021 by WHX24

[ebinmaine 67,932]

2 minutes ago, WHX24 said:

Say I know you guys got moose wandering around up ther but any Elk

No elk here Jim. Never been native but caribou were. 

Caribou have been gone for a century or so.  

 

 

We took a walk in our own forest a couple weeks ago and found moose tracks about 3 or 400 feet behind the house. 

[adsm08 2,156]

9 minutes ago, WHX24 said:

Sad....Hit by a car adsm? 

 

 

I'm not sure. The long bones and knee seemed intact, it was the shoulder joint that was broken. The leg was basically hanging from the body, unusable. It was far enough from the road that I am not sure it could have made it there after being hit by a car. However the terrain there is kind of rough, lots of down trees, lots of holes in the woods from burrowing rodents, including some big ones from ground hogs. It may have tripped running from a coyote and hurt itself that way. I never see them there, but there was snow on the ground the Saturday before Christmas, and there were coyote tracks all over the place right there that day. But the other front leg seemed injured as well.

 

I agree it was sad.

[Ed Kennell 38,405]

4 hours ago, JCM said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For sure a deer track.     With he amount of melting that I see there, that track was much smaller when it was fresh.

[8ntruck 7,050]

While walking the dog on the Fred Meijer Hartland Trail, I regularly see tracks from squirrel, rabbit, deer, racoon, and turkey in the snow.  Sometimes see the critters that make them too. 

[bc.gold 3,403]

17 hours ago, JCM said:

 Also brought a nice load of white birch bark in for getting the woodstove fires a jump start when needed.

 

 

 

 

[JCM 9,248]

I believe I may have narrowed it down to which buck may have been responsible for those tracks in the earlier post.

[WVHillbilly520H 10,374]

Jim is think you have 2 different fellas there, look at the antlers ,the top 1 has longer (G1s) the back ones next to the brow tine/eye guards compared to the bottom 1.

[ebinmaine 67,932]

58 minutes ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

Jim is think you have 2 different fellas there, look at the antlers ,the top 1 has longer (G1s) the back ones next to the brow tine/eye guards compared to the bottom 1.

I wouldn't have caught that unless you said something Jeff but I'd have to agree. 

[JCM 9,248]

A few more tracks after the recent 16'' snow fall.

[ebinmaine 67,932]

@JCM Jim you get deer "highways"?  

 

When the snow gets deep here they all follow the same paths. 

[JCM 9,248]

Some more pictures from 2019 & 2020 from the trail cam and the 2 of us headed out to the cabin for the night.

[WHX?? 48,925]

That second pic there looks to have a heck of a spread! 

[WVHillbilly520H 10,374]

5 minutes ago, WHX24 said:

That second pic there looks to have a heck of a spread! 

Pic 1 and 2 appear to be the same guy, much like the first pic of post #11 but a year apart... .

[Ed Kennell 38,405]

1 hour ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

Pic 1 and 2 appear to be the same guy, much like the first pic of post #11 but a year apart... .

 

For sure the same deer.    He took 5 steps in 17 seconds.

[JCM 9,248]

Some more pics, found a few daytime ones that are somewhat rare when it comes to the local deer herd.

[WHX?? 48,925]

That buck from '18 is a dandy! You guys got wolves ther Plunger? 

[ebinmaine 67,932]

2 minutes ago, WHX24 said:

That buck from '18 is a dandy! You guys got wolves ther Plunger? 

I've heard a wolf way up north.  18 or 20 Miles past Kakadjo. 

 

We do have a few coy- wolf mixes here and there....

 

[JCM 9,248]

No wolves @WHX24 but way to many coyotes. No closed season on them and night hunting certain months allowed. I think I just heard there are wolves in the northern part of Wisconsin. Is that true and how long have they been there.

[WHX?? 48,925]

Way too many of them (wolves ) here for my liking. They kinda hamper the elk herd we are trying to establish not to mention the damage they do bear trailing hounds here as well as domestic pets. Hopefully now that they have been delisted perhaps another season will be opened to control them. I  Got nothing against  them but need to be under state management instead of federal. 

 

This was somewhat bizarre tho. Cindy comes out to the shop to tell me ther is some kinda critter out in the path I blew from the drive to the LP tank for the driver. So I grab the shop pistol and head out to investigate. Sure enough ther is a coon curled up in a ball and napping right in the path! This is only about 3 ft from the house. He was real lethargic and I  had to nudge him to get him to move. When he did he just sat there and looked at me. Usually they high tail it. So at first I thought he might have been rabid but didn't appear to me to be so. So I look at him at little closer and he's only got one eye! Now normally I would have dispatched him on site but felt sorry for the poor dude and shoed  him off to the woods. I got out the phone and shot him. 

[WHX?? 48,925]

On 1/8/2021 at 6:16 PM, ebinmaine said:

 

 

We do have a few coy- wolf mixes here and there....

 

Me thinks you might be on crack there tho EB. Wolves would rather eat 'yoties than breed with them...... maybe escapees from pen raised stock?