Week of Insanity: Day 11: Started out a typical field day. Dave has started bringing his special blend of coffee in a thermos. When we pull up and start putting on our gear, he is handing out cups of hot coffee. Especially appreciated this morning. The frost had penetrated about a half inch into the muddy ground making for an interesting texture as the frozen crust cracked and then sank under our pacing steps. In the early fall, we wear lots of layers to keep warm in the morning and then figuring out what to do with the shed clothes becomes a problem if we stray far from the rigs. Today, that wasnt a problem. Wore every layer all day -- even my insolated gloves -- though I did take them off to write up forms. As I have said before, we are very aware of the wildlife around us -- as well as the hunters -- who more and more appear clueless as to why they cant find anything when driving around in their ATVs. We watch the tracks of deer, coyote, cows, horses and anything else wandering around. There was a big rain just a day or so before we got to the project area, so the system was reset and we could easily tell how fresh the tracks were by the condition of the muddy soil when the tracks were made. We also casually monitor the scat, just to see what is in our area. That said, imagine my surprise when Dave scared up a sow black bear and two cubs. They shuffled rapidly in my direction at the end of the survey line. Dave didnt even seen them. I said surprise because there was nothing on the ground to indicate bears were even in the area! The mother crossed my line and continued west with her two cubs in tow. About a 400 pounder with thick shiny hair. The cubs were equally fit. In retrospect, I suspect they had spent the summer down by the river enjoying the good life and were now looking for a place to den up for the winter. As she rounded my position, her route curved around me. She kept giving me glances over her shoulders to make sure I wasnt doing anything aggressive. For my part, I was busy shedding gloves and digging through my vest for camera. I tried to find gaps in the vegetation to capture their rapidly disappearing forms. Two photos were taken, but since it was NOT a staged wildlife shoot with a patient photographer in a blind, rather a frantic historian trying to hold still with a point and shoot camera, hoping for the best. The result, you see below.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 01:59:57 +0000
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