蘑菇视频

Feb 11, 2017 By Ben Moyer for The 4 min read

Even in this feeble winter, shallow snow persisted recently in the local mountains for about a 10-day span. It was long enough for wild creatures to document their movements, habits and even some amusing incidents as a temporary record.

I chuckled as I unraveled the story told by turkey tracks not far from my home. A turkey flock had been traveling as a tight band when it came to a broad woodland puddle left by frequent rains. Slushy ice had formed across the pool, and the tracks plainly told how the flock had milled about at the icy edge, trying to decide on a route. From there, a dense tangle of tracks followed around the puddle蘑菇视频 perimeter, avoiding the ice, then fanned out to proceed through the woods on the other side.

But one non-conforming turkey had marched to a different drummer. It had decided to take the direct route over the frozen surface. That turkey蘑菇视频 crisp toe-prints atop the slush showed that its dare had gone well鈥揳t first. But about midway across, its 20-or-so pounds were too much for the thin ice. Clearly defined tracks changed to jagged ovals of dark water where the bird蘑菇视频 feet had crashed through. Undaunted, it waded on through the cold muck to join its less adventurous companions on the other side.

Tracks in snow often reveal interesting hints about creatures鈥� lives. I was struck by how wild turkeys and deer had traveled the same routes in recent days. It was impossible to tell which species was 鈥渂reaking trail,鈥� so to speak, but it was obvious that both deer and turkeys were using the same ground for the same reason鈥揳corns. Both turkeys and deer excavate through snow to find acorns that dropped the previous fall. Deer paw with their hooves and nuzzle aside snow with their snouts. Turkeys scratch and dig with their long, clawed toes. Clearly, the rooting by each species had helped the other find nutritious nuts, because turkey and deer tracks mingled tightly across the hills, revealing where productive oak trees stood within the forest.

I鈥檝e noticed that the source of tracks left on our brief and fleeting snow-packs has transitioned over time. Years ago, a walk in the woods or fields crossed mostly the tracks of rabbits, known by their unmistakable pattern. A rabbit蘑菇视频 front feet come down one in front of the other, then the back feet pass ahead of the front and mark just ahead but side-by-side. Each four-foot set of rabbit prints suggests a face, with the hind feet representing the side-by-side eyes, and the front feet forming the nose and mouth below.

But today, in the places where my own boots print the snow, I rarely see a rabbit track. Nowadays, the predominant prints in a recent snowfall are from three species鈥揹eer, turkeys and coyotes. I may have seen some coyote tracks years ago, but, if I did, I likely assumed they were left by roaming dogs. In recent winters the coyotes鈥� night-time howling sessions leave no doubt about the source of densely-laid canine tracks.

I鈥檓 not suggesting there is any link between the recent abundance of coyote tracks and the scarcity of rabbit prints. Many variables鈥揾abitat change, weather, disease, predation, competition and more鈥揷an influence populations of prey-species like cottontail rabbits. Anyway, if coyotes are responsible for a rabbit-crash there蘑菇视频 not much that can be done about it. Coyotes are opportunistic, intelligent and prolific.

I sometimes see tracks left by the loping gait of a fisher, the fox-size weasel that蘑菇视频 reclaiming its territory after regional extinction a century ago. The fisher tracks hunt methodically through the same dense cover where I try to flush a ruffed grouse, whose tracks are also recently rare.

Once, on a grouse hunt at Sugarloaf Mountain near Ohiopyle, a friend, his English setter and I followed big bear tracks in an early snow. Our clambering through the grapevines and greenbriar had flushed the bear from its bed in a blowdown. It had ambled ahead, then attempted to settle down again in thick cover, only to be rousted again by our movements. Finally, the bear tired of our unintentional hounding and plunged down the steep slope toward Laurel Run and the Youghiogheny River beyond.

One print that you rarely see in the snowy woods these days is that of a human being. Unless it蘑菇视频 deer season, and except on established foot-trails such as those at Ohiopyle State Park, few people tread the woods. Often, you will encounter trails left by ATVs, and sometimes snowmobiles, but seldom the spoor of a human on foot. I鈥檓 not sure what that reveals.