As most of you know from my previous stories, I not only raise chickens, I AM a chicken. I don’t lay eggs or have feathers, but a few animal tracks in the snow can make me run squawking into the house. Last summer, I saw signs of a bear in my yard, but armed with the knowledge that bears hibernate in the winter, I am not too afraid of Mr. Bear this time of year. The winter snow leaves impressions of the night’s visitors, and each afternoon, I check to see if there are any new tracks to investigate. At first I would look up the tracks on the internet, trying to match the each to the corresponding animal, but the descriptions such as “catches prey by pouncing on them” made me more than a little nervous and I no longer wanted to know. The deer tracks are easy. There are apparently several deer of all sizes who cut through the back yard to get to the corn field behind the garden and the forest behind the corn field. There are smaller squirrel tracks and some a little larger that could be a weasel or a mink, neither of which would be welcome in the chicken coop. Rabbits hop, even in the snow, so rabbit tracks are easy to figure out. The tracks get even bigger. I think there is a fox that crosses back and forth every day as well as a medium-sized coyote. I think they are fox and coyote tracks, because there are no loose dogs in the area. With the first snow of the season, there were the unmistakable large tracks of a wolf, and they were too close for comfort, in my book. They travel in packs, too, so there was probably more than one. Although I haven’t seen signs of the wolf or his buddies in a while, I know that they must be lurking nearby, waiting for dinner, which will hopefully be a young and tender fox or coyote rather than a plump but tough Farm Woman. There are also some fairly large tracks that are unidentifiable because of the deep snow. These tracks could be from either a huge mountain lion with long sharp fangs or the neighbor’s cat. I’m not sure which, but one wouldn’t want to make the wrong assumption on that one. Both of them catch their prey by pouncing on them. A coworker wants to put his trail camera back there, but I’m not sure I want to do that. In most cases, the imagination is worse than the reality, but in this case, the reality could be so much more frightening. I haven’t investigated the rustling sound in the cornfield yet, and I’m not sure I want to. It could be the brisk winter wind rustling the dry stalks, it could be the deer searching for a leftover cob, or it could be a creature of the north woods stalking his prey. By the way, does anyone know what Bigfoot’s tracks look like?
Animal Tracking Near My Coop
December 30, 2012 by The Minnesota Farm Woman
If I were you, Chris, I would totally want to know what was passing through my yard. I think it would be interesting to find out. Though I’ll have to admit, that a bear, bobcat, or wolf would make me quite uneasy.
LikeLike
I know the fox, the wolf and the bear for sure already, Lynda. Ah, the joys of country living!
chris
LikeLike
Sing the title of this post to the tune of “animal crackers in my soup.” Did you intend for that to fit so perfectly? Unless identifying the tracks would help you protect your girls, I’m not sure you sure put up the camera. Knowing what’s back there might cause you to have nightmares.
LikeLike
I did intend that, Jackie, and wondered who would notice. 🙂 You’ll be singing it all day tomorrow, and you deserve it, because I have been thinking about New Years vs. New Year’s all day! 😉
LikeLike
At least your bear isn’t rubbing his backside on the corner of your bedroom. yup! that was last winter and I’m hoping we only have tracks in the yard this year. 🙂
LikeLike
Hahahahaha! Wait…..he wasn’t hibernating???
LikeLike
I guess in Florida it’s too damn hot to hibernate! LOL He finally stopped coming around after January or so. But boy what a pain! He bit holes in our waterhose, messed with my furniture on the back porch and even pushed on the front door one night. you could see his paw print perfectly on the door the next morning. freaky! Haven’t seen anything this year thank goodness! 🙂
LikeLike
Eek!!!!
LikeLike
Enjoy your comments. I, too, check the wild prints in the yard but we live farther south of you so usually/hopefully our wild mix is a little less scarey!
LikeLike
Hopefully being the key word. Thanks for reading, and for commenting! Chris
LikeLike