New England Primitive Skills Gathering

Last weekend was the New England Primitive Skills Gathering in Woodbury CT.  Its nice and low key this year, the weather was cooler than previous years which was nice for all the people working on bows.  Met some great new people with a real passion for the woods and their craft. 

I didn’t take a single picture which means I must have had a great time.  A few things I did this year where; help lead edible plant walk, started some pottery, was gifted a lot of material like cordage and basket making material and some bow staves (hop hornbeam). 

It was good to see everyone again.  See you all not soon enough.

Andy

Bobcat hunting lay and Coyote pack gathering.

 Bobcat trail up under the powerlines near my house.  If you look deep into the track you can see the asymmetry typical of the felines. 

dsc_0049

 I followed him ( I think it was a hime because of the size of the tracks and stride of the trail), up the hillside and found this spot.  He entered from the left, the fanlike impressions toward the top of picture are from its front feet and forlegs as it moved back and forth changing is view. 

dsc_0031

Bobcats and other felines hunt very much like humans do, using stealth and their sense of site and hearing to locate prey.  This requires stopping often to look and listen, in this case the bobcat created what is called a hunting lay where he sat for a long period of time watching the hillside from above for any prey.  Below is a picture from the Bobcats vantage. 

dsc_00261

 

At the top of the hill just above the Bobcat’s hunting lay, I found these tracks of some Coyotes gathering in there nightly rendezvous.  I have heard the pack howling to each other many times in the night coming together to reinforce family bonds and share in the hunt.  As you can see in the picture below they are not shy about partying near human habitation.

dsc_0042

These prints where just steps from the gathering spot pictured lower down.  I had seen tracks such as these before near pack gathering places and did not quite have the confidence to call them what I believe they are.  I have seen them enough now that I am willing to say it is the spot where the initiating Coyote stood to begin the howling after which the others would have answered and then headed to the spot.  The animal came in from the left leaving tracks of its front feet once then again to the right in pairs.  The added depth of the pair of tracks furthest to the right suggest a lingering and shifting of weight.  I take this as signs of its raising its head and straining with the emotion of its song.   Upon hearing one of its comrades aproach from behind it turned around to meet it. 

dsc_0046

This is looking back toward the direction of the Bobcat lay.  To the right is the gathering spot where the Coyotes greeted each other, testing pack hierarchies with posturing and muzzle licking and maybe some good natured romping. 

dsc_0041

 Adjacent is a scent marking, something I see with each of these gatherings, part of the complex visual, olfactory and vocal comunication system these neighbors of mine use amungst themselves and for the benifit of strangers.   Look close and don’t eat the yellow snow. 

dsc_0044

Fox in Maine

dsc_0028

Fox trail in Maine.  We saw many prints similar to this one as well as the scat below. 

 dsc_0003

Fox repeatedly marked small trees and things along the trails, you can just see his trail lead up to and away from the tree.  The scent marks smelled a little skunky which is consistant with a male fox this time of year (late December to early January).  This is mating season and he is busy making himself known to rivals and prospective lovers. 

dsc_0031

Hunting Hawk

dsc_0019

Saw this in the field behind my house.  I think by the foot prints it is a redtail whom must have seen the little mouse or vole poking its head up and swooped down for it from the right, grabbed it, hoped to the left as it lost speed and stopped their,standing on its prey for a few moments as I have seen them do and commeced to eat the creature.   Then took off the way it had come. 

dsc_0035

dsc_0040

Notice prints and blood and guts.

Tracking a bear.

While out tracking I heard a snowmobile drive up and down the park road. A short time later I came across some very fresh black bear tracks. The machine had apparently frightened the animals and got them moving even though it was midday.

Above and below are rear tracks of the bear. Note the explosion of snow in front of the track above caused by the speed of the animal.

A front track, about 5 inches wide.

The bear and two dear used the same get away trail to escape the snow machines. All were moving at great speed. The bear sometimes moved through brush so thick I could barely walk yet it was running in a gallop.

Another demonstration of the speed at which the bear was moving.

Later I stopped to rest and heard the bear crash through the brush not to far from me. I tracked it and found it had doubled back on itself and must have heard me coming up to meet him or her. I had thought it long gone. In Connecticut we don’t see a lot of bears so it was a thrill to me to be in the woods with one.

Andy

Tracking at Beaver Brook Swamp.

Out on Sunday in People’s State Forest.

Some Otter slides out on the swamp. You can see his tail swish to the side as he traveled toward the background.


A bobcat hunting.

Here he stopped to sit for a while.


A coyote in a happy, dancing, sideways lope on the way to a family reunion.
Here the family has met and greeted each other.
Some friendly wrestling among pack mates. It was wonderful to see such behaviour spelled out in the tracks. In my mind I could see them prancing and playing, and testing each other.

Andy

Tracking.

I have done a lot of tracking since we finally got snow here. I took so many pictures that I will put up a couple different post about it.
Here are tracks from a fisher. This top one in a 3 by 4 pattern on the frozen brook.
He led me all over the woods and behind houses. I think the field between my folks house and my uncles is a well used corridor for wildlife.

Here the Fisher is checking out my tracks from the day before.

Close up of the Fisher tracks.

Some little weasel prints.

His nice 2 by 2 pattern.

The little weasel hoping along a log. I think it was a longtailed weasel for the size though I can’t be sure.

Late snow this year but the tracking has more than made up for it.

Ravens

Saw two ravens today, rare in the area I saw them but I think less and less so. I have seen them within a mile of that spot twice before and actually found one dead on the side of the road a few years ago. I injoy the wildness that these animals of the deeper woods add to suburban Connecticut.

Andy