Bear steam

Well last weeks trip turned into a health and welfare check of one of the three deer yards at the farm. Seems that so far I haven't lost any of the mature bucks in that yard,but no antlers for they must be under some the 3 and a half odd feet of white and not so fluffy snow.



The deer seemed to be eating the fir, cedar and hemlock buds and not so much the bark. Found a few south facing edges on an oak ridge that the deer had scraped up acorns. My brother is doing some forest management where his sugar-bush abuts the drainage that connects two of the deer yards and is having the logging outfit leave the tops of the sugar maples down for the deer.This seems to be working as the deer are flocking to the site and even bedding down in and around the cut. The other two yards are primarily does and small bucks and fawns, one of which has access to the topped maples. That other yard unfortunately will be where the winter-kills will be more than likely, not to mention they will be tougher to get into because of geography.



I will wait about two more weeks before I attempt them. As far as for the next trip ,I will probably go to Wilmot and try to get into some traditional deer-yards that are in along rte.4a, or I may attempt the moose yard in and around Fowlers Town. It will all depend on snow conditions, some places are accessible by snowshoes and the crust is enough to hold you up and then there are the places you just bust through to your waist. and that my friends makes for a long miserable day.



Here's a picture of the bear den I found. The snow edges are all "melty" and when I put my head to the hole, I could hear the bear softly breathing in it's sleep!