Growling in the woods, torn trees, part two

For all of us with dial-up, it is time to start a new thread. We came from

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/705832/

Have not heard any growling for a long time. I still am finding new intresting and sometimes baffling things in the woods. Yesterday, DH and I went for a walk we do only a few times a year. It is a much more adventurous walk. For him at 59 (and his catlike balance) it is a breeze. For me at 52 (balance challenged) and the camera, it is a little more of a challenge.
At the entrance of this "walk" I found a bone stash, and 2 more trees with scratches.

Here is the other tree. These trees show the scratches a little better. If I take my little hand and stretch the fingers out as far as they go, then I match the line of scratches. So that is a pretty good paw. My brother was here for the weekend. He has lived quite a few places across the country and is a pretty good wildlife person.
I showed him the trees, as a "by the way....look at this" He had no idea what I was showing him, as I did not tell him about the growling etc, before the walk. First thing after "wow" was "that is not a deer rub!" (I guess that is what he thought I was going to show him) He was not sure what it was. He was said it was cat for pretty sure, and tended to lean towards small cougar.
He left before we found these new scratches, pictured here. These could maybe be bear. They run from near the base to a little over 6 feet high.

Deer bones, not more than a few months old I think. About 30-50 feet from the 2 trees pictured above.

This is the trail where we are walking. Really pretty, but difficult to go through, well, for me.

Walk on the moss covered trees that have fallen down. Don't slip off...I have not yet, but the walking stick does not hit bottom in the muck, wouldn't want to try to find a bottom.

The trail leads to a high area of heavy canopy. This is a shot of an open area.
That is the DH, he just called from the woods and needs some help with something...so I gotta go. I have more pictures to post, and will add later.

Ohhhhhh good-googly-mooglies, cparts !!
Taint nuthin' like livin' on the edge, 'ey!?! .. (hee)

Would be reasonable to assume that the bones have been picked clean by other scavengers of the 'clean up' crew which inhabit the area - along with perhaps a bit of bleaching by any slight amount of sun exposure during your winter -?-

The duck and coon hunting in the southern Louisiana swamp lands, years ago .. was plenty enuff of the (seemingly) bottomless muck-yuck trompin' trials & tribulutions for this ol gal. However, there is apparently no deficiency in the beauty and the adventures - not to mention, the intrigue you impart (to us), that exists year-round .. there, for you guys! Tis a beautiful woods, cparts ..

I shall now issue a full report of the virtual fear factor being experienced (here), for you: D-DUBBULL-Eeeeee-YIKERS!!

You guys jes continue to be xtree super careful .. will ya, please -?-

((huggs))

- Magpye

Will do. Thanks for the kind words. Yes, you are correct. Those bones had been worked on by a variety of animals. When we found a fresh deer killed in the woods by a bobcat, we kept an eye out. First the bobcat worked on it for two days (they only like the freshest meat), then he left it uncovered for the coyottes, They worked on it pretty good. Then the other smaller animals, possum and rodents and birds cleaned the rest. By the next spring these bones were dry, white and very clean.
The bones found that were pictured here are pretty clean, but have pink and red on them, like they still have blood in them. Also they seem to be not as dried and bleached as bones from last fall. Of course I am no expert, I just relate from my own experience. Opps hubby is back, time for lunch.

Here are some more pictures. We last left the walk we were on the high ground in dense canopy. This area gets little snow on the ground, and very little growing beside the trees. It is a nice area to see wildlife sign and a favorite haunt for the coyottes.

To get out of this area, I follow the deer trail, through some heavy stuff. Good area to find bones and such.

After walking on roots, fallen mossy trees, crawling over, bases of trees raised in the swamp that look like solid earth but are hollow under, and not breaking a leg, twisting an ankle, or getting eaten, you get to high ground again. This area has a "wall" of pines so thick, that only the animals enter. Looking at these pictures makes one think this is a good place for preditors.
I did not find any more sign on trees etc. Only the two trees and bones at the beginning of this trail. Just want to add, this trail head is about 150 yards from our house.

Last picture today. A little something not so scary. A pink lady slipper. Just turn your head sideways please. Seems my computer and camera will not cooperate to turn pictures for this forum.

Wow cparts, good looking deer trail there. Surely you have a stand somewhere nearby? Isn't it amazing how you can walk through all those vast areas of woods and find such pretty little flowers? Hubby and I hope to go ride the 4-wheelers around our camp tomorrow (early to beat the heat!). Plan to take my camera but don't know if I'll get any pics since I doubt we will venture too far into the woods (no-shoulders ya know :-)

Post the pictures if you get some.
Yes, it is a great deer trail. But, as you can see in the pictures, there is no way to get out there but heavy swamp. There is no way to sneak up on them, and you would never make it in the dark with a pack and gun. You could go in by canoe, but again noise factor. This is not a place I would want to be in the dark. We thought about putting in a trail. We have done it in places as rough as this, but the deer need quiet places too. This is an area we leave alone, except for a couple walks a year. (we did see 5 deer in there though)

You're right, the deer do need some quiet places. The sure do have them where I hunt. Here in Vicksburg, MS, we have hills and hollows but I think our hunting club has mini-mountains, lol. There are places where, if you were to run off the road with your 4-wheeler, you might not hit bottom till sometime next week! We could, with lots of effort, get down into these bottoms to hunt, but it would take a good day or so to get back out. And if we shot a deer down there, ROFLMOB, don't know if we'd ever get it out!! And there are places where, even if you saw the biggest wall-hanger of your life over on the next ridge top, you couldn't shoot it because there's no way to get over there to get him! So, kinda like y'alls swamps except our hills and hollows are dry (usually). If I get any good pics, I will post them. Since we just finished building our house (did it ourselves) all I have is pics that are 3 years or older (I mostly do critter pics).

Most of our trails were made for access to deer or wood. Some trails make it fesible to hunt in certian areas we could not before. Dragging a big deer through the swamp and up ridges is not easy. The quads are great, we work them pretty hard, but have some fun riding too.

We like to just ride the woods and "look" too. Never know what you're gonna run into out there (how well YOU know, lol). It's always a surprise. Twice while we were out just scouting we walked up on tiny fawns (one was actually still wet!) but I didn't have my camera. I don't take it on scouting trips because we go through some pretty wild, rough terrain and I don't want to risk something happening to it (can't afford a new one). I did get a couple of quick shots of a turkey polt (approx. 2 weeks old) one time several years ago. I was walking down a camp road and busted up the hen and her polts. This one flew up into a blackberry vine and I took two quick shots before backing out. Mama hen was making so much noise doing her broken wing act that I was afraid she would call in a preditor. We use our 4-wheelers to get deer out a lot too. I'm old enough to remember having to drag some a loooong way back in the days before 3-wheelers. Wouldn't want to do that now.

We getting to old for that stuff.

Just checking in to make sure the forum wasn't called ''Bits and Pieces'' :))

Starting with the picture of the bridge, and then the trails, you had my heart and inner child immediately. I never met a bridge I didn't like! What a beautiful place on earth you have!!! If there's no poison ivy, (or snakes,) then it's the Garden of Eden!

Has the cow been re-found yet?

Or its well-chewed skeleton?

Resin

Funny...
Thanks for the comments. You both make my day.
We do not know what happened to the cow. The last tracks we saw were heading close to the river, we think it may have swam across. No sign after that. If it did go across there are horses, and cows that way and hopefully found its way home.
There is a great deal of poisen ivy, also nettle, but our trails are pretty clean. Even so, we always wear shoes, not sandels when walking. We have only seen 2 snakes in the woods in the 10 or so years we have owned them.
We have company this holiday weekend. The guys are out fishing this morning. This fellow is quite a city slicker. I took him on a short walk to the new scratchings, he turned quite pale at the sight. He was quite intrested in the bones, one set looking quite fresh. He said "are you sure that is deer?" Made me laugh.

Your city slicker is so funny. Have a great weekend!!

Ok.....more company over the weekend. But the long awaited visit of my BIL. He is so observant and finds the smallest thing. Ex. This visit he found a small stone that looks like it has writing on it, in rust....very strange...another mystery. Natural...or human made?
Anyway...before I get off on another story. I took him to see the 3 sets of trees in question while the others walked and looked at wildflowers, visiting dogs got their fill of swamp muck, etc.
The first set of 4 trees over the ridge by where the growling was, he said was most likely bobcat. The scratches are lower, they are "hairy" looking, like a cat makes on a couch or scratching tree. He said cats do not make long scratches, usually.
The second set of scratches, that is in the area where about 20 trees are scratched. He said was probably birds and flying squirrels. He said birds can leave a beak track that looks like a claw mark. To further his point, the day before had been very windy and he actually found a flying squirrel nest in the middle of the area, on the ground, a mass of cedar bark. Sounds good. Smart guy this one.
The third set of marks, the ones I just found by the bones, he was the most puzzled about. These were scratches he thought by a young bear. The width of the scratches, the length, perfect to your outstretched hand and too symetrical for a bird to make. That was his best guess.
Of course all these things are guesses, but pretty good ones I think. He asked about footprints and I wish he could have seen the large cat prints in person. He felt that the ones I had seen were probably made by a very large bobcat.
So that is the big update. So...watch out for those flying squirrels I guess....LOL
But what about that stone? Mystic stone? Antient writing? Indian artifact? Bigfoot currency? .......

Throw stones? No seriously they are usually only out at night. I have only seen one in the past 10 years. Our neighbors up the road had a nest last year in their big pine tree. The squirrels would fly back and forth to their bird feeder at night. They would get glimpes of them sneaking the birdseed and were quite entertained.

Peep stone? ummm, Don't think so. It was an intresting article though. I knew nothing about that.
I tried to take a picture of the stone, but mostly it looked like rust marks on a stone. The photo took away the look of letters. I will post a picture though. See what everyone thinks. The backside is totally plain. I do not know how you could put writing like this on a stone. I am sure that it is just metal deposits in the rock, (it really appears to be rust). But it is still pretty neat. As we get older we loose some of that "wow...look at that thing" but I kept some of the little kid in me. Makes life more fun I think.
What was kind of odd. Everyone who looked at it, thought it said something different.....mmmmm

Hmmm . . . definitely a communication from the Great God Zzzošð. Have to spend the next 30 years interpreting it . . .

;-)

Lol....if anyone can figure it out, that would be you.
If it means a great mission of danger and evil (beyond what the the bear spray can handle), it goes back to the brother in law!

Laughing again. Smart BIL!

We wouldn't be here if we had no inner child :))

It's hieroglyphics. The spotted timber fox is warning you to not get a hole knocked in your head. (See indent at bottom of rock :))

No inner child here....it is on the outside...not hidden away. Gets me in trouble most the time, but I just smile and get away with it.
The stone looks better in person. There looks like two words with an "&" between them. On the edge of the first word looks like a "C" partly worn but with a nice curly Q on the top of the C and the second word looks like Erie or something, nice curly Q on the top of the E too. Of course others said other words that I dismissed as they were not what I saw. ha
They do look like some kind of letters though, nature is fabulous. You can see in it whatever, only limited by your mind.
I guess you need to train your mind to see some things. While walking with company, we have to point things out they will miss, such as deer sign, birds, flowers, deer, owls, animal tracks,etc. They will walk right past and not see some really cool stuff. The most funny is when they ask about wanting to see something and they are almost stepping on it. (like a jack in the pulpit)
Monday,there was this owl in a tree watching us all walk underneath. We waited until everyone was under it and said "look up" and pointed. You should have seen all the surprized faces. I just wonder how many things we miss!

I look everywhere. I delight in looking at the ''right time.'' It could be a leaf falling from a tree, but I'm happy if I see it. I love finding things like odd rocks and such.

I took this picture because it isn't something you see everyday. Most corner posts are just wood.

That is one pretty tough looking post. Speaking of leaves falling....are those blossoms falling in the picture?
Yup, still alive. Haven't seen anything scary lately. Been sticking to the trails as it is baby season out there. A ruffled grouse had her chicks out running around, came right out in front of me and stared me down, as to say "I am not afraid of you, bipod, and your big stick and your bear spray!" then the dog turned around and she took off, forgeting the broken wing act. Too quick for the camera. It was a sight.
I have also found 2 new flowers this year (both by the trail I walk everyday) One was a bindweed with a large morning glory type flower. Another was a vine that will have a berry on it later. I wonder all the ones I miss in the woods off the trails.

Yep, I'm still not sure why they made it. I don't know what's in the picture, but I don't think it's blossoms.

I was wondering about babies in your woods the other day. I was walking in my daughter's pasture and found a burrow. Her husband shot a fox a few weeks ago and it may have been his hole. (They have chickens and he got one of them.) Anyway, I was thinking about you.

I'll bet the baby grouse were adorable. Did you post a picture of the bindweed on the spring picture forum?

Just remember, if you are walking in the woods and find an egg and it is bigger than you are - RUN. LIZ

Gee, just when I thought it was safe to walk in the woods. LOL.
Thanks guys for thinking of me.
DH and I went on a little canoe excersion yesterday. We found redwind blackbird nests in the cattails, saw a few deer, one had triplets and were the first fawns we have seen this year. We saw quite a few ducklings, muskrat and turtles. There were several nice clumps of blue flag iris over 8 feet in diameter, and a log with moss growing the prettiest boquet of forget me nots, buttercups and grasses. Pretty hot day, pretty cold river. No camera...We have never dumped...but I figure after the 150 times we have canoed that the odds are against us. I do sometimes take the camera in the dry bag, but the photo opt is too quick to get it out. I did get some lovely mental pictures.
Billy, I will post the pic of the bindweed on the spring is here thread.

You know, we have red wings nesting in the ditches on the gravel road out of town and I have yet to look or accidetally find their nest. I have to laugh as they sort of come close in a dive bomb. If you walk with hands stretched up they stay even further away.

Sometimes the mental pictures are all we get :))

I'll pop in on Spring is Here!