​Spring Bear Trailing.
Well, spring has sprung, and with it, so have the bear. Redwood Coast Animal Tracking has just finished up our spring bear trailing workshops. We had two over the last couple weekends, and what fun it was! Both classes had folks wanting to learn about black bear ecology and get some real hard time experience following bears through the woods. And we did. In Humboldt county, in the lower elevations where there’s little or no snow, the bears do what I might call a hybrid hibernation. When the weather is cold, they’ll sleep. Sometimes for weeks. When it get’s warmer, a bear might wake up, get out of its bed, and travel around a bit in search of food, only to go back into a bed for another week or two or more of hibernation.
In coastal Humboldt county, the vegetation is in full explosion now and the bear have plenty of grasses and succulent plants to eat. They’re moving about the landscape in a constant search of food and increasingly,as we approach summer, mates.

​All this adds up to the perfect time and place to track and trail bears. It’s a wonderful window, as the landscape isn’t inundated with bear sign, but there’s plenty of movement and animals to follow. As the season progresses towards summer, there gets to be so much sign that it is hard to sort out what’s fresh and what’s older, making it really difficult to get on the trail of one animal and stay on it until you (hopefully) see it.  So, this is ‘money time’ so to speak.
We had numerous trails to follow. Some difficult, some easy, and some impossible. But I feel that the over all experience was good. There was so much bear sign and ecological information to see that we were hardly bored. Add to this a plethora of other animal sign and tracks and you get a rich and full experience of interacting with mother nature. And we did.
We were lucky enough to share our campground with a herd of wild Roosevelt Elk. The Roosevelt are the largest of the elk species and native to Northern California.

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I want to thank the wonderful participants for a great time, great company, great food, and lots of laughs and learning. Thanks Ann, Jason, Justin, Kat, Curt, Suzanna, and Lisa. Also, a big shout out to Preston Taylor for his help and expertise! And last but certainly not the least, thanks to the wild and wonderful black bear teachers!

Our hunting classes of the past week were a lot of fun, as well as being a great opportunity to learn about the fascinating wild(feral) pigs of our area and hang out with great folks spending time in the woods.

 

We wanted to learn as much as we could about the life and behavior of these hogs from direct experience, as well as multiple hunting styles to try to be effective hunters in the differing conditions that our landscape and climate offers.

 

We did a lot of hiking, and were able to watch and interact with hogs a number of times. We also did a fair bit of trailing, following their tracks until we can sneak up on them in their bed, which we were able to do once. As Preston said, conditions were challenging and kept us pushing our edges trying to work out where a particular hog or group of hogs had gone, as well as making moving through the leaf litter noisy. We all got to experience our 'edge' while trailing. That point where we don't think we can stay on the trail, and a part of us wants to quit.

 

There was a great diversity of experience, from beginning hunters to very experienced hunters. We had a lot to go over, and everyone had valuable past experience, knowledge, and perspectives to share.

Folks got to be out in the woods every day before first light and watch and hear the land come alive. We got to be out each night until full dark trying to sneak up on and watch hogs going about their lives.

 

A few times folks got to within traditional bow range of hogs and got to experience what that is like, and how difficult it is to do. And even if you do, you may not get a good shot as the hog just doesn’t turn and show it’s broadside, or there’s a bit of brush between you.

 

From crawling around in thick brush to visit bedding areas, to finding out which areas the hogs were frequenting, we got to see a lot of sign, including, feeding, birthing, scent marking, wallowing, traveling, and sleeping. We visited one freshly used bed and were talking about the place when Preston noticed tiny baby hog tracks there in the dust. We snuck down on a huge hollow redwood tree where it’s known that often a big boar is inside sleeping.

We were amazed at how we could be following a large group of hogs and the trail seemed to disappear. How all those animals with sharp, hard hooves didn’t leave tracks in some areas.

 

We got to see track and sign of many other animals as well. We had a great afternoon on the river looking at fox, bobcat, coyote, hog, newt, mouse, various birds and ducks, and the trail of a big male mountain lion. It was quite the spot with so many animals moving through. It got our imaginations going and wondering how often they meet up and what that looks like.

 

Folks did a fair bit of shooting bows and arrows, and we had fun challenging ourselves to do tricky shots and shooting a long distance. There were some fairly experienced archers in the group, and I think with Prestons and Veltons archery knowledge, we all learned something.

Most folks were aspiring hunters, but we did have one person who was there to learn how to hunt with her camera. She wanted to learn and practice getting in and getting good photos of animals, and that was a fun twist. What a great way to share time with folks and build relationships, while doing something we are passionate about.

 

Winter Ungulate Trailing

 

   We had a great time following elk trails. The weather was pleasantly sunny, which allowed our pants to stay dry but made for tough trailing substrate.

   Day one we followed an older trail of a lone-bull elk moving across the landscape towards an area with fresh grass growing. Day two we cut fresh sign of an elk feeding in a clear cut. Most of the day we followed this bull’s trail as he fed uphill and bedded to chew cud. It was difficult tracking with all the old sign. On the third and final day we sorted through another maze of feeding and bedding sign.

   Along the trail we observed how elk move across the landscape, what plants they eat, how a lay used for chewing cud differs from a security bed used for cover, we analyzed the aging process of elk droppings, and looked at scent marking sign.

   Everyone’s ability to see tracks, age sign, know when there were no tracks, and most importantly move along the trail improved over the 3 days. It was a fun weekend and we are looking forward to trailing hogs and bears in future classes!

   We saw lots of other animal spoor during the long days including tracks of a female puma with her kitten walking down the dirt road, black bear tracks and feeding sign, chipmunk and Douglas squirrel tracks in the mud, and quail.

 

January 2015

Humboldt County, CA

Preston Taylor

We had a great time following Elk for our weekend long Ungulate Trailing Class. We enjoyed beautiful weather and worked some challenging trails, staying on them for hours, getting a glimpse into the life of these amazing creatures. When we follow an animal for hours or days, we get a unique view of how these animals move on the landscape, what they eat, and where they sleep. There seems to be no better way to get to know an elusive animal such as an elk, in terrain where watching them is so difficult, than to follow them and see what they do.

We also had a great group of people learning and working the trails. It's very satisfying to watch someone develop the confidence and experience to trail an animal. There was a good mix of experience in the group, and everyone did well, improving over the days. It's good to get out and push our edges, and we all did. 
I'm looking forward to the next one.

I'm so pleased to work with people who are passionate about keeping animal tracking alive, and who are willing to put in the dirt time to learn and grow in this ancient skill.
Matt Nelson

   I showed up and my buddy Dan was already out looking for blood. He had called me on my cell phone maybe 30 minutes before and told me he had just shot at a hog with his rifle and wasn’t sure if he’d hit it. I got out of my pickup and he told me the story. He had felt pretty good about his shot but the pig he had shot at just ran off. No limping or squeeling. Had he hit where he been aiming, the hog should’ve dropped in his tracks. Dan usually goes for a head shot if he can. And I’ve seen him make enough to know that he usually shoots where he’s aiming. He told me that he may made a bad shot on a hog that was standing behind the one he was shooting at.

   I wanted to question him about where the hogs had gone and what he’d remembered but because of the low fog and early morning darkness, he really didn’t see where they all went. He scratched his head and thought they went all directions. So we decided to search around and see if we could find their tracks.

   It didn’t take long to find several different trails leading in different directions. As we were on the ridgetop, everywhere they went was down.

   A lot of times when hogs are startled by a gun shot, they’ll seemingly scatter in all different directions. But if you follow their tracks you’ll usually find that soon after they get under cover of the trees, they’ll start to bunch up quickly. Sometimes they may make several small bunches until they can get the whole group back together. If you follow one hog, or one bunch, and can stay on the trail long enough, eventually you’ll see where they connect back with the rest of the pack.

   I decided I’d follow one bunch of 3-4 hogs and see where they’d take me. See if I could ascertain if there was a wounded hog and possibly kill it.

   The ground was steep and wet from a recent rain, so staying on this trail seemed like it might work out.  Dan stayed near the trucks and I took off trailing. The hogs went down and into the thick forest of black oak, tan oak, and bay laurel, with the occasional big leafed maple. I could see where time to time, another hog would join the pack, slowly growing in number.

   I trailed them over a ridge going from the north facing slope to the south facing.

   Around here, the north face of a mountain is usually wet, damp, and in the shade most of the winter. On the south side, the country opens up and there’s more and more grasslands. Intermixed with the same trees but the trees are bigger and rounder. They’re not as close together with much more open grassland. It’s called Oak woodlands. Or Oak savannah. As you go from the north to the south side of the mountain, it feels like you could all of a sudden be in another state. It’s exposed to the sun and dries out quickly.

   By this time, the hogs had bunched up well. I was obviously following a good number of animals and they were headed somewhere known. I don’t know the mechanism, but they have an uncanny ability to know where to go in a dangerous situation. If they split up, they’ll all head to the same rendezvous point. It’s almost as if they have a pre determined plan on where to meet if they get separated. Perhaps they just follow the lead sow. Perhaps the ones coming behind follow scent. But however it happens, they’re good at finding their way, and each other. These hogs were born and raised here. They know the landscape intimately.

   I followed them a long way down hill. They used a steep brushy ridge to go where they were headed. It made sense really. There were many little ridges heading to the south. Some were gentle slopes that I would’ve chosen to go down. Some were too steep and rocky to even try. This one was perfect for an escape. As I followed them, I many times had to crawl under low Manzanita brush. Or drop off the ridge for awhile to go around a particular thick spot.

   The trail was good and easy to follow. I’d guess there were 10 or so hogs heading in single file, going down this ridge. The ground had some moisture in it so the trail was well beat in and super fresh.

   “Where are they headed?”

   I try to come up with ever changing theories about where they’re going. It doesn’t make the most sense to me as they’re headed into increasingly open country. I would’ve expected them to head off the north side into the steepest roughest and brushiest country around, but that’s not what happened.

   Perhaps they’re going to go over the next ridge and down across the main river. Up onto the next north facing mountain. It’s quite a hike, but I figure I’ll try to follow them and see what happens. My theory will continue to change as I gain more and more info.

   After 45 minutes or so of following them down, the hogs hit the bottom and were now into the grasslands. I was able to stay on trail for awhile as they crossed a small dirt road(more of a jeep trail really) and headed into a large field.

   Here, the trail got difficult. I was amazed by how this large group of hogs could seemingly disappear. This happens often on a trail. The substrate and terrain changes, and the tracks are much harder to find and see. I found the occasional fresh track but they were few and far between. The substrate had suddenly turned hard and dry.

   Well, at this point, I stopped and surveyed the hills ahead of me. If I were a hog, where would I be going? I saw three likely possibilities. A trail going around the grassy knoll to the right, another heading around the hill at a steady contour to the left, and they could also have spread out and headed up and over the knoll towards a tree covered bench.

   Even though it was a change of direction from their original path, I decided to first check the trail to the left as the last good track I found seemed to be pointed slightly that way.

   It didn’t take me long to figure out that they hadn’t gone this way so instead of heading back to my last good track and trying to go track to track thru the tough ground, I do like I often do and circled around above the field trying to cut their trail farther along.

   As I moved over and around the field, I looked along the tree line for the trail. I figured I’d pick them up coming out of the fields and moving into the cover. I slowly worked along the edge habitat and before I was ready or expecting anything, I heard the hogs bust out of the brush above me. I saw one nice little boar moving across thru the brush and never had time to knock an arrow or even try to shoot. I just watched him go out of sight into the thick brush and around the hill.

   I was certainly surprised to see them. I wasn’t ready and as often happens after they’ve been harassed, the hogs were bedded and watchful. Not allowing me to get close before taking off the other way.

   Hogs find amazing bedding sites. They’ll reuse them seemingly for generations and when you find a good site, there’s no mistaking it. Huge dug out depressions that could fit multiple hogs. It’s usually in super steep ground under some low hanging brush. Maybe on the uphill side of a large tree or down log.

   The hogs will bed in groups of 2-3 sometimes up to 10 if it’s cold. They’ll pack in tight to stay warm and comfortable. I’m amazed by how social these animals are. And I never miss a chance to watch them in their beds if given the opportunity.

  I’d never been into this bedding site before. Even though I’ve hunted in the area often, I was very pleased to find this non-typical bed. It was a patch of timber mixed with large black oak and pepperwood as well as a second lower layer of shrubs like Manzanita and Toyon. The hill it was on got a lot of morning sun to warm them.

   I find that hogs seem to use the beds that put’s them in strategic spots for whatever foods they’re currently feeding on. Also, when the weather’s cold, I find them on brushy south facing ridges where it’s super thick but low brush that a ton of sunlight can get into. Often it’s in the thick Chamise brush. Or Manzanita.

   After pushing them out of their bed, I decided I’d try to follow them again and was able to stay on their trail for several hours but at some point, as the day was getting late, I headed back for the pickup never seeing them again. I find that after I push hogs more than once, they’ll often travel a long way before bedding again. By that time, they know that I’m behind them and will travel far to shake me from their trail.

   I never saw a spot of blood the whole day. I felt pretty comfortable saying that Dan hadn’t wounded one of them.