Ramble

Nice report Mike. I have plans to get out next weekend assuming the homework cooperates. But once i get to Belleville i have about a 15 minute drive to point anne if i stop at Hortons lol. All that driving can throw your game off lol.

Those are some nice 'eye tho.

-Dave

What kinda trout? would be my 1st question.

I want to....does that count?

-R-

I understand where ur coming from. ur not being anal i dont think. If you dont want noise, you dont want noise. Those gas augers are loud. In shallow water i can definatly make a differnce. What species you are after will make a differance as well. Pan fish i wouldnt worry about too much, unless ur talkin crappie...and even then depends on how much pressure they get.

Offer to cut their holes for them or tell them ahead of time to leave it at home.....however looking at it from their side, if you spend the $$$ on a gas auger you are damn well going to use it. Maybe the comradery out ways the noise factor?

-Dave

nice report. I would of loved to see some pics of those specks. TAKE THE CAMERA lol.

-Dave

From what i have heard from a friend they had no problem catching 'eyes when ever they targed them. He caught a few big 'eyes on his muskey gear. I think mot are in the slot, but its helping.

-Dave

Windows... If i may quote my housemate...

"Windows operation failure eh? I got a ****ing Windows operation for you, i'll through out of one if you don't run on the next restart!! *Slaps moniter* Restores comp, restarts all good.

Moral of the story....get violent and threaten your computer, even if it doesnt run any better at least u'll feel better.

-Dave

AWESOME. Now you can teach her how to out hunt you lol.

-Dave

If the wildlife are eating the wildlife if is it a waste? I don't so... There is worse things then coyotes on wildlife populations, they just happen to be really good at adapting and exploiting situations. They scavange along roads and things FOR the road kill. better it go to them then rot.

However, coyotes eating you deer would be a real .... annoyance.

As far as the antlers go, i heard from a few people who have seen them with racks still attached late this year.

-R-

Nice work man, very nice work.

-R-

Knowing you don't know is the 1st step to knowing lol....learning isn't too hard for the more common tracks. I definatly think its worth the time to work on them. I havnt been out much this year to brush up, but i am hoping too very soon. Even after looking at common tracks for years, every now and then you see something from an animal that astonishes you.

Good look holdfast. Keep the critter tracks coming man. I love looking at them.

-Dave

violates the 1st rule of knife use i was ever taught by my grandfather...never cut towards yourself lol.

It is pretty cool tho.

=R=

Beautiful brookies, and who can argu with caribou? The skiing shots were nice as well. Keep up the good work.

-R-

i thought you followed them longer, and was not aware you spoke with the drivers. If it was coyote and they did shot it i suspect that they would have told you. Quite possibly it was a wild canine then.

The "rabbit tacks" could definatly be squirrell. i was much more interested in the canine track. Rabbits typically have their front feet register in a line.

like this...

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/3880/rabbitdevil9hb.jpg

However if there is cottontail in your neck of the woods, and the "buny" is doing slow short hops you could get similar sign to that of a squirrel.

If you look closely to the faint drag marks at the center top of each track it appears the critter is holding its feet beside each other as opposed to one infront one it back. Also in the lower photo of the critter track it seems that the feet are landing besides each other. But as i have said before 1 track isnt enough to be sure. I think Spinnerbait is probably right here tho...and i didnt care enough to notice lol. my bad.

have a good day at work.

-R-

The drag is due to the snow depth, the animal isnt picking its feet up bause the snow id fluufy enough and shallow enough to not impead movement.

That is the exact photo i used to distinguish the claw marks and the pad shap. If you look at the very from of the toes the center 2 toes are clearly registering the claws. I have been thining about what you have said about the tracks, and was wondering if they ever veered off the trail. The wild canine speces as well as with cats tend to wander some. They stop to check out things and investigate. If they stayed with the vehical tracks, with a constant pace, i'd be further inclined to side with doestic dog.

Here is a site i found which better explains the claw marks and C in the pad shape i was refering too. Pictures are better then words for this sort of thing.

http://www.bear-tracker.com/caninevsfeline.html

-Dave

Again those tracks are nice and round and there was no claw marks but you can see there is a faint line with a track. Maybe a tail.

Which photo are you looking at holdfast and i'll take another look.

It may not be a domestic dog, or the guy might have been running his dog behind the truck and then put him in it for the return? Very hard to tell the various dogs apart...but that doesnt make them any less interesteing lol

-Dave

yeah you are good to go now.

Your mystery tracks look like a dog. Wheather that be domestic, coyote or wolf, would take a little more investigating. If you look at the tracks, you will notice that the claws register in the track, so it is definatly not a cat. The main pad of a cats foot is also C shaped.

Your suspected rodent tracks are definatly rodent...what kind? your guess is as good as mine.

The larger tracks which are intersecting the rodent tracks are probably a member of the weasle family. Dependig on what kinda forest youre near and habitat range will held give you a clue. It's very hard to tell from 2 tracks at that angle. Might be a marten tho...size and distance between them looks about right.

If you are looking for a book on the subject, i highly reccomend Tracking and the Art of Seeing. by Paul Rezendes. It covers all kinds of sign from a wide range of critters.

Hope that was some help.

-Dave

sounds like a tapeworm too me. Not a problem as far as consumption is concerned, but definatly an interesting find. I found one in some bear dung last year, measured 32 inches...that's right i went and got a tape measure then measured it....it was massive.

-Dave

i understand what ur saying...couple days in a bungalow or whatever. I like irish cream on ice for a sipper around noo, and some in the coffee in the morning. And rum any time pretty much lol. Rum in hot chocolate is pretty good...and better then it sounds lol.

-R-

i live with him lol. Ill let him know, he's working on Chemistry right now lol

-Dave

Looks like a good time for sure...anyday on the hardwater is a day well spent. I'll let Cobra know what you have been up too

-Dave

i wouldnt worry about it too much. That's the smell of success. As for your buddies, teach them to Fillet. I've tought 1 or too i fish with too fillet, after doing a bunch of fish myself. Teaching to fillet properly is better quicker then doing it yourself al the time lol

Still its good to hear you were into the fish.

-R-

It's been set up for a few days

Not this time of year, as it doesnt influence water temperature. But in the summer...thats another story. THe high pressure associated with the cold we have should affect it.

-Dave

i have a Garmin GPSmap 60CSx. I love the things. My dad sold them for a while until Wal-Mark like establishment got involved, and he couldnt sell them for cheaper. It's a great unit, and have been pretty happy with it. I dont know anything about the modle he is asking about. But he should find a store somewhere, where he can play with one a little before he decides.

-R-