It is the peak of the wingshooting season for many, including resourceful spiders, it seems. I haven’t used the Ugartechea in years. This was the week I used to go all over looking for grouse in old orchards, etc. I was burnt out on deer for a while and grouse filled the gap. I have always been torn between them but if I know a good buck is around he wins. This year I do not have a target deer or even have a license. I thought I was going to be tree planting all month but that fell through and everything is messed up. My drive is less than it was too. I have hunted for decades and other interests like planting wildlife trees get in the way. I hope that those that do get out enjoy it as much as our spider.
It is also the whitetail tracking season. Larry Benoit and his sons turned tracking into a cult sub genre of deer hunting about 50 years ago. Lately new guys like Hal Blood have taken up the mantle. I was obsessed with tracking for years. The problem here is a lack of in season snow. Most years it is rare. This week it is possible and a local posted the pic above of a real good track. Many said moose but it could be deer. It is too bad more pics were not shown to get a better idea of it.
Tracking is condition specific. Our season often has wet snow which is ideal. When I tried tracking on the western prairies the dry snow blurred tracks and made them difficult to age. Higher game populations were also an issue. It was tough when I followed a track into an elk area that looked like a barnyard. Deer pops are low here as in 5 per sq mile or so which makes it easier IF you can find a track. As the Benoits said, you need to cover 100 sq miles to do it right unless you are really lucky. There is no better game though than tracking. Nothing is more exciting than knowing the buck is ahead of you in a desolate winter forest. It is not easy and I rarely succeeded but it was engaging.
I found this brutes track two days ago followed him 8.5 miles the first day and he stayed ahead of me, yesterday I found his track at 6:30 am and got on him I finally jumped him in a thick spruce bog 31/2 miles from the truck he either heard or smelled me before I got where I could see him, he immediately lined out and crossed a river that was over my knees, I crossed over rung out my socks and stayed on him he ended crossing the river 2 more times trying to shake me but with my tracking persistence I stayed after him I ended up killing him 1/2 hour before dark, 13.46 miles later on an onX* hard work and persistence paid off today “never give up” my words of tracking, he’s one of my best maine bucks ever what a slammer!! Dressed out at 210lbs, this is what I live for and love to do. Hopefully my grandfather was along for the ride yesterday, what a great day in the Maine woods! Big Woods Bucks
A sample tracking story. This buck is much better than the average taken tracking antler wise. Counter intuitively smaller bucks often carry the larger antlers. This is a well known pattern. Nutrition to bodies or antlers is a choice that nature seems forced to make. There may be other reasons but it is the one I favor.
*a GPS device