First
thing in the morning, we recapped on the harvest of yesterday's exploration, reviewing
on a map where we had come across some of our favourite discoveries.
We
headed out for the day and stopped at a bent and broken chokecherry tree that
Alexis pointed out, asking us what we noticed about this tree. We saw all the
cherries had been picked off the tree and following some looking around, we
noticed bear claw marks on the trunk of the tree, and how the branches had been
broken. We had suspected the pits in the bear scat from yesterday, had possibly
been cherries, but now we had proof!
The remains of a calf moose |
We then
headed down to the water and canoed out to a point of interest where half of
the group had come across the remains of a moose calf the following evening on
our return back to camp. We checked out the site, finding many chewed up bones
scattered around the area. The area was filled with tons of wolf activity,
mossy ground and the trail of a mourning mother moose. We scouted around and
spent most of the day following bear trails, looking, feeling and measuring the
tracks we were following.
Wolf Chew |
Later
we cracked open a bone to investigate what had been going on with the moose
calf through assessing it's bone marrow– had it starved to death? had it died
of disease? It was a little too late to tell, but the inside of the bone did
have a surprise for us!
Maggot feeding on Marrow! |
Bear Bite marks |
Alexis
then had us try an awareness exercise – envisioning the animals through sensory
touch of the tracks, which proved a potent experience to many in the group. We
shared our experience as we canoed back. Once back at the rendezvous site, we
checked out some moose bones the park researchers had gathered, a good
opportunity for comparing them with the ones of the calf we had seen earlier.
After checking out some signs of porcupines eating plywood and taking a look at
some fresh territorial bear markings on a hydro pole, we finished the day with
a quiet sit spot out on the land.
Feeling the Tracks |
Getting down on a bear trail! |
Sunday, August 30, 2015 - Written by: Lianna Vargas - 2nd year Tracking Apprentice
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