# Tracks in the Snow and a 3 year old



## Lake Girl (Dec 2, 2014)

I enjoy my walks with my GSD but sometimes it can be like walking a turtle  With the snow, tracks become a big item of interest that has to be sniffed over multiple times and followed.  We can tell when the neighbour has gone out with his dog and track movements of the snowshoe hares, deer, fox.  The occassional fishers have come close.

Hubby and I were gone for two days and when I talked to my daughter, she mentioned that the dog wouldn't go very far and all but drug her home on her last walk of the night.  Since we got home after dark, I couldn't examine the tracks that the dog so badly wanted to follow... since the scent must have dissipated ... until today.  Turns out we must have had a wolf pass through - came off the ice into the neighbours yard, crossed over ours and followed the driveway out.  Paw prints seem to be a 1/4" to 1/2" bigger than my girl's prints (she's 27" tall).  Not the first time, likely not the last...  

Black cougars have been spotted about 10 miles west of us ... would prefer not to see any of those  I did see one about 100 miles east of here on the highway.  Thought it was a bear at first ... until I got close enough to see the tail that was about as long as the body  Close enough for me!  They have been sighted and not too far away.
http://www.cougarnet.org/uppermidwest.html

 I have chased otters out of the yard in the summer and they weren't appreciative...

What's in your back yard?


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## pen (Dec 2, 2014)

Lake Girl said:


> What's in your back yard?



grass, thankfully!

Occasionally, the neighbors cows get out and come over and leave prints, usually only when the frost is coming out and they can sink a good 6 inches down to make certain things get messed up really well.

Other than that, I just have to watch for the errant porcupine as far as danger really goes before letting the dog out.

We do have a lot of red foxes, and have some fishers around, but they don't bother with much so long as they aren't rabid.

Did have this little screech meet me and the dog out our first trip out in the morning a few weeks back.  When I first went out on the porch I wouldn't let the dog off as I heard a great horned making some really messed up calls and was wondering what was going on.  When looking for him I found this little fella.  I think he was trying to stay hidden and decided the great horned owl was a bigger threat.  He stayed right until sunrise.


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## Warm_in_NH (Dec 2, 2014)

Can't imagine having wolves near by, that would keep me alert while outside. 

I'm lucky enough to have about 3000+ acres in my back yard, and despite being walking distance to town (under a mile) we've had several beasts pass through.

Every spring brings the bears, usually mom and cubs then the previous years 1 yr Olds come poking around, they're usually the most aggressive, ultimately,  they all are chased off and don't return once they figure out that there's no food to be had.

Have had one moose in the yard in 5 years (that I know of), several deer, possum, skunk, occasional fisher (every other year) just this year I saw my first porcupine!  Strange looking animal and much bigger than I had thought them to be. 

This summer i saw the biggest black bear i ever saw at the edge of the yard, sent shivers up my spine, thankfully my dog keeps most of them at the wood line, and that's fine with me.


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## Dix (Dec 2, 2014)

Wild turkeys, deer, the semi feral cats from across the street


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## Lake Girl (Dec 2, 2014)

Doing The Dixie Eyed Hustle said:


> Wild turkeys, deer, the semi feral cats from across the street



We had one of those semi feral cats decide he wanted to join the household because it meant he could eat, be warm and safe.  Contacted owners a few times but owner stated that they were having a problem with him attacking since he came back all beat up (figured he ran into the wrong critter).  He's a bit of a bully still with the older two cats but plays well with my daughter's cat.

I do have partridge (grouse) in the fall until the son comes home to go hunting...




Warm_in_NH said:


> Can't imagine having wolves near by, that would keep me alert while outside.



They definitely keep you alert ... can hear them howling at night across the lake or when they make a kill up on the old logging roads.  When I would go out at night to load the outdoor boiler we used to have, I made sure the dogs were with me.

We did have a young moose in our area a few years ago ... they are usually farther east.  Travelling home after work one night and saw the eyes so automatically slowed down for the "deer."  As I got closer, I realized it was as tall as the road sign it was near and definitely not a "deer."

The bear on the deck wasn't a picnic either.  We don't keep garbage in the yard at all but he wandered in.  When I opened the door and let out a blast with the airhorn to get him moving, he turned and growled at me  Usually they take off but this one took his sweet time and won that round!

Eagles are more frequent visitors close to the house than the owls ... can hear them but don't often see them.


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## Shari (Dec 2, 2014)

Neighbor called me earlier this week.  A coyote got a dog in the neighborhood this last weekend. 

Guess I will have to keep a close eye on our 16+yr old partially blind/partially deaf pooch.


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## Lake Girl (Dec 2, 2014)

Keep a good eye out ... the old pooch probably can't smell too well now either so won't be very effective in telling you there's invaders in the yard.

We've lost a couple of cats over the years ... one we figure an eagle got because she loved to sun herself on the large part of the driveway.  Over the 20 years we've been here, we have been worried about the dogs out wandering too long in case the wolves were close.  My current girl usually is on a 15' leash when out walking ... she does occasionally sneak away when we're out working in the yard but I've always been able to find her in about 15 minutes.

Her nose is pretty sensitive and she's not bashful about heading for home when there's something that worries her...


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## pen (Dec 2, 2014)

Lake Girl said:


> Her nose is pretty sensitive and she's not bashful about heading for home when there's something that worries her...



With those sort of concerns around, she's a smart one!


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## Lake Girl (Dec 2, 2014)

But it's the fireworks or thunderstorms that gets her every time


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## Cynnergy (Dec 3, 2014)

Lots of cougars here this year.  Had real trouble with one getting kicked out of the den but we figure didn't ever figure out how to hunt.  He ended up on a neighbour's porch chewing on his leather shoes .  The conservation officer kept him from a slow death.


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## firefighterjake (Dec 3, 2014)

Shari said:


> Neighbor called me earlier this week.  A coyote got a dog in the neighborhood this last weekend.
> 
> Guess I will have to keep a close eye on our 16+yr old partially blind/partially deaf pooch.



We've got a pack of them around our house . . . a few less though after last night . . . wife was out with the dog around midnight letting him do his business and she said she heard some of their howling followed a minute later by a gun shot and a little while later another gun shot . . . guessing there may be one or two less coyotes around the place.'

As to the original question . . . coyotes, bobcat, turkeys, deer and the usual small animals.


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## Osage (Dec 8, 2014)

Our neighbor raises buffalo. A while back we had his 2000# bull in our yard. Ground was soft and had tracks about the size of a 3 gal. bucket all over the yard.
Neighbor forgot to latch the gate.
The old bull fortunately was a big teddy bear.


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## Lake Girl (Dec 8, 2014)

Update on the wolf ... may be the one that the neighbour down the lake shot.  Don't know the details on the how and why but found out there was a pack of 5 or 6 down the lake.  Not sure if the wolf that was shot was with the pack or lone.  Lone wolves may be a bit more desperate for food as pack hunting is the most efficient.  Haven't seen any fresh tracks since the first set...


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## Knots (Dec 10, 2014)

A bear, some moose, deer, LOTS of turkeys, coyotes, and a goodly amount of owls.

I saw a wolf in Glacier Park in MT.  It left an impression on me due to the size and the fact that we were three days from anywhere without a firearm (that was the law at the time).


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## Rossco (Dec 10, 2014)

Yeah I seen one a while back (Wolf) while getting wood in a remote area. Big and grey.

Shoot on sight.

If you don't have a weapon just keep the saw running.

Don't mess with them, 3 times the bite of a GSD.

Usual Rockies Mountain wildlife. Not had any Moose or Wolves in town that I know of. The odd dump bear and deer.


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## Lake Girl (Dec 10, 2014)

Dump bear   We've definitely got them too ... along with dump Eagles and Turkey Vultures.


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## WiscWoody (Dec 10, 2014)

Lots of wildlife here. You can hear the Coyotes howling and yelping most nights. I've heard them or a wolf taking down a animal once and it put a chill down my spine! It sounded like they were hungry Lol. Here's  a Bobcat trail from we could figure that I posted in another thread. We figured the cat was dragging a rabbit.


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## Lake Girl (Dec 10, 2014)

I've heard the howling here too ... just appreciate that it has always been far off.  Bobcat or cougar tracks?  Bobcat shows no claws not sure about cougars.

Deer appears to have returned to the area - it was missing for a few days but tracks were out there yesterday.  Silly pup has to stop and sniff all the bunny tracks!


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## WiscWoody (Dec 10, 2014)

One of my nieghbors goes up to Canada often to hunt and fish and he just gushes about how the bag limits are so much more lenient since the numbers are stout enough to support them and what a experience it is to hunt and fish there! And this area is no hunting and fishing flunky either. The world record Muskelunge has been caught more than once a few miles from here on the Chippewa Flowage but the Deer numbers are down from the tough winters and letting hunters bag however many doe they practically wanted for years.now it's Buck only for awhile.


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## Lake Girl (Dec 10, 2014)

May just be perception because of a new experience... May just be a really experienced guide who knows his neck of the woods!

Friends with some folks in northern Minnesota - deer have definitely been over hunted with too many looking for the "trophy".  Leaves very little in the gene pool to keep building on and overall size will diminish.  Although there is some movement across the Rainy river, our deer still seem to be larger.


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## CaptSpiff (Dec 10, 2014)

It is truly amazing how things differ in this vast country, and how different parts of the country handle situations. Here on the eastern half of Long Island the deer population is out of control. It's hard to plant anything from the nursery without it being eaten overnight.

What's our solution: hire Federal (USDA) contractors to shoot deer from the back of pickups with night vision scopes and silenced rifles. The goal is to cull 3000 deer. First time I've seen Animal Activists and local Hunters standing together, equally outraged.

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/...al-sharpshooters-sights-this-winter-1.6573185

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/19/n...-a-plan-to-cull-deer.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Of course the money was spent, but the results were a bit short of expectations.

http://suffolktimes.timesreview.com...200-deer-killed-in-225k-cull-that-didnt-work/

About a $1000 per deer. Our government at work.


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## Woodman37 (Dec 11, 2014)

Here lately there is a beagle dog who likes to run animals in the middle of the night. She is not quiet about it either. Also was noticing the outside cats food missing very quickly. I noticed movement outside one night and figured I'd caught the perpetrator.  So I flung the door open in an attempt to scare off whatever it was. I have never opened and closed a door that quickly because the food bandit was a skunk. Yikes he can have the food.


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## MishMouse (Dec 15, 2014)

We have bear, very large "feral cats" with long tails that look and act like a cougar, coyote, fisher, raccoons, and feral cats.

I know we don't have cougar because there are none in MN and all the ones that are captured on trail cams and even that one that got run over wasn't a cougar.   Even the family of them that my next door neighbor saw was just a family of very big "feral cats'.  Granted the buffalo farm that these "feral cats" have attacked and ripped apart was a great accomplishment for a "feral cat" and was blamed on the wolves with very long claws.

Honestly I would rather have a wolf in my area than those large "feral cats" that look exactly like a cougar.  There are many stories about how a wolf is not much a danger as movies put them out to be.  Wolves keep the more dangerous animals away from their area, like the cougar or the panther.  Now a coyote, that is another story.


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## Lake Girl (Dec 15, 2014)

Not many sightings but 14 verified in the last four years per DNR (trail cam photos, scat/hair DNA).  They generally stay away and into more remote areas...

FYI  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/27/nyregion/wild-cougar-traveled-east-1500-miles-tests-find.html?_r=0

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2012/06/14/environment/cougars-bounce-back

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mammals/cougar/index.html

I guess you can believe what you prefer ... but isn't a cougar a very large feral cat?  I know what I saw with my own eyes 150 miles east of here!


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## Jags (Dec 15, 2014)

Lake Girl said:


> I guess you can believe what you prefer ... but isn't a cougar a very large feral cat? I know what I saw with my own eyes 150 miles east of here!



Hmmm...I think I noted a bit of sarcasm in the "very large feral cats with long tails".


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## Lake Girl (Dec 15, 2014)

The next paragraph tends to refute the sarcasm but hard to tell with text


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## MishMouse (Dec 16, 2014)

It had a little sarcasm in it  though, the DNR in my area keeps telling people who spot a cougar that it was just a large feral cat.
They do not want to admit that there are cougars living in MN in fear that people would go out and shoot them.
They are a protected creature and it is against the law to shoot them even if they pose a threat to livestock or pets.

There actions to me points to a policy of trying to establish a colony in MN.

My thoughts on it are if you start seeing them become road kill there are more than just one or two in the state.


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## Adios Pantalones (Dec 16, 2014)

I met a wildlife officer that was telling me of all the bogus animal reports they get. Dogs being called wolves, house cats or bobcats being called cougars, and in a memorable incident- a black backed gull being called a sick bald eagle. 

I think they should have more than eye witness testimony before confirming any animal.


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## Jags (Dec 16, 2014)

Adios Pantalones said:


> I think they should have more than eye witness testimony before confirming any animal.



I agree.  That said, it took a picture of a black bear and the confirmed killing of two very large coyotes for our local DNR to admit to a local bear and wolf population (albeit - very small).


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## drizler (Dec 17, 2014)

MishMouse said:


> It had a little sarcasm in it  though, the DNR in my area keeps telling people who spot a cougar that it was just a large feral cat.
> They do not want to admit that there are cougars living in MN in fear that people would go out and shoot them.
> They are a protected creature and it is against the law to shoot them even if they pose a threat to livestock or pets.
> 
> ...





Encon does the same thing here in NY.     Border patrol had one on their camera circa 2004 just wandering around in a field.     Every now and again someone sees one briefly  including me driving to work late one night and their tracks are around.     Of course a couple years ago they made the announcement that the Eastern Cougar was extinct of all things.    Funny, I guess nobody told the cats.       
    I just laugh with the feral cat angle.    The one's that seem to always end up in my barn before they eventually graduate to my living room all weigh in at 10 lbs.  The big boys with tail and all are around 10' long.    I would say they are pretty hard to misidentify.
    No wolves around here gut the occasional drifter but the coyotes swarm this place.  Most of those are the size of small wolves.   The older ones are terrified of horses who usually attack them on sight.   Strangely the young ones will just wander around with them.     Last month we had something I never saw before.    One of them was wandering around behind  my daughters horse gobbling the road apples as fast as they hit the ground.   Weird and stupid.      
    Lot's of wild turkey around here too.  They tend to come out in the fields more at some times of the year than others so you don't always see them.    We had a mother and 11 chicks hanging around here all last summer right in the yard.    Mother didn't like that dumb young coyote much .   She marched right up to him one day and stared him right down.   The one time he did half rush at them they flew away.    That's the one time I ever saw a turkey actually fly any distance.   Guess what they fly as well as any other bird.


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## Adios Pantalones (Dec 17, 2014)

drizler said:


> Encon does the same thing here in NY.     Border patrol had one on their camera circa 2004 just wandering around in a field.     Every now and again someone sees one briefly  including me driving to work late one night and their tracks are around.     Of course a couple years ago they made the announcement that the Eastern Cougar was extinct of all things.    Funny, I guess nobody told the cats.
> I just laugh with the feral cat angle.    The one's that seem to always end up in my barn before they eventually graduate to my living room all weigh in at 10 lbs.  The big boys with tail and all are around 10' long.    I would say they are pretty hard to misidentify.
> No wolves around here gut the occasional drifter but the coyotes swarm this place.  Most of those are the size of small wolves.   The older ones are terrified of horses who usually attack them on sight.   Strangely the young ones will just wander around with them.     Last month we had something I never saw before.    One of them was wandering around behind  my daughters horse gobbling the road apples as fast as they hit the ground.   Weird and stupid.     .


They are hard to misidentify... but it seriously happens all the time. My understanding is that the cats have a range of about 200 miles that they may roam at certain times of the year, so what constitutes a "local population" may not always be easy to define.

There's a lot of undigested stuff in horse crap. Now- I aint gonna make soup out of it, but coyotes are not dumb- they have mad survival skills.


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## Lake Girl (Dec 17, 2014)

MishMouse said:


> It had a little sarcasm in it  though, the DNR in my area keeps telling people who spot a cougar that it was just a large feral cat.



Deny, deny, deny per DNR rule book?  Guess I figured you worked for DNR and didn't catch it as sarcasm   You would think they would let folks know they are there and *protected *and what that actually means (difference between nuisance and threat).  DNR stresses there are no breeding pairs in the state but that seems unlikely too.  I know MNR denied their existence here for a lot of years.  Sightings are rare because of their preference for remote areas... the one I saw was in a logged over area.

From the little bit I read, the males have to wander a bit to find their home turf as two will not share a hunting area.  Not hard to figure you will get dispersal that keeps on widening as the population rebuilds.


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## MishMouse (Dec 17, 2014)

These are some of the things that go through my head at 2:00 AM and I am unable to sleep.

What I picture when they say there are no breeding pairs in MN is the following.
Boy is starting to get romantic. 
Girl cougar says to the boy cougar, "Stop honey we have to wait till we are out of MN !"

To the idea of none living in the state, do the cougars carry GPS so they know when they cross the state line?
And if so what carrier do they use to get such good coverage?

Or do they say to one another "Can't live here we are still in MN"
Do the deer in MN taste different than in the Dakotas?
Maybe the cougars are not Vikings fans?

A new bumper sticker for the MN DNR, "The Vikings are so bad that the cougars don't even want to live here."


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## Jags (Dec 17, 2014)

MishMouse - get out of my head.  That is the type of thinking that I have to filter out to have a normal conversation.


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## Lake Girl (Dec 17, 2014)




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## WiscWoody (Dec 25, 2014)

Not much left of this Coyote after the Eagles, Hawks and Crows have picked the meat from the bones! A neighbor shot this one on the lake and another one that came up to check it out.


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## Lake Girl (Dec 25, 2014)

Picked pretty clean ...


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## bag of hammers (Dec 26, 2014)

Lake Girl said:


> Picked pretty clean ...


Used to hear the wolf packs regularly around the back 40 at night.  Some nights it would make the hair on the back of your neck stand straight up.  Coyotes on the ice crossing the bay was pretty common.  Moose on the road, one staring in the front patio door one afternoon (no deck there yet).  Deer population growing in the area last few years.  Lately though things seem to have slowed up a bit, not seeing much out in the sticks - then last week I have both feet on the brakes trying to avoid running over a coyote as it ran across a busy street on the north end of the city - ran right up the police station driveway.


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## simple.serf (Dec 27, 2014)

We get the coyotes from time to time, it's the reason we make sure the birds are locked in at night.  We had a mink get into our poultry barn last year, killed half the flock. It really does suck to haul beheaded chickens out by the barrel load to burn. We have seen some fishers on trail cams, and seen some tracks, but nothing near the barn.


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## OhioBurner© (Dec 29, 2014)

Lake Girl said:


> I enjoy my walks with my GSD but sometimes it can be like walking a turtle  With the snow, tracks become a big item of interest that has to be sniffed over multiple times and followed.  We can tell when the neighbour has gone out with his dog and track movements of the snowshoe hares, deer, fox.  The occassional fishers have come close.
> 
> Hubby and I were gone for two days and when I talked to my daughter, she mentioned that the dog wouldn't go very far and all but drug her home on her last walk of the night.  Since we got home after dark, I couldn't examine the tracks that the dog so badly wanted to follow... since the scent must have dissipated ... until today.  Turns out we must have had a wolf pass through - came off the ice into the neighbours yard, crossed over ours and followed the driveway out.  Paw prints seem to be a 1/4" to 1/2" bigger than my girl's prints (she's 27" tall).  Not the first time, likely not the last...
> 
> ...


I kind of wish I had your problems... way to boring around here. Occasional whitetail deer and coyote is about it. A couple years there was a pheasant that hung around the house, that's about the most exciting thing I remember...


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## Lake Girl (Dec 29, 2014)

I'm not sure if I still have the photo (hard drive croaked on old computer) but a couple of  years ago we had a partridge in a birch tree at Christmas 

Wolf is still in the area but not too close to the house ... still seeing tracks farther out on our walks.  Took the pepper spray with us the other day and when we got home realized it probably wouldn't work because of the cold effect on the propellant.   Back to the filet knife on my belt idea....  I have to admit I'm more spooked on our last walk of the day - ice is building so it's making lots of noise and the drop in temps are making trees react to the cold


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## Lake Girl (Jan 6, 2015)

CBC Manitoba report of a mating pair (well Mamma and her cub) near Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba - about 5 hours north west from our location.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/cougar-and-cub-sighting-at-victoria-beach-1.2890242


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## Charlotte987 (Jan 10, 2015)

A flock of  wild turkeys, on a back country road. First time I've ever seen turkeys this far north, it was a surprise. Camping this summer (nw quebec), a wolf came close to our fire, I grabbed the dog (he was 14 at the time) and put him the car. He used to go absolutely ballistic when he smelled bear or wolf, but fourteen is too old to tangle with any of those creatures. Not that I would let him get a chance anyway. 

Deer are sighted all the time on the trans canada trail near the house, moose as well. When I snowshoe I've seen rabbits, a small ferret type creature, a pair of martens once (the dog made this funny hysterical bark, not in fear, it was a different excited bark), a couple years back. Passed a coyote once, walking at night, saw the silhouette in the moonlight. 

There have been bear sighted pretty close too, my neighbor said, but I've not seen them myself. Lots of birds, ducks, geese, a hawk or two, a pair of golden eagles and even a blue heron this summer at the river. A lot of woods border where I live, so anything can happen.


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