Stalking

[Mistwalker]

This past Sunday I spent some time stalking

Lastly I was stalking my snacks...

Whilst I was stalking this sunset through the poplar wood

After a really loooooooong day of stalking various feral animals in the woods here to get current images for one of the slide show and lecture presentations I will be doing at the Chattanooga Overland Adventure in April.

 

[NoRest]

It looks like a nice day of stalking in the woods. I see you have a decent coyote population. I do a lot of predator stalking around here in my spare time. Your pics have inspired me to head out this afternoon as the weather is keeping me from work and I need some me time.

 

[NoRest]

Are those bobcat tracks in pic #7? They look a little smaller than what I see around here.

 

[Mistwalker]

It looks like a nice day of stalking in the woods. I see you have a decent coyote population. I do a lot of predator stalking around here in my spare time. Your pics have inspired me to head out this afternoon as the weather is keeping me from work and I need some me time.

Yeah the rains today and tonight give me hope of finding tracks in some of my favorite spots for tracking tomorrow morning. Did you have anyy luck? I found some obscure fox tracks on the edge of a local stream, and less obscure fox poop on a nearby rock, this evening before Alayna's youth fund raiser dinner at our church tonight.

Are those bobcat tracks in pic #7? They look a little smaller than what I see around here.

Yes, in pics 7 and 9. I find a few larger ones every now and then but most are this size. The bobcats here are smaller here than up in the mid-west and out west. They have been like that all m life. They are small here almost like in the everglades, but maybe a little bigger. I only ever see the cats themselves at night anymore.

 

[NoRest]

Yeah the rains today and tonight give me hope of finding tracks in some of my favorite spots for tracking tomorrow morning. Did you have anyy luck? I found some obscure fox tracks on the edge of a local stream, and less obscure fox poop on a nearby rock, this evening before Alayna's youth fund raiser dinner at our church tonight.



Yes, in pics 7 and 9. I find a few larger ones every now and then but most are this size. The bobcats here are smaller here than up in the mid-west and out west. They have been like that all m life. They are small here almost like in the everglades, but maybe a little bigger. I only ever see the cats themselves at night anymore.

I have a very healthy coyote population here. Everywhere I go there is some type of sign. I pushed a pair of coyotes out of a draw I was going through today. Its breeding season for them here so most are paired up. I like seeing them in the day but i hunt almost exclusively at night. There's an elevated level of excitement calling them in close in the dark. I also have a good population of bobcat. I see a lot of red fox too but these days they're almost always in town.

 

[Mistwalker]

I have a very healthy coyote population here. Everywhere I go there is some type of sign. I pushed a pair of coyotes out of a draw I was going through today. Its breeding season for them here so most are paired up. I like seeing them in the day but i hunt almost exclusively at night. There's an elevated level of excitement calling them in close in the dark. I also have a good population of bobcat. I see a lot of red fox too but these days they're almost always in town.

We have a very healthy coyote population here too. They decimated the quail population years ago, and I have been stalking them to see if they were going to have a similar effect on the rabbit population. But so far the rabbits seem to be doing okay. David and I started discussing this project several years ago when he first started building the trials training center and learned what was going to be there, but that a lot of the year there would be nothing big going on there. It's over 600 acres on a stocked trout river with other streams and waterfalls as well, and joins up with a large state forest. So there a LOT of wild area and wildlife there, making it a perfect location for classes, demonstrations, and presentations on wilderness skills. But then him getting a wife and me trying to get rid of one, plus other instances in our work lives caused several delays. I really wish I could have had the money to snag one of the original Protagonists for this and for the Tolkien Project, as that was the knife, in tapered 3/16 is perfect for me and I really wanted to carry one for this project. Even in 5/32 I maybe could have dealt with it, but when I bought one in tapered 1/8 it was really disappointing for me. It was simply much too light in hand to allow me to have the confidence I needed to be able to have in it out in the darker wilder places in these hills. You know me, I even prefer 5/32 on the smaller models. There is more issues in these hills than wild animals lol, the animals worry me the least. The weight distribution and lack of heft just made that particular Protagonist feel too much like carrying a really wicked looking kitchen knife, and Andy isn't going to make any more of them in what I consider the "right way" lol. So, since Ed makes knives for a lot of different wild places for his clients, I had him make the above knife that I needed for this particular project. It was a lesson in not getting too hung up on brand names when you have a serious job before you and need specific equipment to do it with. The Overland Adventure is being used as an intro and market test for several things. My doing weekend workshops there at least twice a year and possibly three or four seasons, is one of the things we have been working toward. That's why we are setting up to do both of my identification presentations, fauna and flora. I'm working with a data base I have spent the last ten years gathering images for, of as many stages of development and in as many circumstances as I can find, and I still work on that a little every week even to this day, making updates and keeping the best images and clearing out the more inferior ones.

 

[Aias]

Looks like a great time! My kids and I do something like that when we head out to the desert or mountains. Thanks for sharing, Brian!

 

[Mistwalker]

Looks like a great time! My kids and I do something like that when we head out to the desert or mountains. Thanks for sharing, Brian!

Thanks man, glad you enjoyed the post. Yes, Alayna loves to check out the tracks we find when we go hiking. and she will even be participating in my lectures this spring and later by assisting me with my demonstrations as I speak. But when I go out seeking encounters and really good images, I always go alone. LOLOL she makes waaaaaay too much noise for that.

 

[Aias]

Thanks man, glad you enjoyed the post. Yes, Alayna loves to check out the tracks we find when we go hiking. and she will even be participating in my lectures this spring and later by assisting me with my demonstrations as I speak. But when I go out seeking encounters and really good images, I always go alone. LOLOL she makes waaaaaay too much noise for that.

Very cool! And yeah, totally agreed--when my kids are on the trail with me, there's no stalking to be done. You can probably hear us for miles

 

[Mistwalker]

Very cool! And yeah, totally agreed--when my kids are on the trail with me, there's no stalking to be done. You can probably hear us for miles

Yeah, I'm pretty sure animals miles away are aware of Alayna's presence in the woods when she's with me, but she makes me laugh and smile, and I really need and like having that in my life. So I save the hikes when I need quiet for other times.

 

[Aias]

G

Yeah, I'm pretty sure animals miles away are aware of Alayna's presence in the woods when she's with me, but she makes me laugh and smile, and I really need and like having that in my life. So I save the hikes when I need quiet for other times.

good man, great dad