Bears and a ridge hike

I've got bear fever - I can't forget my moments at the den or the precious video of the sow coming outside the den that I've posted on the past two days.

I realized that it was fascinating that NO other animals visited the bear den even just to sniff the entrance. I expected to see at least a few, perhaps a cat or coyote. However, the other forest animals left the bears in peace.

I also have researched other den observations to find out whether other bears exit the den to relieve themselves. I've found reports of bears exiting and then eating snow or defecating. However, I haven't yet found any reports of urination. It seems like a crazy thing to be researching but I really want to know whether something's going awry with our sow's health. Several of you mentioned insulin and possible diabetes, and that's one of the issues that I'm researching. So far, the various studies don't completely agree with each other - so I'm working on distilling a common conclusion.

Several of you commented on my last two posts about the danger of going so near a den, especially one containing a sow with a cub. Yet, I never felt afraid in my last two visits. I think that the main reason is that the bears are deeply sleepy. In fact, in my videos of the sow exiting the den for brief periods, she moved in slow motion, probably because her heart rate and respiratory rate were still sloth-like. A bear can't rev up her metabolism to normal levels very rapidly.

I think that a second factor might be at work. The sow and yearling have seen me three times now, and I wonder if they recognized me. I felt certain that, if I'd relaxed tranquilly by the den on Friday, the sow would've simply snoozed and ignored me. According to researchers at the North American Bear Center, a bear can learn to recognize individual people - and remember whether that person was a threat in the past. According to the anecdotal reports of those researchers, bears do NOT generalize this trust to all people but limit it to the individual who they know. I hope that's true.

At that Bear Center, they've placed a live video camera inside the den of a bear who gave birth to a cub earlier this year. Most of the time, the live feed shows a deeply sleeping mama bear with the cub hidden underneath her. She breathes so slowly, only a few times a minute, that it's sometimes hard to tell that she's alive.

However, they also have a gallery of video clips of the more interesting moments.

Today, our whole pack climbed up to a ridge that I frequently ride on my mountain bike. Of course, I haven't ridden it in close to two months. But, it's one of my favorite ridges close to our house with stupendous views to the west...
... and to the east.
K had never visited this trail despite how often I mountain bike on it because it's too far from home to ride to it with her. She and I tend to ride on the trails accessible directly from our house. I have a serious aversion to driving someplace to go for a bike ride!
The snow conditions varied dramatically, from no snow...
...to packed snow that R sprinted across...
...to deep loose snow that K porpoised through.
The Labraduo frolicked in the intense rays from the sun, arcing so high in the sky these days. Notice the short shadows of the dogs in the previous photos.
And then, both panted to cool off after sprinting around like puppies.
Being a dark colored dog in the intense Colorado sun can lead to getting hot very easily!
No doubt, spring-time is sneaking up on us. However, I looked back at my photos from March 7 a few years ago, and we had a fresh 2 ft of snow. March and April frequently bring us our biggest snow storms, like last April's 4' of heavy wet snow. So, the forecast is uncertain, except that it will eventually be spring. And, I intend to ride my bike in the spring! There's no stopping me!

More hibernating bear action

K and I had a glorious hike, under bluebird skies with towering snowy mountains watching over us. I spent almost the whole hike without my neck brace, and I can literally feel my neck muscles relearning how to control my head movements. The docs and PT have emphasized that important muscles for controlling my head motion were cut during my fusion surgery. As the muscles heal, my body must relearn how to use them. In any case, I can feel that process speeding along.

K had to use her neck muscles to look over her shoulder at the view today.Then, K impishly surveyed the top of Hug Hill and created a new trick. I love when she takes initiative and then looks so proud of herself!After returning from our hike and completing my indoor bike ride, I spent hours researching bear hibernation. I'll save the fun details for later since I'm short of time today but I'd like to finish recounting our den visit from yesterday.

First, yesterday I thought that I hadn't seen a trace of the yearling cub. However, upon closer examination of my first photo into the bear den, I realized that I could see the yearling cub in the background. In fact, Stella alerted me to it, by pointing out that she'd seen a pair of eyes when she magnified the photo. When I looked hard, I felt certain that it was the cub's eyes and not the mom's. Part of the reason is that mom has lost the fur around her eyes (see yesterday's photos) probably due to a common dermatitis that some bears get during hibernation. The eyes visible in the photo below don't have the same tan circles around them as the mom's eyes have. Click on the photo to magnify it.As we approached the den yesterday, we realized that a bear had walked out of the den (upper right corner of photo) very recently. Paw prints tromped out and a spot of deep yellow urine had melted a tunnel down into the snow. Deep yellow indicates a lack of hydration but the fact that the bear urinated at all is surprising. Yes, now I have photos of urine on my blog as well as scat - more ammunition for my funny friends.Bear's bodies have special tricks to recycle the toxins that are usually excreted in urine so that bears can go all winter without drinking or urinating. I'm a little surprised that the sow has been eating snow and peeing. I'm going to do more research to find out if scientists have observed that some bears do these things during hibernation - so far I haven't found reports of bears getting up to pee.

In the video below, the sow emerges from the den on the evening after a warm day. Because of the darkness, she spotted the red light emitted by my infrared camera. She seemed rattled by the new sight. However, after exiting the den very cautiously, she took care of business. It fascinated me how she walked to almost the identical spot to urinate as on 2/17/10, propping her hind paws on a log so that her urine didn't soil her fur. I wonder if she's used this den for a number of years and has figured out the ideal routine for a quick pee outside the den.



Now, I must patiently wait, letting our bears hibernate in peace. Believe it or not, that waiting is hard for me - I love being in the presence of the powerful bear souls.

Visiting a black bear den

K and I headed out for a morning hike into a cold and windy day, with little sun filtering through the clouds.
Our goal today was to make a big circle around the bear den to find out if the sow and yearling had been up and ambling around their territory. To avoid disturbing the bears, we stayed fairly far away from the den. Thus, we'd only find bear tracks if the ursines had walked a long way.

As you can see below, the trail where I see my first bear tracks most springs was a blank slate - no bear signs.
Despite searching extensively in a large area around the den, we found no bear tracks in the snow.

Consequently, because today's cold weather wasn't replicated in the foreseeable weather forecast, I decided that my partner and I would visit the den this afternoon. We needed to change memory cards in the existing wildlife camera, replace its batteries, and add an additional camera.

This time, we knew the best route to approach the den. We quietly hiked from above. Believe it or not, the den sat in the center of this photo about 20 ft from us, below a snow-covered boulder. Again, I was astounded by my good luck in literally stumbling upon it back in early February.
As we took a few more steps down toward the den, we saw tracks outside the den entrance. The small hole leading into the den sat just below the gnawed fallen tree trunk in the middle of the photo.
Since we knew that it last snowed a week ago, we surmised that the tracks were less than a week old. So, we moved very cautiously in the direction of the den. It became obvious that the tracks were ursine even from a distance. The rear paw tracks were shaped like human tracks, with deep heel impressions, toes, and nails.
Without peeking in the completely silent den and possibly riling up two bears, we went straight to work on the cameras. We took turns dealing with the cameras and standing guard. We each had a big can of pepper spray but fervently hoped not to disturb the bears.

Once we'd set up one wildlife camera to shoot video and the other to shoot still photos (both infrared), we peeked in the den. Initially, I saw only black bear fur. The mama bear still lay across the den entrance and looked asleep, completely unperturbed by our work on the cameras.
Then, she opened her eyes and lazily looked at me. I didn't feel even vaguely threatened. She looked sleepy and peaceful.
Within seconds, she decided that I was too boring to keep her awake. She laid her head down, with one eye still on me.
In no time at all, she was back asleep, eyes closed and snoozing. The branch hid her head in the photo below, but it's resting on the floor of the den. From what I've read, the sow likely lined the floor with pine boughs before she and her cub retired to the den early in the winter.
I didn't see the yearling cub today. I suspect that the youngster was sleeping deeply behind his mother. Our video coverage doesn't show that anything nefarious happened to him - that was my greatest worry when I didn't see him in the den. On the hike home, I conjured up wild scenarios where a mountain lion somehow ate the cub. We found no video evidence of the cub ever leaving the den.

When we arrived home, we anxiously checked the precious memory card containing video since our last visit. We were pleased beyond words that the bears didn't stir for almost two weeks after our last visit. Obviously, we didn't disturb them too much. My greatest fear is scaring them into moving their den or into wasting energy checking outside the den.

The sow stirred almost two weeks after we'd put up the camera. She emerged from the den at about 10 AM, voraciously eating snow, stretching her front limbs, and then turning her large rump toward the camera. She then urinated but the video cut away in the midst of it. The wildlife camera paused to check for continued activity after a minute and then resumed recording when it sensed that the sow was still outside the den. The remainder of the video shows the sow gracefully sliding into the narrow den opening to go back to sleep.

The video is NOT in slow motion. Rather, the sow moved languidly, like caffeine-deprived KB early in the morning. I could imagine her sighing softly as she settled back into the den and sleep overtook her once again.



Intriguingly, many descriptions of bear hibernation say that they don't ingest any water or food all winter long. Moreover, according to these sources, they don't urinate. Hmmm, my sow has decided to break the mold!

From our memory card, we also discovered that the sow had made another foray outside the den just yesterday. I'll collate that video for tomorrow's post.

I find nothing as fascinating and exciting as these glimpses of a wild animal's natural life. If I hadn't been worried about disturbing the bears or habituating them to humans, I might have sat with them for a while. Their winter sleeping den felt so tranquil that I didn't want to leave.

Mountain LIon Day 1 and the Labraduo hike

I've had rough 24 hours with my neck so this post will be short. On the easier days, I forget about the roller coaster ride of recovery and assume that I've made a huge step forward. Then, boom, reality hits. I seem to be on the upswing again so the ride goes on!

First, I completed editing and correcting the time stamps on the first 24 hours of my footage of the mountain lion eating and covering the mule deer that he'd just killed. I've included every single photo that we obtained for that time period. Now, I'm working Day 2. What an awesome creature this lion is.



For the first time since my neck surgery, I took the Labraduo, rather than solely K, on my morning hike. R's exuberance lifted my spirits amazingly. This boy can get frantically happy over a simple stick, tossing it into the air, pouncing on it, and carrying it for miles. His uplifting spirit helps both me and K.

We tromped up to Hug Hill, through spring-like corn snow. The snowy mountain views made me smile, especially with the Labraduo in the foreground!
We then followed an obscure trail that no one but our own pack has used all winter. At one instant, both R and K stood stock still, noses high in the air, and bodies stiff. I knew that they both had picked up a scent that they wanted to chase. Their body language screamed it to me. Fortunately, K didn't bolt but looked to me first. And, R followed his big sister's lead.
A quick recall averted any bad behavior. K was barely visible a few yards behind R.
We didn't find anything momentous on our trail, except tracks from the elusive and rare pine marten, even though no one else had tread there. But, I had a blast in the company of both canines.
Our evening hike glowed orange under the sunset. Both canines were wired with excitement over a scent that I couldn't perceive. It'll be interesting to explore tomorrow to figure out what had them in such a tizzy!

Quiet walk and dog toe nails

Rumor has it that a pack of wolves moved into Northern Colorado. After my heartbreaking experience seeing a slaughtered wild canine yesterday, I can't help but worry about a wolf pack's future. I hope that our great state can muster a reasonable spirit and find a path to re-establishing this beautiful species. We need our predators to have a balanced ecosystem, even if their presence causes humans fear. In the West, we've learned to live with mountain lions, and in fact, some people exult in their existence. I hope that the same spirit moves people to welcome wolves.

K and I headed out this morning with the goal of treading in new wild places where we'd never gone before. As we hurried along human-traveled trails, K exuded high energy.
While we hiked on trails, I practiced walking on slippery and uneven, but packed, trails without my neck brace. As I carried it with me, K decided to try it on. At first, she didn't seem to mind it.But then, her facial expression looked just like mine when I have to wear it - very uncomfortable. Don't worry, I took off right after this photo!
I walked a grand total of 1.5 miles this morning completely naked. Um, well, not completely naked, just without my neck brace. My routine is that I don't wear the brace when I'm on packed trails but then I tighten it down around my neck it when I head into uncharted territory where I can't see the rocks and downed trees below the snow. This routine will gradually lead to me never wearing the brace - but it will be a slow process.

As we fled the trails and plunged into the forest, I heard the yapping of our local dog pack and blindly hiked faster to disappear without a trace. To my surprise, I ended up on the same path as my kindred spirit followed a few years ago and marked with tiny flags to guide him on future adventures. I searched for the next flag, hoping to let him guide me through my hike, but many flags were submerged in snow. However, it seemed ironic that, out of the thousands of acres of wildlands surrounding our home, we each chose to walk the same path through the forest albeit separated by a few years.
As we followed our whims and K's nose, winding through the forest, the maze of animal trails amazed me yet again. The animals all use the same trails, packing them down, and making travel more efficient. We followed their paths for the same reason.
We found bobcat tracks crossing this path, and then bobcat fur stuck to the snow. I wonder if the bobcat wriggled on his back here? Or, if he simply lay down for a rest? I'll never know. In this old snow with a rough crust, tracking is difficult.
As we tromped through deep snow in an endless forest of pine trees, I caught a glimpse of our mountains. I love those peeks that seem to cast an alpine light on the deep dark recesses of the forest.
After an uneventful hike, I decided to head for the view point that K and I discovered the other day. We sat, side-by-side, on a boulder and gawked.
Then, in an upwelling wind carrying air from the canyon below us, K's body language told me that she'd caught the distant scent of the bear den. When she continually sniffed and stared in one direction, I asked my GPS to show me where the den was. Her nose aligned perfectly with the arrow on the GPS.
We're in a streak of warm weather, and I need a cold day to visit the den. I plan to replace the memory card and the batteries in the wildlife camera currently recording video by the den. And, I plan to add a second camera (also infrared) that will record still photos when the bears emerge from their cavern. I need a cold day for this den visit because my reading suggests that bears will be sleepier and less disturbed by my visit when it's wintery weather. It's rare for me to wish for cold weather at this time of year - but I'm wishing!

As a side note, R sustained a minor injury last weekend - a badly split toenail. Nail clipping is my specialty in our pack, and I'd slacked off since my surgery. So, his long nail split all the way up into the quick, and he cowered in pain. He ran on three legs, held up his sore paw when he sat, and acted miserable.

I'm including a video below because it's remarkable how much a simple training device called a MannersMinder has transformed nail-clipping sessions with R. This device releases treats either automatically at set intervals or when I hit a switch on a remote control. After I clipped his injured nail and the others, we put on boots to protect his split nail during a hike. I laughed and laughed at his crazy walking while he got used to the boots. I know... it's not nice to laugh but I can't help myself!

A noble coyote slaughtered

K and I started our hike with optimism and I had a bounce in my step. The skies beamed deep blue, and I had time to explore.
As we hiked toward our property boundary, I saw something that made me feel like a dead weight had fallen on my shoulders. Animal tracks veered off the trail and went about 20 yards. At the end of the tracks, a lump of reddish brown fur lay motionless. A few coyotes tracks, fresh, circled a dead coyote, as if they'd investigated which of their brethren had departed.
I'll spare you the detailed photos. I truly am not squeamish about this sort of thing, and I wanted to document how he'd died in case someone could be prosecuted so I took careful photos. This noble coyote was shot in the neck. Moreover, I recognized him as Nick Ear, the young coyote who often traveled alone and had a distinctive nick in his ear. You can't really see it in my photo but I wanted one last photo of his ear.
I called our Division of Wildlife because some evidence hinted that someone had trespassed onto our property to shoot him. I was informed that coyotes are deemed to be varmints here so it's open season on them all year long. In fact, a land owner can shoot a coyote for the sole transgression of traveling across their land - as if a coyote understands the human concept of property boundaries. In today's case, the only possible crime to prosecute was trespassing onto our land. Because I have no hard evidence of who did it or whether they shot from our land, no one will be prosecuted for killing this handsome creature.
He sometimes traveled as a third wheel with a bonded pair, who I suspect are a mating pair. Sometimes, my wildlife cameras captured signs of antagonism between him and his two cohorts. However, usually, they seemed happy to forage and hunt together. I suspected that Nick Ear was the youngest of the trio and would help the mated pair raise their young this spring. It's possible that he was one of last year's litter who hadn't left the territory yet. It's been documented numerous times that these young coyotes play a key role in raising their parents' subsequent litter.
Basically, our government doesn't care about these sentient, smart, dignified, and social beings. Except, they do care about his pelt. I was warned sternly by DOW that I was NOT allowed to take his pelt - as if the thought had even crossed my mind. At that point in the conversation, my anger and stress level rose so high that an ocular migraine launched its crazy light show. When that happened, I realized how truly upset I was.

Despite our horrible discovery early in the hike, I truly tried to have a fun hike with K. If nothing else, at least my own pack is intact. We did our usual wandering off-trail, finding bobcat tracks from early this morning when the snow crust remained frozen solid for him to walk atop it.
Lately, I seem to have the instincts of a bobcat when I follow my whim for where to hike. Those secretive creatures like the same terrain as I do, so we end up following similar paths. We both love the views from boulder outcroppings, like the one where I photographed my K.
After a hike in perfect Colorado weather, I trudged home, still feeling sad at the viciously cruel behavior of some humans. Here's to you Nick Ear - we loved sharing the forest with you.

Forest web of life

I've been having a hard time keeping up with life recently. My rehabilitation and exercise program seems to dominate my days, leaving a dwindling energy supply for posting some days. So, today will be a mostly photo blog, about my peaceful hike with K this morning.

We stayed off the trails, walking cross-country among the boulders and trees. As we hit the top of a ridge, I could hear our local dog pack and their human on the trail below us. K's response was to climb the highest boulder near us and sit regally overlooking her kingdom. I'm sure that she could see them from up there.
Then, without trying, we stumbled on bobcat tracks.
They led to the entrance of a deep cavern with low ceilings. The tracks showed that the bobcat had plunged into the subterranean hideaway at a slow walk and then departed in a similarly deliberate way. It looked like a perfect den for an animal to raise young. I wonder who has used it in the past.
The bobcat followed a narrow, almost knife-like ridge, to the west. I stopped to take a photo, not knowing that the views were about to get even better.
We continued following the tracks, and found that the cat had stood, leaving myriad paw prints, on the most prominant look-out point that I've ever found in our forest. All the trampling on the point was done by the cat, not by us. It was a glorious spot that I plan to visit again.
K, always cautious, surprised me by walking up to the same spot with meticulous care. Her first move was to look at the cliff below her.
Then, she surveyed her kingdom again.
The views were glorious.
As we descended the hillside below K's and the bobcat's look-out, we stumbled on a big pile of relatively fresh mountain lion scat.
Nearby, a trampled area caught my eye. It looked like a large animal had milled around this spot for quite a while within the past week. I suspect that we'd found a recent "day-bed" of a mountain lion, on an isolated south-facing slope.
At that moment, I measured the distance to the bear den. Although we stood on the opposite side of an imposing ridge that made the den feel like it was miles away, the shortest distance to the den was less than a quarter mile. I, for the thousandth time, pondered whether a cougar would ever attack and eat a hibernating bear. I wonder if the cougar has even checked out the den. My wildlife camera footage of the activity at the den's entrance will tell us... and I plan to go swap memory cards in the camera sometime soon.

After all these thoughts, I had to remind K that the forest definitely wasn't *her* kingdom!

I cannot imagine substituting a walk on a treadmill for my hikes with K like my doctor suggested. The forest web of life never ceases to intrigue me. And, the tranquility of the forest replenishes my strength and spirit almost every day.