By DENNIS APRILL, Outdoor Perspective
The first lasting snow of winter came late this year, but when it did come on Dec. 6, I was anxious to get out and see what's going on with the wildlife.
I view that initial snow cover as being like a giant dry-erase board, where animals and birds leave their markings for a short while until they are erased by a new layer of snow.
On my first trip out on snow-covered territory, I was surprised to find a fair amount of deer tracks. Deer sightings were scarce in my fall travels; however, with the snow, their hiding places were now less private. Along the way I observed a nice-sized 8-point buck with two does. The bigger doe just browsed along with the buck, but the small one, probably a member of this year's fawn crop, kept bothering the buck, like she was ready for action.
Ed Reed, Department of Environmental Conservation wildlife biologist, told me that between 5 to 7 percent of fawns in this age group will mate their first year, and they will come into heat late. But in this case, the young doe was too late to interest the buck; the rut was over for that 8-pointer. I will be looking for the shed antlers from this buck. As the days get shorter, the antler base granulates, then the antlers are either rubbed off or they just fall off the buck. I hope they are dropped in an easy-to-find place.
A short way farther on, an ermine zigzagged across the trail in front of me. It was creamy-white with the usual black tip on its tail.
Supposedly, the black tip is what really makes this animal almost invisible in a snowy landscape because the dark color draws the eye and breaks up the animal's outline against the pure white snow that often has dark twigs and sticks protruding from it.
I do know ermine and snowshoe rabbits (official name varying hares) change color in response to the decreasing daylight and not to the first snowfall because the day before Thanksgiving, with a 54-degree temperature, I easily saw a white snowshoe rabbit scamper on brown leaves into a dark brown forest. There are also other interesting things to discover on an early winter walk — fisher tracks cutting across the trail, the tiny parallel paw prints of a white-footed mouse near pale, dried-up swale grass, and the erratic blotches a fallen dead leaf makes as it is blown about by the wind.
As the season moves along, all this will become routine, but for now that first trip is a novelty. I hope all of you have some great outdoor experiences this winter — Happy Holidays!
E-mail Dennis Aprill at daprill2000@yahoo.com and check out our Web site at www.pressrepublican.com/0105_outdoor_perspective for more photos and past articles.
