Archive for ‘February 7th, 2009’

A walk completed

Karl left the bedroom closet about 2 hours after we returned from our walk cut short – and asked to go outside. He went out and picked a usual spot in the snow to lie and survey his territory.

Later, we set off for our usual late afternoon walk. He stopped at the spot where we turned around earlier. I stayed quiet and let him decide. He went on and I followed. I did not see any tracks that were not mine, his or deer but he stayed on my snowshoe path and kept his nose to the ground. When we got to a spot maybe 250 yards from the house he got excited and started off the path. The deep mushy snow was too much – I called him back. He seemed grateful to be called. He was not anxious or overly alert – more curious…sniffing the air and the ground. So…I don’t know, but something was “off” earlier and it appeared there were remnants of it in the air, but we completed our walk uneventfully. If not for the earlier unusual return, I would have thought nothing of his attention to the area near home.

While nothing of note “happened” on the walk, the scenery was spectacular:

And on our return, as I fired up the grill – from the front porch:

This may be the closest I get to a full moon photo. The forecast does not look good for the night of the full moon. But tonight, it is a beautiful evening and we had a walk completed.

A walk cut short

My tweet (see Snippets of Life to the right) on our walk cut short, prompted several emails and twitter messages so some more detail…

A normal start to a normal walk. It was above freezing and slushy-crusty snow. I stayed on top in snowshoes, but Karl occasionally lost his footing sometimes breaking through snow that is 12-14 inches deep.

I stopped to take some photos of the mountains at about the 1/4 point.

I stopped again just past the 1/2 way mark. While I was stopped the second time and we were in a gulley, Karl headed back a bit – uphill. I thought he just wanted to poke around up there or be where he could see. I started on, called him and he came and took his normal place ahead of me. We had just started when he stopped, laid his ears back and turned around. He kept looking back toward what would be a spot just north of the northeast corner of my property.

I suspect either a gunshot or possibly a distant clap of thunder that I couldn’t hear. While thunder would be unusual, it is not unheard of. According to NOAA an “upper-level” disturbance moved through this morning. Often we will get one clap of thunder as a front passes.

Karl does not like either gunshots or thunder, but has been doing much better with gunshots recently. Thunder is tougher as a loud, unexpected clap startles me also and I’m sure he picks up on that.

I was asked if I thought it was a bear. It is early for bears to be out and he is not frightened of them. He sticks his nose straight up in the air, catches the scent and then barks like crazy – it is a beardog behavior and any time he has done that, we’ve either seen a bear, bear sign or not seen anything else. Deer he smells, sees and chases or barks at. We’ve been close to coyote and he definitely knows they are not dogs. He stays alert but does not act anxious or frightened and does not turn away. I don’t know that we’ve been near wolves or mountain lion. I would expect a similar reaction to wolves as to coyote. Mountain lion is the real question in my mind – that would be the one animal that he might have concern about. But he didn’t act like he smelled anything so I go back to a sound that wasn’t right to him.

Although he was ahead of me and came home at a trot, he stopped repeatedly to check where I was and waited several times for me to get closer. I didn’t call to him, just followed. We came right to the house. He went in and immediately to the bedroom closet which is his safe spot – again, leading me to believe it was a noise. I think if it was an animal, he would have tried to look out the windows once inside.

The only odd thing – he has headed back to the house before when there has been thunder, but has always taken the shortest route. This time, with a straight shot of maybe 400 yards on a path we use every day, he was insistent on going back the way we came – the longest way – and even when we got to the property he did not take one of our direct paths but went to the driveway and then towards the house with caution.

That is the whole story as I know it. I wish he could tell me more! If he’s ready to go out this afternoon, I’ll go out to where he was looking and see if there are any tracks.

This is the point where I now get emails questioning my walking alone in the “wilds” of Montana. My thoughts on that:

With all of the people that are out and about in wilderness areas, there are very few encounters and even less attacks on people.

I walk with respect for the animals and the land. We (humans) are not part of their normal food chain. We get into trouble when we do something that puts them on the defense of themselves or their young or if they are sick and we are opportunity.

I pay attention to wind direction, to sounds, to smells, to Karl’s behavior.

I carry pepper spray, in an easily accessible holster, that I practice with. I don’t have guns as I’m not interested in doing the training I think would be necessary to be proficient enough to bring down a charging wild animal in the heat of the moment. The rangers carry pepper spray, they have guns also, but they recommend and use the spray. It is immediately debilitating to beast (or man) and the “target” will recover.

I love being out in the woods and the quiet – I’m alert and cautious but not fearful.