Last Saturday night I went for a snowshoe in the back 40 (closer to back 200 than 40) on the Kents hill trails. The night was gorgeous! The moon so bright I could have read a book under her light. I took Huck with me. Murph Girl stayed by the house. She's getting on in years and not always up for a stroll. I take Huck. Enjoy our time, but always remember the epic hikes I’ve had with Murph. She's a true trail blazer! Anyway, Huck and I went out for about an hour. I could not believe the amount of snowshoe hare sign I saw. Some biologists do not think Hares cycle in population (Booms and Busts) in lower latitudes like they do in the Canadian provinces, but in my humble and informed opinion I see lots of evidence that hares are at or near a population peak right now in Maine. State biologists are finding more and more Lynx in Maine and this makes sense due to the fact that Lynx prey almost exclusively on hares. When I worked on a Lynx/Hare research project in Montana we found similar cycles there as well. I also came across many coyote tracks in pursuit of the bunnies and one set of bobcat tracks. Pretty cool! Tracking is so much fun for me and there is so much to learn in the woods from animal sign. Huck actually flushed a bunny and chased the hell out of it while I ran screaming at Huck. He came back bounding to me all smiles with no sign of malice in/on him. A Huckleberry is no match for a snowshoe hare that is supremely evolved to avoid and escape much more experienced hunters than my lover, not a fighter Hucklebear. The worst he did was cause the bunny to burn some valuable calories when it shouldn't have.
I wish I could have stayed out longer, but I rode 2 hours on the stationary bike at the August YMCA earlier in the afternoon and my body was spent. It won’t be the last time I take a moonlit snowshoe!
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