I decided to take a hike into a swamp I hadn’t been to in a couple years. I knew the beavers were working it a bit but that the water levels were pretty low so I could cross back and forth with little trouble.
The deeper I got the more deer sign I saw but I was hoping for bear sign or at least to see some coon and bob activity for later in the year. I have never seen a skunk cabbage field so beat up by deer. The dry swamp was littered with deer tracks and they were attacking the cabbage. In an area maybe a tenth of an acre, every skunk cabbage leaf was missing at least a bite, if not the whole leaf and deer tracks were everywhere. And talk about frogs..tons of them too.
Frog
As I went even farther into the swamp I saw what looked to be a bear track in the mud about 40 yards away. As I made my way over to it I could see that it was a boot print.
The first thing I thought was damn, why would they be way back here. Lol
Still no bear sign, but lots of deer tracks so I keep looking for a good spot for a trail cam and tree stand but nothing really jumped out at me as a good funnel. All the trails just seemed to wander from everywhere.
Pretty soon the swamp opened up to a beaver pond and my mind switched to possible trapping or camera locations. As I followed a trail where a beaver recently chewed some alders I found a nice run that went under a downed fir tree and straight to the lodge. I went for a closer look and when I looked on the other side of the fir tree….three crumpled pieces of paper towel smeared with something brown. !!!
After a steering clear of the land mine, I climbed a high spot for a better look and a few pics when I heard a small limb snap about 60 yards in front of me and on the other side of the pond.
I sat down and listened for a few minutes before pulling out the call and I heard the some brush noise moving to the left. I was not in a great spot but I started calling anyways. I called for about 15 minutes without hearing another sound.
Left
Middle
Right
Since my interest was up I decided to find a way to the other side and see if I could find any sign of what snapped the branch. While skirting the pond I found this little pile of bear crap. It was very old, but also the first bear sign I found in the area.
Bear poo.
When I made it over to where the noise started I found this medium sized track. But it was at least a week old.
Pic of bear track. Front and back
Front
Back
Not finding anything interesting and since it was getting late, I decided to head for home.
