animals

Sandy’s Notes – Trail Cam photo & Bear Signs

I “baited” the trail camera at Anders Bottom a few days ago. I had seen fresh otter, deer and turkey tracks along the stream so I was really excited about catching some of these critters on camera. For “bait” I used corn and sardines. Yum.

This morning I retrieved the photo card. This is what the "trail cam" recorded.

This summer we will have several trail cameras available for use. Just think how much fun we will have… Grand Slam by trail cam!

In the continuing search for new Green River camp sites, I explored the headwaters of Uncles Creek over the weekend. Along the way, I took this photo of a Chinese Chestnut planted in one of our wild-animal food plots. Notice the broken limbs. Look closer and you can see claw marks. If you are thinking bear, you are correct.

One of my mountain friends says that bear are wasteful. Bear will break off entire limbs or kill and entire tree to get at nuts or fruit. Deer, my friend explains, tend to prune rather than kill.

We saw fresh bear tracks in the snow beside the craft hut last week. Our bear apparently don’t take hibernation too seriously.

Disappearing Trout

Why are trout disappearing in the Green River and other mountain trout streams?

Green River, in years past, had a thriving population of large rainbow and brown trout. These fish were “native.” They were not stocked from fish hatcheries. They were born and bred in the cold, clear water of the Green River. My family has always been very proud of Green River’s trout and we have spent many happy years fly fishing for these native trophies. In recent years the big trout have all but vanished.

We are now searching for clues to this mystery by hiding a stream-side trail-cam at Newman’s Pool, the deep pool at the bottom of the Hemlock Field. The trail-cam is a motion activated digital camera that takes photographs both day and night.

Look who has been visiting the Green River!