One thing I love about the snow is how you can tell something has been around.
Not always sure what the something is, but its cool seeing their tracks. Here are a few examples.....

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Lets see some that you have taken pics of!

New mail carrier. Took a short cut. Found fish pond!

Click to view attachment

Great one Astrobleme!!

Too funny! Guess he learned its not always wise to take a short cut when doing ones job.

Great subject for photography Denise!
I have to admit that I searched my archives and did not have anything I felt was worthwhile.
Then I looked out the back window and saw this!

I took this shot moments ago, before the wind could erode it any further. Looks like a large bird (2ft + wingspan) stopped by for a quick mouse snack this afternoon!

Too funny Astrobleme..... Hopefully the heater in their jeep was working good for those wet feet. Delivery person probably was doing one of these the rest of that day......

Very cool shot Swizz, that's awesome!
Hawk (possibly) stopped in to grab a lunch snack? and whoosh! off it went.
Nice picture thanks for sharing it.

CP

Fantastic picture Swizz! You definately have the eye for photography, thats a very cool shot. Good job!

I think I have identified what caused the prints i posted above....
First shot is of a Kangaroo Rats prints......coming and going?
The second shot is of a wee bunnys tracks.


I wont be able to take anymore pics right now of tracks........as we have no snow here right now.

I took a picture of these prints when we were out cutting firewood. An abominable snowwoman maybe?

Looks like a big ol Bear in that neck of the woods.

Good one Swizz but nope, it's a camera shy barefooted logger woman sportin' a wrangler pant leg cuff. Can be rather "bearish" if you try to take away the chocolate though!

'lil bigfoot!

mystery tracks..... any guesses?
I woke up to see that something made a beeline for the back yard last night. All the way across the frozen wetland
Whatever it was made deep tracks and left chunks of snow on the side of it's trail. I see a lot of tracks back there but this looks really unusual.
Narrow and deep trail, could even be an otter or other low-profile critter... there's a crick way back there.
What do you think? I'm guessing the trail it made is about a foot wide and looks like it went through the fence rather than over it, hopefully it left some fur.
These pics show only what I see so far, so I don't even know yet. I'll get down there later to ID them. Too heavy to be Fox, they walk right on top of that windblown snow.

Ok. What made these?
Leonard

Click to view attachment

Something either hopping.... or it had a wide gate. Almost looks like paw prints Leonard.
Not a Mtn Lion?.... would hate to walk out the door and have one jump on my head. What an awesome hunting plan if you WERE a Mtn Lion though (hopefully no Mtn Lions are reading this).

.... we can quit guessing on mine.... HUMAN! Worst animal ever. No snowshoes or anything, couldn't have been an easy trek.
Why? WTF? Can't figure that one out. Definitely time for a game camera out there... and some more buckshot.

Pretty crazy Chris! Had me puzzled, could only tell the tracks were deep from a distance. Secret admirer checking up on you through your window?

When I was younger, I was watching my brother and sister one night in Detroit. Dad came home and asked who stopped by. I said "no one why?" He opened the front door showing me tracks that came from way down the road right up to the livingroom window.....then the tracks that just left down the road. All I can say is that person was lucky the snow covered the tracks several blocks away before my dad tracked them down. Dang peepers!!

Leonard, maybe a neighborhood cat looking for a warm chimney pipe to warm up at? Definately looks like it was hopping like a cat would in deep snow.

The tracks are about 4 feet apart. The glass window panes are 45" wide. The tracks are spaced pretty regular. We never figured out what caused them. There is no easy access to the roof.
Leonard

Chris, those tracks are creepy as all get out. Way too dang straight for a person in trouble, more likely someone looking for it. Coming and going, right? It's someone who
knew what they were about, despite the lack of snow shoes. Any chance that it could be a trapper?

That's a possibility although I've lived here since '91 and have yet to see a trapper but there are Beaver back there.

Scott,
Thank you for this question!
It forced me to go back out and investigate some more. Further into the field the tracks turn into ski tracks.... it was a cross-country skier... and I could see ski-pole marks. They took off the skis before they got to the fence. A recreational person. That also explains why the tracks are so straight, which was odd.
That's a relief and was probably just one of the neighbors or something.

Ah, good ol' backcountry skiers. You gotta love those guys! WAY to hard for this old caveman to take up! Glad it wasn't trouble seekers.