Well, at least it was a nice day. After 228 miles of driving today we did manage to find one wolf track from last night coming out the west side of Camp Ripley (which is the home of the Minnesota National Guard and occupies 53,000 acres of mostly forest).
A big thanks to Bruce and Becky Johnson from St. Cloud for joining me today. Kind of nice to run into some else interested in the Ripley wolf packs. Anyhow, after chatting with the Johnson's for a bit of leap frogging down the gravels roads sorting out tracks, I decided to don the snowshoes. The Johnson's opted to check anther area so we parted ways and I started tracking the wolf west then north. Being there was 1" to 2" of new snow last night, I felt there was a chance I could get a glimpse as the track had just a dusting of snow and the track appeared to get fresher after about 2 miles of hiking. The wolf was obviously a female as she stopped to pee at one point as she looked for deer.
Long story short is she made a loop of about 1.5 miles west of the restricted area only to cross back in about .5 of a mile north of where I split with the Johnson's and my truck was parked.
One thing I was shocked by was the number of deer tracks even after the recent snow. It made for some slow going while trying to sort through the tracks and I'll admit by track ID skills at 30 mph in a moving vehicle are a little rusty. I might head back again this winter and make some calls to see if there is some way to get a day pass to be able to travel into the western end of the military controlled area. A couple of years ago Jenn Miller got us into that area in the very early spring and the sights were amazing.
Here is a collection of photos from the day ranging from wild turkeys (saw close to 100) to some from the snowshoe hike to a pretty scene taken from the shadow of the steam coming off the cooling ponds at the Monticello - Becker Minnesota nuke plant.
This next set of photos is rather interesting. I have no idea who Mr. Steve Lastovich is but I would sure like to hear his story(ies) of what happened to prompt him to post these signs. I;m originally from Ottertail county and God know there are not a whole lot of angels there when it comes to game laws and I have heard Morrison county is even worse. Obviously deer poaching is a real problem on this particular road. I hope nothing really bad has happened to this guy or his family and by chance if you happen to read this post Mr. Lastovich, please email me at bill@mnwxchaser.com
1 comment:
Steve Lastovich is an attorney in the Brainerd Lakes area.
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