Pop quiz

[trax]

OK, I'm gonna make this pretty easy. Experienced trackers.... (j_m, ww, klak, hope... and others....you all know who you are)leave it alone

You're walking in a forested area, say late autumn, patches of snow here and there, ground very recently frozen. Ground cover is some moss, some grassy areas, lots of dead leaves. You find some wolf tracks, you're sure they're wolf tracks. Start following them around. You realize that in about a 50 yard radius, the tracks cross and crisscross each other over and over again. Seems like the critters were staying in a big circle and always moving back inward.You find places where the wolves strides seem far too short and other places where the tracks seem to drop off, almost disappear.You find places where the ground looks like it was all "chewed up" with dug up dirt behind the footprints. You find places where the dead leaf ground cover is kind of crushed up and looks like it's been swept in circles. You find a few areas where there's strips of grass and small saplings crushed down that's maybe two feet wide and runs for about ten feet and then tracks reappear at the end of those strips. No scat, no blood signs that you can find, bits of hair in some of the bigger trees lower bark on the outside of your tracking area (you're basically examining that 50 yard radius now, right?) OK, new trackers, what were the wolves doing?

[wareagle69]

first when you say pop quiz i think dude, braw hang ten, keanu reeves
i'll hazard a guess they are tracking a moose as a moose will come full circle i would guess that they are starting at the outer perimeter and moving inside to close in?
(tracking is scheduled for 2011 in my training that i am doing so its just a huge guess this is one topic i know nothing about probably obvious from my guess actually my wife know alot more than i do about it)

[trax]

Yeah, wasn't that Keanu Reeves and Dennis Hopper in Speed? Not the answer I was looking for, but now I have to go hurl because I just got compared to Keanu.....(seriously people, seen his movies? wrong guy for any role)

[pgvoutdoors]

I'm not a hunter, I have some tracking skills but don't know what animal the wolves are looking for. I'm happy when the wolves around here are not on my trail though.

[crashdive123]

Purely a guess - some kind of mating habit.

[klkak]

What kind of hair in the lower bark of the tree's?

Oh, oops. I forgot I'm not supposed to touch this one. Sorry, Forget I said anything.

(lowers head and tip-toes to the door looking over shoulder)

[Dennis K.]

I'll take a stab.
Ground cover damage indicates something more than just walking. the variation in stride indicates very active, possibly aggressive behavior.
My guess is a fight for alpha male.

[trax]

What kind of hair in the lower bark of the tree's?

Oh, oops. I forgot I'm not supposed to touch this one. Sorry, Forget I said anything.

(lowers head and tip-toes to the door looking over shoulder)

get back here young man! lol, that's a fair question for everyone, given wolves nature, yeah wolf hair, not much though.

[trax]

I'll take a stab.
Ground cover damage indicates something more than just walking. the variation in stride indicates very active, possibly aggressive behavior.
My guess is a fight for alpha male.

Nope but I'm glad to see that answer because with the evidence I provided, it's pretty sensible.

[Fletcher]

It's a bedding area where they sleep

[owl_girl]

Playing id think

[tacmedic]

Checking out the area before they bedded down for the night. That would explain the areas of trampled vegetation. Sounds like maybe a pack spent a night in this spot.

[owl_girl]

are there other animall tracks? thay could also be hunting. maybe hunting somthing under ground and pouncing on it. like mice

[trax]

Playing id think

DING DING DING DING!!!! We have our winner. owl_girl moves on to the lightning bonus round, lol. Yeah people...ever seen how rough those guys play? the torn up ground would be from paw scratching=faking aggression, the hair on the trees would be from body slams, the crushed grass etc would be from rolling each other through it, the crisscrossing tracks is from the running and nipping at each other.

[nell67]

Way to go owl-girl

[HOP]

I like the catching mice idea better.

[Rick]

Well, I was watching the tracks and now I'm lost. Can someone track me down?

[wareagle69]

atta girl owl

[owl_girl]

Yay

[owl_girl]

ive seen videos of them playing and they run around and jump and stalk each other then chase eachother. thats what that sounded like most to me.

giv us another.