Wild Turkey Tracks

Scott Hoffman and I were exploring the wilderness of New England last January when we stumbled upon evidence of a rafter of Wild Turkeys. (Yes, it's called a rafter.) I'm afraid that I forgot to throw down a penny for scale, but rest assured these birds were BIG.

Another old Buddy

I never figured out what kind of snake this was when I met him in Central Texas about a year ago. I was hiking lost pines outside of Austin back then and almost stepped on a big one who was digesting his food in the middle of the trail. This makes sighting number two.

I'm particularly proud of myself for this find because I actually tracked him. The trail was sandy and I spotted the telltale swishy lines of a snake track among all the other prints. Following the direction of the tracks I found this dude just off the trail. Once again, it was hanging out among some pine trees. Basically I'm a master tracker. Any idea what kind of snake this is?

Traces of Bears

It was a few days after Christmas, early evening, when I spotted a huge bear running across the road by our house. The creature was only visible under a street light for a few seconds, to take a picture would have been impossible. I briefly considered tracking it, but I had a pressing engagement in town so I waited until the next day. That is when professional explorer Josh Morsell and I undertook the task of "stalking the stalker." This is a shot of a pretty clear print we found in the snow. Click here for a sense of the size of the print (though the quarter is about 6 inches closer to the camera than the imprint). Click here for a shot of the bear's path. It was late December, should the bear have been sleeping?