Arizona AdventuresVolume 1

Wildlife at Every Turn

By November 23, 2020No Comments

Traveling on a primitive road three miles to the north of the cabin, there are four trails we love to drive, bicycle or walk. Each one has it own distinctive terrain, trees and critters. On one trail, Jeremy and I spotted a Great Horned Owl sitting on a short pine stump. We watched it through our trusty binoculars for fifteen minutes or so. Its head did appear to be turning 360 degrees and it did not pop off like I expected. On the same trail and different trip, we kicked up a white tail deer.

The next trail to the north, Carol and I ran across no less than twenty four bull elk. One mile down the road, Chad, Carol and I hit a trail that produced half dozen wild turkeys. As we circled around to try to scare them up again, we came upon a well used hunting camp with a large fire ring and remnants of crude fire side furniture or call them tree stumps. The short ones with square cuts and standing on end were most comfortable. This was more than likely a place of different kinds of •wild life”. You can imagine the stories, folks breaking out in laughter, and maybe someone strumming a guitar accompanied by a harmonica and singing songs that sometimes resembled the bugle of a bull elk. We also found several strange log configurations fashioned out of two foot long logs, four inches in diameter. Chopping out the center of one log half way through and chopping away the end of a second half way through. The two pieces were joined to form a “T” with 16 penny nails. May have been use to tie up the horses, dry soggy boots by the fire or use as a camp table. I know a few cow pokes that are also hunters that may know the answer.

There was another curious thing. We found several rocks that looked as though they popped right out of the ground. They were quite large and by judging the deeps of the craters of earth that once bound them, they had only one third of their mass protruding above the ground. After carefully inspecting the surrounding area I found just what I expected. Bear tracks! One large set and one smaller set. The bears must have been looking for grubs to fill their stomachs before hibernation. Against the bears powerful paws armed with long, sharp claws, the ground could not hold on to its captive boulders. This brut force motivated by shear determination to find its next meal merely popped the rocks right out of the ground. “Well, it’s just about time to get out of here!” I whispered, since I wasn’t packing. Under these circumstances and being in bear territory, Carol was reconsidering the idea of having a little heat strapped to my side. She doesn’t like the thought of having a gun around, but ……. . Bears!