Cold Hike

I went out for a hike yesterday. It was 5° before the wind chill was factored in.

There have been several reports of coyote activity lately (mating season is coming up SOON) here in the neighborhood and I wanted to go out and see how much of an impact the deer management program might have had on the food supply for the local 'yotes and if they were going to become a nuisance so close to families and their pets. If they are, I'm going to have to reintroduce the fear of humans into the pack to keep them from getting themselves into harm's way.

What I noticed after my first misstep was that the coyotes have a seemingly innate ability to avoid the ice that's too thin. I would follow a track and watch it arc around something I couldn't see through the snow and if I cut the arc through the middle I would invariably fall through the ice. Fortunately for me, the water is inches deep instead of feet.

I was going to take more pictures but the camera battery was having a hard time keeping warm even in my shirt pocket. I'm thinking it's got to be buried deeper in the layers next time. That will make it much less convenient to get out and shoot but it will be more likely to fire when I need it.

I had a new knife on my belt from James Noble of the UK but didn't have an opportunity to cut anything as my hike didn't last very long. It's been seeing lots of use around the house and I'll do a proper write-up on it soon with pictures as received and pictures now that it's taken on quite a bit of color from use in the kitchen and in the woods.

Thanks for reading,


B