![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Unusual visitor
We had a wolf in the yard last night ... that, or a really, really huge stray dog. But I think it was a wolf. I saw the tracks this morning when I took the dogs out -- like the biggest dog tracks you ever saw.
With my hand for comparison. (The weird glow around my hand is from trying to sharpen up the contrast of the image in Photoshop so the track is more visible.) The tracks are about 4 1/2 inches across, and slightly longer.
I thought it might have been a neighbor's dog -- one of our neighbors has a German shepherd mix, but I found some of *her* tracks in the process of backtracking these tracks, and this creature, wolf or whatever, was bigger than her.
Its tracks come down out of the hills, following an unused road (the dynamite storage road where I sometimes walk the dogs); then you can see where it becomes aware of human habitation up ahead and veers off into the woods. I think it hit my yard by accident; it was trying to avoid the parts of the road that are used, and rather than heading off down my driveway (like you would expect a dog to do), it veered off again and went through the deep snow into the woods. So even if it was a dog, it was a very feral one.
But I suspect wolf. The big difference between wolf and dog tracks (although it's usually not as clear-cut as it sounds) is that wolf tracks are all in a straight line, with the back feet stepping in the same tracks as the front feet. Dog tracks are more usually staggered, with the different sides offset from each other. And these tracks were mostly in a straight line. Hey, how's this for track-fu: I can even tell you what sex it was ... female. (I found a place where it had urinated. Males lift their leg; females squat.)
While I was out and about following the tracks, I took some more pictures of the snow-covered winter wonderland...
The house looking small, cold and isolated.
Gazing wistfully at the sun on the hill across the valley. We probably won't get direct sunlight over on this side until late January ... the sun doesn't get high enough at this time of year to clear the hill.
Lucky wants to know if we're going home yet. Both dogs wussed out on me ... their feet got cold and I had to take them home and do most of the tracking by myself.
With my hand for comparison. (The weird glow around my hand is from trying to sharpen up the contrast of the image in Photoshop so the track is more visible.) The tracks are about 4 1/2 inches across, and slightly longer.
I thought it might have been a neighbor's dog -- one of our neighbors has a German shepherd mix, but I found some of *her* tracks in the process of backtracking these tracks, and this creature, wolf or whatever, was bigger than her.
Its tracks come down out of the hills, following an unused road (the dynamite storage road where I sometimes walk the dogs); then you can see where it becomes aware of human habitation up ahead and veers off into the woods. I think it hit my yard by accident; it was trying to avoid the parts of the road that are used, and rather than heading off down my driveway (like you would expect a dog to do), it veered off again and went through the deep snow into the woods. So even if it was a dog, it was a very feral one.
But I suspect wolf. The big difference between wolf and dog tracks (although it's usually not as clear-cut as it sounds) is that wolf tracks are all in a straight line, with the back feet stepping in the same tracks as the front feet. Dog tracks are more usually staggered, with the different sides offset from each other. And these tracks were mostly in a straight line. Hey, how's this for track-fu: I can even tell you what sex it was ... female. (I found a place where it had urinated. Males lift their leg; females squat.)
While I was out and about following the tracks, I took some more pictures of the snow-covered winter wonderland...
The house looking small, cold and isolated.
Gazing wistfully at the sun on the hill across the valley. We probably won't get direct sunlight over on this side until late January ... the sun doesn't get high enough at this time of year to clear the hill.
Lucky wants to know if we're going home yet. Both dogs wussed out on me ... their feet got cold and I had to take them home and do most of the tracking by myself.
Paws for identification
Nice pictures though of the track.
Can't believe you're in that little cabin in on the frozen tundra. Wow.
Re: Paws for identification
Re: Paws for identification
^_^
You should make that snow on his shnoz an icon. Cute as a button.
Re: Paws for identification
Heh ... not a bad idea. He *is* a cute little guy.
**Jealous**
Of course, the upside is, now I have a place for the bodies.
Janer
Re: **Jealous**
I do miss being within walking or easy driving distance of stores, restaurants and other amenities. Fairbanks has everything, but it's about a half-hour drive to get to any of it.