Weekend report:: Might be a short season.

Was out after the yotes all day yesterday, Saturday 12/15 in NE Minnesota.

Very, very difficult hunting. Anywhere north of Pine City has 20-24 inches of fluffy, light snow already on the ground and it snowed all day yesterday. Accessing spots is the #1 issue, many field roads and other areas that generally blow clean of snow are impassable. I wore snowshoes most of the day.

The deep snow has changed the movement patterns completely. Rancher friends told me the rabbits and prey have been pushed closer to the cattle and roads because the snow is not yet hard enough for them to walk on. Very few tracks spotted and this left me wondering where the coyotes went, my guess is they are hunting at night when they have more ability to roam where the cattle have packed the snow down.

If you’re heading out, snowshoes are a practical necessity. Even for short walks, you can do them without showshoes, but it’s so tiring it’s hard to picture being able to hunt all day like this.

Grouse

Trudging through that deep of snow with/or without snow shoes is a work out. I agree with the nocturnal movements to follow food.

We have little to almost no snow down here. Is there any chance you could run snowmobiles out and pack the snow so the yotes will use the trails? We did that a few years back when the snow was bad down here and it worked well. We seen everything use the trails.

No doubt it was deep up north this weekend. I’ve got a bum ankle and it really hampered my plans to go for a little walk about.

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We have little to almost no snow down here. Is there any chance you could run snowmobiles out and pack the snow so the yotes will use the trails? We did that a few years back when the snow was bad down here and it worked well. We seen everything use the trails.

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Yes, we talked about the snow machine trails. The problem is that first I don’t have a machine and secondly there’s the time factor. Ironically, my father bought a machine at a garage sale and then, not knowing the winter we were in for, realized he got a bargain and flipped it for a $300 profit. Doh!

I’d think to make this work, you’d have to go out one day and run the machine all over and then that would spook everything for the next couple of days, so it wouldn’t be a situation where you could pack the trails and hunt the same day.

Grouse

you would be surprised at how many critters use the snow machine trail that night after you make it. We do this once in a while when we go to the farm for just the weekend. Sunday morning there are tracks in our trails.

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you would be surprised at how many critters use the snow machine trail that night after you make it. We do this once in a while when we go to the farm for just the weekend. Sunday morning there are tracks in our trails.

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I was just going to say the same thing! I haven’t snowmobiled in years but I grew up on the things and we often blazed our own trails. Our experience was the same. If there was any depth to the snow, everything used the sled trails! It didn’t appear to scare or unnerve anything. We often saw wildlife while riding and they’d just stand there and look at you. My dad always believed that it’s because animals don’t process machinery the same way they would a walking person. The shape, the sounds, the smells, and the movement is all wrong. I’ve seen this on ATV’s and trail bikes too.

One of the coolest things I got to see one winter was a pair of otters got on the sled trail and kept sliding on their stomachs anywhere they could!