Tracking Deer (and other things) at Cottonwood Pond

Tracking Deer (and other things) at Cottonwood Pond

June 3, 2019

Looking down the slope to Cottonwood Pond and its environs

Woodland slope to the south/southeast, with the bottom land and creek below

Looking downstream from Cottonwood Pond

Lots of water had been rushing through the bottom of the woods, including the Cottonwood Pond area.

The downstream side of the Barkless Log near Cottonwood Pond - vegetation is flattened where water rushed over a bump of land back to the Creek

That meant lots of mud. And that meant there could be some clear animal tracks.

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Raccoon tracks gouged onto the Creek bank, near where the Seep (overflow from Cottonwood Pond) pours into the Creek

What are these tracks in the Creek mud?

Worm trails left in Creek mud

In the past, I had found many tracks of Raccoon, Squirrel, birds, and sometimes dog and cat. One time I found a Deer print, after having wondered if deer ever spend time at Cottonwood Pond.

What I didn't expect on this June day were many deer prints!

The first deer track spotted on this day!

Deer and other animals had been coming down to the Creek - maybe for drinks, or to hunt small water animals, or just to jump over and get somewhere else

I then saw where deer had been jumping over the Barkless Log, near Cottonwood Pond.

The approach

Up and …

Over!

Sticking the landing!

And, on into the vegetation.

Onward, Ho!

After jumping the Barkless Log, the tracks had faded into the bottom area to the southeast.

The southeastern bottom land, seen from above

Some had been around the Inlet to the pond area.

Whoops! It's slippery there!

Let's check out the main pond itself.

Raccoons - front feet

I don't know what made this track ...

… but I do know it's very small

Let's look at the Swampy Spot and Temporary Creek #1 that flows into it from the south/southeast.

The Swampy Spot, southeast of Cottonwood Pond - overflow (bottom) runs down to the Inlet

Where Temporary Creek #1 (top) enters the Swampy Spot, there were many animal tracks, but not much deer

What made that long streak in the mud in the lower right?

But, heading back toward Cottonwood Pond I picked up deer tracks again.

A deer trail

Deer had been going through the Isthmus (where water flows between the main and "little pond" on the north side)!

From somewhere, many deer tracks converged onto Temporary Creek #2 (which is overflow from "little pond" that returns to the Creek).

There they go!

A veritable stampede past the Two-Trunk White Ash

Other tracks were mixed up with the deer, though they may have been traveling this route at different times.

Some kind of canine!

Canine track by my shoe … but, what is that little track ahead of the canine?

Temporary Creek #2 had become a wildlife trail!!

Intense and narrow traveling

Backing up, I found that deer had been crossing the “little pond” area (toward Temporary Creek #2), from further southeast. But, since I had not really seen deer tracks in the Swampy Spot to the southeast - maybe they had come down the nearby slope, straight to this spot. There is a regularly used deer trail at the top of the woods (at the edge), beyond the top of that slope. Sometimes I find signs that the deer have veered from the trail into the woods, though I had never seen signs of them coming this far down.

Going back along Temporary Creek #2, I saw tracks going deep into the soft mud. There must have been much slipping, sliding, and pulling-out of feet.

A deep deer track next to the beginnings of a crawdad chimney - the latter gives an idea of how soft the mud is here

Mireille came tracking with me - I wondered what scents she picked up

There continued to be a variety of tracks. Did all the wildlife just find this an easy way to cut through the tall vegetation, on to other places? Had the canine been somewhere in sight of the deer, or raccoons, behind them, tracking them? Or did they happen to come along at a different time? Surely all of these animals picked up the scents of the others, no matter when they traveled through.

But, where did they all go? I got to where the distinctively clear muddy trail, packed with animal tracks, had ended.

It disappeared. I found some tracks along the mud of Temporary Creek #2 where it turns west toward the main creek, but not many. Evidently, most animals had gone forward, instead.  

But, where? Though the tracks became less obvious, I could see some places in the tall nettles and other vegetation of the bottom land ahead where animals (mainly the tall deer) had headed off in different directions.

Through the nettles

After that, I turned back. My attention turned away from the tracks below, I noticed other wildlife, or signs of them.

Freshly-made woodpecker hole in dead Sycamore tree

"Sawdust" created from something burrowing through an old log

Protective foam created by a Spittlebug nymph on a grass stem

I also had seen a Black Swallowtail butterfly flitting through the area, a Daddy-Long-Legs trying to hide on a plant, and little Fishing Spiders skittering across the floor. I very briefly saw the iridescent blue tail of a Skink disappear into a log.

The bottom land of my woods was teeming with activity, but it was not always obvious.

As I looked across the whole area, I imagined the variety of mammals that had been busy roaming through here, when I had not been looking.

Note: Some people might find it unremarkable that there are so many deer tracks in the area. Indeed, many deer wander our woods and move through them on regular trails. But, the signs of them have always been in the upper reaches. In all the years I have been observing Cottonwood Pond in the bottom of the woods, it was a long time before I saw one single deer track there, which was an exciting find. Then there was the time I looked down into the woods and saw a single doe resting next to Cottonwood Pond, also exciting (see "Oh, Look!", posted on June 12, 2018). To suddenly see tracks of a whole herd of deer around Cottonwood Pond - that was unprecedented! 

Bonus photos:

On the slope going down to Cottonwood Pond there is a random brick (must have fallen down from the edge of the woods years ago) that has been growing a really nice crop of moss.

Someone has cleanly chewed half of this fresh Sycamore leaf, found on the Creek mud.

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