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Just because it’s not hunting season doesn’t mean you can’t pre-hunt. Early summer tracking is key to understanding where game is locating its territory. Start by doing a thorough sweep of your hunting area with your camera. Some good prints in the mud will reveal more than you will see in the mid and late summer when the ground is hard and covered by vegetation.
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Bear tracks in the mud. 2007. Prairie Lake, Minnesota (Kalina photo)
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Bear Scat- Brown colored reveals a vegetation diet. Tan scat can be from roots and tubers.
Berries in August will be black or visible looking berries. 2007. Prairie Lake, Minnesota. (Kalina photo)
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Front paws of bear running. May 2007.
Prairie Lake, MN. (Kalina photo)
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Old bear scratches widen with each year.
Prairie Lake, MN. (Kalina photo)
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A couple years ago, I noticed that in the spring I saw far more scratches on trees where bears were marking berry patches. When the berry foliage came out it the nearby trees were covered and the scratches weren’t as obvious. However, I knew that this would be his circuit. Bear meander all over, but have home areas that become their safe zone during large 10-15 mile feeding circuits. Scratches on trees are easier to see in the spring before the foliage covers it.
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Berries in bear scat. August 2007,
Prairie Lake, Minnesota. Kalina photo
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Buck growing horns in May 2009. Thunder Bay, Ontario. Taken with a 500mm telephoto. (Kalina photo). It’s easy for people to think they only see a lot of does in the spring, but with binoculars, a male growing antlers can be detected.
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Certainly deer can have a large range, but generally they come back to the same places year round and tighten up the circuit by deer season.
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| Deer scat. May 2007, Carlos Avery wildlife area, Minnesota. (Kalina photo) |
Pheasant egg. 2006. Northfield, MN. (Kalina photo) Pheasants nest in areas that they tend to occupy year round. |
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| Fox scat- May 2008, Wyoming, Minnesota. (Kalina photo) |
Red Fox- catching shrews. May 2009. Thunder Bay, Ontario. (Kalina photo) |
Fox travel large circuits, but have special areas where they know shrews and voles have entry holes. These holes are easier to see in the spring and will give you an idea of where to put a blind up in the fall.
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Young Grizzly Bear next to tree that he had been scratching and pulling bark off.
June 2006. Kenai, Alaska. (Kalina photo). |
Moose are wanderers who in early summer browse like a deer, but as it gets hot they go deeper into marshes where they lay in the water and eat aquatic vegetation. As fall comes, they move out of the deep marshes and back to summer grass browsing.
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| Moose print after browsing grasses alongside road. May 2009. Hat shows the size of prints. Thunder Bay Ontario. (Kalina photo). |
The moose who left the print was hiding behind trees. Hard to see without binoculars. May 2007, Thunder bay, Ontario. (Kalina, Photo). |
Springtime scouting can give you an idea of the type of wildlife that will be available during fall hunting.
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Teaching/Tips 
