Blood on the trail - again

[erugs]

Early last summer I posted here about finding blood, and then the freshly killed body of a fawn, on the Hammond Trail on Chocorua. Interesting speculation followed about what might have happened. Well, on Saturday, Brian and I were hiking up South Moat, when I again spotted blood on the trail. It was just below the section of trail that rises steeply and passes to the right of an open, usually wet area where soil has eroded off a sheet of rock ledge. First there was a spot of blood on a leaf (a brown leaf this time, not a green one as before). There were more spots along the trail for about a hundred yards. Then I didn't see any more. I picked up one of the stones that had blood on it and the blood was fresh enough when I touched it that it transferred off the rock. No corpses along the trail this time, and nobody I asked noticed any of the the blood. I know it could have been an animal that had been wounded, since this is hunting season, but it was a long way from a road...

 

[RGF1]

Early last summer I posted here about finding blood, and then the freshly killed body of a fawn, on the Hammond Trail on Chocorua. Interesting speculation followed about what might have happened. Well, on Saturday, Brian and I were hiking up South Moat, when I again spotted blood on the trail. It was just below the section of trail that rises steeply and passes to the right of an open, usually wet area where soil has eroded off a sheet of rock ledge. First there was a spot of blood on a leaf (a brown leaf this time, not a green one as before). There were more spots along the trail for about a hundred yards. Then I didn't see any more. I picked up one of the stones that had blood on it and the blood was fresh enough when I touched it that it transferred off the rock. No corpses along the trail this time, and nobody I asked noticed any of the the blood. I know it could have been an animal that had been wounded, since this is hunting season, but it was a long way from a road...

How far from the road were you I have a few guess one you will not like seeing you touched the blood
If it wass more than a mile it is likely that it was a wounded animal that ran off . it prabably was aterrified and ran to a place it felt safe ten left the trail to hide . and possibly clean it's wound . If it was only small drops of blood and not larger pools it possible though not alwys the case not a fatal wound .
Or if not shot buy a hunter a predator attacked the animal and it manged to get away or it smilpy got hurt . If not a animal a human got hurt and finally realized it ,. and put a bandage or guaze on it

 

[NewHampshire]

Yes, how far from the trailhead and how much blood?

If a good deal away from the trailhead and a good size amount of blood Im going to say the yodle dogs were out and about and feasting.

Brian

 

[Peakbagr]

A lot of deer get hit by cars. How far they travel often depends on how grave the wound was.
Also, coyotes and feral dogs are alternative besides being wounded by a hunter.

 

[Fitz]

Ouch!!

Based on the number of times I have fallen down South Moat Mountain, I go with the wounded hiker theory.

Those volcanic rocks are sharp and like greased lightening when wet!! Especially, the section of the trail you speak of.

 

[erugs]

A wounded hiker? Possibly. To answer a previous response, it wasn't a lot of blood in any one place and was about a mile and a half in from the trailhead. I had wondered if it was an animal "in heat" but this is not the season (pun intended). A friend I was mentioning this to suggested our mutual friend Jerry might have been up there before us, saying "he's always bleeding." It seemed kinda de ja vu to me to be the only one spotting blood on the trail again. I can only guess it means that I'm looking too closely at where I'm placing my feet. That trail is pretty awful under foot, in that section with all the loose, jagged rocks, and further up where it is slippery like black ice when damp or wet. Still, it's a favorite destination because of the ridge to Middle and the views.

 

[Fitz]

Now that you mention it...

A doe will leave small spots of blood this time of year.

I haven't seen a deer that high there, but did see a bear in the berry patches once.

Cheers.

Fitz.

 

[DaveSunRa]

Did you see any Mountain Ash shurbs around. This time of year the red berries they produce fall to the ground and when stepped on leave a smare of red, looks like blood. Perhaps?

 

[erugs]

No, no berries. It looked like blood, too, the kind animals leave when in heat. So I bet Fitz was right, that it was a doe. Or, it could have been a cut on the pad of an animal, especially with the pointed rocks on that trail. We were glad not to see a body this time. I had thought of asking a group we saw that had a dog with them if the dog showed any different behavior in that area (from smelling blood) but they were heading straight up the slope, rather than following the trail where it turns to the left (a common mistake there) and we were below them when they noticed their error.

 

[spongebob]

Dude, you keep coming across blood. I think you are trying to set your alibi that you are "finding" blood out in the woods.

This reminds me of a tv show my Mom use to watch called "Murder She Wrote." A mystery writer would always have murders happen when she was around. She would investigate and solve the case. Well to me she was the murderer, and pinned the guilt on other people.

I'll be watching you eruggles. But if you do come after me.......Then I am a Krazy Kanadien who drives a Corolla, drinks beer, and listens to Dylan.

 

[Tuco]

I'll be watching you eruggles.

I would think you'd be safe- sponge's don't bleed, do they

 

[woodstrider]

Pointless, but

interesting speculations, same like last year. To add my own bit of uselessness...


Once while climbing up the Trap Dike on Colden I found very fresh blood, spots and prints, of a deer. I could see by the prints that the dew claws had been abraided and were probably the source of the blood. We speculated that the deer probably had been chased up the chute by a predator or hiker. Maybe even us, in innocense.

PS- in case someone takes offense- I really do like reading this stuff. There are people who know more about tracks and spore then I and I learn something new.

 

[Grumpy]

... I had wondered if it was an animal "in heat" but this is not the season (pun intended). ...

Actually, this is the season for breeding. Male deer are "in rut" just now. Most bucks killed in hunting season die deeply in love -- or lust.

G.

 

[woodstrider]

Deer in love

Grumpy

Must make for some tasty eatin', all the hormones

 

[erugs]

Actually, this is the season for breeding. Male deer are "in rut" just now. Most bucks killed in hunting season die deeply in love -- or lust.

I hadn't thought of deer rutting season. D'oh. That's probably what it was. The trail is such a mess with rocks and leaves that I didn't notice any prints. It's just another example of how assumptions can be wrong -- I was thinking dog, coyote, etc., but more than that I guess I haven't gotten over the sight of the dead fawn last June.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Ellen -

I'm not an expert on the type of sign that a female deer leaves when she's in heat, but I seem to recall that it's a mixture of urine and the scent from the tarsal gland (located on the inside of the rear legs) - but not blood. Other animals leave urine trails as well. For example, foxes mate in late February, and I once followed the scent trail of a fox as it used the Edmunds Path from treeeline down the mountain until nearly to the trailhead itself before verring into the woods again.

My hunch is the blood is from the pad of an animal. I'd had reservations that it was a deer, however. They're pretty rare in the mature forests of the White Mountains, and rarely follow a footpath for any length of time, unlike moose who do. In the hundreds of hikes of I've done in the Whites, the only time I've actually seen a deer was in the Bumpus Basin, on the shoulder of Madison, not far from the road. Occasionally in the winter you'll see tracks crossing the trail near the TH on Falling Waters and also within the first mile or so of the Cabot trail, but not often elsewhere in my experience.

 

[Roxi]

My hunch is the blood is from the pad of an animal. I'd had reservations that it was a deer, however. They're pretty rare in the mature forests of the White Mountains, and rarely follow a footpath for any length of time, unlike moose who do.

Kevin,

Please forgive me if I'm misinterpreting what you're saying, but it sounds like you're saying there aren't a lot of deer up here in the Whites? I just saw three cross the road (Rt. 302) between Bethlehem and Twin Mtn last Saturday morning. I see deer in the woods and fields fairly often as I drive various roads through the towns of the Great North Woods, Crawford Notch, and Franconia Notch. My apologies if I've misunderstood your comment.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Kevin,

Please forgive me if I'm misinterpreting what you're saying, but it sounds like you're saying there aren't a lot of deer up here in the Whites? I just saw three cross the road (Rt. 302) between Bethlehem and Twin Mtn last Saturday morning. I see deer in the woods and fields fairly often as I drive various roads through the towns of the Great North Woods, Crawford Notch, and Franconia Notch. My apologies if I've misunderstood your comment.

Roxi -

I could have been clearer - by Whites I mean the woods, not the towns and fields besides the roads. Since deer are fringe animals, and typically live within 100 yards of the fringe (fringe is the area where woods and open fields meet) it's rare to see them in the woods, as most of the woods in the WMNF are mature stands which continue uninterrupted for miles. This makes for good moose habitat, but not for deer. Once you hike more than 1/2 mile or so up a trail it's rare to see even tracks.

All this changes, of course, if a fire causes an area to be cleared, or a wildlife authority clearcuts an acre or two to encourage certain types of wildlife (such as deer and partridges) but the WMNF isn't managed that way.

 

[Paul the Explorer]

now that you mention it...I dont think I have eve seen a deer track 1/2 mile from TH...just never thot of it

 

[Gris]

Meet me in the mawnin, 56th & Wabasha...

HarryK, you out there?