I headed up to my family camp just north of Milan, NH day before yesterday March 12, 2019 to hunt the bunnies north of the Pontook dam. I have a case of Cabin Fever and I knew of a spruce thicket that would be great to see the snowshoes. I could only get a couple hundred yards in without snowshoes. What a slog!
In the thicket I was up to my thigh in snow but out in the open I was up to my hips and could barely move. On entry I saw many tracks of every species of game, predator and prey alike including deer and moose. In fact, I was snorted at by an unseen deer. I think they have wintered-up nearby as there were few thickets to be found these days. Years back there were plenty of heavy timber thickets for deer to winter and yard up.
Later I found a snowmobile trail behind camp that I could use and walked a half mile to a thicket of silver birch and spruce where there were some fresh snowshoe hare tracks. It was a beautiful day full of sunshine and blue sky. In fact, the silence was deafening as it usually is in the north-woods. My minor tinnitus dominated the silence but I didn’t mind as the splendor of the day was evident. The snowmobile trail was used by a coyote recently as he peed in the snow every couple hundred yards to mark his territory.
I will mark this visit Month and Day as a no hunt for my future calendar unless I had a snowmobile and snowshoes. However, it was a great release of my cabin fever!!
If you have a snowmobile, get going up there! Still lots of snow!
Good Hunting!