Today was our last full day, and our last day out in the bush doing actual tracking. Once again, using the radio telemetry equipment, the early morning scouting crew found some wolf activity for us to investigate.

We headed west along Hwy 60 and headed off into the bush from the road.

Not far from the highway we found this resting spot of one wolf.

This wolf was resting facing away from the camera.

If you look closely, you can see its front paws and legs at the top of the photo, its rear legs at the bottom near the very thin shrub, and even the mark of its tail below that (a sort of semi-circular mark on the snow).

Examining some wolf scat.

Further into the forest, we came upon a lot of moose signs.

Here Alexis is examining a pile of moose scat very closely.

Nearby we found this very clear moose lay. The feet are at the bottom of the photo, the animal's back and rear were towards the left of the photo, and its head at the top.

Not far beyond this we found the leg of a deer, leading us to feel that we were possibly getting close to some "action".

Rob was a bit hungry! :)

A beautiful lunch stop, with a spectacular view overlooking forest and lakes stretching out for miles!

It was quite a day -- calm, sunny, and not too cold.

After lunch we thoroughly investigated the site of a nearby deer kill. Here's what's left of the deer after the wolves had finished.

This is the site where the deer was brought down by the wolves. We determined that the deer had been ambushed by the wolves. It tried to flee but was brought down in short order.

In case you're feeling sorry for the deer right about now (what some call the "bambi complex"), please bear in mind that both the deer AND the wolves are a natural and necessary part of this ecosystem. The deer live by eating plants. The wolves live by eating other animals. It's all part of the natural order and rhythm of nature and the Earth.

After spending some time at the kill site, we headed back towards the highway.

Along the way we found this beech tree that has been marked continually by bears over a period of many years. The marks you se are the claw marks of black bears.

And another example of a bear bite on a tree. The horizontal mark of a bear's tooth can be seen on this tree.

Further down we found a few hairs from the bear.

Here's Dan, the expedition leader and organizer, examining the bear bites and hairs.

We also came across marten and snowshoe hare tracks in the balsam fir forest. We took time to examine the ecology of forest succession as well.

All in all, quite a day of tracking! Again!

That evening we watched a very interesting presentation by one of the wolf ecologists who was working on his thesis in the Park.

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