Henry Rifle Forums

I have been snowshoeing just about every day lately. One of my favorite routes is along a trout stream a couple of miles from my house called the Clearwater River. Here are some photos from a couple of my trips. I came across the scraped up tree yesterday. The gashes on the tree are pretty fresh, no higher than 4' off the ground, There was a 6' area of bare ground in front of it, but there were no tracks to identify what caused it. Anyone have an idea? Maybe a bobcat? It doesn't look like a deer rub to me, and it really isn't the right time of the year for it anyway.
I had never started a fire with a ferrocerium rod before, in another photo I show the results when the right sparks meet birch bark.
Another interesting thing is that there were coyote tracks in my previous day's snowshoe trail. Shown in the other picture.
Hope you can all get out and enjoy the great outdoors!

I have no idea about the marks but sure enjoyed hearing about your getting out into the world.

I've seen porcupines do that, even deer when they're desperately hungry. (We have plenty of both in the neighborhood.) Black bears are also known to claw bark off trees. (We have those, too.) We are at a similar latitude and still have a foot and a half of old snow on the ground. Snowshoes are the only way to get around in the woods, right now. The snow is too old and icy for skiing.