Uncle Henry´s Universe.

It was a somewhat strange winter this year with sometimes quite difficult tracking conditions. Cold for a long time without any mild weather, made the snow loose and deep to walk in. Then came the rain!

I got to track all three predators we work with, both wolverine, lynx, and wolf. It was nice! In recent weeks, everything has been about golden eagles. Here, too, the weather has been difficult, gray and hazy instead of sunshine and fresh wind. But I think we will still succeed in the end.

A lynx tracking was unexpectedly exciting. I tracked two lynxes, a female, and her cub. It was wet snow, dense forest, and steep and difficult terrain, just as usual in other words. At one point the tracks led off a steep slope and I followed, unaware that the rock beneath the snow was full of ice. It became a whirlwind trip on the ass.

The journey stopped at a cliff shelf, where even the lynx realized that they could not continue straight ahead. They instead followed a narrow cliff edge up the mountain, far too narrow for me, did not dare to take the same route. For a moment I wondered if I was stuck on the cliff shelf, but I finally managed to scramble up a slope under a windfall.

After several fruitless days behind the wheel of the work’s four-wheel-drive pickup, which is deadly boring when you can’t find any tracks, one day came when I got the most. It started with a tracking of a wolverine during the morning.

The weather alternated between cloudy and sunny, and the temperature was pleasant with a few minus degrees. The tracks pushed on like a train through the terrain, over ridges with sparse forest and along marshes and lakes. The wolverine marked its territory, so I got the DNA samples I needed. It was even up a pine and clawed at the bark, all around the tree and up to between two and three meters high!

Everything flowed perfectly and when I suddenly look up, I see two golden eagles playing in the fresh breeze. I was in our southernmost golden eagle territory, so it was immediately confirmed as active.

Happy for the unexpected golden eagle bonus, I turned for home. About 5 km from our farm, I suddenly found lots of wolf tracks. It turned out to be a pack of 7-8 wolves from Norway, which made a trip into our area. In future, this wolf range will probably be on both sides of the national border.

There was a short tracking as it turned out that they immediately found a moose lying and resting near the road. The hunt was short and efficient. There wasn’t much left of it, even though it hadn’t been that many hours. With such a large pack of hungry wolves, it makes for quite a bloody story.

… in paradise! I love this time of year, at least if the weather and winds are on mine and the eagles’ side. They have been playing against the blue sky almost every day, often in wonderful acrobatics. At one point, five eagles were close together for a short while, and my task then was to quickly assess their age based on what plumage they had. For a moment I was almost stressed, but it went over after a cup of hot chocolate and a sandwich with fried eggs.

Midday thaw is strong now. The night’s ten minus degrees quickly turn into comfortable seven to eight plus degrees. The fresh wolverine tracks at Wednesday’s scouting site look much older already after a few hours. There will be no tracking this day, no time right now, work with the eagles must go first.

Also stumbled upon spring’s first bear track. Always nice but surprisingly early this year. It gives a little extra excitement to the working day to know that there is a grumpy friend in the neighborhood, who just woke up in a wet bed, pushed the plug out of the butt and is insanely hungry after a long winter sleep.

I think the most exciting tracking I’ve ever done is when I followed day-fresh bear tracks one spring night with the full moon as the only light source. Damn, then I probably had a maximum heart rate!

The work week ended with a practical collaboration with a wolf. On my way to the scouting site for working with the eagle, I encounter very fresh wolf tracks. Some wolf I do not see, and the tracks disappear into the hard crust. I’ll track down the wolf until it’s time for the eagle. What I do not know is that the wolf takes over the work of tracking and tracks me during the day.

When I am on my way home after the day, I again meet fresh wolf tracks but now in my own tracks from the morning. And I who thought I was ready for the day! Just to take the baton and begin to track the wolf again. It became a long working day.