For over 50 years, Jim Abbott has been hunting and trapping in the Adirondack Mountains in addition to being a forest ranger for a good part of his career.  He's covered 1000's of miles in the Adirondack Mountains on foot, and his attention to every little detail, every track, and every upturned wet leaf, is astounding. I had the pleasure of tracking with Jim this fall on a 3-day hunt, as he pointed out clue after clue, combining his tremendous ability to read these tracks with a rich understanding of these animals' behaviours. He was able to piece together a story of what was happening and where the animals were likely headed. Many of these signs are so subtle that it's often hard to capture on camera, but one that wasn't small at all was the Bear Nests. 

The Black Bears climb the Beech trees and get themselves situated in the best crotch of the tree, and begin their feeding. They start bending in branches and feeding on the Beech nuts. Once they finish all the nuts on each branch, they take the limb, shove it under them, and sit on it before reaching for the next one. Eventually, it accumulates enough branches under them that it starts to form what looks like a giant bird's nest. Sometimes they break enough branches to kill the tree, and Jim has seen them as wide as 8 feet. 

Over our roughly 15 miles in the mountains, we came across three beech groves that had bear nests. Yet another wonderful story to piece together yourself next time you're walking through the woods, now that you know what to look for. 

-Cody Bokshowan