Sign Up  /  Login

Doe-A-Deer (Tracking Series) RELOCATED 05/01/06 LbNA #14851

Owner:trailtracker
Plant date:Apr 23, 2005
Location:
City:Logan
County:Hocking
State:Ohio
Boxes:1
Found by: Incorgiables
Last found:Oct 10, 2010
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFaFFFa
Last edited:Apr 23, 2005
Location: Hocking Hills State Forest
Difficulty: The climb up the trail is steep but short.
Stamp: Handmade
Note: One pace = two steps.
Bring: pen or pencil and a stamp pad.
Letterbox relocated to Hocking Hills in May 2006.

Goal: Initially, you are looking for the parking lot for Old Man's Cave located on SR 374, but that isn't where you are going to park. Travel just a few 10ths of a mile west of Old Man's Cave Visitor's Center on SR 374 driving a bit on the slow side until you see a small gravel pull off area on the right side of the road. If parked in the right spot you should see a brown sign further up the road that says LODGE/CABINS and PUBLIC RESTAURANT. If you pass that sign you have gone too far.

CLUES: Find the phone pole on the edge of the forest that has orange tags that say, "L1900" and "P306F5. With your back to the road and your left shoulder beside the phone pole, go 23 paces @ 315*. You should be standing beside a 5 1/2 foot tall stump. From the low side of that stump go 3 more paces @ 190*. Our little deer is hiding behind a rock on the NW side of the base of a tree.

ABOUT THE STAMP
One of my other passions in life is to study animal tracking. It seems to be unending in the small details that can tell so much. Each letterbox in this series will hopefully share at least one bit of new information. If you collect these tracks, take time to compare them and you will learn from simply that.

This stamp is characteristic of a doe's track (female deer). White tail deer are often referred to as quiet walkers because many times they step in their fore track with their hind one OR the hind track is actually slightly behind, leaving the tip of the fore track showing just slightly ahead of the hind track. Make sense? Mature Buck's tracks, on the other hand, are larger and turn outward. Young Buck's tracks are distinct because their HIND tracks somehow register ahead of the fore track leaving the curved trace of the fore track still showing. In rutting season, bucks seem to strut like young school boys leaving drag marks behind their tracks. Doe's don't strut or turn their hooves outward. They keep their walk perfectly straight and in alignment. This is a doe's track. Please close all containers and rehide well.