Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Badger in the Badger State

Dog sledding yesterday on our six inches of snow, we were lucky to see something rare. In December other years, we have come across lots of deer, big bucks, fishers, fox, coyotes, owls and lots of grouse, but there is always something new. The lead dog even caught a grouse once in her mouth at full tilt and kept running. Finally, after a mile or so, she got tired of the feathers and dropped it.


This time, our young lead dog Mickey McMuffin was running along on a narrow trail at a pretty good clip when she dodged to the left. Her mom, Lucy, tugged her back on the trail without missing a beat. A couple seconds later the sled caught up to the same spot and I saw what at first looked like a porcupine on the side of the trail. I slowed as it was backing out of the hole it had dug and looked up at me with a "what are you lookin' at" look on its face. At a distance of six feet away, that look was a bit of a surprise! I am glad I was still moving. After being passed by eight dogs and a musher at high speeds most animals can't get away fast enough. This guy was telling me to get off his trail and quit bothering him. The pattern of his black and white face was unmistakably Bucky Badger! Whoever drew the likeness of a badger for UW-Madison got it just right. His attitude and the look on his face were exactly what I would expect. His body was low and flat, appeared to be between 25 and 40 pounds and was covered in sand and snow. I quickly advanced another 30 feet without testing his warning and called to our friend on the next sled behind me to stop before getting too close. After a tense minute or so, the badger lumbered off into the woods and we could let the sleds go again. The dogs then took me on a couple minute ride of sheer terror from their excitement. Lucky for Mickey, she listened to her mother!

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