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Need Help In Central Texas.........


Bigtex

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Pretty heavy ice, I'd imagine there was some damage somewhere? Pretty though.

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Hey 'tex, I edited that last post to include the video. When you go to your main page on YouTube, click on the video. In your case, this would be, this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-6KkGF98ag

- once you're there, just below the video are all the like/dislike buttons, etc. Hit the "share" button. Copy that link, then come back here. When you're making a post, hit the media.png button, and paste the link into the bar. Or you can do this process manually, which would look like so:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-6KkGF98ag[/media]

That should post the video, in the thread. You shouldn't have to use the "attach" feature at all. Hope that helps.

As far as that Funnel Video is concerned, I think it's pretty exciting. That track looks so much like the little one I found last year, just a bit larger and broader behind the forepad. Very cool!

edit: Just now all I did was paste the YouTube link into this post, and the forum software added the Media tags all by itself - automatically embedding the video.

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Thanks Shado, I am technology challenged sometimes! The weather has been a bit crazy of late.....daily lows below freezing, and highs in the 60's, typical Texas swing this time of year. Anyway, nice hiking yesterday, almost perfect except for the funky footing. Very unusual footing for these parts, with the surface being unfrozen, but frozen just underneath. This makes for very tricky foot placement, as the unfrozen ground wants to slip over the frozen.....wierd, but you Northerners probably know just what I am talking about.

Here is some residual ice at my pool, a fresh Deer lower jaw, and a rather large hog mud bath......looks small in the picture, but pretty good size.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hello everyone......still here, but unable to post any pictures, and my comments would seem boring without the photos. Possibly, that's the way the BFF wants it, text only......easier on the Server.

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Hello everyone......still here, but unable to post any pictures, and my comments would seem boring without the photos. Possibly, that's the way the BFF wants it, text only......easier on the Server.

BT have you ever considered a public album such as on Picasa. It's a great platform associated with google, you can separate out your albums into public, private and password protected access where desired. Picasa 3 is a nice platform for picture storage as well in my mind. May not be the best but works for me.

Granted I did have a Ruskie hack my account and take it over......but, I eventually got it back intact, lol, didn't even have to pay an extortion cost (of course they may have copied everything I had in there :rolleyes:) .

Edited to add that Indiefoot has a pretty good screenshot instructional on how to use PhotoBucket here

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Way to go Mods......looks like we have pictures again, you guys Rock!

Here's a VERY tiny skull that has me stumped.......what is it? Maybe it's too obvious, but I can't place it. This was an older mature animal based on the tooth ware. The canines fell out, and I couldn't find them, but were of normal proportions for a predator of this type. This was such a tiny creature.......does anyone have any ideas?

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Turn it around and give us a foramen magnum shot of spinal cord entry hole-kinda picture. It might help some ,,,, looks like some kind of immature something with big eyes.

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I'd have to go with Vilnoori on that one. Weasels can come in mighty small packages. A picture I found of some mustelid skulls that look (to me) to be similar to yours:

220px-Frenataermineanivalis.png

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Seems like a Skunk is in the Wessel family, but this is too small, and I am unaware of any Wessel species in this part of Texas. Does anyone know if there are any, can't find on a web search?

Here's another picture, but the back of the skull is missing. Too bad I lost the canines (fell out).....this critter must have been quite a little killer!

Here are some pictures of a new trail that I found, and I will try to explain best I can......Shadoangel hiked out there with me on 2/26, and please let us know what you thought about it.

I found the trail in an area just outside of town, along a route that would ultimately take you under a bridge, and previously described as 'The Funnel'. It appeared to be a game trail, and was a 'path of least resistance' kinda deal, even my dogs were following it. The odd thing about this particular trail, and I have seen this before, were the obvious (to me) trail markers set very high in the trees. First picture shows me pointing out a break with a fully extended arm (I am 6-1), the extra 14" of my whacker, and I'm still not quite there. Shado and I followed this trail for quite a ways, just over a mile I would think. The breaks were all broken in a similar way, and at the same height. To me, they seemed like obvious trail markers, but to high for humans to make, and plenty of live limbs above the breaks to rule out weather phenom, plus the limbs were live when broken. The broken limbs seem to always be crushed & twisted, and shown in the other two pictures.......weird.

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Edited by ChrisBFRPKY
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Things to note:

1. The breaks only appear in the creek bottom. In the Texas hill country, most of these creeks don't have water in them all the time, or the water is stagnate and extremely shallow most of the year. They're more drainage areas than always running waterways. When we cut out of the creek up to a little clearing there weren't any breaks, and they started up again when we descended back into the bottom.

2. The breaks appeared fairly uniformly over the bottom area. I'd agree that they mostly followed the "path of least resistance" but there were many breaks that I observed off the path that we took. I'd say there were more of them through the area that we walked through, but I did see several off to the sides in both directions.

3. None of the breaks were over 10'-11' high.

4. All of the breaks were on dead limbs. I couldn't tell you for certain if they were dead at the time, but when cedars (juniper) grow to the size they are through this area, all the limbs below 15' or so are dead and don't grow needles. They only grow at the tips of the upper branches.

5. Going *up* the drainage area from the lake, the creek flows through the backs of several neighborhoods, then through an undeveloped area, under a bridge (the funnel) and then up into the hills above town, most of which is a "National Wildlife Refuge".

I never read a whole lot into stick breaks, but I admit it's a little odd how they seem to be concentrated in the creek bottom and absent elsewhere.

I'd like to keep following the creek up. My memory fails me, but I think we got off track and starting hiking up the nearby hills, rather than "following" the breaks. It'd be interesting to see what causes the breaks to stop. Elevation change, relative tree size, etc.

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Another dumb question here. Were all the breaks on one side of the trail? Or both? Or were all the breaks consistant (both sides of the trail),or closest to where the water is/would be?

Inquiring minds :)

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It wasn't so much a trail with noticable wear on the ground, in fact there was little to none. It's more of an open pathway through the underbrush, and the tree breaks along the way at around 10 feet off the ground. The breaks are old, at least a year to several years old. I think the breaks happened over a period of time, making the trail more obvious each time for those who follow. None are the result of flooding. I have found this same thing in other places, and usually in close proximity to ravines & creeks, wet or dry.

Much of the timber in these creek/run-off ravines throughout the Texas Hill Country were not logged or cleared for ranching in the past, too inaccessible. As a result, there is an abundance of many native hardwoods including Oaks of several species, Maple, and many other natural hardwoods that you don't see on the flats, and much less 'Cedar'. It is so much easier to hike in these 'old forests' as opposed to bush-whacking through the 'Cedar' on the flats......path of least resistance for me, and most other creatures I would think, plus there is water......even when it's dry, in some places. These areas have been used for animal travel as long as it's been there, and the predators like it as well. It is the easiest, and stealthiest way to get around.......for everything non human.

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