Nebraskaland

Nebraskaland November 2021

NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.

Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/1422281

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50 Nebraskaland • November 2021 f you've ever "blazed a trail" through the woods, or gone "bushwhacking" as some might say, you know it can often be an unpleasant experience pushing your way through branches, brush and tall grass. Life is much easier on a trail. And wildlife agree. That's why a hike through any woodland or prairie will reveal a series of what we often call game trails. These trails, to put it simply, are the easiest paths between points A and B. That was certainly the case with a trail on a friend's property along the Platte River south of Wood River, on which I placed two camera traps for the better part of two years in hopes of capturing a photo of a river otter. Not only did the camera capture photos of otters, including a mother and her fi ve pups, it also captured images of other species using the trail, including raccoons, mink, mice, muskrats, opossums, deer, a bobcat, beavers, a hen wood duck and her brood, a few random birds that just dropped in for a drink and three species of turtles: painted, snapping and spiny softshell. And raccoons. So many photos of raccoons. Trails such as this one are found everywhere there is wildlife. Some have been used for generations. Some were so well defi ned that man, be it the Native Americans, E u r o a m e r i c a n explorers or fur traders, followed them and took the same routes. Some even became roads. This trail covers a scant 75 feet of land between the two water bodies it connects. One water body is what is left of the south channel of the Platte River. Now disconnected from the river where it splits from the main channel near Kearney, its fl ows are fed mainly by groundwater. The other, on the north end of the trail, is a stream that fl ows from the Platte during high fl ows and is fed by groundwater when the river is low. Both streams fl ow through sandpit lakes above the trail and rejoin the main channel of the Platte about one-third of a mile downstream. On the north end, the trail climbs a steep bank, crosses a two-track trail road, and ducks into a 40-foot stretch of grass and brush before dropping down the bank into the south channel of the Platte. One of my cameras captured photos on the trail through the brush during the day. The other was set Story and photos by Eric Fowler I One Trail Many species use a well-worn path between two waters

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