Huellas y cuentos

Los ungulados están en todas partes, puede ser el ciervo en nuestros jardines, el antílope a lo largo de la carretera o el borrego cimarrón en lo alto de las montañas. Hacen que nuestras vidas sean especiales, y queremos compartir historias de cómo nos conectamos con ellos.

A mule deer in her summer coat walks up a hill covered in red soil. There are a few juniper trees and patches of short shrubs, but otherwise the landscape is mostly soil. She is wearing a GPS collar, and appears to be glancing at the camera out of the side of her eye.

¿Quiere compartir su historia?

Estamos aceptando historias de cualquier persona que tenga una conexión especial con los ungulados. Aceptamos historias entre 400-1000 palabras. Al enviar, indique si desea recibir comentarios; de lo contrario, solo haremos una pequeña edición para mejorar la gramática y la claridad. Envíelo a Rhiannon Jakopak en rjakopak [at] uwyo [dot] edu, con el asunto "Tracks and Tales submission".

A veces, empezar es lo más difícil. Si necesitas algo de inspiración, considera estas preguntas:

¿Cuál es su primer o más reciente recuerdo de un ungulado?
¿Cuándo vio por primera vez un cervatillo, un cordero o un ternero?
¿Dónde ve a menudo huellas, excrementos o señales?
¿Cuál es el lugar más inusual en el que ha visto un ungulado?
¿Alguna vez has visto a un ungulado hacer algo simplemente... raro?
¿Le ha inspirado alguna vez un ungulado? ¿Le engañó? ¿Le superó? ¿Le asustó?
¿Cuál es tu primer recuerdo de escuchar la palabra “ungulado”?

His end was white and cold and dark and all alone

I always think that it will be easy, and I am always wrong. I’ve learned the lesson a hundred times by now. If I knew that it would be hard every time, it would be difficult to get out the door, on the road for half the day, and out into the loneliest landscape I’ve …

Triplet fawns

It was my first summer working as a technician during fawning season on the Wyoming Range Mule Deer Project, and this hike was special. It was the middle of June, which meant that the last several weeks of my life had been spent thinking about mule deer almost exclusively.  On this day, my hiking partner …

Knowing Deer 226

Deer 226 was our last deer on the last day of a weekend trip out to the sagebrush spotted flats of the Red Desert. I had accompanied Luke, a PhD student studying mule deer migration, out to his study area to help with fawn recruitment surveys. For the uninitiated, fawn recruitment surveys focus on recording …

Data and Bones and Wonder

I don’t have a moment where I fell in love with deer. Looking back, I guess I must’ve fallen in love with deer in the same way that at some point I started writing and shooting bows with my right hand. Much in the same way, I know I love deer in the way that …

A Brief Encounter

From the Owens River Valley at 4,000 feet, the Sierra Nevada’s eastern slope explodes toward peaks reaching between 10,000 and 14,000 feet in just a few miles. While fairly regular in outline, the Sierra Nevada are not made up of smooth, straight edges nor are they a stagnant feature on the landscape. Since their formation …

Wasting

Half-way up a snow-covered hill, I stop to watch a pair of mule deer, claiming curiosity as an excuse to catch my breath. A doe and her 9-month-old fawn weave through the juniper and shrubs, turning around to see if I’ve moved any closer. I wish I could tell them to save their precious energy; …