After spending a lot of time outdoors, you become good at guessing what sounds are made by what, well most of the time. I don’t jump when I hear a sound in the forest, my mind is too busy trying to guess what’s making the sound. Number of years ago I was out taking pictures of the northern lights middle of the light. Standing on my own, I started to hear something moving in the willows behind me. By the sounds being made with each step, it was a mid to large size mammal. After yelling toward the shrubs, I decided enough was enough and left the area. The next morning, I went to the same area and saw bear tracks through the shrubs, I thought at that time it was probably just curious. A few months ago while trying to get a good picture of a bird, I could hear a small animal moving behind me. I looked back and on a fallen tree behind me was an American marten, looking right at me. It was so close I could not even get it all in the frame, got a couple of pictures before it scurried away.
