Woods Busy With Wildlife Activity

 

A few weeks back I shared a picture of a cub standing on a light-colored rock looking out into a swamp. I was hoping to get a trail camera video of a larger bear standing on that rock. Last week the same cubs and sow passed the light-colored rock, only this time the sow stopped briefly with the TC capturing a nice fall colored video. She is a small bear, I estimate her to be three or four years old.

Bear activity is winding down, slim possibility for a bigger bear passing through that swamp and getting a video. I will set up TCs again next year.

Bull moose are now highly active looking for cows. Several trail cameras have videoed distant bulls. TC’s were repositioned  closer to their travel routes. One TC videoed a smaller bull crossing a beaver dam. Hopefully, he passes the camera again during the day.

 

Yesterday while checking SD cards, I came across a Golden Birch tree that had fresh signs of a beaver chew. This looked like a good opportunity to set TC’s and video a beaver taking a tree down. Two trail cameras were set, A Gardepro White Flash and a Browning HP5. Hopefully with the next SD card check there is downed tree.

 

 

Jim

Moose Rut ( Massachusetts) In Full Swing

 

The effort in the last three weeks setting and moving trail cameras around in anticipation of the Massachusetts moose rut is paying off. Based on what I am seeing on the TC’s, moose are in full swing with rutting activity. Most activity has been at night, but one camera did take a daytime video of a respectable bull crossing a beaver dam. You have heard me reference several times , find the cows and the bulls are sure to follow. Well, the bulls have arrived! To date 4/5 different bulls have been videoed.

 

A little over a month ago I started scouting new areas for bears. I found one location that caught my interest and set one TC hoping to catch a little late season bear activity. The camera stayed out for exactly one month. I couldn’t believe the bear activity ! The trail camera had 94 videos, and 34 videos were of BEARS…. There were nine different bears not including cubs.

-      Four sows – two sows with cubs – one with yearlings – one that had sent her cubs off on their own late spring ( collared bear )

-      Five single bears ranging from a yearling on its own to mature bears. Most looked good putting on the pounds

I’m not sure why there is so much bear activity in that area, I’ll do

 more scouting over the winter.

https://youtu.be/y3oImyncCQc

 

Jim

Slow Start With Moose Videos

 

Last week, I camped in North Central MA near the NH border and enjoyed perfect weather for hiking and looking for bear sign. Not much bear sign  around, but  I did find minor scent pole activity, and several torn up  logs.

 Trail cameras that were set a few weeks back for moose only videoed one small bull moose so far. This week, I’ll check all my trail cameras hoping for a daytime bull.

 The sow with two cubs on the cover photo has appeared on TC’s regularly since April, amazing how they have grown in six months.

I never really put much effort in videoing  (trail camera) bucks working a scrape. Mid-October I’ll look for a few scrapes and set TC’s.

Jim

Bears are in the Nuts and Moose are on the Move

 

This week I’ve been on a mission to find a stand of beech trees in central Massachusetts. I put on many miles hiking before finally finding an area with a dozen or so trees. Only two trees had beech nuts. As hoped, a bear had climbed the tree leaving scratch marks and two small punctures in the bark of the small diameter tree. That provided enough evidence to explain why the tree had only a few nuts left on it branches. There were still a few beech nuts on the ground. Bears are also feeding on hickory nuts and white acorns.

While setting a trail camera this morning, I looked across the beaver pond and there was a cow moose standing in the water browsing. I watched  her for a few minutes hoping a bull would show. No Luck ! Find the cows and the bulls will follow this time of year The next several weeks moose activity will increase with bulls looking for cows.

 

Jim

Setting TC Goals

 

Keeping Track – Every year I set goals for my trail camera work. For 2025, I aimed to find a new area, and after scouting a swamp with a beaver dam and a big boulder in it, I thought it would be great place to try and capture a bear standing on a rock (Goal #2). I set up two trail cameras, which over six months recorded over a thousand videos—only 21  showed bears passing the rock. Most TC triggers were from moving vegetation, so after adjusting for spring growth, I set the cameras to one-minute . This week a TC finally videoed a bear stopped on the boulder. Not quite what I envisioned, but I’ll take it.

Jim

Time To Setup For Moose

 

 Young Bull Pic above is from a trail camera moose set a few years ago,

It was a busy week moving trail cameras around in anticipation of the moose rut activity in Sept./Oct.  Moose activity on my trail cameras this year has been 3X more than any previous year. I’m not quite sure why that is. All I can hope for is 3X more bull activity than any prior year. That would be incredible.

Trail Camera YTD bear activity this year through August was up slightly from last year. Although bear activity was consistent April – August, I didn’t have any real hot spots as in previous years,

With little rain this summer, wetlands have low water. That makes for ideal tracking conditions in soft substrate ( mud / wet sand )  I spent the morning looking for tracks and was hoping to find a bear track in the mud, No luck with that ! I found deer ,raccoon, otter and coyote tracks

The injured bear YouTube video continues to draw interest. A few weeks back II shared the video, it had 40k views. This morning it reached 51k views.

In case you missed it,

Part 1   https://youtu.be/L96iYigKDQg

Part 2   https://youtu.be/1IjdGgA0M4g

 

Jim

 

Well, I guess this is the summer to see bears. While bushwhacking this week along a ridge, I caught movement in the distance, stopping, I watched a bear wandering aimlessly while foraging. It would feed on a variety of plants then investigate rotten logs and stumps looking for insects. I didn’t get to watch it for too long before it picked up my scent and vanished in the blink of an eye. Neat to see for sure. Continuing, I came upon a BIG long deadfall that had been moved by a bear. I attempted to roll the log, and it wasn’t happening. The log was approximately twenty feet  long and the biggest log I have ever found in Massachusetts. About a quarter mile from the log, I found a decent size birch tree that was used as a scent marking tree with the bear leaving a large gouge in the tree. This is only the second hardwood tree that I’ve ever  located in MA. with bear markings. Hope to find more this fall.

https://youtu.be/cf3KEd6Zvvk