There's a lot going on the next few weeks with the holidays, I
‘m going to put the blog down. Before I do, I want to wish you all the very best for
the holidays and thanks to all that follow my blog , watched YouTube videos or
attended one of my presentations.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
Jim
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Pic is a sow that has two yearlings
It has been a busy
week in the woods. I was able to set out a few winter trail camera sets , which
was until I became preoccupied with a bear track. Not to often you get to track
a bear in the snow , especially in Massachusetts. You can see more about this on
my Hiking Camera Photography Webpage https://hikingcamerawildlife.smugmug.com/
Lower left corner. Tracking a Blackbear in the Snow
With the little bit of snow today it will make for a good
tracking day tomorrow. I will pack a few trail cameras and set them out in
hopes of winter moose activity.
I finished my fall Whitetail Scrape Project and summarized the
activity in a brief PP presentation. https://youtu.be/crIEVszmehs
Jim.
Tomorrow I start making my winter TC sets,
Jim
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My Massachusetts Whitetail Deer Rut project is winding down
In early October the first of six scrapes were found
spanning approximately three hundred yards across an open hardwood ridge.
Trails Cameras were set up at each of the six scrapes .Numerous Bucks and Does
have visited the scrape line. Trail cameras were checked on a regular basis
with several cameras needing minor adjustment and one trail camera was moved.
There will be more to come on this “ Whitetail Rut Project” when the last trail
cameras are taken in.
Jim
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There was a nice turnout for my Mustelid Presentation yesterday.
Thank You to all that attended ! Stay tuned for future presentations.
The Whitetail Scrape project I have been working on is going
very well. I learned new deer behavior and never expected the level of
activity, more to come on this soon.
While bushwhacking another area last week, I came across a
number of new scrapes and set three trail cameras up to monitor. I figured why not but cameras likely won’t
get anything with the rut winding down. I couldn’t have been more mistaken. One
trail camera captured the most handsome 10 Pointer I have ever seen on video ( cover
pic)
This morning’s adventure took me to a new area; I found a
new beaver bank lodge and a bear marking tree. TC’s will be set in the coming
week.
Jim
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It’s been one month ( Oct 15th ) since starting
to watch ( trail cameras) five whitetail
buck scrapes ( one scrape line) . Eight different bucks have visited the
scrapes. Three bucks were very respectable . The largest of the three only gave
a quick glimpse. It had a very impressive rack and only visited this scrape
line once. Activity at and around the scrapes has slowed significantly, with
only an occasional scrape being freshened
mid-November. The dominate buck of the area ( 7 Pointer) abandoned the scrape
line for ten days. He finally showed back up November 13th during
the day to freshen a scrape.
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Next Saturday @ 10:30 I’ll be presenting “ Mustelids of
Massachusetts” . at the Rutland , MA. Library
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There is still a sow with two yearlings roaming around . On November 14th
the bears triggered a trial camera. The acorn crop is becoming scarce. I wouldn’t
be surprised if that was the last video of them for this year.
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My deer scrape trail
camera monitoring project is going well. The chart shows highlights of the last few weeks. I have lots
of details to sort through. No surprises with the peak rut dates.
Bears still active in central Massachusetts. Over the last
three days a sow with two yearlings and two different single bears have
triggered TC’s. Acorns are becoming scarce. Deer , bear and turkey’s are cleaning the
hardwood ridges.
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I welcome the first snow so that I can start tracking. This morning,
I set two trail cameras for fisher , more on that in the coming weeks.
Jim
