New TC Location Has Potential - Best Lifetime Deer Shed Find

 

It’s been a productive week in the Massachusetts woods ! Bear TC’s have been set in the new areas . I spent one morning scouting a  twelve-acre swamp that really didn’t show much potential  using Google Earth and OnX Satellite View. Was I in for a surprise? Approximately nine acres of this swamp are thick tangled bushes and swamp grass. Three acres on the backside are a camera trappers dream with two beaver dams and two active lodges.

Earlier in the week I found my first deer shed of 2025 and what a find ! My Best Find Ever !!!    

https://youtu.be/U4Ko5jC6f4c

Jim

Backside of new swamp.

This Was A First - Fisher Resting In Tree

 

It was a productive week making TC bear sets, I have the new areas finished and have made sets in prior year locations.

I enjoy hiking with a camera in hand as well as setting camera traps. Saturday morning a female fisher was seen sleeping high in a hemlock tree . It was overcast and dark in the clump of branches where she was resting. Watching patiently, it took about three hours before a sliver of sunlight reached the top of the tree. I was able to squeak out two halfway decent pictures, One with her sleeping and the other with a slight twinkle in her eye. No doubt this fisher had a den nearby with recently born kits.

This week more TC’s will be set out in hopes of capturing an elusive short-tail  weasel.

Jim

Time To Make Spring TC Sets

 

The snow is gone and what a pleasure bushwhacking again and not breaking through the snow crust. There has been little activity on the trail cameras. I’ve been on a mission to try and get a short-tail weasel video. From the looks of it, and input from other camera trappers, it’s a rare trail camera capture. I got a long-tail weasel at a Fisher scent post last week. Typically,  LT Weasel turns white in the winter in MA, this one was still brown.

I started setting my Spring 2025 bear camera trap sets. What a great feeling knowing winter is behind us. My first sets are in a new area ( Pic Above) . Last fall I located two new spots with “ Bite Mark Trees” Tomorrow I’ll set trail cameras  in the second location.

Jim

Fisher Activity Consistent

 

The Fisher in the pic above returned to the “ Dig Tree” four times over the last several weeks. This site is becoming a “ Scent Post” transitioning from a dig site.

Fisher activity is consistent at two of my new scent post locations. The scent post in the video is a pine tree that had blown over during a windstorm exposing the root ball. The fisher is using one of the broken roots as a scent post. It is the height of fisher mating season  in MA. and female fishers are giving birth ,then mating a few days later.

https://youtu.be/22JxjViFlLM

Earlier this week I made two trips to set up TC’s at my Spring Beaver Project. The sun is strong, and it won’t be long before the ice gives way to an open pond. I will put a video together soon sharing the setup.

I put  many miles on bushwhacking  this week for sheds. Nothing yet , but hopefully soon 😉

Jim

Surprise Visitor Checking TCs

 

A tough week hiking. Several days of high wind and crusty snow made for challenging  bushwhacking conditions. I did manage to visit all my fisher scent post sets. The efforts in the last month following fisher tracks have paid off with three new scent post locations.

Also, I had an interesting visitor while checking trail cameras. https://youtu.be/jjU67FCiMCc

Jim

 

Fisher - Unique Daytime Capture

 

It was a good week tracking in central Massachusetts with one trail camera videoing something quite unique. Last week while tracking a male fisher the trail took me to five different dig sites. Dig sites are where a fisher will dig into stumps , ground or standing rotten trees foraging for rodents and insects. The last dig site was in an ideal location to set up a trail camera. It was a long shot hoping that a fisher would return to work the tree. I got lucky !  https://youtu.be/Eg1kzU_0LfE

I was hoping to find a bobcat track earlier in the week. Checking several  different locations resulted in no tracks. While checking trail cameras mid-week, I did cut a bobcat track. A quick SD card swapped out and I was off tracking the bobcat track. It wasn’t long before locating a squat and dump imprint in the snow. The bobcat followed the edge of a pond before heading to a ridge that led to a road. The cat “ Spritzed “ on log ends as it traveled through the thick stand of hemlock saplings. The trail ended at a culvert with porcupine tracks leading into it. Not sure if the bobcat jumped to the road or back tracked a short distance and stayed on the porcupine trail. It was time for me to end the trail. I got a new pic to add to my bobcat tracking library.

Jim

Picture - Bobcat crouched and left a deposit. Very much as a cat in a litter box.

Fisher Tracking - Unique Camera Trapping Set

 

The inch of snow Massachusetts received  earlier in the week was just enough to provide decent tracking conditions. That along with locating a fisher track early on made for an eventful few mornings tracking  I was able to follow the fisher tracks just over four miles and was never more than a half mile from my starting point. The fisher trail wound through hemlock swamps and places that had downed trees. https://youtu.be/zZJLl9iaEBw

 

Finding this unique location in 2018 and setting up a trail camera has produced incredible videos over the years. The first few years had special tenants before a porcupine moved in. Then after that, bobcats visit the den monthly during the colder weather. https://youtu.be/Z_2VpIfXRc8

Massachusetts – Worcester County

Jim