Yearling cubs out and about mid-December. Hopefully it has figured out its time to take a long winters nap.
Jim
This fall the woods were loaded with food. White Oak & Red Oak Acorns were abundant.. There was no shortage of Concord Grapes or Hickory Nuts.
These three bears appeared very plump !
Weather has been pretty mild for December. It will be interesting to see if bears stay active for the remainder of December.
Jim
Looks like this fieldstone den isn’t going to
house a bear tenant this year. A porcupine has been a very frequent visitor to
this site and a check yesterday with a flashlight revealed a porcupine taking
up residency. However, A bobcat has also visited the den on a number of occasions.
One video displayed the bobcat scratching and scent marking inside the entrance
way. The entry reeked cat urine. Maybe a den site for bobcats in 2022 ??? Early
January I’ll set a trail camera with a battery pack and see what late winter
holds.
Most of my trail cameras have been taken in with bear activity just about done for this year. I will start putting them back out in areas with moose. It would be neat to get a bull in the snow ( bucket list) The Browning Recon Force Advantage cameras have performed well this year. Researching, I found Browning sells an external power pack where eight additional batteries can be added to a trail camera . I’m going to give one a try. Basically, it will double the battery capacity. Might be ideal for winter camera trapping. This type of setup would not do well when bears are out and about.
The bear activity and trail camera videos / pics in 2021 are a record for me. I’m reviewing and organizing the data. When complete I’ll share with you.
Spring is just around the corner lol. Now is the time to start thinking about camera trapping plans for next year . I have several things I want to do differently with my sets. Stay tuned ……
Jim
Thanks to those that attended my presentation last night, It was an enjoyable evening with some good dialog at the end.
The pic above is a new secondary beaver pond the resident beavers are constructing . The beavers are working overtime downing trees for winter food caches. It didn't take the moose long to locate and start feeding on the upper branches of the downed trees.
Bear activity is slowing down However, one trail camera captured a bear crossing a beaver dam on Nov 17th
Jim
Deer activity remains high with the rut in full swing in Massachusetts., Camera traps have captured another buck working a scrape in a different location. So far all activity has been a night. I'm hoping to get lucky enough to capture some daytime footage.
Jim
I had another trail camera ripped off a tree by a bear. Metal camera boxes are a must camera trapping areas that have black bears.
Tomorrow I'm off to check trail cameras in another area that have been recording big bucks. It's a great time of the year to have a trail cameras set out in the woods.
Jim
Early October while bushwhacking I came across a large Whitetail Buck Scrap and luckily had an extra trail camera in my pack. Prime deer rut activity in Massachusetts is usually early November. I was a bit surprised at the size of this particular scrap this early in October .Retrieving the SD card last weekend told the story ( video). This was my fist attempt at putting a camera trap on an active scrape. I couldn’t have been any luckier.
The scrap has been visited by three bucks. The dominant buck that's in the video, an eight pointer and a spike. The spike’s actions have been more curiosity than anything. The eight pointer has stepped into the scrape and has left his scent on the licking branch. Surely a confrontation to follow at some point. I am anxious to see what activity occurred during this week of stormy weather.
Jim.
Last Friday’s SD card check was full of surprises. My efforts to capture a unique bear pic or video this year was coming down to the wire. Another month and sows with cubs will most likely be denned for the winter.
The trail camera that captured the pic (video grab) was set out early last March. It has videoed numerous bears over 8 months but nothing as unique as the picture above. The trail camera in the picture was an additional camera setup attempting to capture a unusual bear picture. I would have never believed that this set would end up being a prop , drawing the bears curiosity and the second camera capturing the (pic) video.
With this type of setup, I only use old trail cameras. The risk of damage or theft is high. Several other camera trap sets in the general area have been literally ripped off trees, no doubt these four had a hand in it.
Jim
As I write this article and reflect on experiences close to the 4000 mile marker hiking the Quabbin Woods. The last two weeks have seen a first time blunder and last weekend a bear approached me in the twilight of dawn. Both will be most memorable in this hiking journey
Several weeks ago, while bushwhacking I was starting to overheat so I stopped took my vest then rolled it up and stuffed it in the large open pocket on the outside of my pack. The corner of this pocket is where my bear spray is stored. Sometime while bushwhacking the plastic wedge that prevents the plunger on the bear spray from be pushed fell out. While stuffing my vest into the pocket it triggered the bear spray. Luckily it was pointed away from me. Unfortunately, when it sprayed it ricocheted off the tree in front of me just catching the corner of one eye and my lips. My exposure was minimal , all I can say is OMG , that was uncomfortable. The worst part was yet to come. When I arrived home, I immediately flushed my eye out, some of the spray made it into my eye. All I can say is LESSON LEARNED !!!
Last Sunday I hit the trail at the twilight of dawn. You could just make out the silhouette of trees. I was walking a road that leads to deep woods, hoping to catch a bull moose on the move. Wouldn’t you know it, a bear steps out into the road ,looks away from me , then turns and starts walking towards me. It took a few seconds before the bear looked up and realized I was there , then it disappeared. Of course, who would have ever figured something like this would happen. First time in ten years I’ve ever thought about pulling out bear spray ( which I had none of)
Jim
I
find it remarkable the amount of sows with cubs that have show up in the
relatively small area. The sow with four yearlings from last week appeared to
be just passing through. Probably a corner of her home range that overlaps.
The
sow that typically rules this area dispersed her yearlings late spring. I’m
thinking that possibly with her being cub-less, is reason for all the
centralized bear activity. Next summer when she
is wandering her home range with cubs will tell the story.
I
still haven’t quite got the picture of a sow with cubs crossing a beaver
dam that I’m hoping to get. Lots of close pics though…. I changed the settings
on most of the Browning TC’s to burst picture mode in a last ditch effort to
capture a pic before the bears den for the year.
A
review of all my bear videos for 2021 would suggest that I should consider
placing camera traps on each end of the dam next year. Bear butts were the norm
with getting several bears moving towards the trail cameras.
No
doubt the 4000 miles hiked in the “Quabbin Woods” will be reached this month.
Eighteen miles to go…… I’m excited about this mile marker. Not sure where this
hiking quest goes from here.
Jim
Wow ! Last weekend bears were really on the move. Camera traps videoed one sow with three COY ( cubs of the year) had crossed five different beaver dams over a two week period. That’s a first for me. Reviewing SD cards from last weekend also showed I missed a sow with four cubs. This is the first time seeing this family of four. It will be interesting to see if camera traps captured video this week of them.
Moose are in rut. Cameras picked up two different bulls during the evening hours. One was respectable Hoping to get a nice day time pic/vid of an impressive bull moose.
I’m closing in on the 4000 mile marker hiking the Quabbin woods. Hope to hit that milestone in October.
Unplugged” for two weeks”
My apologies for no blog articles the last two weeks. My wife and I were on vacation (camping), we left all the electronics home !
We returned last Friday, I was able to hike last weekend to check trail cameras. A sow with three cubs were videoed in two different beaver swamps . One camera trap did capture footage of three rambunctious cubs during the day. This is my best cub video to date
Enjoy
Jim
Yesterday hiking to change out SD cards I had a bear step out a short distance in front of me. What a look of surprise on its face. I probably had the same look. lol
Certainly no shortage of water in Massachusetts with the record rain in July and tropical storm Henri. In my hiking yesterday I tried to set a camera trap where a big bull was videoed last fall. Water levels prevented me from reaching that same area. I hope to relocate a number of camera traps prior to the early fall moose rut.
Jim
It was a scramble this morning hiking to trail
cameras. With Hurricane Henri forecast predicting three to six inches of rain
in Central Massachusetts tomorrow, I had trail cameras that needed to be raised
or removed before the rains. It was HOT & HUMID with humidity at 94%. I
didn’t hike very far before becoming soaked. Animal activity has really slowed
down the last several weeks. I attribute it to the heat.
The coyote above is a video grab from a camera that
was checked this morning. It’s one of the better coyote’s pic/video to date.
Over the last several weeks I’ve located three separate areas with beaver
construction going on.
_ First is a beaver (pic above-video grab) re-building a bank lodge.
Several weeks ago bushwhacking along a swamp that I haven’t visited in a while,
rounding a cove and there on the bank, fresh beaver cuts laying on top of the
old lodge. I just happen to have a trail
camera in my pack!
_ Second opportunity was located while bushwhacking a new area and came
open several freshly dropped hemlock trees (3”to4”diameter). I put a camera
spying the fresh cuts and a check a week later had some decent beaver video
footage. Unfortunately it’s all at night...
_ Third opportunity is a remote beaver pond with two beavers re-establishing
the pond. They have built up the beaver dam, which has raised the water level,
they are now constructing a new lodge. I made a tripod out of pine branches and
set a trail camera up pointing at it from the shore. The lodge is about twenty
yards from the camera. A check this morning showed additional branches and
vegetation on top of the lodge. I couldn’t wait to view the SD card.
Unfortunately nothing on the card. Positioning the camera was somewhat of a
guess. Well that didn’t work out to well!
Jim
Last weekend you couldn’t ask for better hiking weather. Each morning the
temps started off in the low fifties. The cool weather kept the deer flies at
bay for the first few hours.
I was off to swap out SD cards in
several trail cameras that haven’t been changed in a month or so. When reaching
the first camera trap I knew a bear had been in the area. The camera was spun
on the tree and now facing down. Fortunately the plastic strap holders weren’t
broken. I have a few older trail cameras that don’t have metal security boxes.
On that note, if your camera trapping in bear country I strongly suggest
spending the extra money on a metal case.
The second trail camera is setup a short distance away and does have a
metal case. Three bears were in the area late July and all three checked that
trail camera out.
Still no sow with cubs captured on video last week.
It will be interesting to see what this weekend’s SD cards have on them
Jim
I wonder if this may slowing down activity on beaver dams . Its been weeks since capturing sows with cubs crossing beaver dams. Beaver ponds are high with fast moving water spilling over the dams.
With beaver pond water level high, water is reaching abandoned bank beaver lodges. The lodge pictured above hasn't been used in nearly a decade. I was quite surprised to see activity with new sticks stacked on top of the lodge. While investigating this welcomed find a beaver kept a close eye on what I was doing and slapped its tail on the water waring all around that an intruder was in the area,
As you can see in the picture, what a perfect place to set a camera trap. Hopefully rebuild activity continues and some interesting video comes of it.
Jim
Well,
finally some nice weather coming to central Massachusetts. The next few days
forecast is mid to upper seventies and dry! A welcomed break from the heat humidity
and RAIN.
My camera trapping captures have really slowed
down in July, especially bear activity. I’m sure the heat and bear mating
season winding down are impacting this.
The plan this weekend is to pull my trail cameras from one swamp and
start setting them in new areas that were scouted out last winter for moose.
Last year one of my camera trap sets videoed a beautiful bull with a large set of antlers. Unfortunately it was at a distance, I’m hoping that bull’s home range overlaps this new area
Jim
Bears leave their calling card “scent” in a number
of different ways. I was fortunate moving a trail camera only a few feet to
catch this bear using two methods to leave its scent. The first is obvious with
the bear rubbing its backside against the tree. Did you pick up on the second
method? It’s called stomping. The bear will walk and almost appear to be marching
pushing its legs down and turning its feet which also leaves scent.
Pretty “ Sticky” hiking yesterday morning , seventy three
degrees with ninety percent humidity. It didn’t long before becoming soaked. I
did manage to make it six miles checking SD cards. One trail camera captured a
first, a bald eagle landed on the beaver dam positioning itself perfectly for
the trail camera,
I never realized beaver dams have a role in a deer’s feeding
pattern. Setting camera traps on beaver dams the last several years has shown
that deer constantly visit dams to feed. It appears they feed on lily stems.
One day last week while checking camera traps I saw a very large buck out on a
beaver dam midmorning, pulling vegetation from beneath the water’s surface. The
doe above is a snag from a video. There is not a week that goes by that
several deer aren’t on this dam feeding.
Jim
Camera trapping bears in Massachusetts continues to be productive. It's surprising how many sows the trail cameras have videoed this spring. Today is the first day of summer ! A new season . Blueberries will be ripe soon. I have camera trap sets in several areas with lots of wild berries.
The picture above is a grab from a video. I really like the composition of this clip. Certainly worthy of hanging on the wall. It will be interesting to see if it breaks down when enlarged.
It 4:15 AM and time to head out before it gets to hot. The anticipation of checking SD cards is always a motivator ....
Jim
Persistence Pays Off.
One of my camera trapping goals for this year is to capture more of the animal and its environment. In the past my style of camera trapping was to basically capture a portrait of the animal.
The sow with the cubs is a “grab from a video” . I have learned that in most cases a video grab will give you more options with picture selection and most pictures are worthy of hanging on the wall.
It took seven weeks to capture this sow with two cubs crossing the beaver dam.
Risk versus reward. This is a secluded swamp with little human interference. There were no trees close enough to the dam.to mount a trail camera. The rotted stump just to the right of the sow was punky and I was not comfortable affixing a camera to it. The only option left was to fabricate a place to secure a camera. The ideal place would be on the end of the beaver dam. I found a beaver chewed tree from the dam and sunk it in the mud, then reinforcing it with a few smaller sticks.. Now all I needed was a bear hopefully with cubs to cross the dam during the day. The rest is history.
Jim
What miserable weather for Memorial Day last weekend in Massachusetts ! It rained heavy at times and temperatures stayed in the mid 40’s all weekend. I did hike each day with rain gear . It wasn’t the most enjoyable hiking conditions as I checked SD cards in three different areas. Bear activity slowed down with only capturing two bears on video last week. I was somewhat surprised at this with bear mating season in full swing.
I moved several cameras that were positioned inside the wood line of swamps , out into the swamps. Moose will start visiting secluded ponds in search of new plant vegetation. One of my goals is to hopefully capture a good video / picture of a moose in the water feeding. The video below was captured using two trail cameras. One above the dam pointed at the center of the dam and the second TC positioned below the dam pointed at the center.
Another anecdotal project I’m working on this year is monitoring a swamp over four seasons. So far so good, except for losing some winter coverage to a hard drive crash. Lesson learned for sure !
Jim
The more I thought about it the more questions I had. A return trip provided the answer. A big ole' elm tree sat directly in the middle of the scat piles. Not sure how this was missed the first time! I guess the excitement of locating all the scat piles kept me focused looking down at the ground.
Once I looked at the tree, there was no doubt this was a bear " baby sitting tree" What a find !! The wear marks on the tree trunk were very obvious.
The collared bear and cub(s) are the same family of bears that were videoed last month in another swamp located about three and one half miles away.
The collared bear is a Massachusetts study bear. This bear helps provide important data to the bears home range, habitat, reproduction rate , cub survivor rate ( winter bear den checks).
Based on my anecdotal data so far this year with capturing videos of:
- several single bears
- sow with four yearlings
- sow with three three yearlings
- sow with three COY ( cubs of year)
All in one location might suggest Massachusetts bears are thriving.
Late May and June are mating season for black bears in MA. The likelihood of seeing a bear is the greatest this time of year, with males spending more time travelling in pursuit of a mate. I'm hoping to catch a " Big Bruin" passing one of my trial cameras in the next few weeks.
Took my canoe out for it's " maiden voyage" yesterday on the Ware River. My daughter and I paddled five miles. We saw lots of herons and several water snakes.
Jim
The calm water and light patchy fog made an ideal setting seeing my first loon of the day. As the sun started to brighten the west shoreline of Mt Zion Island there was an eagle watching the reservoir .
In years past I had located three eagle nests. Todays journey was to see if they were still being used, The furthest nest was on Curtis Island. While there, I motored along the southeast shoreline to catch a glimpse of the fieldstone walls of the old Dugmar Country Club ( pictured above). This dwelling has an interesting story . Unfortunately none of the eagle nests were active. Three eagles were seen during the day.
I used a Garmin Inreach to track m route. I use this when hiking the Quabbin woods because cell phone service is poor at best in most areas.
Jim
The beaver pond I’ve been camera trapping since last December has come alive. Last week’s visit showed several small hemlock trees partially chewed by beavers .Two trail cameras were positioned close by in hopes of catching the beaver busy at work.
Moose are having their calves. A friend sent me a picture of a sow with a newborn on Wednesday.
Water lilies are starting to grow in beaver ponds. Moose will soon be looking for their tender stems. Camera traps will need to be re- positioned overlooking the pond shoreline this weekend
Jim
This mornings camera trap check resulted in the " Best Ever " bear activity on a single trail camera. A sow with four cubs is certainly a camera trappers dream. Then , to have another sow with three cubs break the trail cameras sensor. Oh , can't forget the late April snow storm. I couldn't be more pleased . Enjoy !
Jim
Amazon delivered my new Go Pro. I took it with me this morning hiking and checking trail cameras. It will take me a little while to learn how to use it , Stay Tuned !
Jim
It’s been a hectic few week with getting spring yard projects done and trekking North Central Massachusetts setting out trail cameras. This weekend I’ll start checking them . I’m aware of at least one sow with four yearling cubs. Hope to get video before she sends the cubs off on their own late spring.
Over the last few years, I’ve had two “ Go To” locations that have consistently provided bear activity, I hope to get more bear videos this year. In addition to those two hot spots
Six additional locations have been added to my camera trapline this year , I’m sure hoping to capture a variety of bear video. Late May the breeding season starts. Bear activity will be at its highest during this time.
I’ve been pondering the idea of buying a
GoPro camera . Thinking it may add to my blog by including some hiking and canoe adventures. Stay tuned.
Jim
When I got back to the truck and rounded the first corner,two moose were standing on the side of the road. I did get a short video. They were kind of scruffy , starting to shed winter coat.
All my TC's are out. Now I wait!!!
Jim
I've been on a mission the last two weekends setting out camera traps in anticipation of bears coming out of hibernation. Skunk cabbage is still several weeks from sprouting or at least in the areas that I have trail cameras
The pic of the coyote above is from a new swamp I located late fall last fall It looks promising with pics of bobcats, coyotes, otters and deer throughout the winter. Hopefully tomorrow I can get a few more cameras out.
No ticks yet!. I'll bet by next weekend they will be a problem.
My plan this year is to be a bit more patient and not to check cameras weekly. I'm setting trail camera in a much larger area in North Central Massachusetts and I couldn't possibly check them all each weekend.
Tomorrow I'm of to another new spot . I typically set a minimum of two sets in each area. This makes the time and effort worth it.
Jim
New areas bring new challenges and uncertainty of what wildlife will frequent them.
This beaver dam is shaped like the letter "S" To begin, the camera trap was set back about 25' . I really wanted to set the trail camera on the tall stump right at the end of the dam. that will come once the vegetation starts to grow. I'm really excited about this new spot. Stay tuned!
This is another new spot near a beaver pond. I would like to leave the camera sets out till fall. It will depend on how many people show up on the video.
Tomorrow I'm off to set out more TC's. Some bears are now out and about..
Jim
Bobcat is a bit blurry. The camera trap is about six feet away, The camera was set on eight shot rapid fire. I know if this were set to video, then a pretty sharp video grab could be pulled. One of the trials and tribulations of learning. I went back this morning ,put in new batteries and set to video.
The picture above isn't the same bobcat that was featured last week. This is a new area . Camera traps were set out on New Years day. The Lithium batteries held up well !
By early April I'll have all my trail cameras back out. I wait until the shed hunters are done scouring the woods.
I figured this would be the last weekend where I could use the ice in exploring new areas to camera trap .This spot looks promising. It will be a challenge to get into with ice out. I may need to look into a lightweight pair of hip boots.
Jim
