Returned Home From Camping And Several Surprises

 

A Milestone Week

It has been an interesting week. My wife and I just returned from our second camping trip, and when I checked on my blog, I noticed the page counter had reached 500,000 views. Flattering, to say the least.

I started this blog back in December 2012. Thirteen years may seem like a long time to reach that number, especially with today’s social media platforms and bloggers who have thousands of followers. Still, this feels like a meaningful milestone to me.

This blog started—and remains—a place where I share a few short weekly paragraphs about my outdoor adventures. To everyone who follows along:                                        Thank You!. I truly appreciate your interest in my adventures.

A New Trail Camera Opportunity

While we were away, a trail camera manufacturer contacted me about offering a free trail camera solar package. I am still working out the details and will share more in a future post.

A Long-Awaited Loon Photo

Finally, I captured a photo of a loon with a chick riding on its back. That shot has eluded me for years, and I am thrilled to have had the opportunity. Sometimes it really does come down to being in the right place at the right time.

Back to the Trail Cameras

Now it is time to get the hiking boots back on and start checking trail cameras again.

Jim

Pictured above is Blaze in ideal bear habitat

 

With bear mating season in full swing in Massachusetts, all the bear scent marking trees that my trail cameras are monitoring have been busy. One area ( ½ square mile) has five active scent marking trees that have been visited by seven different bears, two are females and five males.

All seven bears have visible features that help me identify them, I have named them according. There is Matty w/2 cubs - she appears to have mange and her fur is matted , Blaze -  has two large white blotches under his front chest, Dark Face -  has a solid black muzzle, Bald Back -  has balding running down the middle of his back, Butt Scar - has a large scar on his right butt cheek. Scar Face - has a long scar running along his muzzle and then finally No Scars - a beautiful looking bear. I have included a few pics below showing identifying features.

It will be interesting to see if the level of activity with the next SD card check remains high. Will the scent marking trees still be as active on the downward side of mating season? Will any new bears show up in this area?

One thing that I did find interesting was that Matty with her two cubs stays in the area with so many males. She has also scent marked three of the five scent marking trees. In my experience sows with cubs don’t tend to stay in areas with this level of male activity.

 

Blaze

Bald Back

Matty

Dark Face

Jim

MA Has Some Large Bears

 

It’s been a busy week at one of my log bridge TC sets. If you haven’t seen the video, its below. This morning there was light ice on my windshield, and we had snow mixed with rain yesterday. So, this cool morning  I made my furthest drive and longest hike to check trial cameras, and I was not disappointed. The two trail cameras have been watching a scent marking tree in a new location and it’s been just under a month since the last SD check. With the last check a large male    ( presumed) had checked the scent tree on two occasions. It was a beautiful bear with blue ear tags and a nice shine to its coat. It was the largest bear to visit any of my sites until this morning’s check. 

Was the biggest bear

This morning’s bear was a “ Goliath” and absolutely beautiful ! He has only visited this location once , hopefully he will be back. The large bear with the ear tags was also videoed shadowing a large female bear.

https://youtu.be/Px-uCGTR0Gs

 

 

Jim

Height Of Bear Activity

 

One of my new locations captured another collard sow with three cubs last week. It could possibly be the same sow with four cubs that I shared in April. I received feedback from one of my followers, they think there were four cubs in the video. I reviewed the video in slow motion and can only see three. I think the TC hickuped when the third cub jumped from the log. It’s  not  important, I try to stay as accurate as possible identifying new bears; I’m thrilled to have had a TC video the sow and cubs in a pleasing environment.

https://youtu.be/BTQ11WqCMos

Primetime bear activity !  So far, TC’s have videoed eighty-seven bears in May, with many TC’s still to be checked. I wouldn’t be surprised if bear videos exceed one hundred for the month.

YTD “ Different Bears” is now 31.

  The criteria I use to count individual bears and to keep track of total bear videos by location are:

1.      Sow with cubs count as one family group.

2.      If a similar looking bear triggers a TC in each area within one hour of the first TC trigger the video is not counted.

It’s not exact ,but I think it’s a good representation of the data collected.

 

Below are two examples of easily identifiable bears.

 Jim

Bears are pretty hardy animals and can usually overcome mange

Very easy to identify

Missed Opportunity With Trail Camera

 

I have a perfect location to set TC’s that has a fallen snag, that slightly cuts the corner on the edge of a beaver pond. Bears like to log-walk, and this log bridge attracts them every time. I didn’t set there last year due to “ People Issues”. It’s such a good spot, I thought I would give it another try this year. I missed a top-notch video opportunity because only one TC was set. In previous years, two were always set, one facing east and the other west. There is a sow and one yearling ahead of the two yearlings on the log bridge in the cover picture. There is a snag  just out of view to the left. When I last  checked the set on April 22^nd the snag had not been disturbed. I’m Hoping to video a future bear that shows interest in the dugout area on the tree. I got a bit creative ( I think lol ) with a new set. Hopefully bears will travel along the log bridge and continue digging for insects.

Jim

Snag torn into by a bear searching for insects

Hopefully this setup will video a bear digging into the snag 

Bear Activity Continues To Pickup !

 

One of the new areas I set up trail cameras (TC’s)  last month has had quite a bit of bear activity. Two TC’s were set in a wetland with visible sign of skunk cabbage leaves being foraged on and fresh bear scat. The swamp has mountain laurel on the east side with a game trail skirting the edge of the swamp. The first TC was set hoping to catch bears moving along the swamps edge foraging on skunk cabbage. The second TC was set on a small old scent tree with a visible bear bite mark on it. Both TC sets have been active ! There are three bears in the area,  sow with one yearling, a younger bear with blue ear tag and a larger bear assumed to be a boar. The TCs were set April 20^th. On April 21^st, a yearling climbed the tree ( cover pic)  in front of the TC. Also , a second bear climbed the same tree  on April 22^nd. On May 2^nd, a large boar wandered through showing no interest in the tree that the bears had climbed. I’m not sure why the bears did that. It will be interesting to see if the tree has been climbed a third time with the next SD card check.

           

All my TC’s have been busy in North Central MA capturing black bears on the move. Of the twenty locations I have set up, nineteen  or 95%  have had bear activity, The one site that had no activity was a “ role of the dice” when setting it up. . There was nothing in the area to draw bears. The landscape was ascetically pleasing, and I was hoping to get a bear or two passing through. I pulled those TC’s , they’ll be better used elsewhere.

As of this morning my trail cameras have videoed 25 different bears.

Jim

Bear Activity Very Good !

 

Meet Scar, he ( assumed at this point) has a curved scar on his butt. His first crossing of this beaver dam was on April 16^th and is the only bear to trigger a trail camera in the area so far this year. Last Thursday after checking SD cards I bushwhacked around the swamp and found a bear scent marking tree with a small fresh bite mark on it. I didn’t think much about it until later in the day. With all the TC bear sets that I have made this year , this is the first area with fresh bear sign. On Friday morning I hiked back in with a TC to set up on the bite tree, was I surprised, to see the size of the bite mark now . 

Bite mark on Thursday

 The bear had visited the tree since my visit yesterday morning. 

Bite mark on Friday

It’s likely Scar who scent marked the tree on both days given its proximity to the beaver dam.

It will be interesting to see how many bears visit this site.

Jim