Lots Of Hiking With The Holidays

The time off has allowed me to put many miles on the ole'hiking boots. Still carrying my SLR on weekly TC camera checks. Been slow with any decent SLR pictures. I like walking shorelines and with the water levels this year, it's been a challenge.
I have many trail cameras out with no snow ( Yet) to hinder checking them, Activity has been slow and mostly night captures, This weekend I did note a number of bobcat scats while hiking.
I have been saving my gift cards for a while and decided to cash them in at Cabela's,  purchasing a higher end TC. I hope to continue improving the quality of the videos and pictures which will enhance future presentations.
Jim

Should I or Should't I

Got to my spot this morning and the sky opened up. That made the decision to leave my camera in the truck. This mornings hike was to check a number of trail cameras in north central MA. The mild temps had many critters on the move. The heavy rain and warm weather pretty much melted the ice on a few swamps I checked.

 Ducks, beavers, pileated woodpecker and kingfisher kept the swamp pond busy.
Trail cameras captured a few pics. The cover pic is a doe crossing a beaver dam and hears the camera.
Other tc;s captured a distant coyote and bobcat crossing on the thin ice during the cover of darkness.

Jim

Got an early start this morning. Loaded up a bunch of trail cameras and ran a long camera trap line in anticipation of catching a daytime bobcat picture on a trail camera. The sled worked out great and saved some wear and tear on my back.
Jim

Thank You To All That Attended

" Camera Trapping Massachusetts Bears "

What a nice turnout and many thanks !

Special thanks to my son Mike ( pictured) for sharing his bear knowledge.

A few weeks ago I had pulled in all my cameras to clean , change batteries to lithium and inventory all equipment. . I had a good year , only lost one small padlock.
Its time to make winter camera trap sets. I will setup a few cams in previous areas. I  currently have a new spot and will focus most of my efforts learning this area and see what nature has in store.

Jim

Camera Trapping Massachusetts Bears

Hope to meet some of you Thursday evening !

A six mile hike this morning checking camera traps was full on anticipation hoping to catch glimpse of a bobcat. I did see two scat piles. Should only be a matter of time before my trail cameras start catching them.

Jim

Save The Date

Its been a good year catching Massachusetts bears on trail cameras.Three of the bears standout.Come see why.
 Also, MassWildlife will share what happens when checking a winter den site.

Camera Trap Best Capture

The goal this year was to see if I could capture a bear crossing a beaver dam with a trail camera .Had a number of close opportunities but not what I was looking for. I was surprised to  catch the bear this week with heavy rain last week . Beaver dam water overflow was extremely high this weekend. See
Now for the next challenge. A bull moose !

Jim

Its been a good year for bear sighting  in North Central MA., eight so far. Trail camera's have captured six and was able to click my shutter on two others. The bear in the cover page was massive. Its estimated weight is 350 lbs.

The bear above was caught on a trail camera a week after getting the boar on the cover page. My guess is this bear may have caught the scent of other bears  in the area. That's why it is standing

Jim

Did some hiking with SLR camera and checked out a number of camera traps this weekend.
No shortage of skeeters and black flies.....
Moose were on the move, seeing a young bull and a very large cow that looked like she was about to give birth.
Water is very high which really limits any shoreline hikes.
Received our night time access permits to fishing Quabbin designated gates. The night time nature sounds can be very enjoyable with hearing loons, barred owls and occasional whippoorwill.Oh yeah, we catch a fish once in a while and release it.

Jim

Crazy Spring Weather !

The cold snowy wet weather kept the hiking to a minimum. Trail Cameras kept me busy. I felt very lucky finding a bear den. I really thought a coyote or fox family would use this ideal den site. Guess the bear wins by default. The trail camera recorded some incredible interaction between the sow and her cub. I will put something together and share in a future presentation.

Jim

Facebook Page

Hi All ,
Started a Facebook page a while back. It has worked out well. I will still keep the blog for more detailed posts.
https://www.facebook.com/Hiking-Camera-Nature-Photography-837775479699056/
Jim

Well, sometimes it takes just a few days to capture pictures on your trail cameras and sometimes weeks go by with nothing. The bobcat above only took several days to get.

Work was let out early last Wednesday with the snow storm. I used the opportunity to check several trail cameras before the heavy snow arrived. It was a nice surprise to get a second picture of the bobcat I shared last week. This trail camera was located about a quarter mile away from the other camera.

This morning’s TC check was made a bit easier using snowshoes. The picture above is about as good as it gets. No ticks, not too cold and a beautiful view with everything white.

The last picture “Winters Last Grip “won’t be long till spring!

Jim

Hiking w/ Camera Been A Slow Winter

Sure glad I have trial cameras to keep the animal activity consistent. It's been a SLOW winter with little activity with my SLR camera. Sure glad spring is just around the corner.

Plenty of bobcat activity !

Jim

Camera Trapping As Good As It Gets !

Last week while bushwhacking putting out camera trap I came upon a remote stonewall with bobcat scat on it. There was a leaning tree which was in a purrrfect spot to anchor a trail camera.
Hiked in at dawn this morning to change out SD cards. What a surprise when I got home....

Cant get much closer than that.

Hey.... wait a minute. Turn around so i can get your picture.

The bobcat did turn around. Title picture

Jim

Starting Hiking Early

Needed a flashlight this morning. Hiked in deep before sunrise. The plan was to sit and wait for coyotes . Didn't work out ! They were all about a mile away harassing a friend. After sitting awhile I headed off to check on a few trail cameras. Slow week, only a fisher and a bashful fox.. With the rain last week, a small cove had open water. A flock of American Black Ducks were taking this opportunity to feed and high above the cove an immature eagle was gliding in circles.

Jim

Nice Morning To Be Out !

Beautiful morning to watch the sunrise while sitting in anticipation of some critter walking by. On the way back to my truck this beaver was out getting breakfast. It was much to close for the camera I was using so the iphone would have to do.

Trail Cams picked up a little activity during the week I had to crop one of the coyote pics; Sun was blaring into TC lens.

Beaver was just a few feet from me!

Jim

Minus 13 To Start

Actually it wasn’t too bad hiking this morning. No wind!   Put some miles on hoping to catch some coyote activity on the ice. I watched these two does slowly walking down a ridge. They were convinced I didn’t see them and were going to let me walk by. At about 40 yards I was able to get several pics.

Jim