Camera Trap Winter Sets Pulled

 

 I pulled my two winter camera traps that were set to hopefully capture a bull moose in the snow browsing. Most bulls have dropped their antlers by now. My winter goal was too video a bull moose. Came close with capturing two young bulls at night, unfortunately no snow. A lot was learned from these sets. New growth in previously logged areas makes for prime moose browsing habitat. I was rather surprised that no moose used a well-worn game trail that accessed the logged area. Moose tracks randomly littered the ground and were visible in the little bit of snow that Massachusetts had this winter, those moose didn’t browse into camera range. Deer on the other hand did constantly trip trail camera sensors over a ten week period (Late Nov- mid-Feb.). Future sets will include attempting to cover as much new tree growth areas as possible, randomly setting camera traps

                      Two Young Bull Moose Captured On Winter Camera Trap Sets

Two Browning HP4’s with Browning external battery packs with Ultimate Lithium batteries were used. Each trail camera took a minimum of thirty> videos with the majority of them being at night. Both cameras still had 80%> battery life left on them. Granted this Massachusetts winter has been mild, but many nights have dropped into the twenties, with one brutal two day period of sub-zero weather. External battery packs are a good option if you are making long term sets. The only drawback is camouflaging them so they don’t stand out. You should also consider using high capacity SD cards when making long term sets.

Jim