Busy Log Bridge

 

 My final trail camera location tally for 2026 is eighteen, and so far, no bears! I haven’t been able to check all the sets, so there’s still a chance to get a first 2026 bear TC trigger in March. Looking back through my records, at least one bear had triggered a TC in March since 2022.

What I did get last week was the busiest log bridge wildlife activity yet in a week, with everything from a mouse to a moose and many things in between (mouse, moose, red and gray squirrel, raccoon, mink, coyote, beaver, weasel, wood duck, and red shouldered hawk eating a frog).

I’ve received reports of bears on the move in my trail camera area and have seen more on Facebook. The milder temperatures early next week are sure to get what I call the “ Deep Woods Bears “ moving.

Jim

Trail Cameras Set and Waiting For Bears

 

First day time coyote of 2026

It’s  been a busy week in the woods setting out trail cameras. I still have several more TC setups to go but I am pleased to have the majority done. Bears are appearing from there dens; it will be interesting to see which location videos my first bear of the year. In prior years, my camera trapping line was always set by early March. Snow this year put a wrench in the works.

A friend let me know he saw a sow with two cubs during his hike last weekend. Based on my years of collecting bear data, most sows with first year cubs hold tight to their dens until mid-April. It will be interesting to see if any of my TC’s videos have early bears with cubs.

 Below are my Trail Camera Goals for 2026. I’ll update accordingly.

-          Bear(s) walking along pond shoreline or stream.

-          New Locations with logs spanning over water – “ Log Bridge.”

-          Deploy TC’s in new locations .

-          Aesthetically pleasing backgrounds

-          Set up on different bear bite trees

Jim

Its Time ! Trail Camera Sets For Bears

 

It sure has been a busy week. The few days of warm temperatures melted enough snow to start setting out trail cameras. I’m excited about this year having new areas and new spots within existing areas.

 On that note, this week while driving down a country road passing through ideal wildlife habitat ( private property) the landowners were outside. I figured I would stop and take a gamble at gaining landowner permission. I walked away in disbelief. They said, YES ! .

Hopefully, the landowners see this. Thanks  Again! I appreciate it so much!!

This morning’s hike took me a bit of effort to get to, packing in trail cameras. It’s a  remote swamp / pond with a bear bite scent marking tree and  beaver dam. The small hemlock sapling beaver chewed stump made for an ideal place to mount a trail camera. ( cover picture ).

Bear Bite Tree - Scent Marking

In previous years I had set up my camera trapping locations on a seven-day cycle, checking and changing SD cards weekly. This year I have more than fourteen locations and will travel longer distances to three of the locations. It should make for an eventful year. In the past, last year TC’s videoed an estimated twenty-seven different bears. With the new locations, I’m hoping to reach thirty-five this year.

 

Jim

Bobcat Photo Opportunity

 

When travelling to check trail cameras, I’m always looking for wildlife photo opportunities. The other day I was in the right place, at the right time, looking the right way. When passing a field, something in the distance caught my attention. A quick turnaround , another look, and holy …… There were two bobcats deep in the field. Knowing it would be tough to get a decent photo at that distance, I wanted to at least  capture an “ evidence picture.” Jumping the snowbank, I struggled in the deep snow to get to a tree along the edge of the field, didn’t want to advertise the photo opportunity with passing cars. That worked out. Now what ? I decided to wait and see how this would play out; likely the cats would cross the field at the far end. I’ll tell you, it was COLD,  temps near ten degrees and windy. Hopefully this will finish quickly. That wasn’t happening ! The bobcats SLOWLY moved in my direction with the male shadowing the females every move. She stopped often, squatting and staring in my direction. Both cats were aware of my presence. I was wondering why the female kept heading in my way, was it to keep the male at bay? The tom clearly had something on his mind and me being there had no impact on his behavior.

Jim

Pic above are the sheds I have found over the years. It’s been a good start to this year with an 8-point deadhead and moose shed. Hopefully more to be found in the coming weeks.

 

Thanks to all that attended the WRNC annual banquet on Feb 22nd. I enjoyed the dialog and questions following my presentation.

For sure this is “ The Dead of Winter.”  The most recent storm on top of the snow from late January has slowed wildlife activity. Snowshoeing last week  checking TC’s gave up a few Coyote tracks. I did see the first sign of Spring this weekend with maple syrup buckets hanging. I took a ride through an area with open fields on Saturday morning hoping to see a raptor activity, no luck.

I’ve been looking for a more efficient way to keep track of my trail cameras in the field. A field notebook has worked well in the past. This year I added more cameras, locations, and travel time. I have been researching Apps for my phone.

I  may have found the ideal App for keeping track of TC’s . I loaded all my trail camera detail and data onto the site. The site offers many features , the two most important ( to me ) camera location and camera location history. Once I start bushwhacking  new areas, I move TC’s frequently, and in the past have forgotten to note a move in my notes. I think ( hoping) having the phone readily at hand will make it easier. We shall see!

Using my phone to keep track should make it easier. I will share more on this after setting out my TC’s.

Jim

Wildlife Activity Is Slow

 

Thank You ! to the Ware River Nature Club for inviting me to present at their annual banquet yesterday. It was an enjoyable afternoon with a wonderful audience.

It’s been an uneventful week from a wildlife perspective. Trail Cameras have had no activity, and I haven’t seen anything while snowshoeing.

I have cleaned up and organized my trail cameras and hardware with anticipation of Spring ( 4 weeks away ). The lag bolts that I had previously purchased from a local big box store were snapping when removing  lock boxes from the tree. Also, I had various bolt sizes. The old bolts are now in the trash and  have only one size bolt to carry in my backpack.

It will be interesting to see how Fisher’s navigate the deep snow with the onset of mating season. The last two years, Fisher activity at scent posts was consistent starting mid-February. One trail camera had activity just before the big snowstorm in January , nothing since.

Jim

Ideal Conditions Snowshoes - Shed Hunting

 

What a great week in the woods! I have been snowshoeing, checking trail cameras and searching for deer and moose sheds. Two things were found this week, the first were muscles that haven’t been used that much in years, and the second was a respectable moose shed. As the week went on the sore muscles eased and the time out snowshoeing increased. I have been searching for the other antler starting back where  the first shed  was found, then followed every moose track in the area  for long distances.

https://youtu.be/xktgQTTmkaE

What made this moose shed an interesting find was finding a shed and having a video of the  bull, and it appears the bull has moose hair on the brow tine. Doubtfully that hair has been there since the moose rut back in early fall. That hair could suggest bulls still spar aggressively until there antlers drop.

Jim

Lucky Trail Camera Catch

 

I have been busy snowshoeing the last couple of weeks. The conditions were ideal. Yesterday I snowshoed to my deepest trail camera set. As I came up on the set, there was a deep oval depression in the snow. A moose had bedded  a short distance from the trail camera. Talk about getting pumped ! When I opened the camera to check the SD card, the batteries were DEAD ! You got to be kidding me…. Thankfully, my pack had spare batteries. After powering the TC up , there were many videos. A  quick look showed a moose on the screen. With  temperatures near zero, further review would need to wait until I got home.

I could not be more pleased; there were 130 videos spanned over 3.5 hours, with a moose centered in front of the trail camera. You could not have staged it any better. And ……... It all took place during the snowstorm back on Jan 26^th.

Jim

 

The weather this week has been a bit brutal with the temperatures. I did get out a few times snowshoeing checking trail cameras. It’s been years since there has been enough snow to really hike with snowshoes. With nearly two feet of snow, they certainly were effective. Only issue was cold feet, 800 Gram Thinsulate boots aren’t enough anymore. I now have a 2000 Gram pair. I’ll take them for a test run next.

Trail camera activity has been slow, and batteries are going dead fast with these below zero temps.. In past winters I only used lithium batteries The cost of them skyrocketed so I went back to alkaline. I think I’ll give  lithium rechargeable batteries a try.

Well , tomorrow is Feb 1^st and I call that the dead of winter. Things are slow. A couple of weeks from now it will be notably lighter later and then all downhill from there till Spring. I am really looking forward to more scouting and setting up trail cameras in the new areas this Spring.

Jim

 

I swapped batteries out in many of my trail cameras this week, The extreme cold and estimated snow totals forecasted for today’s snowstorm will keep me from weekly checks for a while. I will be breaking out the snowshoes for sure next week. Lots of miles hiked this month looking for sheds with no luck other than the deadhead I found a few weeks back. The heavy snow coming will blanket sheds for a while.

A pleasant surprise this week with a TC video of a bull in a winter setting. Picture above

I checked  few trail cameras this morning before the snow started. Glad I did , batteries were dead.

Jim

Good Tracking Conditions

 

I ‘ve located another new bear area for the Spring. This location has excellent bear sign Now I have plenty of new locations for 2026 and will need to whittle it down to just three . Late winter and early Spring I will spend more time scouting these spots.

I put a TC on a old Fisher  scent post snag from last year and was pleased to see a fisher had recently visited it this month  ( pic above). I will try to locate a few more scent posts with the next snow fall.

I've been invited to speak at the Ware River Nature Club  ( WRNC) Annual Dinner Banquet, where I'll present my top wildlife photos, videos, and share my adventures.  It should  make  for an enjoyable afternoon. If your interested in attending you can find more information at 

https://www.warerivernatureclub.org/

Jim

Located Several New Locations For Bears

 

Picture above is an eight-point buck somewhat inquisitive about the beaver chew tree and hearing the tc video.

 

It’s been a productive week scouting and bushwhacking Massachusetts woodlands. I found three new areas for camera trapping ( trail cameras). Two of the locations had bear bite trees. I enjoy learning new areas, this should keep me busy for 2026. While bushwhacking through a thick patch of mountain laurel I found an eight-pointer buck skull or what’s called a deadhead. The buck’s demise was likely in the last few months with a tint of red still on it.

I had to remove two trail cameras that were watching a small beaver pond with a bank lodge. The beaver dam  sprung a leak, considerably dropping the water level, which in turn collapsed the ice that was on the pond. I had a trail camera about ten feet out into the pond. I needed to pull the camera while I can still get to it. The bank lodge camera also needs to be pulled. Mice were running on top of the lodge continuously at nigh killing the batteries.

Jim

Moose - Late Season Sparring

 

Wonderful way to start the new year ! I have been trying for YEARS to video ( TC )  a bull moose in the snow. In past years, I couldn't find a bull, or Massachusetts didn't have snow before the bulls lost their antlers. Over the last weeks three minor snow events in central MA set the stage. The snow with each storm was enough to track  moose finding there general location. Over the last  weeks I’ve been adding and moving trail cameras daily. It came down  to a bit of luck, having a trail camera facing the right way on the right tree,  Also, it was persistence, having the snow to track and no job (retired) set this opportunity in play. TURN THE VOLUME UP!! The video is short but interesting. The larger bull gives a slight head swing showing aggression, then …. You’ll see,

 https://youtu.be/jAS7NlLBN_k

Happy New Year !

Jim