A second ( different ) bear  quickly checks out the torn snag

It’s been a busy week of hiking and bringing in many of my trail cameras. In October, the Massachusetts woods fill with outdoor enthusiasts, and my cameras are triggered by more people now than at any other time of year. To limit camera exposure and avoid other potential problems, I scale back the number of cameras in the field each fall.

Collecting them gives me a chance to inspect the cameras and clean the security boxes.

 

I also looked back at my camera-trapping goals that were set last March. The results weren’t perfect, but I did reasonably well.

                 2026 Trail Camera Goals

-          Capture bears walking along a pond shoreline or stream.

-          Find new spots where logs cross water – “log bridges.”

-          Set trail cameras in new areas.

-          Frame shots with visually appealing backgrounds.

-          Monitor a wider variety of bear-bite trees.

 

Jim

-          Bear(s) walking along pond shoreline or stream                          -                                         Not quite what I was looking for.

 

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

pic above is previous location with new fallen log bridge

-          Deploy TC’s in new locations. 

       Aesthetically pleasing backgrounds

-          Set up on different bear bite trees

   
                                         

Bear Activity Consistent - Several Locations

 

At last, five months after I found the torn snag last May, a small bear stopped (cover picture) and peered inside.

 Several of my trail-camera sites continue to record steady bear activity, mostly sow’s with their offspring and a few young bears.

                      Yearlings travelling together - Collared yellow circle

A few weeks ago, a trail camera recorded what looked like two yearlings traveling together. One appeared to be collared. They were dispersed from their family group in late May or early June. In past years my trail cameras have videoed other siblings teaming up for the summer and fall. I wonder whether these two will den together?

Late summer beaver dam find has been active the last several weeks with several bears and a small bull.

                                                Small bull crosses dam

                                                   Sow / 2 cubs cross dam

Jim

Bear Activity Good - Near Miss TC Damage

 

I decided to add one cell camera to my inventory. It is a new model, and CAMLOCBOX is currently fabricating metal security boxes for it. So far, so good—though the camera nearly needed an overhaul this week. I set a non-cellular trail camera to watch the cell camera, mainly to confirm whether the new camera was triggering properly. Earlier in the week, my iPhone dinged with two new photos. Both were slightly blurry. Hmmm...

Concerned, I hiked in to check the new camera and review the SD card from the non-cellular camera. Sure enough, a small bear had been messing with it. I moved the trail camera to a new location and will order a metal security box as soon as one becomes available.

 

Jim

Bull Moose Finally Moving -Rut

 

My wife and I just returned from what may be our last camping trip of the year. The weather was not ideal, and foggy mornings made it difficult to sit in any swamps with my camera.

Before we left, I checked a few trail cameras and finally started seeing moose rut activity. The pictured bull passed a camera while calling, with his dewlap hanging noticeably. I’m hoping this week’s SD card check brings more videos. I currently have eight “Moose Sites” monitored by trail cameras.

Although I do not have many cameras still set up for bears, one area has produced consistent activity. Three bears are using this location: a small bear I call “Resident Bear,” which has triggered cameras regularly since spring; a medium-to-large bear that appears every few weeks and is getting noticeably fat; and a sow with two cubs that has been visiting often. During last week’s video check, one cub appeared to have a back-leg injury. As it passed the cameras, it held the leg up and tried not to put weight on it. The cub trailed slightly behind the sow and its sibling but remains under its mother’s watchful eye. I hope the injury is minor and that one of my trail cameras captures the cub again before denning so I can see how it is doing.

Jim

 

                                                                   Gardepro Trail Camera

This secluded beaver pond has drawn a variety of wildlife crossing the beaver dam. Gardepro trail cameras are monitoring the small pond. The cover image is a video grab of a young bull moose feeding crossing the dam, while a young buck and several doe’s feed on swamp grass. I’m hoping a larger bull with an impressive set of antlers crosses the dam. They are certainly in the area—fingers crossed.

I have moved and repositioned many of my trail cameras, raising them higher on the trees in hopes a bull passes by. The moose rut has begun in North Central Massachusetts, which means bulls and cows will be moving more often, especially during daylight hours.

Jim

                                          Gardepro Trail Camera

Fingers Crossed , Hoping Another Bear Visits Snag

Four months passed before a second bear visited the dugout snag. I found the snag in early May while bushwhacking for bear sign and hoped a curious bear might enter the cavity while a trail camera monitored the opening. The ridge now has white acorns scattered across it, which likely explains why this bear was in the area. I’m still hoping one investigates the opening in the coming months. The stick across the hole helps me see from a distance whether anything has entered. So far, the only other visitors have been a squirrel, a pileated woodpecker, and a fat raccoon.

Video I posted back in May when snag was located

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8teXJp-H4rk&t=2s 

Jim

Several Unusual Happenings This Week !

 

It was an interesting week with several unusual things happening while checking  trail cameras.

After checking TC’s in a beaver pond  I started up a hardwood ridge when a barred owl flew out of a tree a short distance from me, and then landed on a branch about fifteen feet away
. It looked like a mature bird and was not injured. The owl sat perched looking around like I wasn’t even there. The event lasted several minutes giving me time to take my cell phone out of my pocket and take a picture ( cover picture)

Two days later while making moose sets with trail cameras,  I looked up and a sow with one yearling were foraging on blackberries and grapes about thirty yards from me. It didn’t take long before the sow caught my scent in the breeze and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

I located an area with a bit of moose sign. I can’t say I have ever seen a moose plop as large as the one below.

 

Jim

 

Pic above is a bull from several years back " Lip Curling" in effort to wind a receptive female.

It’s time to start preparing for the Massachusetts moose rut. I’ve been setting trail cameras in areas where moose sign has remained consistent throughout the summer. With any luck, the trail cameras will capture some distinctive rutting activity.

My 2026 anecdotal “Bear Project” exceeded my expectations. It will take  me some time to analyze the data,  I’ll share my findings in upcoming blog posts.

Jim

New Sow In TC Area

 

This sow, shown with one of her three cubs, is checking a bear scent-marking tree. Several years ago, that tree was a healthy hemlock, but it likely does not have many years left before it falls. In past years, this was a busy bear corridor, though I’m not sure what has changed. So far this year, nineteen bears have passed through this area, and only one other sow with two yearlings.

Pic above shows the hemlock sapling before its demise in Sept 2023

The highbush blueberries are nearly gone, and bear activity in these areas has slowed significantly. Bears are still feeding on other berries, but none produce the same volume of fruit as highbush blueberry bushes.

Hickory nuts and white oak acorns have begun to ripen, and bears will soon be foraging on them, including by climbing the trees.

 

Jim

Who Is Eating The Blueberries?

 

A few weeks ago, I found several highbush blueberry bushes bent and broken, still heavy with berries. I set up a trail camera to monitor one bush, hoping a bear would take advantage of the low-hanging fruit—and a young bear did. The close-up video shows just how efficiently a bear can forage blueberries.

A squirrel also made frequent visits, which reminded me that small mammals benefit from a good blueberry crop, too.

Then, to my surprise, a family of three demonstrated how to reach the blueberries without getting wet.

Jim

Best Ever Moose - Trail Camera - Massachusetts

 

Now that bear activity has slowed, I have been repositioning trail cameras around beaver ponds in hopes of videoing ( TC) a moose feeding on aquatic vegetation or simply passing through. I expected a cow or young moose—not the impressive bull that walked past a Gardepro 7NWF camera. In all my years of camera trapping, this is the largest bull any of my trail cameras captured. He should look magnificent this fall before the rut.

Jim

Woods Have Calmed Down !

 

Bears are feeding in swamps with highbush blueberries, and several new bears have passed my trail cameras in these areas. The cover photo shows a new face. With mating season over, the woods have quieted down, and the trail cameras have videoed sows with cubs and yearlings in wetlands. A few scent-marking trees are still being used by medium to large boars.

Yesterday, while bushwhacking, I found a small area where a bear had rolled logs and pulled apart both a standing snag and a fallen one searching for insects..

Standing snag torn apart by bear

Bear spent time and effort pulling the downed snag apart

 

Jim

Find The Berries - You'll Find The Bears !

 

The small bear on the cover picture is a sow that had yearlings in tow late Spring. She is one of the three bears foraging on blueberries in a swamp.

 

Last year, the highbush blueberries had a banner crop in the swamps I was camera trapping. This year, the crop is more uneven: several swamps have sparse berries, while one swamp is loaded. Three different bears have found that site, as shown by broken blueberry branches and numerous scat piles throughout the swamp.

Highbush Blueberries

Bush Damaged From Bear 

There  is still some light scent marking going on with several bears at scent marking trees. One location that has been slow all year had three new bears pass by the marking tree in the last two weeks. Maybe just a coincidence.

I was excited to capture trail-camera video of a third sow with four cubs. So far this year, that makes three sows with four cubs each. The first sow with cubs was a considerable distance from the last two sows. The physical characteristics of the second and third sows made them easy to distinguish: one had a large body and a very dark muzzle, while the other had a much smaller frame and a brown muzzle.

Bear Scat w/ Blueberry Seeds Visisble

I have been moving trail cameras into blueberry swamps in hopes of capturing more videos of new bears.

Jim

Gardepro Solar Package Beaver Pond Set

 

It has been hot lately, so I’m glad I enjoy getting an early start at dawn.

Gardepro sent me an A60 Solar Package trail camera and I have it set up in a quiet, remote beaver pond. Wildlife activity has been slow in this area, likely because of the extreme heat. I also have two Gardepro T5WF trail cameras set nearby. I included a short YouTube video to share more details about the location.

So far, the A60 and T5WF cameras have videoed a respectable bear crossing the dam on a foggy morning. A few days ago, the T5WF captured a yearling cub foraging on the dam.

I use the T5WF white-flash trail cameras for fisher scent posts during the winter, though I believe this model is now obsolete.

I’ll share more photos as the summer goes on.

https://youtu.be/Ih9XxnbZLsI

Jim

Moose On The Move

 

It has been two months since I found this snag, which a bear had torn into while foraging for insects. A cow moose is the first notable mammal to pass through this location. I am still hoping the bear that excavated the snag returns, so I placed a small stick across the opening to tell from a distance whether anything has entered the cavity.

Moose have been on the move, with several cows and bulls triggering the trail cameras. So far, two different calves have been videoed.

Highbush blueberries are beginning to ripen, and one lone yearling has started feeding in one of the swamps my trail cameras are monitoring.

Jim

Just Like That, Everything Has Gone Quiet

 

My trail cameras have been working overtime recording bear activity throughout May and most of June. But this morning’s SD card check was unusually quiet. I checked three locations, with eight cameras monitoring bear scent-marking trees and two beaver dams. Seven cameras had zero bear triggers, and one TC captured two smaller bears crossing a log bridge.

Berry patches will likely be the next major food source. With mating season nearly over, sows with cubs should begin moving more freely. My trail cameras do not often capture sows with cub’s scent marking, but one sow with two cubs has been marking consistently in one area since early spring. Now, a second sow—the one in the cover photo—has marked in another location. Maybe sows with cub’s scent mark more than I realized, or perhaps my cameras simply have not captured much of that activity over the years.

Last week, while checking one of my more distant trail camera locations, a TC captured a second collared sow with four cubs. In ten years, this is only the second time my trail cameras have recorded two different sows with four cubs.

2nd Sow w/4 cubs

Jim

 

Gardepro Trail Camera company contacted me to ask whether I would be interested in trying out a TC solar package. The terms were agreed and the package arrived midweek. I set it up at a beaver dam with plenty of open sky. The solar panel needs direct sunlight and should face south to capture as much sun as possible. Because it would be difficult to conceal, I placed it in a secluded swamp. Once everything was set, I realized I had forgotten one thing: zip ties to secure the cable to the tree. I’ll take care of that on my next check.

This area has consistent bear activity, and with blueberries ripening soon, bears will likely use the beaver dam to reach them. It will be interesting to see how this setup performs.

Bear activity in May was high compared with April, as expected with mating season in full swing. April produced 53 bear triggers, while May produced 167. The year-to-date total bear triggers  is now 279 with what looks to be 45 different bears, including 19 new bears that showed up in May. As mating season winds down, males will soon return to their solitary routines and pass my TCs less often. On the other hand, now that males are no longer covering miles in search of females, sows with cubs should begin triggering the cameras more frequently.

Blueberries should be prime for foraging in a few weeks, so I have moved several trail cameras into those areas.

Jim

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