Presentation Nov 14th Rutland ,MA

Wow, hard to believe another year has passed since my last presentation.
I am very pleased with my camera trap efforts this last year  working to " Raise the Bar"
In this presentation I will share wildlife activity that occurs in this very quiet place and the things I've done to improve camera trapping captures.

It won't be long before bears den for the winter. I have added two new locations for a possible bear den sites. The first a friend made me aware of this ideal location on his property. No bear has used this tree cavity in the past. However, the landowner has seen more bears on his property this year than any past years, That along with the growing bear population in MA might be a possibility.

Above is a second prospect. Sure would be neat if at least one bear takes up residence.
I set trail cameras out early hoping to get a bear entering a den or at minimum see how may bears check it out .
Jim

Deer On The Move !

Deer activity sure has picked up ! Another few weeks they will be in full rut.]  Overall TC activity has slowed down,
I have four probable bear den sites located hoping at least one bear uses one of the four locations.
I.m pulling in a few trail cameras each week  until I have collected them all. It's time to inventory and clean them in preparation for winter sets.
I did get one picture of bear on Saturday. Not many weeks to go before all bears will have turned in for a long winters nap.

Jim

Best TC Picture To Date !

I typically don't set camera traps along the edge of fields concerned that they will  be easy targets for thieves . This field is located in prime moose habitat and I was willing to take the risk . After two weeks sitting out  and the moose rut winding down, it was time to pull this camera.
To my surprise there weren't many captures on the SD card. However. the few pictures that the TC captured are my best to date.
In my opinion this picture is about the best capture you  will get with a trial camera.

Thought is always given to location and background when I make camera trap sets. These are the few things that you can  control. The rest of it is good fortune hoping that some animal triggers the camera at the optimum time. That's what happened with this picture a lot of LUCK !!!!.


Jim

Not Long Before Bears Den

Won't be long now before bears den in north central MA.. Maybe another four weeks or so.   I've had a good year camera trapping bears . In a future post I'll tally up 2019 bears and share the results. It will be interesting to see when the last bear for the season crosses my favorite beaver dam.
Another week or so I'll set camera traps up on the two bears dens I located in the past
November and December bring many more people to the woods and it will be time for me to start bringing in my trail cameras. It's also gives me a chance to clean  and inventory what I have.
Late fall is also a good time to search for bear dens and explore new areas for camera trapping.

Jim               

Beaver Lodge Exposed

Bushwhacking a few weeks ago I stumbled across a beaver lodge in unique location which had little water with one beaver channel leading from the lodge to a very small brook. With the wet spring beavers built a small earth dam which raised the water level enough to support a lodge. Sometime this summer the dam breached, not sure whether natural or mechanical. I thought this would be an interesting place to set several camera traps. The first day checking for tracks there were moose, deer and beaver. Checking this week, no new tracks visible, the ground is drying up. Cameras traps did catch a bear, hare, beavers and otters. The goal is to catch a bear, bobcat and coyote checking this easily accessible lodge. Well, got the bear out of the way. Wasn’t sure that was going to happen before the bears den this fall. We’ll see what next week brings …..

Jim

Moose Rut in Full Swing

Bull moose are on the move with the rut. I'm  hoping to catch a good daytime picture of this guy. One camera  did get an early morning picture but the trail camera lenses had condensation on it.

One camera also captured a young bear with ear tags crossing a beaver dam. I enlarged the picture but couldn't read the tag number.

I located a breached secondary dam with a beaver lodge exposed. I set some camera traps , it will be interesting to see what type of wildlife checks the dam out.

Jim

Trail Camera's & Picture Composition

I've been working at attempting to add more picture composition when making camera trap sets. Many variables ! After locating an area you need to think about LIGHT. If the trail camera is placed where there is considerable light it can produce a decent picture. The picture above is a good example. The only post processing done was to straighten the photo. Below is the original.

Something has the doe in the backgrounds attention while the doe in the foreground searches for food unaware of any danger..

With the next TC check I will level this camera. Note the time , early AM.

My wife and I have been away camping for several weeks and the trail cameras have been somewhat busy. Lots of beavers , otters and a few bobcats. Bear activity continues to be slow. One camera did catch a sow with what looks to be 2nd year cubs crossing beaver dam on September 1st.

I'm assuming the sow is in the lead.

Jim