Who’s in the Cabbage Patch!

Over the last several years I have targeted skunk cabbage patches in the spring in hopes of catching a North Central Massachusetts bear feeding. This has been an ongoing goal of mine for many years with no success. Reading a number of American Black Bear books over the winter and putting a bit more thought into WHERE a camera trap should be placed resulted in locating an active skunk cabbage patch. All the bear’s needs were met in this location. Assuming the top of the video is north, here’s what convinced me to set a camera trap in this location. To the north of the camera is a young thick stand of white pines that provided cover. This is where the two bears entered the cabbage patch from. Just a few feet east of the trail camera is a small brook that flows through the skunk cabbage. To the south is an open hardwood ridge that most likely wouldn’t see these bears until fall, when they would be foraging for acorns or beech nuts.
Maybe it was luck, or possibly putting more thought into why I would put a camera in this location, or a combination of both.
It resulted and meeting the goal!

Jim

Snow In May !

Crazy weather for the first week of May. It’s snowing, cold and windy. There’s not much accumulation, but the snow is fluffy enough that is makes the woods look all the same. I’m camera trapping a new area and checking one set during this snow will require using my GPS to locate the trail camera. This area is covered in mountain laurel.

 The activity on this TC has been a bit slow. This new area’s habitat will support everything from a mouse to a moose, so I’ll give it some time. The SD card this week showed a single deer, bobcat and daytime fisher. This is only the third fisher that I have camera trapped during the day. I’m pleased with the catch!

Jim

New Area Camera Trapping Looks Promising !

It amazes me on how many different times this bobcat (assumed it’s the same one) crosses the dam walking away from the camera. It’s not very often this set catches the bobcat walking towards the trail camera. I didn’t check this set with the heavy rain last week, doubtful any wildlife would cross with the volume of water going over the top of the dam and somewhat concerned the trail camera may have been washed away…….

I have been exploring new areas to camera trap. My efforts were rewarded yesterday finding a deer shed. I call this one of nature’s gifts. Not a monster antler by any means but still enjoyable to be bushwhacking and look up and see a shed laying on the ground.

The new area was more than a challenge to navigate with the recent heavy rains. I was surprised to find such an extensive beaver dam.  It’s long and in one spot high. The layout is perfect given the high water level with the stream flowing from the dam. This will act as a barrier (temporary until water recedes) funneling wildlife across this dam.

This new area is home range to a sow with four COYS (cubs of the year). I have set out trail cameras in several locations in hope of capturing a pic/video.

Deer antler , always a neat find when hiking.

• Beaver dam very high in one section. My estimate is the dam is 120' long. I'll bring a range finder to measure next time checking SD cards.

Jim

Trail Camera Check

I set this trail camera out five weeks ago and today was the first time checking SD card. The camera took two thousand  three hundred pictures. I was really surprised no bears crossed the dam in the five week period. With the heavy rains the last month the TC had lots of flowing water.
Beavers , wood ducks .otters, back ends of bobcats and a few deer crossed the beaver dam.

I have a few cameras set out in new locations. A check yesterday didn't result in any new pictures. This morning I learned of a new area that sounds promising. I'll do some bushwhacking next week and check it out.

Jim

Family of Four Bears

A mid-week hike turned out to be quite an eventful morning. Hiking one of my favorite places, I stopped for a few minutes to rest. Looking up, about eighty yards away a sow and one second year cub stepped into view. The two bears continued across the road and milled around in a growth of hardwood saplings. The wind was in my favor, I sat hoping the bears would reappear. It wasn’t long the sow and cub walked back onto the road to meet two straggling cubs. The family of four wouldn’t stay still long enough for a family portrait.  The wind shifted and that immediately put the sow on alert, she stood up on two legs, making a complete circle in effort to locate what direction my scent was travelling. Recognizing danger, she dropped down to all four and the bears disappeared into the distant woods. This was a perfect example of where the wildlife experience outweighed any picture opportunity. It was a thrill seeing the family of bears.

Jim

Bear Home Range Potential / Reconyx TC Firmware Updates

I was able to get out this morning and make one camera trap set. A sow and cubs use this secluded area as part of there home range. I'll leave the set for a month or so and see what happens.

Reconyx firmware updates. Visiting the Reconyx website the other day I noticed two firmware updates. One for the Hyperfire and the other for the Ultrafire. The process for updating was very easy following the Reconyx directions.

Jim

Note Your Trail Camera Locations

Stupid Is As Stupid Does – That’s me!

Last fall I shared that my first camera was stolen. Wrong!

A neighbor hiking located the camera and asked me if it was possibly belonged to me. A bit embarrassing seeing that it is just up the road from my home, and I went back three or four times looking for it! I missed finding it by thirty yards. When I set the camera out last summer I was confident I could locate it noting land features. WRONG!

Lesson Learned: Write down where your camera(s) is in a notebook or take a GPS reading when setting camera traps. Especially when you have a number of camera traps set in different locations.

The lost trail camera was set out last June – March (10 months). The lithium batteries were still working. The TC took 1,500 pictures, capturing eleven different critters.  Turkey,raccoon,squirrel,coyote,deer,bobcat,bear,otter,opossum,fox,porcupine.

Jim