Ideal Conditions Snowshoeing

 

What a enjoyable morning snowshoeing ! Conditions were perfect. The mild ice storm earlier in the week, left just enough crust to support me while wearing snowshoes.

The several inches of new snow made for ideal tracking conditions. I was surprised not to see any bobcat tracks. Deer , moose and coyote tracks were all that I came across.

The miles put on snowshoeing were in effort to  find a deer carcass on the ice. Such effort a few years ago resulted in a wonderful photo opportunity photographing a bobcat gorging itself. Not the case today, only thing seen was a distant immature eagle flying by.

Tomorrow I'll give it another try while watching for eagles.

Jim

Dead Of Winter

 

Beautiful sunrise yesterday morning. 

I hiked five miles  seeing nothing but a Red Shouldered Hawk glide by . Promise of spring is just a month away. 

The snow did give up tracks from coyote, deer and porcupine.  

Another reason to spend more time outdoors !

 This light weight canoe will provide more opportunities to sit in a quiet pond with camera in hand and  possibly to  reach more secluded areas to set trail cameras . My wife and I enjoy camping and fishing. The canoe will provide more  to do while camping.

Jim 

Deer In The Headlights Look!

Hiking has been good, but trail cams have been SLOW. About all I got last week was a deer staring into a trail camera. Ever hear that saying, " Deer In The Headlight Look" dumb founded !

I've been scouring topo maps and  Google Earth looking for new areas to camera trap. Bears are my primary focus. Hopefully with new areas, will also add more bears. Over the last two tears I estimate that each year 12/15 different bears were captured on video/picture.

 I reviewed  all my bear pics / videos over the last three years force ranking the top five and now have a number one.

 I absolutely love this trail cam pic ! There are three cubs in this family. The goal in 2021 is to  video / photograph a family of bears getting all in one frame. 

Stay Tuned !

Jim

Dead Of Winter

 

Activity has been slow all around. The porcupine still calls this home. I was hoping it moved on. The bobcat that showed interest in the den site in December and early January with frequent visits has not been seen in several weeks.

Ideal ice conditions  looking for coyotes. The recent cold weather has froze many of the coves over. These are perfect conditions watching the ice for coyotes. A week ago this area was open water. Tomorrow morning I'll head in early and sit for a while with my camera. 

Hiking is easy right now . Not sure that's going to be the case after the Nor'easter on Tuesday

Jim

Mink Tracks Snow

 

When I first saw these tracks I was hopeful they were fisher tracks. Especially being in a new spot camera trapping.  Reviewing a number of track books, I was still not certain. Reaching out to a camera trapping colleague , she identified the tracks as mink. There not quite big enough to be a fisher. In all my hiking I've yet to locate a fisher track in the snow. Guess it stays on my camera trapping bucket list for now.

Its good to always carry some type of measuring instrument in your pack. Its a big help when reviewing tracking books and if you want others to assist.

The other day I packed In a number of  Tc's and set them around this remote beaver pond. There have been a variety of tracks . 

Jim

New TC Location

I’ve been checking out a new spot to camera trap. Scouting it out several months back showed signs of beaver, bobcat and coyote. A second visit with the beaver pond iced over and a light snow covering, revealed lots of tracks from a variety of critters. A few weeks back camera traps were placed around the beaver pond and one TC watching a beaver lodge. We’re off to a good start for 2021 !

Coyote meanders past beaver lodge.

Bobcat starts across beaver pond.

Jim

 

Following up on a tip from a friend resulted in finding a moose kill. I'm guessing , but I would estimate this was probably a four to five hundred pound animal. The likelihood of finding this moose carcass was poor at best. I’ve been bushwhacking the last few weekends looking for moose sheds in north central Massachusetts. It’s really just another excuse to be in the woods. It’s a bit early for shed hunting but I figured why not look for sheds and maybe I'll find the moose carcass. While meandering back and forth on a hillside looking for the carcass I picked up on several sets of coyote tracks and started following them. They led me to the moose. In just over a weeks’ time, predators literally cleaned the carcass to the bone. Other than the lower legs, there was nothing left. Further investigation showed scat from coyotes and bobcat in the area.

Jim