Moose & Bears On The Move!

 

Wow ! Last weekend bears were really on the move. Camera traps videoed one sow with three COY ( cubs of the year) had crossed five different beaver dams over a two week period. That’s a first for me. Reviewing SD cards from last weekend also showed I missed a sow with four cubs. This is the first time seeing this family of four. It will be interesting to see if camera traps captured video this week of them.

Moose are in rut. Cameras picked up two different bulls during the evening hours. One was respectable Hoping to get a nice day time pic/vid of an impressive bull moose.

I’m closing in on the 4000 mile marker hiking the Quabbin woods. Hope to hit that milestone in October.

'Unplugged'

 

 Unplugged” for two weeks”

My apologies for no blog articles the last two weeks. My wife and I were on vacation (camping), we left all the electronics home !

We returned last Friday, I was able to hike last  weekend  to check trail cameras. A sow with three cubs were videoed in two different beaver swamps . One camera trap did capture footage of three rambunctious cubs during the day. This is my best cub video to date

Enjoy

Jim

Bear Trio Still In Area

 

This sow has two COY ( cubs of year) in tow. This is most likely the same sow that crossed a beaver  dam about a mile away in early June.  I moved several trail cameras to the back waters of this beaver pond in hopes of videoing bears. One hour after the sow and cubs were caught on trail camera a single bear followed in the exact same path.

Yesterday hiking to change out SD cards I had a bear step out a short distance in front of me. What a look of surprise on its face. I probably had the same look. lol

Certainly no shortage of water in Massachusetts with the record rain in July and tropical storm Henri. In my hiking yesterday I  tried to set a camera trap where a big bull was videoed last fall. Water levels prevented me from reaching that same area. I hope to relocate a number of camera traps prior to the early fall moose rut.

Jim

Scramble To Beat Hurricane Henri

 

It was a scramble this morning hiking to trail cameras. With Hurricane Henri forecast predicting three to six inches of rain in Central Massachusetts tomorrow, I had trail cameras that needed to be raised or removed before the rains. It was HOT & HUMID with humidity at 94%. I didn’t hike very far before becoming soaked. Animal activity has really slowed down the last several weeks. I attribute it to the heat.

The coyote above is a video grab from a camera that was checked this morning. It’s one of the better coyote’s pic/video to date.

Jim

Beavers Hard At Work

 

Over the last several weeks I’ve located three separate areas with beaver construction going on.

_ First is a beaver (pic above-video grab) re-building a bank lodge. Several weeks ago bushwhacking along a swamp that I haven’t visited in a while, rounding a cove and there on the bank, fresh beaver cuts laying on top of the old lodge.  I just happen to have a trail camera in my pack!

_ Second opportunity was located while bushwhacking a new area and came open several freshly dropped hemlock trees (3”to4”diameter). I put a camera spying the fresh cuts and a check a week later had some decent beaver video footage. Unfortunately it’s all at night...

_ Third opportunity is a remote beaver pond with two beavers re-establishing the pond. They have built up the beaver dam, which has raised the water level, they are now constructing a new lodge. I made a tripod out of pine branches and set a trail camera up pointing at it from the shore. The lodge is about twenty yards from the camera. A check this morning showed additional branches and vegetation on top of the lodge. I couldn’t wait to view the SD card. Unfortunately nothing on the card. Positioning the camera was somewhat of a guess. Well that didn’t work out to well!

Jim

 

Late July Bear Activity

 

Last weekend you couldn’t ask for better hiking weather. Each morning the temps started off in the low fifties. The cool weather kept the deer flies at bay for the first few hours.

 I was off to swap out SD cards in several trail cameras that haven’t been changed in a month or so. When reaching the first camera trap I knew a bear had been in the area. The camera was spun on the tree and now facing down. Fortunately the plastic strap holders weren’t broken. I have a few older trail cameras that don’t have metal security boxes. On that note, if your camera trapping in bear country I strongly suggest spending the extra money on a metal case.

The second trail camera is setup a short distance away and does have a metal case. Three bears were in the area late July and all three checked that trail camera out.

Still no sow with cubs captured on video last week.

It will be interesting to see what this weekend’s SD cards have on them

 

Jim

Very Wet July In MA

 

I had many wet hikes this month requiring rain gear. Many locations in central Massachusetts had record rainfall for the month of July. 

I wonder if this may slowing down  activity on beaver dams . Its been weeks since capturing sows with cubs crossing beaver dams. Beaver ponds are high with fast moving water spilling over the dams.

With beaver pond water level high, water is reaching abandoned bank beaver lodges. The lodge pictured above hasn't been used in nearly a decade. I was quite surprised to see activity with new sticks stacked on top of the lodge. While investigating this welcomed find a beaver kept a close eye on what I was doing and slapped its tail on the water waring all around that an intruder was in the area,

As you can see in the picture, what a perfect place to set a camera trap. Hopefully rebuild activity continues and some interesting video comes of it.

Jim