Wishing You Happy Holidays

 

Wishing You All Merry Christmas and a Happy , Healthy New Year.

Yearling cubs out and about mid-December. Hopefully it has figured out its time to take a long winters nap.

Jim

Single Bears Mid-December

This morning I  hiked to swap out SD cards. . Expectations were low given the time of year and the trail cameras have been slow the last few weeks. I was surprised to see bear activity in  December. Two trail cameras captured better than thirty videos late November through Mid December of bears. Reviewing the footage, three bears represented all the video activity. There were no Sow's with cubs. 

This fall the woods were loaded with food. White Oak & Red Oak Acorns were abundant.. There was no shortage of Concord Grapes or Hickory Nuts.

These three bears appeared  very plump !

Weather has been pretty mild for December. It will be interesting to see if bears stay active for the remainder of December.

Jim

No Bear This Year

 

Looks like this fieldstone den isn’t going to house a bear tenant this year. A porcupine has been a very frequent visitor to this site and a check yesterday with a flashlight revealed a porcupine taking up residency. However, A bobcat has also visited the den on a number of occasions. One video displayed the bobcat scratching and scent marking inside the entrance way. The entry reeked cat urine. Maybe a den site for bobcats in 2022 ??? Early January I’ll set a trail camera with a battery pack and see what late winter holds.     

Jim

Starting To Think About Next Years TC Strategy

 

Pic is a small buck from this mornings travels

Most of my trail cameras have been taken in with bear activity just about done for this year. I will start putting them back out in areas with moose. It would be neat to get a bull in the snow ( bucket list) The Browning Recon Force Advantage cameras have performed well this year. Researching, I found Browning sells an external power pack where eight additional batteries can be added to a trail camera . I’m going to give one a try. Basically, it will double the battery capacity. Might be ideal for winter camera trapping. This type of setup would not do well when bears are out and about.

The bear activity and trail camera videos / pics in 2021 are a record for me. I’m reviewing and organizing the data. When complete I’ll share with you.

Spring is just around the corner lol. Now is the time to start thinking about camera trapping plans for next year . I have several things I  want to do differently with my sets. Stay tuned ……

 Jim

So Far No Takers ! - Bear Den Check

 

The four  pictures above were previous bear dens. I was hoping at least one bear might use one of these   this year. Still a little time left. Two years ago a sow with three yearlings settled into the fieldstone (pic#4)  den  late December,

Three of the four dens have porcupine activity with droppings or trail cameras capturing a porky scent marking. This might be a factor. Pic #2 had no porcupine activity and appeared to have bedding raked up to the opening. I'll go back and check it after Christmas. The area is thick with no shortage of ticks.

Jim

Thanks For Attending Presentation

 

Thanks to those that attended my presentation last night, It was an enjoyable evening with some good dialog at the end.

The pic above is a new secondary beaver pond  the resident beavers are constructing . The beavers are working overtime downing trees for  winter food caches. It didn't take the moose long to locate and start feeding on the upper branches of the downed trees.

Bear activity is slowing down However, one trail camera captured a bear crossing a beaver dam on Nov 17th

Jim

Quabbin Presentation

 

Reaching the 4,000 mile marker hiking the " Quabbin Woods" has presented many photo opportunities and wildlife experiences.. Join me on the 17th as I share a decade of hiking this beautiful place..

Deer activity remains high with the rut in full swing in Massachusetts., Camera traps have  captured another buck working a scrape in a different location. So far all activity has been a night. I'm hoping to get lucky enough to capture some daytime footage.

Jim