Weather Still A Roller Coaster

Weather sure has been UP & Down !  

The pictured swamp is a new location .Last Wednesday with temps in the low sixties presented a nice winter opportunity to scout the area out. Its not as remote as I would like, but is located in ideal bear habitat. I set one of my older cameras  just in case. 

Earlier in the day I spent  scouting new areas  that I have never been in.. Prior to the trip, countless hours were spent reviewing topo maps and Google Earth. One area that looked promising had to much people activity, even though remote . I didn't want to chance setting out trail cameras.

I am excited about my trail camera plan for 2022. I'm hoping to learn more about bears and capture  unique video/pictures throughout spring and summer. My camera trapping line this year will range into many new areas in Massachusetts.

I will be mindful of other camera trappers. With my winter scouting, I've only spied the trail camera of one other camera trapper, so I moved on.

Jim

What Crazy Weather !

 Last weekend I hiked into a remote trail camera to swap out SD cards The batteries were dead so I decided to pull the set. No shortage of deer activity. Deer appear to be wintering very well. The area beneath the hemlock tree where the trail camera was  pawed up from deer scraping the the snow for the acorns.

I bushwhacked my way back to the truck hoping to find moose or deer antlers on the way. No such luck

This morning right after the rain I headed out shed hunting. I saw one moose , two chipmunks and more moose droppings than I've ever seen in one area. From the different sizes of  pellets, it appeared possibly a cow, calf and another adult moose were wintering in the area.

STAY OFF THE ICE ! The warm weather . heavy winds and significant rain in Massachusetts the last several days has raised the water level and shorelines are exposed.

I have been inspecting, cleaning and preparing trail cameras for spring. Actually had to throw one away. That was hard to do! Need to  start  thinking about replacing some of the four and five year old cameras.

Headed back to the woods tomorrow morning looking for new areas to camera trap.

Jim

Watch Where You Stick Your Head

 

Last weekend hiking into my  fieldstone den camera trap set gave way to a variety of detailed animal tracks. The light dusting of snow the prior Friday night left a good substrate for track imprints. After changing out SD cards it was time to backtrack one set of tracks. I was backtracking a raccoon   While backtracking the raccoon , it led me to an den site. Currently, the snow indicates a porcupine making use of it. This den is nestled in a very secluded area. A perfect  location to set a camera trap. Mild temps forecasted this week will certainly melt some snow. Plan is to head back in this weekend and setup a camera or two. I hiked in this morning to check the den out. From the outside it looked like a perfect bear den, I poked my head in the hole and had a porcupine look at me as to say , Really!  There was water running through the lower part of the chamber 

Jim

Dead of Winter

 

Coyote about to cross remote central Massachusetts swamp

Winter and the last several weeks have certainly put a damper on hiking and checking trail cameras. Last Friday a nor’easter dropped a foot of snow in my area and today significant rain changing over to sleet and freezing rain . I hope to get out this weekend and at least check the fieldstone den cameras.

I’m looking at trying out a white flash trail camera this year in efforts to capture colored night-time pictures of bears. I was hoping that my Reconyx camera could be sent back to the factory in WI. and have a white flash added. Unfortunately, Reconyx no longer carries the parts. Researching available white flashes that are available today, there are only a few. More on this in the coming months.

Can’t wait till late winter / early spring to arrive to get out and start setting out camera’s traps. This year there will be less random camera placement and more focus on specific areas that were productive in 2021.  There were missed opportunities last year because two cameras were not setup in some of the locations. These areas will have multiple cameras this year

Jim

Winter Bear Tracks

 

Last weekend while bushwhacking to check a winter trail cam set, I came across a set of bear tracks. It’s not unusual for a bear to be out during January in Massachusetts, especially with the mast acorn crop from last fall. With decades of winter hiking this was only the fourth bear track I’ve ever came across during the winter months.  Then, what made this track so special? The weather. Earlier in the week a snowstorm dropped about five inches before turning to heavy rain, then temperatures rose to the low forties. While all those weather changes were going on, a bear wandered across a

Beaver pond leaving nearly perfect imprints in the ice substrate. The track detail even showed the claws.

The track impressed me so much that I went back the following day to attempt casting several of the bear tracks. There were some challenges with the cold, but I was able to cast three tracks, two front and one back foot.

Jim

Winter Wildlife Activity

 did  get some hiking in last Sunday checking trail cameras. Dressing in layers made for a comfortable outing. The hope was to find some early sheds. (antlers) . Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, but did find three moose beds. The size indentation in the snow would suggest two full grown moose and a calf. The video below shows some mid- winter animal activity in the area the moose beds were found.

Recent  extreme cold temperatures in Massachusetts have iced over swamps giving me access to new areas that were tough trying to scout late last year. I have located one new area with a beaver dam that looks promising. Plans are to set two camera traps on each end of the dam come spring.

I hope to find one more dam before winters out.

Jim

 

Wow!  A bit chilly this morning. It’s “0” degrees with a -22 wind chill factor OUCH!!

I decided to stay in this morning and catch up on some things. I did hike 8.5 miles yesterday checking trail cameras. It was a beautiful day for hiking with temps reaching the mid- thirties.

Trail camera activity was slow but I did get a surprise. My first January bear!  It appears to be a yearling that hasn’t quite figured out its time to den. My guess that it’s still out in about because it has found a sustainable food source. I have not found a pile of bear scat with any sunflower seeds in it. So maybe it’s the abundant acorn crop or this bear just hasn’t figured it out yet. With below zero temperatures this weekend and a wet snowy day coming on Monday, just might make this bear think about finding a den.

So, along with getting a January bear video, there was enough snow for it to leave tracks. I took the opportunity and followed the tracks backwards to see what I might learn. The bear located a new bank beaver lodge and stood directly on top of it looking for food, I’m sure the aroma of beaver castor caught its attention. Continuing tracking the bear, it took me to a second beaver pond. There it looked into a bank beaver tunnel where a beaver deposited a scat pile at the tunnel entrance, again no food opportunities. Continuing backtracking the bear crossed a hardwood ridge covered with about an inch of snow blanketing any acorns. I broke off from the bear tracks at this point.

It was a very good day tracking and hiking.

(3) Different bobcat tracks

(1) Bear track

(1) Moose track

5/6 coyote tracks

Many deer tracks

Bear track along a beaver pond

Beaver Scat - Bear checked tunnel entrance 

 

Jim