Late Season Buck With Antlers

 

 Several weeks ago I spied this young buck while hiking  and was surprised to see that it still had antlers. This morning’s camera trap check revealed that he still has them. Last year my camera traps videoed a late March early April buck with antlers.  This probably explains why I haven’t found any sheds the past month. 

I have high hopes this beaver dam will give up an incredible bear pic/video this year

Jim

Bear Time!!!

 

“Fresh Out of the Den”

And we’re off!! This is my first Massachusetts bear of 2022. The pic is a video grab from a Browning Recon Force Advantage. This bear has weathered the New England winter well. It’s still plump! I am also surprised how clean its winter coat looks. The added bonus was a decent bear track in a muddy cart road about a half mile away from this location. Yep, I’d say this was a good Saturday morning on the camera trap trail!

Jim

I Suspect Winter Ticks - Massachusetts Moose

 

Bushwhacking Central Massachusetts over the winter was very promising with locating new locations to camera trap. This morning checking SD cards in one of these new locations revealed something of concern. Pictured above is a video grab with three moose. The cow on the left has a calf with her and there is a partial pic of a third moose on the right. I suspect the bald spots on the two adult moose are winter ticks. I know Maine is challenged with the decline of their moose population due to winter ticks. I sure hope this isn't a start in Massachusetts.

 

Jim 

Time To Start Setting Out Trail Cameras

 

I spent the day in the woods setting camera traps. March is a good time to get things going with your trail cameras. Spring was certainly in the air . I heard  Redwing Blackbirds chattering and  I saw my first wood ducks. 

While making one of my swamp sets a mink swam by nearly hitting my boot.

Bears will be out an about soon. I hoping for another spectacular year !Will one of my camera traps catch a March bear? Sure hope so ! 

Gas prices are sure going to put the squeeze on the frequency of checking distant trail cameras. I found a new area a few miles from the house that looks promising. I spent last weekend bushwhacking checking things out. I also set out a few trail cameras.

Tomorrow sounds like a washout in Central Massachusetts. I'll be back out Sunday setting camera traps

Jim

2021 MA Bear Summary

 

The picture above is my favorite 2021 trail camera capture. 

I recently submitted a 2021 Bear Summary article to The Ware River Nature Club. This article summarizes my 2021 bear camera trapping efforts. It was an interesting year for sure, and am looking forward to 2022.

http://www.warerivernatureclub.org/uploads/4/4/1/6/44166651/jims_bear_study_wrnc.pdf

Jim

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