Massachusetts Coyotes

 

This has also been an exceptional year for camera trapping coyotes. In the Month of May, two locations twenty five miles apart have produced my best coyote videos ever. I’m not sure why that is. One location is new and the other I’ve been camera trapping for years. Suppose luck plays into it a bit. Right place right time.

It’s the peak of bear mating season in Massachusetts and I can’t wait to hit the camera trap trail tomorrow morning. To date camera traps have videoed twenty five different bears. Most bears can be identified by unique markings (white patches) injury, tag or collar. I’m pretty much going to stay the course with camera location now throughout the summer. Come late August I’ll start moving them to prime moose habitat.

Jim

Activity High On TC's

 

It’s been a good week on the camera trapping line. The bank beaver lodge continues to get dismantled by several bears. A sow with two cubs now shows interest in the lodge.

An interesting observation for May, the areas in 2021, where sows with cubs were being captured weekly on trial cameras has been nonexistent so far this year .that being said, the number of different bears being videoed in these areas is high. I’m guessing the sows want no part of all these bears and are foraging on the outskirts.

Coyotes become very skittish around trail cameras. At least in Massachusetts they are. This past week my camera traps capture two of my best videos yet.

May has been a very productive month camera trapping Massachusetts

Jim

Enjoy Seeing Bears !

 

Bear pictured above is from a different swamp. 

Interesting bear observation while hiking to check trail cameras last weekend. As I rounded a corner on a fire road, adjacent to a small beaver pond, a bear crossed the road and started foraging the shoreline. Wind direction was in my favor, and I went undetected.  At the same time the resident beaver wanted the bear to move on and repeatedly slapped its tail on the waters surface . This in turn, sent what appeared to be a small cub running through the shadows of the underbrush. The bear had no tolerance for the noisy beaver and charged the water splashing which sent the beaver under water. All went quiet. The bear foraged the shoreline then headed down stream out of sight ,I continued hiking reliving the sequence of events that had just occurred and something wasn’t adding up. The bear was small , I’m estimating three years old. Much to young to be tugging along a cub. But I know what I saw, or did I? The event changed my TC card check route and I headed back to the beaver pond. I wanted to see if there was any evidence left behind of the bear or its cub. The substrate was loose and watery, like pea soup. I did find two partial tracks of the bear and what appeared to be raccoon tracks along the area where I saw the cub. CONCLUSION : Things aren’t often what they appear. It would have been easier just to continue hiking and tell the story that I saw a sow and a cub . I’m glad I went back and investigated the scene. Theirs a slim possibility that there was a bear cub, but the probability is that the raccoon was at the beaver pond prior to the bear crossing the cart road and then ran off after all the commotion started.

Jim

Bear Activity In MA. High

Bear activity around my camera traps is high. A SD card check today showed four different bears videoed last week. TC's have yet to record a sow with COY ( cubs of the year). It will be interesting to see if this happens in the month of May. Last year COY were videoed on May7th in the same area. Then again, last May there wasn't as much mature bear activity as I'm seeing this year. 

It won't be long till bears start looking for a mate , then the activity should increase even more. I located another area this morning to set a camera trap. 

Stay Tuned !

Jim
 

Sow's With Cubs On The Move

 

What an eventful week with bears. I saw a big bear Thursday morning on our way for a hike and then a second larger bear the following day. Yesterday, checking camera traps showed two different Sow’s with yearlings. One sow had three yearlings and the second sow had two yearlings. Not counting the two bears I seen, TC’s have already captured thirteen different bears and it’s only Early May. Last year my TC captured a total of thirteen different bears. It’s shaping up to be a very active year for bears in Massachusetts.

Jim

Bears Very Active Now!

 

A very good start to 2022 bears. April has been very good with camera trapping a dozen different bears, The two new areas I'm camera trapping also have videoed three different bears. I haven't seen any cubs yet. I'm sure with  more and more plants turning green, all bears will be on the move feeding.

I still have several of the old locations that need camera traps set. I'll get this done early May.

Jim

Take A Youngster Camera Trapping

 

It was the “ BEST” camera trapping day afield yet. My grandson accompanied me as we hiked to  his first beaver lodge and walked across a long beaver dam checking camera traps. His interest and many questions made for a rewarding morning  sharing  and learning about nature . 

Jim