Presentation - Rutland Massachusetts Library - Oct 25, 2023

 

Yet A Bigger Bull

 

It looks like a bigger bull showed up last week. Comparing pics from last week’s cover picture to this week’s pic it looks to have a bigger rack. A bit tough to tell though.

The weather has been great this week for hiking and even got a morning of kayaking in retrieving trail cameras. Last week while checking trail cameras in another area I noticed the beaver pond was losing water. Yesterday I hiked in to check it out, the beaver dam had breached from the recent heavy rains. This is the second beaver dam to let go in my camera trapping areas. There were two active lodges on this beaver pond. It will be interesting to see when the water flow slows at the breach if the beavers repair the dam. My guess would be yes. I will check it out in a month or so. The low water level provided an opportunity to hike the shoreline looking for tracks. A small bear had left decent tracks so yesterday I hiked back in to cast those tracks.

Jim

Breached Beaver Dam

 

Cast Bear Tracks

MA Bull Moose Rut In Full Swing

 

The Massachusetts moose rut is in full swing. Last weeks “Biggest Rack Bull” fell into second place. The brute  pictured above recently passed by two of my camera sets. Clearly a respectable bull for MA. Another bull with a smaller rack also triggered a camera trap during the day in another location. The game plan was to hopefully capture a video clip of a bull during the day. Guess that box can be checked off.
Now can a camera trap take a closer video clip of the top bull. He missed passing by my camera trap sets by about twenty-five yards. Reviewing the videos, he approaches from the east heading west. I have relocated trail cameras in anticipation that he will repeat the same approach. Stay Tuned

Jim

Three Respectable Bulls So Far This Ma Rutting Season

 

My trail camera check this morning gave up the biggest Massachusetts bull so far, this rutting season. He is pictured above. Reviewing all my moose video footage since September 1^st has captured three different bulls in two areas. I still have several locations to check over the next few days. I’m still looking for a nice day time video of a bull. Interesting the location I checked this morning usually has at least one cow passing a trail camera each week. Nothing this week

Jim

Moose Are On The Move !

 

It appears my TC’s are dialed in for the Massachusetts moose rut. One area had videoed several cows grunting and   this mornings SD card check had several bulls that have passed by the trail cameras at night, I did see a beautiful cow hiking this morning. I won’t be able to check the other moose spots for a week or so heading out camping.

Overall moose activity on trail cameras has been high. Hopefully I’ll capture some nice moose footage over the next several weeks.

Jim

Late Summer Bear Activity - Scent Marking

 

In late summer, my trail cameras seldom video any bear scent marking activity in Massachusetts. Not sure of the reason(s) why this little hot spot is so popular.

There are two camera trap sets at this location. Camera #1 is monitoring a bear stomp trail with two scent marking trees that were marked during the June / July mating season. Camera #2 is set up a short distance away, watching a small opening in a hemlock grove, near a pond. It is an ideal location with the pond on one side and a short steep ridge on the opposite side, which funnels wildlife through a narrow area. The intent with this setup was, TC #1 captures game travelling towards the hemlock clearing and TC #2 captures wildlife as passes through the clearing. I did not expect to capture footage of bears scent marking a tree right in the middle of the video frame. No doubt, luck does factor into your camera trapping efforts.

The ground beehive was another bonus for this location.? Bears have passed by that hive over the summer. Surprisingly, it took this long before being detected.

Jim

https://youtu.be/s56rWXd4bVM

The Stage Is Set - Just Need The Bulls To Show Up !

 

Find the cows and the bulls should follow ( hopefully ). The moose rut will be in full swing by late September. I hope to video a respectable bull during the day. Over the years my TC’s have captured a few big bulls, but all have been at night. Camera traps have videoed five different cows around Massachusetts  the last several weeks. Now I just need a cow with a bull following it to stroll by a trail camera. Stay Tuned!!  

Jim