Good evening guys.  I'm not sure that this is a topic for the 10mm forum or better suited to general discussion, or maybe not even at all, but I was curious if anyone else has taken advantage of seeing what's in their area with trail cameras?  Mods, if you think this is the wrong place for it, please move it wherever you feel is better.

I've used trail cameras since probably 2003 or 2004.  Well before digital cameras were common.  Many of my old cameras were 35mm and still used the strobe flash when I first got one.  Even after you filled up the roll of film you had to take them off to get developed and hope it wasn't the wind blowing little limbs that tripped the camera.

In the years since things have gotten a lot easier to use.  And with electronics that lets you view the pics or video while standing there at the camera, I'm not going to lie, is pretty nice.

But, the main reason why I like it, you never know what you're going to see.  Lately, I've been using a camera with sound too.  Lots of sounds that are in the background that some are just down right unexplainable what they are.

In the years since I started, I have been able to much better manage the game on the land.  And as a result, many things have increased in numbers.  Sadly, a few have decreased as well too.  Especially the grouse and turkey population.  That is mainly due to the increase in predators.  Coyote.  Lynx, wolves, bears and mountain lions.







Here's a few interesting lynx videos.  It found a deer carcass and covered it up with leaves to maybe keep other animals from seeing it.  And then another video of it dragging it off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n06uxtEfBW4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMGNLxXc09k

I'm actually glad this is the only time I've seen this one.  But just getting him once, shows that despite that the state says they are extinct here, this would prove otherwise.



I believe this one is a wolf in the video.  That's a honda 420 fourtrax in the background and that canine looks to be about as tall as the headlights of it.  I don't believe it's a coyote.  We've heard wolves howling up there before.  I'll add a video of it taken on a cell phone when we were camping.  You'll have to turn the sound way up and listen for it though.  It's a deep gutteral howl in the distance.

https://i.imgur.com/AlFjARW.mp4

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RQ1R5z05Gv8

We were starting to have a nice herd of elk too, until the state game in their infinite wisdom tracked and relocated them to another county that was trying to start an animal preserve and attraction like jurassic park that drives people around in busses hoping to see a glimpse of them.

 



Sadly, I haven't seen an elk in probably 5 years now. 

I'll also mention that I have pictures and videos of more than 30 different bears in the same location.  We're over-run with bears and again, the state protects them with a passion because of their tourism value.  I think you'd get less prison time and fine if you shot the governor instead of taking care of a nuisance or sick bear that needs dealt with.  Especially since much of the problem from them is the overpopulation and not enough food for them to eat naturally so they just dumpster dive and kill your pets and livestock to take their food.   But again, I digress.  And we have some monster 600+ lb bears here too.











https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM7L0ygYUzA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8f1APC7Geg

And of course, the deer.  Everyone likes to see deer videos and pictures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_lbGC6EjA0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xfbTHw4HG8


Myself, I like the trail camera because it lets me know what and how many critters are frequenting the property.  I've worked hard planting nut trees and providing a good habitat for them.  It's pretty rewarding to see that hard work paying off.  And it's a lot like hunting.  I get as much enjoyment out of watching the wildlife as I do eating them.

No shortage of Critters John, thanks for sharing the cool pics 😀

That is decades worth of work.

When I was growing up there, there were some squirrels and rabbits and things.   Grouse too.

But, that was about all.

Lots of nut trees.  maintaining a natural salt lick to where they can get access to it.  It's been a real effort. 

cool pictures & videos, thanks for sharing. I also like to use trail cams to spy on the critters. seeing them on the SD cards is almost as much fun as hunting them. also, a great way to see the super elusive varmints like that panther that's not supposed to be there.

Yeah, I love seeing what's up there.

As for the panther, I've only seen it the one time.  Though, others near me have told me they've also seen them too.  Most recently, was my sons teacher when he was in the 1st grade.  Her dog was snatched about two years ago while she was starting her car to let the frost melt off.  She let the dog out and she said when she got out of the car, she saw the cat run around the side of their house.  She said she didn't see the front portion near the head, but the dog was never seen again.

She reported it to the state wildlife, whom she said pissed her off even more because they told her she couldn't have seen what she did and inferred that she was making it up.  She said if losing your dog that you loved wasn't bad enough, them standing there telling me I was lying or just plain stupid was just adding insult to injury.

And she's not the only person who has seen them here either.  But, I'm certain that she wouldn't lie to me.  She didn't even know that I had the picture that I took at our old house a few miles up from where we are living now.

The state denied bears for years too.  Until a guy shot and killed one in his bees and it got put in the newspaper.  It wasn't a month later there were all kinds of laws passed protecting the bears and preventing you from killing them.  Hell, they can even fine you for unintentionally feeding the bears when they destroy your garbage if they want to.

I'm not going to get into that here.  I'll just say that I'm not a big fan and move along.

Still without the mountain lion, we still have a lot of lynx and wildcats, wolves, coyotes, fox and other predators.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8EAq5YOD58















Probably even a chupacabra and bigfoot or two in there 

Coastal Black Tail in California

Great pics tony

Great pics! Yeah I like to see what will show up, you never know what will!

Man I gotta move!!! I would love to pull sd cards and find pics of mountain lions (although possible here in MN), elk, mulies, bear, fox.  I placed my first camera on my grandpas 80 acres we hunted. I let it marinate for about a month before I went and checked it. After a 4 hour drive I had a card full of the sunrise, blowing grass and a few whitetail does. Then I went in on a lease a few years back with a coworker in SE MN which was about a 2 hour drive. I bought a Moultrie Camera that was Moultrie mobile ready. Then bought the modem. That camera was busy and my phone notifications were pretty frequent. Some of the nicest whitetails I have ever seen were on that property.  Until I show up with a tag and my bow or shotgun. Then I could only find does. THanks for sharing the pics. Love it. 

We have some nice bucks this year.  Biggest I have seen was a few years ago was a 12 pointer.  But I haven't seen him since.  Our property borders a state animal preserve/park so it's possible that he's just up in there, but I kind of suspect someone got him last year.  I haven't seen him in at least 2 years myself.

Here's a few of the bigger bucks  A 10 point


A few other big racks that's been hanging around lately

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rfjm_k6Z2A

And several of the younger/smaller ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHugN-Z9V6g

Here's another I haven't seen in a long time.  Albino momma doe.
https://i.imgur.com/uBods0x.mp4

But, within the next two weeks, they'll disappear and will be like someone flipped a switch.  Generally after the last week in August, they move.

Thanks John, they don?t look quite as full, or plump as MN deer, but it?s likely just the view

We don't have a lot of fields of food.  Corn.  Grains.  Not many farms around here.

They are typical size body deer for the Appalachian mountains.  A decent size buck around here is 180-200'ish lbs on the hoof.

Plus, most anything big that?s in the 4-5 year range isn?t that great to eat, at least in my experience. With 2-3 year olds, our girls thought it was roast beef, now that they?re grown, that?s not so much the case 😀

I love deer roast.  Cooked in a pressure cooker with some potatoes and carrots and onion.  Mmm. mm.

And tenderloin especially.

All my boys and rest of the family loves jerky.  I generally make several batches throughout the winter and especially at Christmas.  They all look forward to coming home and the house smelling like fresh jerky.

Most everything else gets ground up with some hardwood smoked bacon into burger. 

I'll be honest, I prefer a doe over a buck too.  But this year, we have 3 to 1 buck to doe so we won't be getting a doe this year.  There's not enough of them to let anyone hunt them.  We're covered up with buck.  So, whichever buck wants to walk out in front of me is fine.

Whether a little spike or a 10 or 12 pointer.  Just whichever I cross paths with first will be the one I go after.  I'm not a head hunter.  But, if that's what I get, that's what I get.  But, I won't sit there watching a dozen bucks walk by me just waiting on "the one" either.  That's not how I roll at all.  When I am hunting, I'm hunting and am grateful for what the good Lord blesses me with. 

Amen to that. My Brother-in-law in IA is a big bow hunter and held out for Mr. Big for two years, watching, and studying him via tree stands and trail cams. It was a monster weighing in at over 300 lbs, but after that, he?s ok with whatever makes it?s self available. I?m ok with mid-size myself, I?ve never really had an interest in the whoppen big ones.