Wildlife observation – Page 2 – The Outdoors Guy

December 5, 2012

Hunting deer with trail cameras

Well, hunting season has come and gone – for me at least. I realize there are still some hunting opportunities left but, sadly, I haven’t any time for them. How far off is retirement again?

Thank goodness for my trail cam hunting; the closest thing to real hunting I’ve found yet. Planning out a good trailcam strategy and location, I’ve discovered to be very much like hunting itself.

You need to understand whitetail patterns and travel habits, and setting up camera position & location can be compared to choosing the proper stand location. The actual photos and vids you acquire would be to hunting, akin to lining-up the shot and making the decision when to pull the trigger.

You see where I’m going with this?

Also, trail-camming is similar to hunting in that there is, certainly, some luck involved but as you become more skilled, the better the images you will get. Sure, there is such thing as beginner’s luck with hunting, but it is also common knowledge that the more experienced hunter will have, on average, more opportunities to harvest game than those with little experience.

Throughout the year I run just 2 trailcams around my place , however, once December arrives I’ll put out 2 or 3 more to cover different areas as deer travel patterns change.

The more the merrier I always say and, as luck would have it, Bushnell has just sent me two new models to test- out. The Trophy Cam HD and the X8.

Here are some of the more interesting images I’ve taken this fall. Although I pride myself on knowing the look and names of practically every deer I photograph around my place, I was surprised to discover a big buck I had never seen before. Mrs Outdoors Guy named him ‘Silver’ and he’s a real beauty as you’ll see….

Happy trail-camming and enjoy!

(This young bull was photographed on the trail beside our hunt camp, while the moose hunters were in the camp having breakfast. They never saw this bull during the season)

(In Sep this black bear stopped by my deer camp feeder for a nibble and a close-up look at my trail cam)

(This is the same bear 1 minute later trying to bite said trail cam! Thank goodness for my Bushnell Bear Safe and cable lock, the camera wasn’t damaged or moved. And since this cam stays up for 2 months without being checked, it remained in position until deer season!)

(This coyote had a good snack at my camp feeder. Notice the Acorn Rage attached to tree in lower left)

(Coyote then notices the Acorn Rage attached to the tree..now what’s he going to do?)

(This photo shows same coyote after he tore the Acorn Rage block off the tree. Keep in mind this things are attached with a heavy screw!)

(Now on to the cameras around my place. Here’s a nice pic of my old pal Garfield – now an impressive 5 year old buck! Garfield was born in my back field and can be recognized by tell-tale white markings on his hind legs)

(Another picture of Garfield at same camera location)

(Here’s the new buck we’re calling ‘Silver’. Not sure if he and Garfield have met personally, but I’m sure they will soon as I suspect there is a hot doe around!)

(A little while after Silver went through, this guy was on his tail..bugger!)

October 29, 2012

Yearling buck returns after 8 month absence

Anyone who follows the Outdoors Guy Blog will recall my story from last winter entitled; Misfit Duo an unlikely winter team – the story of an orphaned fawn who teamed up with a lame buck.

Beginning September 2011, I started seeing an orphaned fawn button buck (I called Peanut) hanging around behind my place. He was a spunky little bugger but I had concerns that he wouldn’t make the winter on his own.

Before too long, though, a 3 year old buck we called Andrew showed-up in the back property with a badly broken leg. The two deer made the biggest misfit team I had ever seen, but somehow it worked.

It was a symbiotic relationship you might say…

The two deer watched out for each other and as winter progressed Andrew’s leg injury healed very slowly; until the coyotes started running him all over the place.

Eventually, by the end of February, poor Andrew was done running and could no longer get-up. A neighbor and I found him lying in the snow barely able to move so I made the decision to have him put down. Since I live in a ‘no discharge zone’, the Ottawa Police Service were called to do the job.

Andrew’s little buddy Peanut remained there on his own until, fortunately, he teamed-up with another big healthy 4-year old buck on the property.

That was early March and I hadn’t seen Peanut again since.

Over the past month or so I started putting deer feed out again but only hoards of raccoons and one loan doe have stopped-by for a nibble…

This past weekend I decided to test-out a new Tinks product Terry Rohm sent me…it is the Tinks Power Scrape – Combo pack, which contains a scrape dripper, string and a supply of ‘synthetic’ buck lure which is totally legal in Ontario for hunting . (Even though I do not hunt deer around my place and could have legally used natural scent if I wished) Power Scrape is meant to capitalize on the buck’s natural sense of curiosity during early season.

So anyway, Saturday morning I get the new Power Scrape all ready to go near my deer feeder. I tied it to the lower branch of a tree approximately 10 feet to the left of my feeder and about 18” of the ground. I cleared the leaves away on the ground underneath and squirted a few extra drops to get it going…

Sunday morning I was curious to see if anything showed-up for a visit and I instantly noticed fresh deer tracks around the Power Scrape and deer feeder.

The tracks weren’t huge and I suspected the doe was back to snack on some of my deer pellets, but I pulled the SD card from my Bushnell Trophy cam overlooking the site, and brought it inside to check-out the images.

Here’s what I found!

After nearly 8-months, Peanut the fawn finally returned for a visit, except this time he’s a much larger yearling buck and sported a darn nice first year set of antlers.

An 8-pointer no less!!

After going through the photos, I could tell right away it was Peanut and was glad to see he was doing well. Evidently this deer is one tough little bugger, who has overcome the odds with the makings of one dominate buck indeed.

So, was it just a coincidence that this deer showed-up at my place (with his nose down btw) the very night I put out the Tinks Power Scrape, after being absent for nearly 8-months?

Seems a little too coincidental if you ask me.

Well, whatever the case..welcome back little buddy!

Outdoorsguy

June 22, 2012

Early Summer a time of rebirth in the Great Outdoors

It sure is nice to see the Great Outdoors in a cycle of rebirth, and there is no better time to witness this transformation than during early summer.

Spring is often referred to as the time of rebirth and rejuvenation in the animal world, but this isn’t entirely true. The actual fruits of labour tend to come to fruition during late June – the early summer period.

The Wild Turkey, for example, is one of those creatures with a birthing period which falls around this time of year. Sure, the breading is carried during the spring, but following a 28-days gestation period the poults are born (all within 24 hours) and join the hen on a great new adventure.

This year, I was very fortunate to capture some images of new-born poults on my property no more than a couple of days following birth.

In this trail-cam image the newborn poults are barely recognizable scattered around the ground below her feet. If you zoom-in, you get a better appreciation of their size and appearance.

I find the newborn poults look like small woodcocks, actually, with a dull light brown-grey mottled appearance.

Wild turkeys are not the only animals having babies at this time of year. Although I am not a huge fan of raccoons, I did capture these night-time trailcam images of mom coon and her two young ones.

The below images of a doe and fawn in my back field were taken about 4 years ago, and remain some of the nicest wildlife pics I have taken personally. Unless you’re a full-time wildlife photog who spends days on end in the field, capturing images of a nursing fawn is a rarity indeed.

Although I have not captured any images this spring/summer of does’ and newborn fawns, I have seen a couple. One on my way to Cornwall a couple of weeks back, and the other morning I spotted a doe feeding on a nearby property, and as I watched her through the binoculars; her posture and mannerisms seem to indicate she may have a fawn hidden nearby( I will be watching her more closely over the next few days)

Without going into another long drawn sermon on the merits of trail cameras, I honestly don’t think I could live without them! Keep an eye on the Outdoors Guy Blog as the summer progresses; I will be testing out some new Bushnell Trail cameras. One revolutionary new model has all the features of the top surveillance cams, but retails for just over $100 from what I understand.

Thanks for stopping-by and have fun in the Great Outdoors this summer!

Oh yeah, and please feel free to send-in your early summer wildlife photos!

Outdoorsguy

Here’s one of Rick’s pics of a nice Tom turkey strutting his stuff for a nearby hen:

Here’s another one of Rick’s recent pics of some nice ‘twin bucks’. (This image is an exlusive for the Outdoors Guy Blog)

Here’s the photo(& story) of Bobcat Rick saw in NB back in 2008:

Jeff this is the only Bobcat I have been lucky enough to get on film. The picture was taken on July 27 2008 in New Brunswick. I have never seen a Lynx.

Here’s an incredible Lynx image( & caption) sent in by GPG….man, some guys have all the luck!! (Is it me or does that photo look like a classic painting??)

“Here’s a picture of the Lynx which was watching us from shore. We were on our way back from the evening hunt so it was taken at dusk. ”

Here’s another Bobcat pic sent in by Rick. This one was taken in Kemptville-area December, 2009. If I hadn’t known it was a Bobcat, I’d have said it was a Lynx…goes to show how similar they are.

June 11, 2012

Bear found tangled to Hydro Pole

Hear about the bear found tangled to a Hydro Pole in Northern Ontario?

Here’s the story from the Toronto SUN:

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/06/11/baby-bear-found-strapped-to-pole-in-northern-ont

Outdoorsguy

March 6, 2012

Red Fox hide and seek

(‘Black Paws’ was picked-up on my Bushnell Trophy ‘Feeder Cam’ just prior to completing his ‘hide and seek’)

I must admit, I find foxes to be fascinating and intelligent animals. I have observed them around my place over the years and never have I seen one sick or mangy looking.

I do realize; however, that the red fox is the largest carrier of rabies but from what I’ve read, the Aerial Baiting programs over the years have really put a dent in the disease. You just don’t hear about rabid foxes as you did 20 years ago.

That is certainly a good thing!

Around my place, the foxes are great hunters too! We’ve watched them pouncing on meadow voles in the back field, and sneaking through the brush in search of a snack.

Although I always knew these animals created ‘caches’ to store extra food, I have never witnessed it first-hand. Nor have I ever realized how long these food caches are kept around.

On January 29th, Mrs Outdoors Guy and I were sitting at our dining room table having breakfast, when Mr Fox(now known as ‘Black Paws’) appeared on the property.

“He’s got a black squirrel in his mouth!” I whispered (I know the ‘black’ squirrel was really just a colour-phase of the grey squirrel, but I still call them black)

By the way, snatching-up a few squirrels is something I do not have a problem with. These critters create havoc on our bird feeders and have chewed through more than a few items on the clothesline over the years!

So, my wife and I watched intently (with camera in hand) as Mr Fox slipped through the neighbour’s fence towards our place and proceeded to drop the squirrel in the snow.

“Look, now he’s digging a hole” my wife said.

Within a couple of minutes, the fox had dug a small cache and was burying his squirrel. We couldn’t believe how he used both his paws and his nose to complete the task.

Incredible!

Since this display on January 29th, we never saw the fox return to his cache and it has since snowed almost a foot!

Then yesterday – March 5 – Mrs Outdoors Guy was getting ready for work when she noticed some movement on the property.

Hey, it’s Mr Fox again. He’s back!!

Evidently the fox had returned to dig-up the catch he buried 5 weeks ago! My wife called me up on the phone and starting taking pictures.

After digging-up his prize, the Fox made short work of eating the well-aged (and completely frozen) squirrel. Since fox’s really don’t chew their food, it gets swallowed in large chunks.

I feel extremely fortunate to have not only witnessed this predatory behaviour, but for my property to play host to it. One’s interest in fish and wildlife can extend beyond hunting and fishing.

Observing and documenting wildlife behaviour and habits is another of my favourite pastimes

Outdoorsguy