Monday, December 31, 2012

Game and a Maine Game Warden




Although I was expecting to capture game on the trail camera, I wasn't expecting to photograph a game warden. In Ohio, we've been calling our game protectors "wildlife officers" for a while, but Maine sticks with the traditional game warden moniker.



I was expecting to photograph deer. I was hoping for a buck with a huge rack, but this spike and two does will suffice. Deer started crossing here only during the rut in early November.






Only once in the five months did wild turkeys meander down this path, but when they did, they came in numbers.



And finally, on the night of October 11, I managed to grab a coyote. The quick trigger speed barely captured the coyote in the frame, presumably as it cruised nose to the ground from left to right.

All in all, this was a really fun thing to do and completely worth the five month wait. I do wish I would have captured animals more frequently, however, this camera was not baited. I would have liked to have captured a bobcat and a porcupine. Maybe images of those species will be on the memory card when I return once again to Maine? The camera is still there.


-Tom



Thursday, December 27, 2012

Five Months in Maine

Last summer I purchased a small trail camera and had it shipped to Maine before our summer trip to visit Megan's parents. I've become increasingly interested in trail cameras as they have become smaller, cheaper, and offered better image quaIity. I installed the camera this summer and baited it with canned tuna. Over the course of four days I was able to attract the resident chocolate labs, one small doe, a turkey, and finally, a family of raccoons.

I toyed with the decision of leaving the camera in Maine, not knowing when I would be back to retrieve the images. Rationalizing that I wouldn't get much use of the camera in our back yard in Columbus, I loaded the camera with a fresh set of lithium batteries and an empty memory card. I found a tree along the back driveway where it crossed a little ravine, in a location that my in-laws could check easily. The lace was far away from the house so that the dogs wouldn't constantly be running by. I set up the camera and off we went back to Ohio.

We returned a few days ago- needless to say I was pretty excited to retrieve the memory card- I'm sure I had a smug grin on my face when I saw the first few pictures as they downloaded onto my iPad.






Yep- that's what they call a Maine wood's dog. Or black bear. My inlaws have had their bird-feeder shepherd hooks bent to the ground, but they've never actually seen a bear. I'm not much of a mammalogist, but there's no doubt what we're looking at here. Only once did this bear appear in the five months of surveillance. And it's also interesting that this bear showed up only two days after I set up the camera. Perhaps h/she smelled the cans of tuna that were about 100 yards away? I do not know, but just perhaps, I got lucky.

In the coming days, I'll share more images from the camera.

-Tom

Oh, yes- the camera I purchased was the Bushnell Trophy Cam HD. It sells for about $180 via Amazon.

Location:Otisfield, Maine