Tree falling

Found a good location where a beaver is wearing its teeth down.  I don't believe they are trying to fall the trees but just wear their teeth down , if they grow too long they can become unable to open their mouth far enough to eat.  Fir trees are not their main diet, they mainly like cottonwood and eat lots of small bushes, grass and roots.

I aimed the camera at this tree because it was the most recent one that had been chewed on.

Otter log

I found some fresh sign of where an otter rolled in the sand and then played on the log.  I wasn't quite sure what was going on, so I placed a camera to find out if it was a one time thing or something they frequently.  I have been by this place on many occasions and never seen this type of activity before.

I was surprised to have this male otter stay on the log for 26 pictures and not bothered by the camera.  I left the camera there and checked it today, seems most of the otter stop and play when passing by so I set the Canon Rebel up and hope they pass through again within the next several days.

A learning day of checking my trail cameras

I had eight cameras set in good locations that had been out a week so was excited to have a cool morning for the 5 mile hike.  That didn't last long, out of the 8 cameras only three had pictures, the other five I had either not turned on or the batteries were dead.  My learning curve had dropped a lot over the last year....be sure to double check batteries and switches before leaving the camera.

I did move two cameras to new locations, one to a trail that otter use to bypass a log jam on a small creek. I believe the otter are still up in a pond and this creek is used to get back to the river, where they teach the young the ways of the river.

The other camera was my Canon Rebel that I aimed at a log and stump to test the depth of focus and field of view when set in manual focus. Been a while since I set out the Canon and took 20 pictures of myself and the surrounding area while setting it up, I have it set on five pictures on each trigger of the sensor and it is a very fast sensor.  After all that I wasn't willing to take it down and delete the pictures, it had a large card and maybe the pictures I took was a good test.

 This shows the well used path that leaves the creek to bypass the log jam.

 

Otter Den photos

This was a first for me, I've seen many otter dens but never a place for a camera.  It looks like two pups coming out of the den, plus the female and did get one photo that could have been a male.  The males at times are allowed to help raise the young for a while.

                                                          Coming back to the den.

 
                                              One pup our and the other is peaking out.

                                                                     Getting brave.

This was the only time I had pictures of the otter, the next time I checked the camera was five days later and they had moved.  The pups are old enough to fish in the river and there's plenty of steelhead for food. It was almost a once in a lifetime photo shoot.

Finally back to the woods

After a long hiatus with my health, I am finally back to setting out cameras.  The new knee is working well but the body is out of top physical condition, too much rest.  I was lucky enough to find an Otter den that looked to be freshly used and in a tough place for a camera, but did set one up next to the river aimed at the den opening.  Sometimes the otter will hold up for a night or two but not stay for long during their travels, so my fingers are crossed.

 

It felt great getting back to more hiking along the river that has changed quite a bit in the last year and a half since I've been gone. But it looks like there are many more Otter and I even saw two large males swimming down stream as I was setting out a camera over a deer trail.

Knowing the speed of your camera helps !!!

I use different sensor boards to fine tune the speed of the camera on the first picture, then I use the different locations to my advantage to center the animal. This works well with logs and locations where one or two pictures a week would be great. This helps to not miss a great photo, sometimes. In this setting I use a slower setup because of the narrow log and some trees on the left side that will slow the animal down before getting centered in the picture, I even walked the log to get the timing just right for a predator or a deer.



















Because of this first picture I knew the camera was too slow, just couldn't believe the deer would have went faster than a walk across this narrow log. With that in mind, I went with a faster setup in the same location.


This next photo shows the frustration that goes with this hobby. If a grown man gets mad, stomps the ground and yells loud in the woods, and nobbody hears this, does it really happen?


















A close up of what appears to be a 4x4 buck just starting into the picture, my slower camera would have been perfect timing.

Still a few big Blacktail bucks around.

Finally had some extra time to set out a few cameras for deer, been busy trying to catch up on work around the house before the wet weather. I have some favorite locations for bucks this time of the year and they paid off in just one week. I also spend more time hiding my camera when setting them out for bucks, nothing worse than getting the picture with the deer looking at the camera at night, just too much glare in the eyes for a good photo.

This 4x4 was a great catch and never had a clue of the camera, never stayed around for a second picture either.



















Set the camera up in another good location but forgot to trim the ferns, and as luck would have it, they blocked part of the head and antlers but still a nice buck.