Two different styles of my homebrew trail cameras

I build my own game cameras and several people have asked to see how I set them up in the case. These are just two of my setups, one is a Sony 600 in a Pelican 1020 case with a Snapshot Sniper board. I use the same setup when using a Sony P41 with a Snapshot Sniper board. The second is a Sony P41 using an XLP board from Whitetail Supplies. Both work great and very dependable. Nothing fancy on my trail cameras.

Hollow log mink setup with my trail camera

Mink like to run through hollow logs looking for food, plus I saw mink sign in this log several times when checking other cameras. Little did I realize that I would get a nice picture of a woodduck swimming past and the background made it unique.

I did slip off the beaver dam and went almost to my waist in the pond while heading to the camera. It wouldn't have been bad but I still had 5 miles left on the days hike.

Large male Otter

It only took several days for this otter to come back to the same landing where I took the pictures of the tail marks in the sand. I never aimed the camera where I saw the marks but aimed it up stream so it would walk under the camera for a better picture.

I've seen a lot of otter in my days and this is about the largest and looks like it's in great condition and lazy. This is the first photo of a series of 6 pictures I got of him during the day and you can notice the tail dragging marks in the sand up to where it's resting on the moss overlooking the river. The males are easy to identify by the much larger and thicker base of the tail.

I wished I would have used a Sony 600 in this location, but never believed it would have been a day photo.

Otter tail marks in the sand

I jumped at the chance to hang a camera overlooking this sand beach after noticing the tail tracks made by an otter. This time of the year it had to be a male cruising up and down the river as the females should be having their pups. From the size of the tail marks I would guess a large otter, so I hung a camera in a tree looking down at the beach and wrapped it in moss so it was well hid.

My legal liability for the woodcutters

I had to hide the eyes of this beaver to prevent anyone from getting the idea it was involved in illegal woodcutting. This beaver claims to be just wandering past and was looking at the tree but never touched or chewed on the tree. It also claims to be unable to identify the beaver in the previous post because its back was to the camera.

Firewood cutters on private timberland

Looks like anyone can cut firewood on private land without a permit. I've tried to catch them in the act but finally placed a hidden trail camera to photograph them at night. Now it's just a matter of identifying them in a lineup, but they all look alike, maybe toothprints will work.

Woodducks ... on a sunny day in Washington !!!!

Not sure where the sun came from in the last week, but did bring out the color on these woodduck pictures. I cropped both pictures to show the color better, which was easy to do with a Sony S600 camera.

Hooded Merganser swimming past the trail camera

They say wet weather is good for ducks, so they must be having a blast with all the cold rain and wind. This Hooded Merganser picture was taken during the only sunny day in our area last week so it looks like things should start picking up if the weather would warm up a couple of degrees.

Test for birds

Seems I'm getting desperate for bird pictures plus maybe test their ability to eat concrete. I placed a concrete sqirrel yard ornament on a leaning log and tied it down to see if a bird would be tempted, or at least curious enough to land. This location has some nice animal trails that cross the creek so all isn't lost if the birds aren't fooled. I have to admit it's a cute little squirrel.

Bald Eagle up close

This was my first Bald Eagle photo taken several years ago that took over 2 years to get and a lot of work. Would have been easier by using a salmon carcass by the river, but this seemed more of a challenge. I found a good colorful log and then set the camera aimed at the most likely way a bird would fly onto the log. I did get a few hawk pictures over the years while I waited for the eagle. I also had seen the eagle on this log in the past so knew it was just a matter of time before it landed again.

Bobcat climbing a stump

I set a lot of cameras aimed at stumps and logs for birds and other animals that want a better view of the area for food. I never set any cameras for bobcats this winter so I decided to place this photo from the past to show what uses a stump if the camera is hid well. Stumps are super for animals when the area is a swamp or small clearing so the animals can sit and look for food at night.

This bobcat never saw the camera and even at night with the flash I got several nice photos.

Birds are beginning to pair up

Days are getting longer and warmer so it's time for the birds to begin picking partners. I even saw a pair of eagles keeping watch on my travels around their domain. They would go from tree to tree waiting to see which way I was headed, I've had them follow me all day and watch me check the cameras.

Raccoon diving for supper

Must be something quite tasty on the bottom of the creek for this raccoon to dive in with such speed. Normally they walk along and dig in the bottom to turn up some fine crawfish and fresh water shells, even with this tactic catching a fish would be difficult.