More camera trap pics....

[Josh]

The quality of mine aren't anywhere near what Fiat Lux is getting...but that's the down-side of using commercial cams (like I do).

But, they serve my purpose...which is primarily wildlife inventorying and monitoring...

Here are some from this summer. Again...nothing unusual about catching pictures of deer. These were just some that I liked.

[OldClicker]

The two fawns are wonderful. I can see this type of shooting becoming an addiction (or another addiction). - Terry

[Josh]

....btw....a doe with triplets in that last photo (the third one is almost off-screen on the far right).

Yeah, it seriously is an addiction! Every week I can't wait to go out and pull my memory cards to see what I've gotten!

It's very cool to catch pics of things like Coyotes (which are incredibly wary down here) and feel like you've actually been able to "out-smart" them...or at least not spook them...enough to get their picture!

[CaraRose]

I'd love to do something like this in Chicago forest preserves, but I'd be afraid of my stuff getting stolen.

Love the doe and fawns shot

[Fiat Lux]

Nice buck in velvet shot, Josh!

Triplets? Your deer must be well fed.

[Josh]

I'd love to do something like this in Chicago forest preserves, but I'd be afraid of my stuff getting stolen.

This is actually a constant concern for me...... Some hunters will literally stop at nothing to get these cameras! It's insane!

I usually purchase security boxes designed specifically for the brand of camera, lag screw that to a tree and then padlock the camera inside the box. I use high security masterlocks with shrouded shackles and boron-alloy shackles that are supposed to cut and pry resistant.

Ultimately, if someone really wanted to the camera, they'd still find a way (I've heard of folks even cutting down the trees to get to cameras set up like mine is ). At the very least, they have to go home and get a special tool of some kind to steal them, the way I have them set-up. Hopefully, that's too much work for most theives.

[Fiat Lux]

Nice buck in velvet shot, Josh!

Triplets? Those deer must be well fed.

I really enjoy this kind of stuff.

[Josh]

Nice buck in velvet shot, Josh!

Triplets? Your deer must be well fed.

Thanks!

They are well-fed and have little to no concerns from predators. Sort of a problem, if you ask me. The occassional coyote may get a few here and there, and hunting gets rid of some...but (as is true of deer in many parts of N. America) they live priveledged and coddled lives! They live in high resource, low risk environments and have nothing to do but reproduce and make more and more deer!

[paulnj]

Wow, that second image is a bruiser!

[CERAMICMIKE]

I put my camera trap out on Friday night, after dark. I went back Saturday morning and couldn't find it. I searched the area for 20 minutes, without luck...someone has stolen it, I thought. I eventually found it, though; I am now far too good at camera camouflage. I think the moral of this story is: don't put your camera trap out at the dead of night, if you can avoid it; everything looks different in the dark. I had 39 images of a wood mouse over Friday night/Saturday morning - all good fun.

I put down bait: beef flavoured rice nuts. The wood mouse must have spent the rest of the night carrying the nuts back to its burrow, one at a time.

[Josh]

Wow, that second image is a bruiser!

He sure is! Haven't gotten a picture of him since summer at that site. I think he's moved on to greener pastures!

Nice pics of the mouse, CeramicMike!

What model Scoutguard are you using? I have some SG560s that I mess around with and like very much (better than the Bushnells that I use).

[CERAMICMIKE]

Nice of you to compliment the mouse image, Josh, but my camera traps are just tools to let me know what animals are about and what time the animals appear.

My camera traps are also SG550s. I have them mounted in very strong, specially fabricated, metal cases.

I have 3 SG550s and they are all set-up around a large badger set, at the moment.

I have attached a photo of my camera trap.

[Fiat Lux]

CERAMICMIKE

I was really hoping someone else would ask...

Beef flavored rice nuts?

Is that a UK thing?

[Josh]

Nice of you to compliment the mouse image, Josh, but my camera traps are just tools to let me know what animals are about and what time the animals appear.

Same for me...my cams are "working cams", not aesthetic cams...sometimes I get lucky and get decent pics, unique species, or interesting behavior. But inventory is the goal.

Catching mice pics is always cool! I've gotten photos of white-footed mice like this.

Recently, the Camera Trap Codger posted on his blog a way to reduce the illumination of these IR cams for close up pics (like small rodents). He just put some electrical tape over some of the red LEDs and that worked pretty well, I guess....

[CERAMICMIKE]

CERAMICMIKE

I was really hoping someone else would ask...

Beef flavored rice nuts?

Is that a UK thing?

I don't know about it being a 'UK thing', but the beef flavoured rice nuts are dog food - foxes love it and so do badgers, mice and birds.

[CERAMICMIKE]

Same for me...my cams are "working cams", not aesthetic cams...sometimes I get lucky and get decent pics, unique species, or interesting behavior. But inventory is the goal.

Catching mice pics is always cool! I've gotten photos of white-footed mice like this.

Recently, the Camera Trap Codger posted on his blog a way to reduce the illumination of these IR cams for close up pics (like small rodents). He just put some electrical tape over some of the red LEDs and that worked pretty well, I guess....

I use screens and filters on the front of my camera trap casing to hide the LEDs from people who might, unintentionally, get zapped by the LED flash and decide to steal it; if you look carefully at the top of the cam casing, you can see the slot the the screens and filters clip into. The cam casing sits on a steel spike that is pushed into the ground, which makes it easy to aim and elevate the camera. I also have a GPS mobile phone unit built in, which enables me to track it, if it is stolen; it also has a tilt switch, which, when activated, signals the phone to send me a message if the cam is being tampered with - the antenna can be seen on top of the cam casing.

[CERAMICMIKE]

Funnily enough, I just downloaded images from one of my traps that was watching a large badger set last night: all I had was mice again.

Look at the times. Although the times are different, the cam catches the mouse, more or less, in the same position each time.

It's better to flash mice than nothing at all. I think it is a field mouse.

Actually, as I look again, the mouse in the middle image seems to have a bushy tail.

I will try for a badger again tonight.

The cam was pointing at an entrance to the set, at the top of the image. The mouse is on the badger run. I put a few peanuts on the run, you can just pick them out on the images.

[Fiat Lux]

CERAMICMIKE

Oh, OK. It sounded like a breakfast cereal or something. That makes a lot more sense.

Thanks!

[CERAMICMIKE]

CERAMICMIKE

Oh, OK. It sounded like a breakfast cereal or something. That makes a lot more sense.

Thanks!

Breakfast cereal might work!

[CERAMICMIKE]

CERAMICMIKE

Oh, OK. It sounded like a breakfast cereal or something. That makes a lot more sense.

Thanks!

I put the cam trap, that photographed the mouse night before last, in exactly the same place, last night, but this time it was a fox that was photographed. Still no badgers. there are badger tracks all over the area, but they must be camera shy. I will just have to keep at it.

[Fiat Lux]

CERAMICMIKE

Great to see the fox.

Gray foxes were once common here, if you were lucky you might spot a red fox. The coyotes arrived on the scene back in the late 90's and the foxes disappeared from sight. I haven't seen a fox in over ten years. I miss them.

Good luck with the badger.

[CERAMICMIKE]

I managed to tempt a bager out of its set tonight, courtesy od beef flavoured nuts, but the badger had to compete with the fox.