EISPIRATEN

This one is a resident of Arroyo Seco. I've seen his (her?) tracks wandering through the campsites at Oakwilde, and a few big scat piles up canyon from there - maybe halfway toward Switzer.

I have some more footage from this site of a possum/skunk altercation - pretty funny! Will post that next.

That's amazing! How do you know where to put your camera? Do you put bait around?

I look for tracks on hikes, and if I see something good (bear, mtn lion, bobcat, etc) I'll put a camera there for a few weeks. Game trails are easy to spot, and they're everywhere. Lately I've been putting cameras near water holes, figuring that in late summer everything is so dry that animals will be drawn to the streams. That seems to work pretty well.

Baiting would be fun, but it's illegal...besides, I don't really want to create "problem bears". I'm sure they get enough junk food from campers as it is. These bears seem to smell me & my hiking friends - they certainly smell the camera. It doesn't make any noise, but it does have a faint red glow at night in place of a real flash. So I'd think it was that, but the bears always find the camera right away, even in daytime.

cougarmagic wrote:I look for tracks on hikes, and if I see something good (bear, mtn lion, bobcat, etc) I'll put a camera there for a few weeks. Game trails are easy to spot, and they're everywhere. Lately I've been putting cameras near water holes, figuring that in late summer everything is so dry that animals will be drawn to the streams. That seems to work pretty well.

Baiting would be fun, but it's illegal...besides, I don't really want to create "problem bears". I'm sure they get enough junk food from campers as it is. These bears seem to smell me & my hiking friends - they certainly smell the camera. It doesn't make any noise, but it does have a faint red glow at night in place of a real flash. So I'd think it was that, but the bears always find the camera right away, even in daytime.

Cool. Is it always on or is it activated by a motion detector?
What kinda camera is it?
Thanks

It's a Scoutguard SG550. They run about $200. It's motion and heat activated - so for example, a warm moving animal should trigger it, but leaves blowing in the wind should not. Which is generally how it works, though I have some delightful footage of weeds too.

There's a great forum at www.chasingame.com that has all you ever need to know about game cameras. They post new pics everyday, from all over the place, so it's a real good time waster.

It's been a really addicting hobby for me! Lots of fun. And even if I don't get any animals, I still go for a nice hike, so it's win-win.

Very cool.

I've seen game cameras out before, one near Heaton Flat. Used to sell some.

the bear was apparently not amused by the camera