Tag Archives: deer cam

Deer Cam – Spying on Nature

Posted on December 13, 2017 | Comments Off

This is a large male bobcat. A really spectacular picture. Although the males are only about 30 pounds, I wouldn’t want to run into one. And my granddaughter and I had just walked down the drive earlier that morning! Yikes!

One of my favorite gadgets is our deer cam or trail cam. Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure…and surprise of catching many critters on camera. I’ve moved the camera around the property several times but it seems that the most active spot is a place on our driveway where it crosses a creek. There are woods on either side with some fields nearby. Although much of the animal traffic seems to be at night, I’ve captured some pretty spectacular daytime shots, too.

Coyote with pear. Taken in back orchard this summer. About 40 feet from the house.

Check out the photos and enjoy a brief visit to my part of the world. I’m not including all the neighborhood cats, multiple pix of my dog (and some other dogs), the delivery people and other vehicles and tractors.

By the way, a trail cam makes a great present to the outdoor lover in your life. We have two cameras but I’d love to have more.

Buck in velvet this summer

Heron strutting down the driveway.

A very large rooster strutting down the drive. Probably an escapee from my neighbor’s chicken house.

Mystery critter. I had moved the camera nearer the house and it was also near our security light. I kept seeing this creature pass in front of the lens. I finally concluded that it is a photo of a bat in action. What do you think?

Is this my best side? I get so many photos of deer (deer cam, right?). The light is infrared so they can’t see it, but I think they hear it click when it takes a picture.

Two raccoons heading up the drive for a midnight snack. Probably the culprits for the losses in my neighbor’s chicken house. They are NOT cute. They are mean and vicious and can destroy a garden in a night.

A large coyote with a bite mark. I’d hate to see what gave it to him.

Coyotes often travel in packs. While usually shy, they were nightly visitors to our orchards this year.

Wild turkeys are very crafty and great survivors in the woods. They actually can fly and manage to raise a brood every year.

Many possums in the area. I don’t particularly like them but they are reported to eat thousands of ticks each day. That is good. They will also break into a chicken house and eat the eggs and baby chicks. Not good.

Groundhog. Not a desirable creature as they tend to dig out building foundations and otherwise become pests.

A standoff between a crow and a squirrel. It appears that the crow is holding something in his beak.

Night visitor. This is the scariest of all of the photos I’ve captured. The intruder is coming up the drive in the very early morning on Easter Sunday. (And, no, it’s not the Easter bunny!) With his knapsack and large knife, I hope that he was planning to do some mushroom hunting in the woods. But, also, the neighbor’s house was broken into that morning. Kinda creepy. Our dog was locked up unfortunately.

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Posted in country living

Tagged bat, bobcat, country living, coyote, crawford county, crow, deer, deer cam, groundhog, heron, hunting, indiana, mystery critter, raccoons, squirrel, wild turkeys

Night visitors and animal thieves

Posted on August 23, 2017 | Comments Off

Living in the country, we often have furry visitors, especially at night, and especially when the garden comes in.

This year the raccoons ate ALL the peaches! Dang! And they took out the entire second crop of sweet corn. Fortunately, we were able to put up some from the first planting.

Pears on tree in the orchard.

This year our pear trees are giving us an abundant crop. The branches are drooping with the heavy fruit. I put up two buckets of pears this week which will taste pretty good in a cobbler this winter.

Unfortunately, a lot of other critters like this fruit. My dog barks at night at the invaders but since he is tied up at night (due to his penchant for visiting the neighbor’s chickens), he can only bark. (And keep us awake.)

So, I set up the deer cam to see who was grabbing his attention. I expected to see a lot of raccoons but was surprised at what I did see.

A family of foxes visits often They eat a lot of windfall but, like the fox in Aesop’s fables, they will try jumping up to grab a low-hanging fruit.

Fox with pear

Fox at night, eyeing low hanging fruit.

Mystery night creature. Probably an owl.

But the real surprise was the coyote who has become a frequent visitor. I think this is a female based on the size compared to my dog. Also, she is probably feeding pups as she returns many times, even during the day.

Coyote with pear. Probably taking it back to her pups.

Coyote on Alert

My dog sniffing around after running the coyote off this morning.

In the long run, I don’t really mind sharing. Just leave something for me.

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Posted in country living, garden

Tagged country living, coyotes, deer cam, foxes, kit miracle, pears

Bobcat – Making a comeback

Posted on November 30, 2014 | Comments Off

As I have mentioned in a previous post, we have great fun observing the wildlife in this rural area. Our house sits in the middle of 90 acres (thus, My90Acres), and is a good mix of fields, streams and woods. The county I live in is very rural and has an abundance of wildlife.

We move our deer cam around and I check the SD card every couple of weeks. It’s always great fun to see what we’ve “caught.” Its latest location is near our drive where it crosses a creek on a culvert. Animals are a little lazy and will take the easy path across the culvert rather than wade through the creek so this location gets them going both across the creek and along the creek. The cam is triggered automatically and records both day and night with the infrared part. The animals can’t see it flash at night but they can hear the camera click. Some of them come right up to the camera and I’m as likely to get a closeup of a deer nose as a flock of birds in the day.

This past month the camera recorded all kinds of deer, foxes, two cats I’ve never seen in daylight, turkeys, squirrels, coyotes, rabbits, possums, birds of all kinds, my dog, and cars entering and leaving the property. To my delight, I also recorded this large male bobcat this month. I haven’t seen him since last year so was glad to observe him again. Based on comparing him to the size of my dog, I guess he’s about 30-34 pounds which is about tops for a male. Bobcats have been protected in Indiana for a while now but they may come off the protected list soon as their population has grown. They eat rabbits, possums, rats, and other small animals. Oh, and chickens. Not so good. Nevertheless, it’s so nice to know nature is thriving in the not quite wilderness. On the other hand, I really don’t want to record a mountain lion or bear in this area – as has been reported. That would be a little too scary for my taste.

Bobcat in southern Indiana

Bobcat – arrow points to stubby tail

Third photo of Bobcat

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Posted in country living

Tagged bobcat, country living, deer cam, indiana, wildlife

Is it or isn’t it?

Posted on July 16, 2013 | Comments Off

Female bobcat early morning.

We moved the deer cam up into the woods. In addition to deer, squirrels, etc., we caught this photo. I think it’s a female bobcat which typically weigh between 15 and 22 pounds. Unfortunately, the photo was taken at dawn, around 7:45 on Sunday so it’s in a grey light, not either day or night. It’s about twice as big as a house cat (which don’t last too long in these woods with so many coyotes around). If you zoom in on the photo, you’ll see that the legs have bands and that the back legs are longer than the front giving the bobcat its characteristic cheetah-like walk. Anyway, stay tuned. There may be more pix to come.

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Posted in animals, country living

Tagged bobcat, country living, deer cam

Night visitors

Posted on July 5, 2013 | Comments Off

Living out in the near wilderness, we are often beset with furry critters set on eating our produce. Our 90 acres is more like a big park than a real farm. We don’t mind sharing but…there’s plenty for the animals to eat without invading the garden and orchards.

Recently we noticed that something was munching on the fallen apples. So we set up the deer cam in the orchard. My goodness, but there is a LOT of activity out there. Plenty of deer, lots of raccoons (and babies), and one slinky coyote. This isn’t counting all the rabbits and squirrels that set off the camera.

And for those of you who think raccoons are cute little masked bandits, think again. They are vicious creatures who just enjoy the pleasure of killing a whole flock of chickens in a single night.

Anyway, we’re really trying to capture a photo of a bobcat or mountain lion rumored to be living in these parts. We’ll move the deer cam into the woods soon and see what we will see.