caddisguy trailcams are out !

[twoSevenO]

Where are the bucks!??

[caddisguy]

Where are the bucks!??

Only two bucks in all that footage. One is the small fork with the doe in the snow late December. The other is somewhere in other 5GB of footage that I couldn't relocate while compiling the video and only displayed partial antlers in front of the camera for half a second. There's definitely a few bucks hanging around that patch of timber late season, but it doesn't seem worth hunting. Lots of nice bucks late August but the batteries died right before bow season and I didn't get back in there to replace them until late September... so it's still a mystery whether or not it's worth bow hunting. That doe has quite the personality too lol ... I have met her and her offspring in person a number of times.

Anyway, it's probably one of my favorite places to run a trailcam but not actually hunt. I have seen everything on that cam from deer and bears to moose and cougar. I don't think I'll be running it this year though. I am only going to run 1 or 2 cams around a new spot that I found that looks really promising for deer.

Hopefully there's some good footage from the cam I have up the mountain (I changed the batteries early November so it might still be running) and hopefully I can find the other camera that I seem to have misplaced as that will be it for a while. We definitely won't be compiling new trailcam vids every couple weeks in 2018. Probably 2 cams with 2 salt piles in close proximity.

[wideopenthrottle]

was that what u would consider a mule doe? the one constantly kicking at what look to be BT's near the beginning of the vid

[caddisguy]

was that what u would consider a mule doe? the one constantly kicking at what look to be BT's near the beginning of the vid

I would say hybrid. Definitely a whiter bum on her. The place that camera sits really gets into the hybrid zone. It has BT's, muleys and everything in between. My other cams starting 20km away rarely see anything that resembles a muley and if they do it's winter or early spring.

[twoSevenO]

On dec 2 I was going to put out some more cams in my spot but ended up shooting a blacktail buck on my way up so I never did. Went back mid January and put them up and left them until end of April when i went up to make a salt lick ..... also no bucks. Not even a couple little spikers I know were in the area. Doe activity was OK but no bucks. Did have a cougar on cam so not sure if the had something to do with it or if the bucks simply vacate the area altogether and just show up for the rut ... I haven't been able to figure that out yet.

Was out just last weekend into a new spot and set up a lick there in an area that had some well used trails ame some well used beds. Left this one on video with a 32gb card in it. Hope it captures something good.

The worst part is the wait until you go back to get it. I suppose I wont be back into either spot until early
Or mid november now. 5-6 months ought to be enough time to have some decent footage

[RackStar]

Bushnell cameras have been great to me. I have had one out since November. Just got it on saterday, awesome quality pics. Got moose WT deer big bear and elk. Cameras need to go back ASAP as there’s a big buck growing his antlers and a big herd of elk that needs monitoring.

Thanks for sharing as always! I love blacktails. Never shot one but they are my fav looking deer.

[Salty]

I would say hybrid. Definitely a whiter bum on her. The place that camera sits really gets into the hybrid zone. It has BT's, muleys and everything in between. My other cams starting 20km away rarely see anything that resembles a muley and if they do it's winter or early spring.

That's what I was thinking but didn't want to bring up the H word which has brought lively debate here in the past
But there you have it, mom has a much more mule deer looking tail, skinny mainly white with a black tip. The tip a little bigger than the average muley tho IMO, but not full blown black tail. Then look at the fawns, big black blob of a tail, if I saw one of those on the island I wouldn't blink. If I saw mom there it'd be like WTF????? I've started to find some of these transition zones close to home here too. I did a late winter early spring sight seeing tour with my wife near home to what I was convinced was hard core BT only country but we saw around 7 beefy- no question- mule deer that seemed to be on the move, probably from wintering areas up hill to summer grounds following the green up. Fun stuff keeps you guessing in these areas.

[caddisguy]

That's what I was thinking but didn't want to bring up the H word which has brought lively debate here in the past
But there you have it, mom has a much more mule deer looking tail, skinny mainly white with a black tip. The tip a little bigger than the average muley tho IMO, but not full blown black tail. Then look at the fawns, big black blob of a tail, if I saw one of those on the island I wouldn't blink. If I saw mom there it'd be like WTF????? I've started to find some of these transition zones close to home here too. I did a late winter early spring sight seeing tour with my wife near home to what I was convinced was hard core BT only country but we saw around 7 beefy- no question- mule deer that seemed to be on the move, probably from wintering areas up hill to summer grounds following the green up. Fun stuff keeps you guessing in these areas.

I think those lively debates with the "H" or "B.L." words happen when someone whacks one with a pure looking blacktail bum, but an antler configuration that is square or open rather than pointing inward like a typical blacktail. Though I haven't really seen any of those debates for several years either. Nice dear and congrats are always in order, as hybrids (whether those are or not) are awesome and no picnic to hunt either.

I remember the "there's no whitetail in Region2" debate too. I haven't heard that debate come up since I posted a whitetail with twins year after year on the same cam as a pure 5x5 BT

I do enjoy watching that doe. She has quite the personality. We named her "peek-a-boo deer" because the first year (and second) we put the camera up full time, she would randomly pop her head up right in front of the camera (scares the crap out of me when I check out the footage on a big screen) and stare at it like it was a portal to another dimension (I guess it kind of is) ... I have watched her raise fawns every year for about 3-4 years now. Usually twins except one year. She is just as paranoid and stealthy as any BT I have ever seen. Always a tough mom, but the fawns always live. Sometimes I'll see something go down and then only see one fawn for a couple weeks and get nervous, but then I'll see two again... this spot has a lot of coyotes and cougar sign. In her summer colors that black stripe looks higher up the tail but it's still a really skinny stripe.

I really enjoy running all these cams. I am looking forward to retrieving one more cam (last checked late october or early november and is probably still filming) and hopefully one more cam (way the heck up in tick vill in a spot I wanted to cam-scout but didn't take the time to get my bearings or mark it correctly) that I looked around for once but couldn't locate. I always feel like a little kid on xmas morning when I know the SD cards are darn near full... sometimes I will scan through them on the tablet at camp (those late season nights get long) and other times I wait until I get home to watch them on the big screen... always wondering what surprises await. I won't really be doing it this year though. Just a couple cams in a new area we'll be hunting just to confirm it and get my fix. The fact I am still retrieving 2017 footage is an indicator I need to dial it back at least for a year.

Anyway, just for fun. Here is a clip from 2014 when we only ran this cam (about 50M from where we have been watching peek-a-boo doe every year after that) for a week (or maybe a weekend?)so we didn't get much footage. Does this doe getting stalked by a cougar look familiar? I'm not certain myself, but appearance and personality are similar. Notice the cougar is kind of limping as well... maybe she booted him once already lol

[twoSevenO]

How far away are your cams from each other?
I put 5 within 1km circle because I really wanted to learn the area thinking I'd pull the 3 or 4 that show the least activity but then when I went back in April I felt like I wanted max coverage so I kept them all in there.

I also put up 2 salt licks there within 1/4 mile of each other which i think was too close.

It's just that getting there is such a steep and long climb that getting any further up is very difficult lol.

[caddisguy]

The area I have been focusing on is a little mountain / knob thing. I'd guess it is the size of a couple sports stadiums stacked together. I had 4 cameras probably within 1.5km around that, as well as one other up the bigger mountain behind it. I'd dump about a half a ziplock freezer bag of water softener salt on each one (a little goes a long way... almost a year later deer are still digging around and eating the moss) the other camera (the Bushnell can) is a about a 15km drive and 5km away.

Now that I have confirmed to my satisfaction that my area of focus is only good early season I have pulled all my cams except 1 I just need to go fetch and 1 I have to look for.

This year will be two larger salt piles and 2 cams within 1km in a new area. While looking for a new bear spot, we came across an area that is just covered in BT crap. I'm certain I would have found sheds if I looked hard enough.