caddisguy 2016 trailcam thread

[caddisguy]

I'm going to keep it all in one thread this year. After a long hard day yesterday hanging cams solo, here are the camera sites for this season:

Camera 1 - Pointing:

http://i1318.photobucket.com/albums/t644/vaporeyes/cam1-pointing_zpsael0wcgz.jpg

Camera 1 - Facing:

http://i1318.photobucket.com/albums/t644/vaporeyes/cam1-facing_zpsarg55sib.jpg

[caddisguy]

Camera 2 - Pointing:

http://i1318.photobucket.com/albums/t644/vaporeyes/cam2-pointing_zpsqyk8qjvy.jpg

Camera 2 - Facing:

http://i1318.photobucket.com/albums/t644/vaporeyes/cam2-facing_zpszgbv21is.jpg

[caddisguy]

Camera 3 - Pointing:

http://i1318.photobucket.com/albums/t644/vaporeyes/cam3-pointing_zpshkteineh.jpg

Camera 3: Facing

http://i1318.photobucket.com/albums/t644/vaporeyes/cam3-facing_zps7owursfk.jpg

[caddisguy]

Camera 3 - Side view:

http://i1318.photobucket.com/albums/t644/vaporeyes/cam3-sideview_zps0muvalnc.jpg

Hopefully those trees don't fall!

Cameras are in the same general area as last year, but I selected new sites for 2/3 of the cams within a couple kms. It was a rough day selecting new sites and setting up the sites, dawn until dusk. Would have been a day trip if I didn't decide to rest for an hour or so and pass out in the jeep lol

I'll be checking back with the cams in a month or so and posting here and on the youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/caddisguy

[TrickleCharger]

Bookmarked! Do you use any attractant at your cam sites?

[Whonnock Boy]

Nice..... What's the idea with mossing up the straps for the cams?

[igojuone]

Nice..... What's the idea with mossing up the straps for the cams?

Probably a little camo to keep thieves away. Looks a little fake but maybe better then nothing.

[caddisguy]

Probably a little camo to keep thieves away. Looks a little fake but maybe better then nothing.

^^^ this. It looks slightly less obvious beyond 15 yards than the unmistakable black strap. I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of moss built up on a tree with no moss wouldn't get a second look from many hikers and mushroom pickers. That said, I doubt any of these cams will see a human this year. We did see a mushroom picker on one last year though.

[caddisguy]

Bookmarked! Do you use any attractant at your cam sites?

I put down some salt and then smear a little peanut around to help the deer find the salt. Once a deer or two finds the salt, they all find it, so I find it's only worth doing to kick start the site. It does come with a little risk of bears coming around and messing with the camera though.

[Ourea]

I put down some salt and then smear a little peanut around to help the deer find the salt. Once a deer or two finds the salt, they all find it, so I find it's only worth doing to kick start the site. It does come with a little risk of bears coming around and messing with the camera though.

Bit of a high risk move with the peanut butter.
Bears could go to town on that site.

Cams r chew toys enough for bears without scent oriented attractants.
Not a critique........just an observation ......as I have tried to "jump start" many a site myself.
Some paid dividends.
Some simply became bear factories.

Key is u r in the game and getting out there.
Wishing you the best of success.
Hope you find a hammer worth hunting.

Great job/effort Caddisguy!

[caddisguy]

Bit of a high risk move with the peanut butter.
Bears could go to town on that site.

Cams r chew toys enough for bears without scent oriented attractants.
Not a critique........just an observation ......as I have tried to "jump start" many a site myself.
Some paid dividends.
Some simply became bear factories.

Key is u r in the game and getting out there.
Wishing you the best of success.
Hope you find a hammer worth hunting.

Great job/effort Caddisguy!

x2 on the risk involved with the peanut butter. I went back to one of my sites last year only to find a clawed up tree. We never did find the camera. We had another camera that was chewed on and is now sporting teeth marks but still works just fine. Another camera got swatted around "re-adjusted" so that it wasn't pointing at the bait pile for a few weeks. I'm particularly nervous about the cams this time because I won't be able to tend to them for a month. Any camera that gets knocked down or bear-jacked won't get fixed/replaced until the 30th at the earliest. It is a gamble indeed... bears do love plastic.

As for finding a hammer worth hunting... I hope so too! Last year we had a nice 5x5 blacktail buck frequenting the cams. That said, out of all the animals we have seen on our cameras, we have only come across said animals in "real time" once, and that was a doe and her fawn that we had been watching grow up on the cameras since June 2015. Cameras haven't helped me close a deal or even put me onto anything and I doubt they will, but it can be inspiring sometimes. I pretty much treat it like a separate hobby (wildlife viewing) and I honestly feel like a little kid on Christmas eve when I get back to camp after checking the cams and have a tablet full of hours of videos to go over. My favorite are the one-off's... the unexpected... Region 2 bull moose, Region 2 whitetail and limping cougar stalking some does are probably my favorites so far. Watching the fawn grow up last year was really cool. They were on the camera almost every day, so we ended up with many hours of video. I always put the highlights on YouTube, but I keep the raw footage too... been thinking about making a time-lapse of the fawn growing.

[Ryo]

let's see the mushroom picker! (There's a good chance it's me)

[Sitkaspruce]

I put down some salt and then smear a little peanut around to help the deer find the salt. Once a deer or two finds the salt, they all find it, so I find it's only worth doing to kick start the site. It does come with a little risk of bears coming around and messing with the camera though.

Try unsweetened grape koolaid as a basic attractant for your salt. Deer and elk usually show up within a day or so of putting in out.

I use it all he time and get the odd bear, but they are not interested in the stuff.

Looking forward to your trips and pictures!!

Cheers

SS

[caddisguy]

let's see the mushroom picker! (There's a good chance it's me)

If you are a girl with black shoulder length hair and you were carrying a plastic bag full of mushrooms somewhere in the Fraser Valley sometime at the beginning of September last year, it was most definitely you :)

Pretty sure I deleted it right away. Gotta respect the privacy of anyone who respects the cams, and she totally saw the camera, 100%. She came in from the direction the camera was pointing and surprisingly did not notice until she was about 6 feet away... probably focused on the ground looking for mushrooms... then saw the cam and looked a little surprised like someone on that show "just for laughs" and then she moved on. It was kind of funny because viewing it on the small screen I thought it was my wife at first. I got really confused momentarily thinking what the heck?! She sleep walking and visiting our cam sites?? Probably should have left it, but I decided to pull the cam that day.

[Ohwildwon]

I put down some salt and then smear a little peanut around to help the deer find the salt. Once a deer or two finds the salt, they all find it, so I find it's only worth doing to kick start the site. It does come with a little risk of bears coming around and messing with the camera though.

Ever try a scent lure, like doe urine with no estrus?

[Ryo]

Nope, not me. curious what she got though :)

[caddisguy]

Ever try a scent lure, like doe urine with no estrus?


I have only ever experimented with estrus doe urine later in October. It never did get me any more bucks on cam but when I put it on my boots I did have a coyote run up to me and try and sniff my boots while I was trying to #2... awkward situation... don't ask why I am missing Region #4 of the synopsis

[Sitkaspruce]

Ever try a scent lure, like doe urine with no estrus?


I have tried that stuff in spring, summer and fall and never had any thing other than a few fawns come up and sniff it. Did the scent trail, the tampon thing, fake scrape and just spreading it on the ground and to me, it made no difference. I want the deer/elk to find the salt to establish a site they visit regularly, so far either grape or mixed fruit has worked the best, but it has to be unsweetened or the bears will sleep on your salt, licking the stuff off. I have tried the PB thing by nailing the lid to the tree and cutting a hole in the bottom so the PB drips out; deer came to it and was licking it up for a couple days, then a family of three bears showed up and that was it.

Cheers

SS

[Ohwildwon]

[QUOTE=Sitkaspruce;1795288]I have tried that stuff in spring, summer and fall and never had any thing other than a few fawns come up and sniff it. Did the scent trail, the tampon thing, fake scrape and just spreading it on the ground and to me, it made no difference. I want the deer/elk to find the salt to establish a site they visit regularly, so far either grape or mixed fruit has worked the best, but it has to be unsweetened or the bears will sleep on your salt, licking the stuff off. I have tried the PB thing by nailing the lid to the tree and cutting a hole in the bottom so the PB drips out; deer came to it and was licking it up for a couple days, then a family of three bears showed up and that was it.

Cheers

Good to know, Thx...:cool:

[ajr5406]

Still in region 2?

[adriaticum]

Is it really possible to put something down to attract deer and not attract bears?

[caddisguy]

Still in region 2?

Roger that! Region 2 all the way. We'll be hunting Region 2 pretty much exclusively this season except maybe 1 weekend in 3-14 early November. No big out-of-town trip this year. I should be out there 2-4 days a week from Sep 10 until Dec 15 and maybe do a full week if I have enough vacation days left over. I have plans and a good rattle set! I figure I will get to at least 1 cam every week. Can't get to them all every week as it turns into hiking rather than hunting... unless of course we tag out in which case we'll spend the rest of the season trail-camming and I'll double up on the cams and get them in some truly insane places :D

Team caddis* is going to out ninja some Region 2 blacktails and benchlegs this year for sure. If we're well into our tags we will film a BT hunt.

Disclosure: I have never put my sights on a BT buck, but over the last 4 years I have gathered all the pieces of the puzzle and have put it together, 100%. I have never been so confident of anything in my life.

[caddisguy]

Is it really possible to put something down to attract deer and not attract bears?

Not 100%, but you can decide risk versus reward. IMHO nothing attracts deer better than smearing a little peanut butter around, but it brings about the greatest risk of bears.

A little bit of vanilla extract will not attract bears as much, but it won't attract deer as much either. That said, you really only have to get 1 deer to find the salt pile and the rest of the deer will starting coming in. It all depends on how much of a "jump start" you want.

FWIW I have hung trailcams in provincial parks where baiting (attracting/feeding animals) is not allowed what-so-ever (not even salt) as per the Parks Act and I have still had bears come and munch on the camera. The plastic chassis is bear attractant in itself. Don't tell the Park Rangers lol ... (j/k, I have actually shared my cam info with them and they were pretty excited about the moose and passing the info onto the biologists)

The only way to "fix" the bear problem with any sort of reliability is to use beefy lock boxes, but I prefer the gambling on the convenience and portability of being naked.

Ticks, bears, and personal scheduling (in that order) are the reasons I hung the cams July 1st and not March like last year. 75% of the bears are now out of the valley bottom. I missed some great footage for sure, but I did not get a single tick on this cam run and odds of getting a cam mauled are reduced by 75%.

[ajr5406]

Awesome - good luck!

[caddisguy]

Just got back from a weekend of flyfishing and checking trailcams. I have been thinking about these cams all month, even while on the other side of the continent.

It was a pretty good weekend overall. The first night we decided to stay at one of our spring bear camps. We arrived around 11pm and while setting up for the night, we heard something crashing around in the bush. It sounded like it was moving away from us, but suddenly we were hit with that strong unmistakable bear scent. Called it a night and work up the next morning and caddisgirl was outside having some cereal while I was sitting the jeep sipping on some caffeine... all of a sudden I hear "f*** ... a bear" ... I turn around to see a black bear staring at her from about 10 yards away. It was a bit surprising because we had been talking and making enough noise before hand. The bear decided to bolt. We had a bit of a laugh, as she seems to be a bear magnet in the morning. Last year she was out for a walk and brought one back to camp with her.

Back to trailcams... it was time to check the first one, which happened to be in the same timber the bear just ran into. Off we went! First camera had a bunch of deer, couple of different bucks and maybe a bear.

Onto the next camera... it was down. It had a tooth hole through the motion sensor. It still works (though I will have to put some scotch tape over the hole next time I am on site) ... The cam had a number of bear videos, a Region 2 whitetail doe (probably the same doe as last year but this year she had two fawns with her). The bear that roughed up the camera was this silly little runt bear that roughed up one of our cams last year. This year it turned the camera around on July 26th and then knocked it down and put a tooth through it on July 28th. Luckily we didn't miss much footage. Probably a bad idea, but we hung a second camera on the same site to capture more of the action lol

The third and final camera of the tour didn't have a heck of a lot. There was a neat looking brown phase bear... actually the first brown colored bear I have seen in the valley out of several dozen. There was also about 190 videos of a doe that has found the cam site to be both a good feeding and bedding site. The LED's in the camera are also not working, so all night videos were black. I swapped the camera with a new one.

Since we were getting good action in the same timber about 5km away, we put up the semi-working (daytime only) camera in a spot where we have had more deer/bears, a cougar and a Region 2 moose previously. When we arrived at the site, I just finished putting out salt while caddisgirl hung the cam... then I opened the peanut butter... within a minute or two I heard something cracking through the timber. It didn't sound big, but was definitely something. And there it was... a small doe, which I believe was a fawn that spent a lot of time during the first few months of it's life (mid June to November 2015) ... it hid behind a tree and watched us, hopped around us in a half circle, stopping to check us out. Super cool. Probably could have hand fed it lol

Anyway, we have 5 cams up now. Here are the goods from July!!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXY6_UXQkow

[Whonnock Boy]

That's great! Thanks for sharing. Looks like we need a WT doe season in region 2. :)

[jamesvtr]

always neat to see

[J-F]

Thanks for sharing. Always nice to watch

[Duidery]

Thanks for posting your trail cam pictures. I wish more people on here would do it. Looking forward to it as the year progresses.

As for the cameras getting knocked off or turned around by bears (and elk for me), I have found a simple way of eliminating this. I simply nail four 6" nails around the camera and lightly bend them back towards the camera once its turned on and set up. If you place the nails correctly, the camera is wedged in between very tightly. Having the nails all around the camera, prevents the animals from knocking it off or turning them, even if the strap is compromised. Since I have done this, I have had plenty of elk and bears all over my cameras but have yet to have one even slightly knocked out of position.

http://i1325.photobucket.com/albums/u633/Duidery/20160703_181646_zpsuuvgmgjl.jpg (http://s1325.photobucket.com/user/Duidery/media/20160703_181646_zpsuuvgmgjl.jpg.html)

As for attractants, I have never needed anything more than the water softener salt and salt blocks I use to attract the animals. Granted, all of my cameras are set up at watering holes or natural licks, so the animals were already frequenting these spots already; the salt just seems to attract them even more.

[caddisguy]

That's great! Thanks for sharing. Looks like we need a WT doe season in region 2. :)

She sure does look tastey! I would like to see a WT any-buck season for Region 2 but until then it's a good reminder for Fraser Valley hunters to take the extra time and verify deer species before pulling the trigger. There was an older thread here where members were equating Fraser Valley WT's to sasquatches, saying it's impossible, etc. That doe always looks very healthy and the fawns look pretty darn good too. Lots of potential for WT's to thrive here.

[heatherdaddy]

OK you have proven that are WT deer in Region 2 and Moose in that area of Region 2, now can you get a Sasquatch on your cam so we prove there are out there also. :)

[caddisguy]

OK you have proven that are WT deer in Region 2 and Moose in that area of Region 2, now can you get a Sasquatch on your cam so we prove there are out there also. :)

Lol that would be something!! On one hand I would like to get a wolf or a grizz on there. On the other hand, I don't want them in the valley.

[ajr5406]

She sure does look tastey! I would like to see a WT any-buck season for Region 2 but until then it's a good reminder for Fraser Valley hunters to take the extra time and verify deer species before pulling the trigger. There was an older thread here where members were equating Fraser Valley WT's to sasquatches, saying it's impossible, etc. That doe always looks very healthy and the fawns look pretty darn good too. Lots of potential for WT's to thrive here.

Sure would be nice to see a growing population of WT's in region 2!

[caddisguy]

Just put some of the highlights together for August and the beginning of September


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNfWb29XYjY

[Ohwildwon]

Very cool..!!

Great Whitetail footage..:)