Bear Trail Cam Pics

Here is a start to my bear pics for the year. My brother has finally earned his tag and I am doing his baiting for him here in northern WI. For you guys that were wondering about bear bait stations, in the first pic you can see the stone on the cap of my bear tube. The tube is a hollowed log about 3 foot long. I cut a 3′ cap off the top to cover and then find a large (100# flat stone) to hold the cap in place. WI only allows bear to be baited in a way that other animals are not able to get to the bait until the bears have been into it first.

The rest of the pics are the decent ones that I have gotten. I was in good shape with this spot until another wind storm blew some more trees into the original deadfall. The second blow put trees in front of my original camera tree. Since then I have fought wind moving the understory and tripping the camera as well as lighting issues as the camera faces ENE. There is one good tree to the south of the station, but my cable will not fit around it, so I am devising a way to install the camera in that location.

I will be scanning several more pics from my other camera (film). This cam has captured some real decent shots. Its just been so long since I have scanned from a pic, that that project will take some time to get my head wrapped around it.

The last pic is a pile of scat, the water bottle sitting next to it is 32 oz. and probably measures 12 inches in length. That’s it for now, I switched out the film cam last night and hope to see those in the short term and can hopefully get them posted soon as there are some really nice pics on the first batch (It took 20 on the first and 14 on the second).

Mark

I envy you Mark…
No bait containers are allowed in MI. and no baiting until August 10.
The silver lining is that we can draw a (3rd hunt) tag almost every year… I have four archery client coming up in September…but I don’t worry because the bruin population is very thick around here!

Tom:

Do you have time to go fishing on the Cisco Chain, Chicagan, etc.???

Our bruin population is real strong right now as well. I need to download some instructions for my printer to scan. Wait ’til you see some of those film pics!!!

As for baiting, in WI we can start in the middle of April. For those of you who wouldn’t consider baiting that long, it gives the mating boars of spring a chance to find your bait stations and perhaps gives you a little leg up to have a large bruin remember you in the fall.

For the hound guys the trail cam is as much fun as the run and the tree. For us bait guys, it is everything just to see the bears!!!

Mark

Here is the latest round from the digital. Taking two rolls in tomorrow or Wed. 14 pics from Friday and 18 pics from tonight. Found the info that will help me download scanned film pics. Once those are in the right format, I will be posting those.

The first four are from about an hour after I left the bait on Friday night. Apparently that little guy didn’t like the flash. The last pic is from an hour before I got in there tonight.

Can’t wait to get the other rolls developed and scanned for ya to see!!!

Mark

Great photos, keep em coming!!

The time of the year that scares every one… Why did the bears stop coming??? Well, I was still getting hit as of last Friday, but a friend of mine stopped by as his weekend of training was cut short by no bears at his ten stations. Told me that both baits that had been hit, the event probably happened the night before. As for me no pictures from todays rebait trip. Here are four from last week. Probably have to get hose others scanned shortly to keep ’em coming. May also try to get out a little more frequently as well to make sure that batteries are fresh etc.

First pics is of capped bait station, second is the hit bait station without any bruin captured and blue jay on tree to left, third is bruin, fourth is non bruin species that Dodge Boy and I chase during the winter. He’ll get his in due time!!!

Oh, to answer the first question, a lot of food is becoming available to the bear right now. Hopefully they will get most of it taken care of by the time September 3rd comes around!!!

Mark

Hey Mark,
If you go back and forth over the last 2 pics it looks like the bear turns into the coyote and vise verca becouse they are in the exact same spot. Just got my baits out on Monday here in MN, have to keep the fingers crossed!

Rob…I saw that too …kind of cool

I got a chance to figure out my dilemma regarding scanning my film pics to the computer, but am going to need some more time to get that done. Bears didn’t hit as well last time out. Understand that oak mast and blackberries are pretty heavy right now. I have seen acorns in my back yard, but haven’t had a chance to check out some of my better berry spots. Still have one pretty four to five footer coming and hopefully they will eat most of the area food before the opener. Got the new Moultrie cam, so I may make another bait or use it on the same spot as the film cam is right now. More later!!!

Mark

So I was in Tuesday a.m. and no pics, but had as good of activity level at this bait since I got it set up checking last night.

At least two different bears, I think also. The first three pics show me measuring the inside length of the opening to find out it is 69″. Of course the first bear got his pic taken without being in the opening. It just seems like he is bigger while he is trying to get under the tree. The last pics is taken a few hours later the same day, but doesn’t seem to be as big. Also good to see them coming in during the daylight!!! More in a minute…

Mark

This bear came in about 24 hours later. It seems though looking at these pics that if that space is just shy of 6′ that most of these bears (or this bear) seem to be four footers anyway, which makes them legal as I understand that 42″ is legal length. All eight of these photos occurred at the same time the next day. The first half had some sunlight and the second half must have had a cloud come over. Out tomorrow to check again and cut some branches in the shooting lanes. Then I will start baiting on Tuesday or Wednesday every day in prep for the Sept. 3rd opener!!!

Mark

Out Sunday to get shooting lanes cleared of most of the bad stuff. Always a concern when doing that cutting how that will affect the activity at the baits. The film cam had been hit and had five pics, but I left that cam alone until the next time. The digital cam bait hadn’t been hit.

Out tonight and cutting shooting lanes didn’t seem to matter as both baits had cleaned out!!! I changed the location of the digital cam and got nothing, put it back on the the last tree pics had been coming from.

Put the new Moultrie I40 on the film tree to test it for the next few days. Got to figure out the SD card reader thing, but hope to see some of those pics after tomorrow a.m.’s check. From here on out, baits will get a little every day at some point. Keep ’em guessing ’til the opener next Wednesday…

More later.

Mark

Good luck Mark. If I ever get tired of chasing the hounds I hope to try the bait sitting thing. It is always cool to be up close to a bruin.

bearplotts:

Where are you running your hounds considering you are from Wausau??? I have friends up here who run them and it is a blast!!! We saw four on my only trip last fall. Tags were left at the end of the season with a couple of nice bear taken in that crew. As for me baiting and taking these pictures are where its at right now. If there were no bear pictures, probably be trying to get pics of deer.

Today was the first trip on a daily basis and my hopes weren’t that high. As expected nothing had hit. Hearing a lot of that lately. Wanted to look at the new cam pics. Will post some of those later. Reasonably impressed considering first time with it.

Mark

We run in the Chequamagon over by Medford. Our baits have trailed off the last couple weeks. We usually hunt Friday, Saturday and Sunday and generally one of the 3 days we will get quite a few hits while the other 2 days it is considerably slower. Who do you tag along with if you go?

bearplotts:

Private Message Sent (PM)…

Mark

Well no bear in these pics, but maybe tonight… I got a chance to download my first pics from the Moultrie I40. Not too bad… The first is one of the Board of Directors print in my house while testing. Apparently at night all pics are B&W. The second is the bait station patiently waiting for someone to show up. The third is the arrival of my lab Mae and with some light it shoots pretty good color. Wonder what they will look like once uploaded. The other neat thing is all the pics will show date, time, moon phase and temp. This feature can be turned off.

Mark

I was in to the baits again tonight. The river bait was not hit again. But the 1st bait got hammered and the digital had 80 pics on it. Of those 66 were of the same bear over 20 minutes or so. I am pretty sure that it is the same bear and the last couple of pictures confirm it as you can notice the small star on its chest. So back out tomorrow a.m. to see if the river bait got hit today. Both the film and new Moultrie had two pics (one of me coming in and one of me going out). Refreshed the scent and on my way. The second pic shows him getting his left front paw getting pinched by the stone. Would have liked to see that. Not pictured, but I noticed that it was rubbing its back on the scent tree and also clawed it.

More tomorrow.

Mark

The Star Bear!!! Finally named him. This guy seems to be the only bear hitting my baits at this time. Most of the time he only opens the station only far enough to get his head in the opening. This evening he showed up at the river bait. He showed up the first time about 8 p.m. which is just at the end of shooting hours. He ducks out by 8:10 and then comes back again right around midnight, this time staying for the better part of 30 minutes. Can tell it is the Moultrie with the B&W night pics.

More pics tomorrow, I hope. The last of the dog training ends tomorrow as well. Heard the hounds a wailing this a.m., what a great sound!!!

Mark

Well the star bear was back again last night at the river bait. Just came in a little late. Nothing occurred at the 1st bait. Hoping to see the 1st bait hit tonight, even if it is the star bear. Hoping with the warm weather that dog training was minimal today and the hot weather will get the bears moving. Some interesting pics in this one. 1) B&W chippie 2) Blurred color chippie (did you find him???), almost makes you wonder if its part flying squirrel… 3) Wished I could tell if that white spot is butt or balls 4) The star… 5) He has shown a little nervousness around the flash and I think he is displaying that in this pic. 6) Find the mouse??? Hopefully more tomorrow.

Mark

It is apparent that finding the chippie, blurred chippie and the mouse will be difficult in this format. But I will leave the challenge to find for a short time. If you want ask for hints… Any one find, PM me…

Mark

Its incredible some of the wildlife that this thing is getting. The first pic is of flicker or sapsucker, can’t quite tell. The second one is one of three that I got of a woodcock. The third is the arrival of the star bear. He stayed for about 30 minutes starting about 1:12 a.m. and stayed until 1:30. The fifth is, I got to believe, a new arrival who showed up at 7:46 a.m. He only stayed a little while and left right away. Then he came back at 11:16. He shows no star on the chest and his muzzle’s light brown is shaped differently than the star bear. Pic No. 7 that I have included is another pic of the star bear that I forgot to show, as his belly hangs to the ground very nicely. More in a minute.

Mark

The first two pics show more of his muzzle and its difference from the star bear. Apparently in the third pic, he decides that the cap is in the way. The last two are pics just before he heads out.

The final pic is of the 1st bait station uncapped, but no uncapper. I wonder if he didn’t stay too long because the yellow jackets are all over that station… It was the first time that both baits had been hit in the same day. Perhaps whomever will come back to it tonight and eat while the pesky bees aren’t around. I managed to get the cap back on without getting stung, but just didn’t feel comfortable getting my face too close to the couple dozen yellow jackets and 2 bald faced hornets to get the stone back on the cap. All of those critters can sting and sting a bunch and hard. Hoping for the rain to wash some of that away and then I am going to use a spray bottle to spray the leaves away from the bait to sweeten it up some.

Mark

Well I wondered how long it would be before the raccoons would get involved. Last night was the first night. First pic is the star bear, who came in at the end of shooting hours. He stayed twenty minutes. Then he came back in just before 2 a.m. and stayed 15 minutes or so. Finally a raccoon came in just before 4 a.m. and stayed for 15 minutes. Got 7 pics of him… Kind of a slow night, compared to the night before. Wonder how its going out there today with the weather coming in??? The hunt starts tomorrow, I hope he has good luck!!!

Mark

Any luck last night Mark? The cool temps forecasted should help I would think.

Post deleted by BZZSAW

I wouldn’t show those around too much BZZ. I don’t think you are supposed to be using concrete blocks to cap your bait.

plotts:

Check the this thread for an amazing trail cam pic and the story. Just not a happy ending yet. Moment of Truth

Mark

BP,
Thanks for the heads up. I didn’t realize that. It’ll be changed as we have a pile of rocks that is readily available too.

Cool beans. Pictures were cool otherwise and it looked like a dandy bear.