I went for a ride today to check the game cameras. I was anxious to see if I had photographed anything.
The cameras themselves are about fifty feet apart. The first camera is positioned to look across the shelf. It is located at the outside edge and something would have to put a lot of effort into going around it. The second camera is following the direction of the shelf. In other words, if something were walking it would have to be either walking towards or away from the camera.
I found the first camera had taken two photos and the other camera had taken one. I had my laptop with me just so I could see the photos on the spot. I was disappointed that I couldn’t see anything in the photos. I reset both cameras and decided to leave them there for at least seven days. I would take a closer look at the photos at home.
What I found after looking more closely is a mystery to me. I can’t see anything in either photo. They were taken two days after I placed the cameras. One of the photos on the first camera was taken less than two minutes after the second camera took its only photo. I’m assuming something walked toward the camera that is looking along the shelf and then in the time it takes to move fifty feet, less than two minutes, passed in front of the camera looking across the shelf. That makes the most sense. The lack of other false photos and the time difference makes it too much of a coincidence. But for whatever reason I didn’t catch it with either camera.
The camera looking across the strip mine shelf also took the following photograph at around 11:30 the night before the two above. Although the flash reached across the shelf I think the camera was angled wrong for a good flash. So I reset it and hopefully next time it will do better.
As far as seeing animals, I didn’t see any in the photos but I did see one turkey and three bear en route. The bear was a mommy and she had two really small cubs with her. That makes my three week total of bear sightings at eight. I’ve seen more bear in the last three weeks than I have in all of the last five years combined. I’m sure habitat destruction isn’t the reason. But that is an argument for another day.
It seems like lately I’ve been spending a lot of time roaming where the bears live.
August 17th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Be careful out there ~ want to be visiting your blog for years to come!
August 18th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Thanks Rebecca, I will be careful. So far the bears have been pretty anxious to go in the other direction. But you never can tell about wild animals. It is good to keep the wild animal thing in the front of the mind when encountering bears.