Backyard Bucks: South Boston Massachusetts

Filming coyotes has consumed most of my free time over the last year. While tracking coyotes two weeks ago I found a muddy deer trail bordering some houses and decided to target deer for the fist time in more then 10 years. I was pleasantly surprised to document these giants in some backyards south of Boston. There were 7 different bucks in 14 days and many daylight visits (usually around 7:30AM). I'm looking forward to this location next year when I can deploy cameras much earlier and these bucks will have added some mass to their antlers. I'll also have the chance to look for their antlers this winter.

Coyote Update

In February I set out to film coyotes because they have been the most challenging animal for me to record, even with remote cameras. Three months of tracking rewarded me with some truly incredible locations to film and the opposite problem: too much footage (15-20Gb a day). I’ll have to hire someone to help me keep up with it.

I've been fortunate enough to capture many unique behaviors that have never been documented and hope to turn this project into something much bigger. Here are a few screenshots from just a couple videos of the tens of thousands of videos from this summer and spring. Stay tuned!

Eastern Coyotes Pack

This spring I'll be using remote cameras to record eastern coyote behavior. I've found a number of sites that I hope will provide some incredible footage. Out of all the animals I've filmed, coyotes have always been the smartest and the hardest to capture. This means I will have to build an entirely new fleet of specialized remote camera systems, a feat I hope can be done within the next month. This footage is from a scouting camera that was set for a week. I use scouting cameras to monitor many areas at once before bringing in a higher quality camera.

Please select HD from the gear icon on the video and turn the sound on:

Flounder Chasing Bait School on Cape Cod

Similar to the last video I posted, this video shows a flounder following and chasing a simulated school of bait. Once again, I had no idea this interaction happened until I reviewed the footage which shows just how much goes on under the waves that we never know. I think my favorite part is the last few seconds when the flounder glides effortlessly.

As always, select "1080P" quality option from the  gear icon on the bottom right of the video.

Life as a Moose Calf

Moose are born mostly legs but grow rapidly. Their only job is to follow mom around. However, the life of a moose calf is a harrowing ordeal. Only 20% make it through their first year. If they can make it over that hump, they will likely make it many more. Their most formidable opponent is the winter tick. Capturing pictures of these guys every week, I was able to watch them grow up. Only weeks old in the first set of pictures, they will face many challenges, but they continue to look strong and have good habitat.

 

I'm always a season behind with camera trapping because I am only able to check most of my cameras every 3 to 6 months. This pictures sequence starts in early June and runs until September.

Suprise in the muskrat hole

The last couple months I've been building wildlife camera systems like it's going out of style. This has left little time for filming but I finally managed to get a video set out last week. This is a combination of five clips from an HD system I built. The plan was to film muskrats coming out of the ice(based on tracks). As usual...there's always a surprise when dealing with wildlife and I'll have to adjust my video set accordingly. It's worth changing the settings to view in HD (1080p) and volume on high:

Northern Bobcat

These are a few of my favorite shots from this summer in Northern N.H. A lot of activity at this set with plenty of black bears, porcupines, deer, and bobcat.  These pictures were taken at 10:11am and 8:21pm.

Cautious Doe

      This whitetail doe showed a bit of caution when approaching the camera. In my experience, wildlife showing caution can depend on a number of factors. To name just a few: season, number of animals present, time of day, size and health of the animal, and status within the species. Some species such as black bears and moose always examine the camera. Often the bears force the camera off the tree while the moose being less dexterous leave me dozens of foggy pictures with the whiskers pressed up against the lens.
        In some of my remote camera sets located within heavily hunted areas during the hunting season, wildlife will not tolerate a camera flash,. In the same locations out of hunting season the same animals will remain relaxed in front of the camera. Video units can be particularly helpful in providing insight into behavior....and, with a little luck, I should be able to provide some footage to show exactly that for the next post.