I’m looking forward to the full return of the foliage. Spring is definitely in full swing right now. The trees were all budding weeks ago, and the undergrowth is really starting to take shape. It is at this time of the year that you can almost notice a daily transformation of the woods.
I love this time of year, because the deer seem to reach a new comfort zone. They feel more protected in wooded areas with lots of foliage to conceal their presence. Much more comfortable than when the woods was wide open and you could see long distances. These more relaxed deer tend to linger longer, and I always end up with a lot more pictures of deer and other game animals.
On the downside, most bucks have dropped their racks. You may still see an occasional buck that is slow to drop, but the excitement factor of hoping to see the big rack is gone. I start awaiting the first signs of antler growth, and look forward to watching the development of those racks into what hopefully becomes that shooter buck.
So this is a great time of the year to get your mineral blocks out to help that antler growth.
I picked up the following image of deer and raccoons feasting together on some of the corn I has spread in the vicinity of my game camera. I have a ton of raccoons in my area. I’ve captured videos of up to 10 raccoons on screen at one time. I love watching the deer interact with other animals. Most of the time, they seem to tolerate the raccoons. But on several occasions, I have seen the deer rear up on them, or stomp at them.
Have your heard of Monarch Images? I hadn’t until tonight when I stumbled across a video promoting their game cameras. These appear to be home brew cameras that are pre-built and ready to purchase. I have to say the image quality was very good and sent me over to their website for a closer look.
Well, one of my Moultrie Game Feeders went out of commission today. I went out to fill it, and discovered that the cone that leads from the bucket to the motor was missing. I searched the area, and it is flat out gone. I had noticed recently that it had been getting gnawed on, by squirrels possibly – which are seriously overpopulated in this area and had better watch out come squirrel season. Could a squirrel have gnawed off and hauled off that plastic cone? Either that or vandals… READ MORE ABOUT GAME FEEDERS
The Wildview Xtreme2 Digital Game camera is another low cost offering from Wildview. The “2″ stands for 2.0 Megapixel. This digital scouting camera is designed for ease of use, and has a series of switches that are used for easily configuring the settings.
The passive infared sensor offers wide angle coverage. It comes with the same test mode setting that allows you to verify both placement and coverage area. This camera does use a flash, and has a switch that allows it to be set in On or Off position. It will shoot multiple pictures in its Burst Mode, but is also capable of shooting daytime video. You have the option of taking Low Res images, High Res images, or Video clips. The front of the camera has an LCD readout that displays the number of pictures taken. It also has both Test Mode and Low Battery LEDs on the front panel. You have your choice of 4 different timeout settings, so you won’t end up with a memory card full of images of the same animal. You also have the option of connecting a 12 volt lead acid battery to the external power jack for extended life in the field.
The pictures are stored on SDRAM memory cards, and the Xtreme2 accepts memory cards ranging from 16 MB to 2 GB. The TGL2M does contain 16 MB of internal memory, but you can’t store much on it, so I highly recommend using larger capacity SDRAM memory cards. While the size of the images may vary depending upon the conditions, you can get approximately 6,500 images on a 2 GB memory card when shooting in Low Resolution mode. To get your pictures off the camera, you can either pull the memory card and insert it in a USB card reader connected to your computer, or you can attach the camera directly to your PC with the included USB cable. So if you are in the market for a cheap camera, check out the Wildview Xtreme2.
I ran across an old Stealth Cam MC-2GV camera tonight. It had made its way into a box that holds the hunting and fishing gear that I seldom use. This box holds many things that I will probably never use again, but I just can’t seem to part with. That 35MM Stealth Cam MC-2GV was my first game camera. I thought back to the love/hate relationship I had with that camera, and it made me realize that I really don’t miss film one bit.
My first game camera. I do remember how excited I was to get that camera. I was hunting a leased piece of property a little over an hour away. It was pre-season, and I drove down with a buddy to hang it that day I remember struggling with the film to get it loaded. It just didn’t want to catch and feed. I chalked that up to being a newbie, and worked with it until I was confident I had it set and ready to go. After a 10 minute hike to a ridge I’d been eager to bow hunt, I dumped a 50 lb bag of corn and strapped the camera to an oak tree. I flipped it on and hiked out.
Over the course of the next week, I resisted the temptation to to the farm after work, just to pull the film. I drove down on the weekend with a fresh roll of film. I found the camera in the same spot I had left it, and the LCD picture counter told me I had a full roll of film.
When I opened the camera, I was surprised to see that the film had not been advancing, and it hadn’t re-wound either. I could kiss that roll of film goodbye! So a week’s worth of scouting, and a what should have been a roll full of pictures were gone.
Well, one of my Moultrie Game Feeders went out of commission today. I went out to fill it, and discovered that the cone that leads from the bucket to the motor was missing. I searched the area, and it is flat out gone. I had noticed recently that it had been getting gnawed on, by squirrels possibly – which are seriously overpopulated in this area and had better watch out come squirrel season. Could a squirrel have gnawed off and hauled off that plastic cone? Either that or vandals… 
