Four cameras went up, four returned. But only about 50 photos were retrieved. Yeah, I don't know what happened. Like last time, we placed scent attractant on the trees near the camera and were sure (because of the pungency of the smells) that any animal in a 10 mile radius could smell the stuff. Maybe that is the point, they smelled the cougar pee and left. I don't know.
what was most disappointing was our BEST camera didn't work. Something went seriously wrong, and I'm not sure what that is yet. So a total of ZERO photos from that camera. It makes life frustrating. Camera 2 and 3 took about 20 each, and most of them were of nothing. Which is also a head scratcher. Yes, I did get some photos of deer, but not as much as last year. Any ideas?
Finally the interesting part. Camera number 4 (35mm film) wasn't there when we went to get it. I was completely confused, asking myself, was this where it was? I mean, I KNEW it was here, but it wasn't on the tree. Five minutes of confusion, and I found it on the ground. Hmmmmm, interesting.
Here is the culprit.
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Bears have twice taken a swipe at this camera. Bears do have a terrible curiosity, and that makes them bad for camera trappers. Dr. Kelly's studies at Virginia Tech has had similar problems, with photos of bears actually playing with the cameras (hugging, rolling, sleeping with). Sadly after the incident, the rest of the photos were of the sky. Fun.
I don't know what I'm going to do next year, but right now with two times of horrible disappointment of very few photos and few animals, I may not place the cameras next year. Is it time to move on? I don't know. I really want to take a photo of a cougar, I just think I need more time and more cameras. Maybe next year I will place cameras closer to home, where there has been a recent sighting. Fingers crossed!
