I'm a bit frustrated that I again only had two of the four cameras function even though I had confirmed that all four were properly functioning when I left them last. I'll open them all up and make sure they are working right before I put them back out again.
The first set of cameras I checked are over a couple of small seeps (we call the “Bog Holes”) a quick 15 minute hike directly up the hill behind the cabin. On the hike in I reached a small clearing and looked uphill to see a pair of ears peeking just above the brush looking at me from about 80 yards away. The wind was in my favor and the small doe knew I was there but didn’t know where so I figured I‘d take a chance and see how close I could get to her. I got to 40 yards through a wide open clearing before she bounded off down into the draw. I watched for her to come up the opposite side to see if she was alone… and she wasn’t. A nice little buck was leading her through a clearing on the opposite of the draw on a very well used trail. He was a pretty good buck from what I could see, but I didn’t have my binoculars to closely inspect him nor did I have my good camera with me so I was fumbling with my phone to try and get a picture and wasn’t able to get anything even worth looking at a second time. I quickly reached the cameras and took them down. On the way back to the cabin I could hear the little kids playing (seven small children between the ages of 10 and 4) and running around “exploring” the mountainside below me. When I got close enough to the cabin to see them I went into stealth mode and got to within about 20 yards of the group. I leapt into action roaring loudly and running down a game trail at them. They screamed and scattered while the adults sitting on the back porch saw the whole thing play out in front of them. My wife and my grandmother both laughed to tears, while my 5 year old nephew retreated inside the cabin to have a good cry because, as my brother put it… “he doesn’t do scared very well.” I wish one of the adults that saw the whole thing play out would have videoed it.
I checked the second set of cameras a couple days later and quickly make my way into the bowl where they had been placed. It was a quick and uneventful hike and I was able to make the trip in about an hour.
I went through the pictures with my grandpa watching over my shoulder the whole time. Here are some of the highlights but I’ve added all the pictures HERE:
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