Camera #1 was placed overlooking a small seep a short hike (about 1/3 of a mile) up the hill and two small draws to the east of the family cabin. This was a location that I revisited with a trail camera last year after abandoning it several years ago because I had only seen smaller bucks. Last year I got a number of pictures of some very good bucks, a good handful of elk, and quite a few moose. I set the camera in the exact same location as last year. The camera is north facing nicely protected from direct sunlight by the tree branches which will keep it shaded for almost the entire day which seems to help with the IR sensor sensitivity. In the image below the seep is the green grass just to the right of the clump of dead scrub brush just left of center.
I decided to do a little exploring with camera #2... last fall on the muzzleloader deer hunt I hiked to a spot that we call "The Big Rock" and sat for the morning. I could hear animals walking around in the bowl to the south of the rock and started blowing a couple soft cow calls. I could hear something walking towards me so I kept my eyes peeled. It took about 20 minutes but a spike elk popped out of the brush about 35 yards away. Just when he popped out a herd of a dozen elk ran over the little knoll I was on between the spike and I, they must have come to my calls but from the other direction and had caught my scent at the last minute. The hike from the seep where I placed camera #1 to the rock is not far so I figured it would still be pretty easy to check these cameras as the same time. I made it up to the Big Rock and found a good trail leading into the trees. As I worked my way along this trail the trees and underbrush got really thick. I had no idea that it was that thick in there. After a couple hundred yards I was getting tired of fighting with the deadfall and low hanging branches but I pressed on a little further. Just then something bizarre happened... I entered into an area where the undergrowth opened right up underneath the canopy of the trees. It was like a little clearing underneath the high canopy of trees. I could see three well used game trails that crisscrossed the "clearing", one at the top, one in the middle, and one at the bottom (which is the one I was following). Down the center of the clearing was a single trail going from top to bottom connecting them all. It was too cool of a place to pass up so I walked up the trail that lead to the top and found a nice big tree that would allow me to place the camera and aim it sharply downhill such that all three trails that crisscross the "clearing" would be visible on any pictures taken and directly in line with the trail leading down the center of the clearing. This is a panoramic image so it is a bit distorted but you can see a trail coming in from the left and going out on the right... another trail is just behind the two clumps trees in the center, and the third trail is just in front of the trees at the edge of the clearing.
I'll give these cameras several weeks to "marinade" and I'll try to get a quick check of them sometime in early July... I'm anxious to see what camera #2 sees.
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