January 1, 2019
A year long review of game camera photos from 2-3 cameras set up at different locations in St. Louis County has proven to an enjoyable excercise. However, compared to some of the previous months, December’s results were mildly boring. Without further ado, here we go:
The fights
Two different cameras recorded small bucks sparring, including one of the fights for several minutes.
What I learned this month
We had virtually no large deer on the cameras all month long. One of the camera locations is located in a mixed hardwood forest area with several oak trees, but no other natural food source close by. The other has acres of crops nearby but the crops were harvested in late November and there is a large open space between where the camera is and the fields. Given the large number of trophy deer on camera in late November, I am confident that at least a few of them are still alive. So why are they not on camera?
- Not close enough to a food source. We really need to make some efforts into providing some food plots where possible.
- Pressure. We had a lot of activity from several hunters (some invited and some not) during late November. These deer are big for a reason and they moved on to safer locations.
Here are a few of the bucks we did see – nothing like the ones we saw consistently the past few months.
The fun stuff
As always it is fun to see the animals in their natural environment and comfortable without the presence of humans. We were graced by a pair of yearling dear who visited Christmas Day and the following day and lingered for quite a while directly in front of the camera. One even got up close and personal as you can see above.
The mixed bag
While deer are fun to monitor on the game camera, I find that I often am more excited about the different wildlife that it captures. This month was all about raccoons, but we also had opossum, coyote, and lots of birds. Also one mystery animal, though I believe it is probably just a cat.
So that does it for 2018. Looking forward to what the new year will bring from these game cameras. Maybe I will even add a camera or two to the mix. Thanks for reading!
