September/October Game Camera

Like every month, September and October provided some entertaining photos from the game cameras located in St. Louis County.  As usual, most of the photos are of whitetail deer, but there are always squirrels, turkeys, other birds, raccoons, and opossum. This month we also managed to get a new animal for the property, pretty exciting stuff.

The best series came from October 11th when these two bucks staged a battle directly in front of one of the cameras.  I think we were pretty lucky to have captured these photos.  I mean, they even centered themselves on camera!

There are also several very large deer that showed up on the game cameras.  Some of them even appear about once a week during the day time.  Of course there is no pattern to this timing, and we have not seen either of these larger deer while hunting this season, even at a distance.  Clearly they did not get this big by being careless.  Still amazed at the quantity of different large deer that pass through this small property.

I also get very excited about the turkeys who show up on camera.  They seem to show a sense of character and, this time of year at least, are in larger groups.  The turkeys on this property show up almost daily for a week or so, then vanish for several weeks.

Some of the other animals are also fun to watch on the game cameras.  Squirrels and raccoons are plentiful.  We also finally got an armadillo in one night time shot this month.  The only surprise is that it took this long to get one on camera, as they seem to be very common in St. Louis County in recent years.

Lastly, one of the more interesting things to me about the game cameras is what they do NOT capture.  These cameras are placed on well traveled paths and game trails.  They are also on pinch points, where to avoid walking them they have to travel through a creek or through a narrow path of woods near a larger opening or even a road.  But while physically present on property, I have seen or heard reports of coyote, bobcat, and numerous deer totally avoid the area directly in front of the cameras.  Perhaps the presence of the cameras, the human activity around the cameras, or the scent we leave while maintaining them is a deterrent for the animals.  Something to consider while setting up stand locations for the future.

Thanks for reading!

There are plenty of great game cameras on the market.  We have been using Wildgame Innovations, and find that the price point and quality of photos works very well for our needs.

https://www.wildgameinnovations.com/browse/trail-cameras