Trego's Mountain Ear

"Serving North Lincoln County"

Tag: Photography

  • Watching Predators and Prey

    Off and on, I’ve been watching the interplay between predator and prey on this place for 65 year. In 1960, and through the mid-seventies, the hay field had a serious gopher (Columbia Ground Squirrel) population. A lot of the farm activities fell in my realm as I entered the teenage years – I recall poisoning the critters, first with strychnine, then with compound 1080. My most memorable year was the year when I caught a badger in a gopher trap. I saw she was a lactating female, worked the trap loose, cleaned all the traps from the field, and was surprised as hell the next day when she showed up to hunt gophers with me. The partnership lasted maybe six weeks – but is a memory to revisit – she had decided that gopher hunting could be a lot more successful when I assisted with the 22.

    Thirty years later – around 2000 – the gopher population dropped. With less grazing on the field, natural predators – a few weasels – were driving the gophers out. Apparently the gophers were more vulnerable to weasel predation than the voles were. Sam and I shot few ground squirrels in 2004 and 2005 when we visited my parents – the weasels controlled the population well over about 15 acres.

    By 2008, a feral cat population began growing in the trailer court a quarte-mile away. By 2017, I saw my last little weasel – feral cats were now the predator, controlling weasels, ground squirrels, and voles.

    So now, cats – whether feral or housecat – have became the prey species. When we built the house, we had a resident pair of coyotes that caused us no problems. They’re gone now – hopefully painlessly after living lives that caused us no problems. With the resident coyotes gone, three packs are edging into our place – the game cameras show one pack from the west, one from the north, and a third from the southeast. One pack has coyotes that specialize in hunting cats – the game cameras have shown coyotes walking down the trail with a cat in the mouth.

    Over time predators and prey roles can change. But you have to live quite a long life attached to the same piece of ground to notice it.

  • The not so perfect game camera, part 2

    The not so perfect game camera, part 2

    Marketers would have you believe the more money you spend on a game camera, the better the game camera.  If only this were true.  Over the years, I have tried several brands of camera. I am still searching for the perfect camera. I have my least favorite camera or the brands I won’t purchase again.

    Game cameras can be used to monitor traffic. UPS truck on the driveway.

    By far, my least favorite camera is a Stealth game camera.  The Stealth game camera is programmable and the cost won’t break the bank. I use this camera to monitor the traffic on my driveway. The camera is an older model.  It is reliable.  I change the batteries every couple of months and change the SD card about once of month.  The camera is consistent. It takes good pictures of vehicles and stills of the driveway during the winter.  It has never taken a picture of a coyote, mountain lion, or bear. 

    Deer walking down the driveway

    My least expensive camera is a Herters game camera.  This is another driveway camera in the perfect location. The camera has a narrow depth of field where the pictures are in perfect focus. This camera is great for monitoring vehicles as well as wildlife. I have all sorts of fuzzy pictures of feral cats, skunks, etc as well as larger animals. Occasionally the pictures are in focus. But I have good idea of the animals walking down the driveway.  The Herters camera eats batteries.  When the batteries are low, the camera stops taking pictures at night. The camera is non-programmable but easy to set up and operate.

    A winter still

    All game cameras miss the perfect shots.  I have had a game camera take 1000 pictures of grass blowing in the wind.   I have seen many blurs at night. But the occasional photos make all the disappointments worthwhile. Game cameras are not perfect but even blurry picture can be priceless.

    Deer on the driveway. Not all the deer are in focus, but the picture still provides lots information.

    -Patches

    Read Part 1
    Read Part 3