Trail Camera – Carnivores

Last year, I set up a couple of wildlife cameras just north of Sexsmith, Alberta. I set them up in a nice, mature mixedwood forest that is composed primarily of aspen and white spruce. You can see the forest in the map below: it’s the dark green area north of Sexsmith. A lot of the forest is crown land (public land) that contains ATV trails. From what I’ve seen on the camera, people do use the area primarily for driving off-road vehicles, for hunting, and rarely for hiking.

When I first set the cameras up, my intention was to see if I could capture images of some of the larger mustelids – primarily Pine Marten and Fisher. The habitat seemed very promising, and I set the cameras fairly low to the ground and ‘baited’ them with a small amount of canned dog food. The purpose of the dog food was to lure the animals in front of the camera.

I first set the cameras up in winter and left them out for a few months. My first check revealed photos of the two animals I really wanted to see: a Pine Marten and a Fisher.

Great! I rarely see either of these animals, so getting photos on a trail camera is at least something. A few other carnivores made an appearance on the camera, including coyotes and black bear. Both species are common in the area.

I’m quite sure I ran into that bear while I was hiking and birding in the area. A lot of the bears in the area are rather skittish, and this one got off the trail when I made it aware of my presence. To be safe, I do carry bear spay and an air horn with me when I hike in bear country.

I moved the trail cameras to new locations (but in the same forest) and I “caught” two new species: Canada lynx and gray wolf. Alas, the photos of these animals are rather blurry, but the species are at least recognizable: