The BYC Game Cam Thread (Add Your Own Pics!)

[urban dreamer]

Oh my goodness! Is that a bear CMB19?!?

 

[SunnyChic]

Wow, cmb19, your cam is on a wildlife super highway! After reading Bluey's other thread about his game cam, I decided to get the model he uses (Moultrie 4.0 IR) when we built our coop. We live in town, but I have seen coons & opossums when walking our dogs at night. I ordered mine from WalMart online because our local WalMart doesn't carry that model. After putting the chickens in their brand new, (hopefully!) predator proof, coop I set up the game cam. I caught a pic of a predator the very first night!

Sorry, I couldn't resist...actually, I was trying to figure out if it was REALLY taking pics (duh!).
Low and behold, we had a visitor the 3rd night and am I glad I took the great advice on BYC to fortify my coop with skirting, hardware cloth, & locks (even though we live in town):

A WHAT passed by our coop while we were sleeping?!

He came back early this morning:

It was kind of freaky to see these pics; without the Game cam, we wouldn't have a clue that this coon is casing our coop!

 

[cmb19]

It was my backyard, but I recently moved in with my fiance in a "town"..that is where my parents still live though so my cam is still there.

Yes, that is a black bear..not a very big one at that. I have another pic of him at night, the flash scared him and he attacked my camera and it was crooked for awhile. I'll go dig up some more pics and add them here in a minute. I have gotten coons, possums, gray fox (no reds yet), bears, bobcats (that's the cat in that group of pics), birds, squirrels and rabbits. The coyotes are the things that bother me the most.

 

[cmb19]

Here's the bear again..the pic after is after he tilted the camera.

I put a chunk of meat on a wire to see what would show up..this guy stole it.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Quote:
That coon looks HUGE in those pictures.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

All these awesome pictures, makes me want a game cam. Unfortunately, I had to choose between a game cam and a live trap, the live trap won out.

 

[bluey]

Awesome pictures CMB!

Sunny: I'm glad that you decided to get a game cam. They are a real eye opener on the dangers that a chicken coop faces on a nightly basis. I'm a big believer in knowing your predators and I agree with Wolfie, that is one rather well fed large coon!

Always glad to see hardware cloth in use in chicken structures!

 

[bluey]

This is an answer I provided via email request about my game cam and how it handles cold wintry weather:

"We get pretty brutal winters in western PA as well. Last year, the cam wintered just fine, no problems at all in the bitter cold, ice and snow. The cam has a pretty good housing unit that protects it from the weather. As long as you replace the cheap plastic ring gasket that comes with the unit with electrical putty, it will stand up to pretty much any weather. If you want to give it some extra protection, you could also nail a small roof structure above it onto the tree, but it's not necessary."

Jeez, these Moultrie folks should be paying me.

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

Quote:
What is the first pic of? Is it an opossum?

 

[cmb19]

Yes that first pic is a possum..um opossum.

I meant to mention my cam is a Moultrie D40..it's got a flash..hence the reason the bear messed with it. I also live in western PA..Mckean County to be exact, so right up along the NY state border, we have the state record for coldest temps ever so it gets down right cold here. I got this last Christmas and I've had no problems with it.

One thing you need to be careful of when you set up your cam is to make sure it's not pointed directly into sunlight because that will trigger it or give you messed up pictures. I haven't had rain/snow/sleet bother it yet...I don't even have any marks on it from the bear.