Dateline – May 14, 2011
Continued from A Year on the Trail, Part 1
I began this project in March 2009. My intent was to monitor the wildlife traffic through a specific part of a 700 acre parcel of land in far southeast Denton County. I chose a location where the natural vegetation, barbed-wire fences, a creek, and a cattle trail all came together to form a funnel of sorts. If the animals on this property wanted to get from one side to the other, they would have to travel through this passage. I set up a pair of scouting cameras, one on each end of the trail, and checked them approximately every six weeks over the course of the year. By the middle of April I had already collected a number of interesting pictures.
March through April
Maybe not surprisingly, once the brutal summer heat set in the wildlife activity detected by my cameras tapered off significantly.
May through August
White-tail Deer activity picked up dramatically as we moved into the cooler fall months.
September through October
The wildlife activity in November reflected the changing weather as the temperatures started to cool off significantly. I began to get photographs of buck White-tailed Deer with antlers, including one that seems to have been in some kind of mishap. Also notice how high the creek has risen due to early winter thunderstorms.
November
There is not much green in these wintertime pictures, but the animals persevere.
December
A few surprises were captured by my scouting cameras over the winter, including an unusual number of White-tailed Deer and an early spring snow storm.
January through March
