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

The cattle kept on this property create an intricate network of trails.
The cattle trails are used by many different animals, including these two Raccoons.
White-tailed Deer!
An Armadillo.
A Coyote on the prowl.
Bobcat!

Maybe not surprisingly, once the brutal summer heat set in the wildlife activity detected by my cameras tapered off significantly.

May through August

Coyote
Fox Squirrel
I’m not sure what this is. It may be a Gray Fox or a Raccoon.
White-tailed Deer
A female White-tailed Deer and her fawn.
A female White-tailed Deer and her fawn.

White-tail Deer activity picked up dramatically as we moved into the cooler fall months.

September through October

A White-tailed Deer.
A White-tailed Deer fawn comes running by the camera.
There is a lot of deer activity during this time of the year.
Notice the Bobcat standing next to the fallen tree trunk.

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

A prowling Bobcat with a beautiful coat.
A young White-tailed Deer.
A buck!
This young buck has a broken antler.
Our young buck investigating the flooded creek.
The buck with the broken antler appears again.
Another buck.
Notice how flooded the creek is.
A Bobcat comes plodding by.
Another look at our young buck.
A male White-tailed Deer.
Cattle keep the trails well worn.

There is not much green in these wintertime pictures, but the animals persevere.

December

A Raccoon.
A Bobcat.
A White-tailed Deer.
The weather turned very cold in December.
Cows enduring a winter cold spell.
Three White-tailed Deer.
A White-tailed Deer.
A White-tailed Deer making its way through the flooded creek behind the trees on the right-hand side of the picture.
A White-tailed Deer.
A young White-tailed Deer.

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

There are at least four White-tailed Deer in this picture.
A handsome Bobcat.
Notice the red-tailed hawk perched at the top of this picture.
A Coyote caught in a late March snow storm.

Related Posts:

A Year on the Trail, Part 1 Camera TrappingCamera Trapping The Elm Fork of the Trinity River – Surging through Lewisville A Summer of Extraordinary Urban Wildlife – 2016 Skulls and Other Bones
A Year on the TrailArmadilloBobcatCattleCoyoteDenton CountyFox SquirrelRaccoonRed-tailed HawkScouting CameraWhite-tailed Deer
By Chris Jackson's DFW Urban WildlifeLeave a Comment on A Year on the Trail, Part 2

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