Trail Camera Photos
(Our Most Recent Images Are Posted At The Top)
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3-26-08 Our first turkey hunters will be arriving shortly, and there will be precious time for checking trail cameras and such. Indeed, the get-ready has already started as you can see below. All the freezers inside the skinning shed have to be cleaned and activated for all the coming activity. Also, there are photos taken to celebrate the good rain. As you study the turkey photos, you'll see that the old gobblers appear to be primping for action. The recent rains have brightened the outlook for a good hatch this spring. |
3-18-08 We have had good rains all across West Texas all night and all today. Thank you Jesus. It has been powerful dry, and this rain will really help. The gauge at the gate to the Home Camp at noon today had about 2".
Here's some trail camera photos. There is also our first-ever phone-photo. It comes from Brandon Ezell who took a photo of a couple of turkeys out behind the lodge today during the rain. |
3-14-08 Here's some recent images: some from our trail cameras, some from our camera we carry in the car. Lots and lots of turkeys are now seen out in the fields around our Home Camp. There are times, especially early in the morning, when there will be droves and droves of turkeys - too many to count. Trying to capture the sight with only one photograph is impossible.
During the day, turkeys will drift by our parked pickups to search for milo that might have been spilled while feeders were being filled. So far, we are unsuccessful in capturing this theft on film, but our efforts will continue.
Spring cleaning of a barn has been underway lately. One turkey photo below was taken right over the hood of the car. A couple other photos have nothing to do with turkeys, but they show how trash which has accumulated in a barn can be disposed of easily.
Trail camera photos from the feeders show that there are plenty of turkey visitors. And now, we are seeing the old gobblers fanned out. Mercy - if you don't have a hunt date reserved with us yet, you are going to miss out on the upcoming spring season.
Plus, it appears that our plague of raccoons continues. Trail cameras prove the tenacity and resourcefulness of these corn-stealing critters. If they weren't so much of a problem, their antics would be hilarious. Yeah, right - ha, ha, ha.
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3-06-08 The trail cameras have been put to work scouting turkeys. Got maybe 85 or so images in just a few days, but as you will see below, turkeys are not the only critters being found at the "turkey feeders". Looks like we need to import some coon assassins. Come to think of it, our coon-hunting buddy, Kenneth Hemphill, has been out hunting with his hounds every week since way back in November, and he swears he is getting 5-10 per night. Kenneth, old buddy - you need to get those dogs out more often. |
12-27-07 We are indebted to Carroll Lineberger, Jr. for the photos shown below. Carroll, who lives in Terrell, NC was here on Hunt 9 back before Christmas. Carroll, his dad, and their group of four hunters have already re-booked for 2008.
Carroll's photos do a good job of showing just what will be seen in this area. You get a good sense of what the country looks like, and his camera found plenty of bucks to capture. We are posting only a few of the photos, but there were plenty of them. There is even a series of photos of a buck fight witnessed by Carroll. Carroll Jr.'s comments about his hunt can be found on our list of references. Contact him and let him tell you about their hunt with us. To see our complete list of references (so far), go to "2007 Deer" then up to "References".
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11-17-07 With all the activity now, it is almost impossible to find time to work with the trail cameras. But Kyle Ezell managed to sit in a blind recently and he got the few images shown below.
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11-6-07 Just one more photo of deer in our photo studio. Where is that big buck? He didn't show up last night with all the activity in camp. Must be getting a bit shy. Or maybe he's found a girl friend?
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| The buffet sign is gone. The buck, too. |
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11-2-07 Finally. We were able to collect some photos last night that will show you what we've been talking about.
Hunters who have visited our camp know the layout of the place and can envision where the gentle deer are in relation to the skinning shed. But for those of you who have yet to hunt with us (we won't rest until every whitetail hunter in America has done so), the photos below can help you understand what we have been seeing the past few nights.
The big buck didn't make an appearance for the photos last night, but no doubt he was lurking in the shadows somewhere.
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| The buffet sign with the skinning shed in the background. |
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| Grover and Tom study the deer. |
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| Unloading the buck at the "studio". |
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| Getting the buck to the perfect spot |
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| Makeup is applied. |
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| Notice the deer in the background. |
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10-31-07 It is Halloween alright, but the photos from last night are a treat and there is no trick photography here.
Once again, the photos are taken with our regular camera, not our trail camera. Right there at our Home Camp, not twenty steps from the skinning shed where the hunters and guides are hanging out and reviewing the days activity, a group of deer has been coming up to eat the left-over alfalfa from a bale of hay. Seems a hunter back on the first hunt used it for practice with his bow. The deer like the alfalfa so well, Kyle Ezell bought another for them to enjoy. And he put out some corn, too. Hence the sign he created which you will see in the photos below.
It is remarkable how gentle these deer seem to be. As long as everyone is standing at the skinning shed, that is. The deer pay us no mind, other that a watchful glance every now and then. The big buck seems to be a regular visitor. We'll see if we can get some more of these nighttime images from another herd of deer which hang out at behind the lodge. We have a corn feeder and another large light there, as well. We saw a similar good'un a couple of days ago. If we get him or any other good bucks "captured", we'll post the photos. Stay tuned.
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10-27-07 The photos below are not trail camera photos. They were all taken with our regular digital camera - the one we use to take photos of the hunters with their bucks.
What is remarkable about the night-time images is that they were taken right there at the Home Camp lodge in our "photo studio". Folks, these deer aren't 20 yards from the skinning shed. Seems that camp manager Kyle Ezell was taking the official photos of a hunter when, all of a sudden, a herd of deer appeared well within the range of the flood light we use to illuminate the "studio" while photos are being taken. The deer were mildly curious about the photo activity and hung around for quite some time. Kyle, an opportunistic photographer if there ever was one, immediately began snapping photos of the new guests in camp. Note the bermuda grass in the photos. Those of you who have visited our camp are quite familiar with the small plot of grass we maintain just outside our skinning shed. This is where almost all our hunter/trophy photos are collected. Who'd a-thought such things were possible? Those deer were close enough to be roped by any half-way decent cowboy.
The daytime photos were similarly taken by Kyle and his camera from one of our deer blinds. Two of the images have three species in one frame - deer, javelina, and quail. See if you can spot them.
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10-21-07 A trail camera is a valuable tool to help evaluated a possible location for a deer blind. Are there deer in the area? Any good bucks? Before we go to the trouble to locate a feeder and a blind in a new location, it is well worth the time to check things out first.
So here is a location we found that seemed likely. We baited it with corn for a few days and collected 600+ images. What do you think? Should we be putting a blind here? Yeah, we think so, too. Below are a few photos of some of the better bucks found at this new spot.
Once again, getting multiply images of the same buck with his head in different positions can sometimes show hidden kickers and points not seen in just one, lone photo.
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10-18-07 With our first hunters of the 2007 arriving today, the focus of activity has been on getting everything ready, and mabye not so much on collecting trail camera photos.
Nevertheless, we do have the three below. All appear to be of the same buck, and it is interesting to see the same antlers from different perspectives. This old-boy look looks like a keeper. And who knows - maybe he is just a camera-hog and successfully ran all the other bucks away from the trail-cam?
How many scorable points (1" or more) are on this rack? Inquiring minds want to know.
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10-4-07 Bob Helmers from the Bar H ranch dropped by our office yesterday with some photos they had captured with their trail camera. Looks like the Bar H hunters this season are going to be hunting some mighty fine bucks.
Double-click on each image below and see if there are any of these dudes you don't like.
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9-30-07 The primary mission of our trail cameras is to collect images of deer. But sometimes, the cameras will find other interesting things, as well.
Here is a first: we got a dandy photo of a hummingbird. See if you can spot the little darling in the collection of photos below.
Who knew hummingbirds fly at night?
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9-27-07 One of our trail cameras collected 700+ images in only 2 1/2 days. So does that mean that the deer are moving about more now? Or does it mean that the camera just happened to be located in a hot-spot? Or what?
Kyle Ezell, who is busy using the cameras for pre-season scouting, reports that many, many of the images were of yearling bucks - many with six and eight points - good news for the deer seasons of future years.
But there are plenty of big, mature bucks this fall, too. Some of these images are from the Weather Rock Ranch, the newest member in our group of hunting camps. It's looking to be a fine season in West Texas and we can hardly wait.
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9-24-07 We told the biologist that no longer did he need to take photos of bucks he might find during a census. Our trail cameras were now taking over that job. But he couldn't help himself. During a helicopter census today, his camera "went off in his hands" and he found this buck. We are hoping one of our hunters will be similarly lucky.
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