I have been so busy over the last few months, I have not got out and about further afield with my Bushnells, but I have been determined to get up to Badger Bank today. I am cross with myself with not getting up there a couple of months ago when the cubs would have first made an appearance, but it is not just the time to go and set them up, but more the time you need to process all the footage, edit and upload it and I know that once I have got it, I want to do that straight away!
I am lucky enough to have two of the new Bushnell HD 2012 trail cams…. the HD Max (119477) which is HD, black IR with colour screen and the 119437 – with low glow IR and B&W screen. They both have the same pic and video capabilities and I will be trialling them in a range of situations over the coming months.
Badger Bank is only a couple of miles from me, but involves a drive and then a walk…. a walk that usually takes me about ten minutes, but today took more like half an hour! This was because not a lot travels this way and it was rather like a jungle! I could see that some animals had passed as some of the grass was trampled down and there was evidence of nibbling… deer nibbling!
I eventually made it to the sett and was amazed by the amount of activity that must be going on in this area! Not only did this large sett have lots of evidence of activity, but the surrounding area was just FULL of deer tracks… red deer I would say and it all looked pretty fresh. Either there are some quite large herds travelling through or there is a lot of activity with smaller groups. Huge areas, which have been very muddy, were just full of deer hoof marks! I have not had much deer footage on my cams so this is pretty exciting.
Luckily I had taken four trail cams to set up:
I set the new HD Max (477) on the edge of the sett. I have positioned it here before and got some excellent footage. I am hoping for some youngsters.
The second Bushnell HD (437), I positioned on a tree a little further down. This trail cam is facing a couple of sett entrances but there was also some evidence of deer passing here.
The third Bushnell HD (467) was set further down in the more wooded part. There was a very clear trail where the deer seem to be coming in from the fields and into the copse.
The final one (Bushnell HD 467) was set on the other side. I positioned this facing a deer track and a mound with a couple of badger exits.
I was pretty excited as I am pretty sure I will capture some excellent footage…. I just have to stop myself going back for them too early. I may nip back on Friday, with my laptop and check the cards and then leave them a bit longer.
I never lose the excitement of setting the Bushnells and the moment when you put the card in the PC and get that first show of the number of captures!
Lets hope these four cams do not disappoint! I am sure they won’t!