New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Watershed recreation lands provide the public with many opportunities for outdoor fun, including hiking, fishing, and hunting. Since January of 2020, I’ve been running four trail cameras on several DEP properties. Well, three now that one “went missing”. Recently, I programmed the cameras to take videos, and in this blog, I share the highlight reel.
So far, experimenting with trail cameras on public land in the Catskills has been a success. I have captured images of all kinds of wildlife and learned a little bit more about deer movement in preparation for this fall’s hunting season. Most of all, it is a thrill to pop open a trail camera and toggle through the display menu to find the number of photos on the memory card since the last download. When I checked the cameras in early June of 2020, it was extra special because this time I had all of my cameras programmed to take 15-second videos as opposed to still photos.
For your viewing pleasure, I sorted through a few hundred videos (many of which were of leaves blowing in the wind, haha) and compiled this list of my favorites:
Young Buck
Doe & Fawn
Jake Parade
Thirsty Coyote
Black Bear on the Move
Resting Bear
So, does a bear sit in the woods? Now we know for sure. Thanks for watching.
Part 1: Installing Trail Cameras for the First Time
Part 2: Checking the Trail Cameras for the First Time
Part 3: Does a Bear Sit in the Woods?
Part 4: 5 Lessons I Learned About Trail Cameras