November At Nobscot (Trail Cam Results)

     At around the beginning of the month, I wrote a post, about my first ever trail camera clips of bucks fighting: Bucks Sparring At Nobscot. That was a very exiting set for me, but there was just one thing wrong with it: 

The bucks were fighting so far from the camera. The camera was tied to a young maple tree along the side of the vernal pool (the pond has a 20 to 30 feet radius). The bucks had chosen to fight each other in the dead center of the vernal pool. This actually makes plenty of sense, because there were fallen trees, an old well, and lots of jagged rocks that would be easy for them to trip on near the edges. They wanted as much fighting space as possible in every direction. It was clear that I had to somehow mount the camera in the middle of the vernal pool, to get closer to the action. This seemed impossible since no trees grew there. I built this little structure out of nearby rocks and branches...

...The brown drizzle in the photo above is peanut butter, which i'm hoping will further attract the bucks, and encourage them to fight closer to the camera. I then sprinkled dead birch leaves around the structure that supported the camera, to camouflage it a little bit better from thieves, and make it look less suspicious to the deer...

When I stopped by, 2 days later, the peanut butter was completely gone. I checked the camera, but didn't remove it. I had originally planned to take the camera down on November 1st, but I did some research, and it turns out that the peak of the whitetail breeding season is on November 5th to November 8th, so I'll wait until after that. Also called the peak rut by hunters, this is the period where bucks get the most violent, and will chase after any does that they find. Here's the results of this setup:

...The first bunch of videos were of course of a grey squirrel, who feasted on the peanut butter for a while. This is my first time hearing a squirrel make that noise. There were 47 videos of the squirrel before anything else visited. As the sun set, the squirrel finally went to sleep, and a raccoon stopped by to enjoy the bait:

...And was joined by a friend after a bit.

One of them then walked up to investigate to rock structure that held the camera up, and in the process, brushed up against the camera, twisting it's angle slightly.

                   After that, every single video for the rest of the series was taken slightly rotated, like the footage of the 6-point buck that showed up next. He was clearly suspicious and kept his distance:

                 Followed by a spike, who wasn't camera shy, and went straight for the peanut butter...

That morning, a small herd of does passed by, unfazed by the scent. Probably the same ones as posted here: Whitetails Before The Rut. Some of them are probably already fertilized...

This one flicked its tail up and down while calmly walking. This must mean something in deer body language, but i'm not sure what.

As the deer cleared out, the grey squirrel from the day before stopped in again. By now, the raccoons and spike had eaten all of the peanut butter, except the untapped bit that was under the rock. Its hunger drove it to tunnel underneath, and get to the remaining bait...

That night, an 8-point buck visited. This is probably the most dominant, and oldest buck in the area, who will probably father most of 2023's fawns. I hope to find his sheds his winter.

The day after that, and for a few days, nothing showed up except squirrels. Eventually, one of the raccoons returned...

...Followed by a mated pair of deer. After mating, the male will stay with it's female for a few days, to prevent other bucks from mating with her before her egg has been fertilized. Once she is fertilized, her partner will be able to smell it, and will leave.

...The next morning, and the last day of the set, The fisher visited. The area around this vernal pool, for whatever reason, has gave me two fisher sightings in the past two years. There is an area that has only dead ash trees nearby, and a burnt forest, with lots of pine snags. Both areas are littered with woodpecker cavities, making it a perfect denning area for them. The area is also close to a stream, and another vernal pool. My last sighting of a fisher took place nearby: Photos from September 17th

I'm not sure what it was snacking on. I thought the peanut butter was completely gone. Maybe in the squirrels time digging, he uncovered some peanut butter that it forgot to eat?

I picked the camera up on November 9th. Better luck next year.