Trail cameras, pine martens and sika stalking

For me the stalking is just an excuse for a good day out and as I had a couple of days free this week I thought to bag me a few deer for the freezer plus get a bit of a walk and also check up on my trail cameras.

Recently I tried using some wheat, and also some beef nuts, to feed the deer into the trail camera and to my amazement a pine marten appeared on the wheat, I don't think he was eating it but maybe it attracted mice or something which he did have an interest in. This was offset by the fact that since I put the wheat down I haven't had a single photo of a deer as I think the sika are simply too wary to come anywhere near something new that has appeared on the ground.

I'd been told that pine martens like eggs, raspberry jam and peanuts and so I baited the area in front of the camera with all three and had put the camera in place about a week ago with pretty limited expectations.

On Tuesday I went up for some stalking and the first priority, of course, was to have some lunch:



Then I set off into the various woodlands and up some forest clearings to see if there were any deer lurking. Even at this time of year they are loath to make an appearance in daylight and so the time after sunset is really the only chance but, just occasionally, the stalker who covers some ground in thick forest is in with a chance in daylight:







Although it hasn't been a warm late winter it hasn't been cold either and there is starting to be some grass grow along the side of the tracks and this is always good to get the deer moving:



I took a little break from unsuccessfully chasing the deer to check the camera that I had baited for the pine marten and found that it is true - pine martens like eggs, raspberry jam and peanuts. I had approx one hour of video on the camera over a period of about a week and almost all were of the pine marten who enjoyed his visits.

Initially he came, looked in amazement at all the goodies that had fallen from the sky and then he went away again for a few minutes, I guess to have a swift brandy to steady his nerves. Then he returned to take in the full extent of his discovery and I've got to say I think this video is very funny. It is clear that he sized up the eggs, then he went away for a few seconds and then he realized that leaving such valuable prizes lying about left him open to thievery. It wasn't a few seconds until he was back, picked up one egg and took it away, presumably to hide it. "An egg hidden in a secret place is worth two lying on a forest ride" is a very well known pine marten saying:

EK000006 - YouTube

Over the next 45 minutes he kept returning and managed to remove all 6 of the eggs that I'd left and over the week he also got stuck into the jam and peanuts. He even made an appearance in daylight - I guess when stuff appears to fall from the sky it is important to keep checking in case a delivery arrives and someone else gets to it before you do:

EK000036 - YouTube

So, having recovered the camera card I once more baited the area in front of the camera with some eggs and jam with the intention of returning the next day to see how rapidly he picked up on the latest delivery of goodies.

None the less the stalking continued and once the light started to go I managed a wee stag calf that was ideal for the freezer:





On my return the next day there was plenty of time for lunch and tea and general snooping about. When it came time to check the camera I noticed that, once more, the eggs were gone but that one was lying in the ditch in about 4 inches of water. It isn't very clear from the camera video but there is good sized ditch between the camera and the area I'm baiting and this is full of water.

On viewing the video it became clear why there was an egg in the ditch - the clue was that the latest eggs were a fraction bigger than the first lot and this made them just a little bigger than a pine marten's mouth. So after a titanic struggle with our egg, and a little break to eat raspberry jam to keep our spirits up along the way, it becomes clear how the egg ended up in the ditch:

EK000004 - YouTube

The camera is back in position with a good supply of peanuts out the front of it this time plus I fished the escaped egg out of the ditch and put it back on the grass so it will be interesting to see if there are any further developments. You can see the remains of the wheat (starting to sprout) and beef nuts in this photo as well though the ditch isn't really clear in this photo either:



Then it was time to head off and try to sneak up on some deer. It proved somewhat harder going than the previous night but even so it was good to be out and about:



Right at least light I saw a movement which I thought was a fox but on stalking in it turned out to be a little sika and it is now hanging in the larder, so another successful day in all respects.
 
Great post thanks for sharing , the scenery is fantastic if love to be able to stalk ground like that
 
Hold on..... just checking my diary, and....... yep! Your Tuesday and Wednesday were significantly better than mine!

Great pics and the trailcam footage is excellent to watch. Nice to have such lovely surroundings and the time to get out and about in them.
 
Thanks to everyone for the kind comments, I'm glad you enjoyed the adventures of my little furry friend. I also remembered that I have a photo of the camera which shows the ditch into which the egg vanished:

 
Great video thanks for sharing. What model Bushnell camera is that, its very good....

Cheers,
SS

It is always best to ID Bushnell cameras by the model numbers because they tend to carry the same names over from year to year but the features and so on can be very different.

The camera that is shooting the pine marten videos is a 2012 model Bushnell Trophy Cam HD Max (no less) or the model number is 119476. Although this is a few years old I recently bought it new from Uttings for a pretty reasonable price. Unless the latest models really, really have a feature that you can't live without then take a look at older "end of line" offers but with Bushnell I wouldn't recommend going earlier than the 2012 models as the trigger was much slower and they had some quality control problems.

Also I wouldn't recommend a second hand trail camera as they are, basically, cheap electronics in a cheap plastic box and so they have a finite life which averages around 2 years of constant use in our climate. I also have a 119437 model which is smaller (8 AA batteries instead of 12 in the 476 model) and which produces a bit more of a glow from the flash, deer can see the glow if looking directly at it. The 437 model has a better flash range and so takes better pictures at longer range but the 476 seems much better for closer stuff like the pine marten, which is probably less than 10 feet from the camera at most times. To be honest I think I prefer the pictures and video from the 437 model but it is mostly a matter of personal preference.

It is also worth considering that most trail cameras work best at distances of 10 - 30 feet, depending on camera, and many will not trigger very reliably or quickly. I like the Bushnell because of the 0.6 second trigger time and very reliable triggering as these are big things for me.
 
What exactly goes through a pine marten's head when supplies of food mysteriously appear on the ground? After my most recent resupply visit this is the first video I got, and it has a surprise outcome. Usually when new stuff appears the first visit is a sort of scouting mission as he comes to terms with the fact that lots of tasty goodies have just appeared on the ground and this one started off the same way. As ever try to watch it full screen and in HD resolution for best quality, and watch right to the end as there is a surprise outcome:

 
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