Tag: trail-cam

Giant Yukon grizzly bear provides riveting trail-cam moment

A trail-cam operator in Canada’s Yukon Territory has shared several compelling grizzly bear video clips recently, but one stands out above the others.

Last week, a trail-cam operator shared video footage that revealed his “near encounters” with grizzly bears in Canada’s Yukon Territory.

This week, David Troup of Yukon Wildlife Cams shared footage showing a “marvelous” grizzly bear scent-marking a tree on which one of his cameras was attached.

It was reminiscent of perhaps Troup’s most compelling related footage: that of a massive grizzly bear back scratching, or scent-marking a tree before charging toward the camera.

The accompanying slow-motion footage, captured by Yukon Trail Cams in August 2021, lends a unique perspective of what a grizzly bear charge in your direction might look like.

Reads one of the more popular comments: “Can you imagine standing where the trail camera is?”

Another: “Remember, you only have to be faster than your hiking partner!”

Troup maintains a network of trail cameras in the Yukon and periodically shares footage to showcase the region’s wildlife.

Trail-cam operator reveals grizzly bear ‘near encounters’

A trail-cam operator in the Yukon Territory has shared “near-encounter” footage showing grizzly bears in front of his camera on the same days as his maintenance visits.

Those who monitor trail cameras in grizzly bear country must wonder how close they might be to bears when they check their devices.

The accompanying footage, featured by David Troup of Yukon Wildlife  Cams, provides an interesting perspective of what it’s like to be the person who maintains the cameras.

In his Facebook post, Troup revealed how much time passed between grizzly bear visits to the camera site and Troup’s visits on the same days.

“On four occasions this summer I checked cameras on the same day as grizzlies visited, with an increasing trend in separation times, thankfully,” Troup stated. “The near encounters were separated by times of (hours:minutes) 2:24, 4:38, 6:56, and 7:27.”

The bears include a probable large boar at the beginning of the footage, and a sow with cubs.

Troup, who appears in front of the camera between bear appearances, cautioned anyone entering bear country to carry bear spray, make noise, and “hope the space-time continuum is on your side.”

Facebook followers thanked Troup for showcasing the Yukon Territory’s wildlife, but some expressed concern for his safety.

Troup told FTW Outdoors:

“I just responded to a comment of what my point of the post was so it’s not interpreted as me presenting myself as some ‘brave outdoorsman’ narrative.

“Everyone who spends time outdoors likely has near encounters with a variety of wildlife yet may not realize it. But with trail cams we sometimes capture those moments.”

Viewers will note that the first bear sniffs the camera before continuing its journey.

Wild animals have an acute sense of their surroundings and react to motion-sensor cameras in different ways.

Last year, one of Troup’s cameras captured footage of a “camera-shy” coyote that paused in front of and quickly bounded away from the device.

Troup explained that his cameras are well disguised, but added: “Inevitably wildlife can detect peculiarities in their environment, whether it’s by sight, sound or smell.”

Cougar pursues coyote past trail camera, audio reveals likely result

Recent trail-cam footage showing a mountain lion hunting a coyote is reminiscent of a similar but more dramatic scene captured last fall.

On Monday we featured trail-cam footage showing a mountain lion’s successful nighttime hunt in the Southern California wilderness.

The mountain lion, or cougar, was shown following a coyote past the camera and returning minutes later with its kill. The footage revealed a predator-prey interaction that plays out routinely on trails when most people are in their beds.

It’s also reminiscent of a similar but more dramatic scene also captured via trail-cam in eastern Orange County. (See video below.)

In Nathalie Orozco’s footage, captured last fall, the coyote is shown trotting down a trail and a stealthy mountain lion sensing opportunity. The ambush occurs in the darkness beyond the camera’s infrared light, but audio reveals the likely result.

Mark Girardeau, who featured the footage on Orange County Outdoors, stated:

“Just before entering the frame, the mountain lion noticed the coyote and went into action to secure his next meal. Notice how the mountain lion pounces quietly rather than sprinting.”

A scouting mission the next day turned up coyote fur but no carcass. Girardeau, who theorized that the cougar had hauled its kill off-trail, commented:

“Our guess is that the mountain lion was successful based on other nearby cameras which showed him hanging out in the area for the entire night afterwards.”

Wild horse definitely feeling its oats in bizarre trail-cam footage

Trail-cam footage captured in the Yukon Territory picks up mystery sound as wild horses bolt across snow.

A motion-sensor trail camera has captured footage showing wild horses bolting across snow in Canada’s Yukon Territory. But the Yukon Wildlife Cams footage also picked up a mystery sound seemingly issued by the lead horse.

However, David Troup, who monitors the cameras he positions on remote game trails, is reasonably sure he solved the mystery.

“I’m not sure what else this could be other than flatulence from the first horse on a warm winter morning,” Troup wrote on Facebook.

Add this to the many behaviors exhibited by critters as they pass Troup’s cameras.

In the past week Yukon Wildlife Cams has shared footage of grazing wood bison (a first for the cameras), a bugling elk, a lynx, and a compilation featuring appearances by a lynx, a black bear, two moose, a coyote and another black bear.

One of our favorite clips, from 2021, shows a large grizzly bear scratching its back on a tree before charging within feet of the camera, revealing its ominous bulk and massive claws.

Best trail-cam reaction – Yellowstone wolf or Yukon coyote?

Which animal has the best reaction after encountering a trail camera, the Yellowstone wolf or Yukon coyote?

Remote trail cameras wonderfully showcase the natural behavior of wild animals, but that’s not always the case.

For example, the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project recently shared footage showing a wolf in Yellowstone National Park licking a trail-cam’s lens.

“Just a short clip of some wild wolves from Yellowstone, courtesy of our colleagues at the National Park Service,” the RMWP stated March 27 on Facebook.

The footage, posted below, shows a lead wolf become curious about the camera before stopping to lick the device. Several other wolves ignore the camera.

The footage was somewhat reminiscent of a clip featured here last December, showing a coyote’s comical response after encountering a trail camera in Canada’s Yukon Territory.

In the footage, posted below, the coyote bows briefly before bounding from a perceived danger.

David Troup of Yukon Wildlife Cams stated: “Inevitably wildlife can detect peculiarities in their environment, whether it’s by sight, sound or smell.”

Last September, one of Troup’s cameras captured footage of a grizzly bear responding like the Yellowstone wolf.

Troup wrote on Facebook: “A family of grizzly bears find a camera and investigate the peculiarity in September, with a quick view inside mom’s mouth included.”

–Editor’s note: A similar version of this post, with more focus on Yellowstone wolves, was published April 18

Bobcat shown stalking raccoons in surreal nighttime footage

A trail camera in Colorado has captured footage showing a large bobcat hunting raccoons at night in a narrow passageway.

A trail camera in suburban Colorado has captured footage of a large bobcat stalking raccoons at night in a narrow passageway.

“Raccoons are some of a bobcat’s favorite meals, due to their small size and lack of an effective defense system,” Twitter user Suzanne Dickerson explained in her video description.

At 13 seconds, before the bobcat saunters into view, the nearest raccoon scurries forward as if trying to escape the threat. (Footage of the raccoons is shown at four times the normal speed; the bobcat is shown at normal speed.)

Dickerson routinely tweets footage of raccoons and other critters passing through this area, which she refers to as the Racoonobahn.

Asked by a follower how many raccoons use the Racoonobahn, Dickerson answered: “I’m guessing we have 10-13 raccoons around here based on different cameras. Some or all use the Raccoonobahn each evening.”

Her pinned tweet shows a skunk using a rock to break ice in a water bowl to access water below the ice. Images from that sequence were used in a scientific paper about tool-use by striped skunks.

–Image is a video screen shot

Watch: Partially blind cougar shows why she’s still a super mom

A cougar nicknamed Uno because she has only one good eye was caught on a trail camera recently proving why she’s still a super mom.

A cougar nicknamed Uno because she has only one good eye was caught on a trail camera recently proving why she’s still a super mom.

The nighttime footage, captured by cameras monitored by Nathalie Orozco and Mark Girardeau, shows Uno dragging a deer carcass through the Southern California wilderness with two cubs in tow.

As viewers can see, light from the infrared camera reflects from only one of Uno’s eyes. Biologists believe she’s partially blind in the other eye, perhaps because of an old injury.

But it’s clear that she’s able to fend for herself and her offspring.

On Tuesday, Girardeau shared the footage to his Orange County Outdoors social media pages.

“Uno scored a nice meal!” he exclaimed on Facebook. “Every animal in nature has its role: deer graze the grass and spread seeds while mountain lions keep the deer population under control to prevent overgrazing.

ALSO: Yellowstone elk has perfect response to taunts from a tourist

“After bears were extirpated from Orange County, mountain lions are the only animals left to play this vital role as the keystone species that they are.”

Uno before being collared. Photo: ©Mark Girardeau

Girardeau told FTW Outdoors that he has been monitoring Uno’s habitat with trail cameras since 2019. Biologists from UC Davis put a tracking collar on Uno a year ago. The mountain lion is cataloged as F312.

“This is a decent sized deer as you can see Uno struggling to move it to a safe place before retrieving her kittens to feed with her,” Girardeau continued, adding that Uno’s cubs are about 7 months old.

The father of the cubs is believed to be Toro (M313), who also appears sporadically in trail-cam footage.

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Young elk displays fancy footwork in front of trail camera

A young elk appeared to dance in excitement after detecting a trail camera in the Yukon Territory.

On Monday we shared footage of a wary coyote that detected the presence of a remote trail camera and bounded comically away from the device.

On Friday, Yukon Wildlife Cams featured another clip showing a young elk reacting to a trail-cam far more enthusiastically. (See footage below.)

“In contrast to Monday’s coyote video, this young elk seems to enjoy the spotlight,” wrote David Troup, who maintains several cameras in Canada’s Yukon Territory. “If you’re outgoing and gregarious, learn how to make an entrance like this and you’ll be the life of every party.”

The grand entrance involves an impressive horizontal broad jump as the elk positions itself in frame. The critter then “prances and dances” in the background, as one commenter describes.

ALSO: Watch as lioness, four cubs create ‘cutest traffic jam ever’

Troup’s cameras, which showcase wildlife in remote portions of the Yukon, typically reveal purely natural animal behavior on game trails.

But as he mentioned in the coyote post, critters sometimes detect the cameras “whether it’s by sight, sound or smell,” and react accordingly.

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Watch: Bear smells worst kind of trouble on tree, reacts accordingly

Video footage captured in Canada’s Yukon Territory shows a black bear hightailing it to safety after smelling porcupine scent on a tree.

After a bear has experienced the sting of porcupine quills, it’s understandable that the mere scent of a porcupine would signal a flight response.

The accompanying trail-cam footage, featured Sunday by Yukon Wildlife Cams, shows a black bear exhibiting remarkable speed and agility after sniffing a tree that had presumably been claimed by porcupines.

David Troup, who runs Yukon Wildlife Cams, explained Sunday via Facebook:

“The highly acute sense of smell that bears possess provides them with information to do such things as find food and in this case, avoid potential danger. The tree of interest was scent marked many times by porcupines over the summer, and this wet bear’s fight or flight instinct seemingly kicked into gear.”

One comment reads, “Must’ve had quills before.”

ALSO: Great white sharks now a tourist attraction at San Diego beach

Another: “I wish my dogs would react the same.”

And this: “Always amazes me how fast these large bears can move.”

Troup’s cameras are stationed on remote wilderness trails and he shares footage sporadically, sometimes weeks later. The bear footage was captured in August.

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Mountain lion hunts coyote in eerie footage captured by trail-cam

Nighttime footage captured via trail-cam shows a mountain lion pursuing a coyote into darkness on a Southern California trail, and audio hints at a successful hunt.

Nighttime footage captured recently via trail-cam shows a mountain lion pursuing a coyote into total darkness on a Southern California trail – and audio hints at a successful hunt.

The eerie scene appeared on a motion-sensor camera placed by photographer Nathalie Orozco.

Her footage begins with a lone coyote trotting rapidly down the trail, and the mountain lion, or cougar, in a cautious pursuit that turns into an apparent ambush after both animals vanish into the blackness.

In the Facebook description Mark Girardeau, who runs Orange County Outdoors, urges viewers to turn the volume up because it reveals how this likely ended – with the coyote crying out while under attack.

Girardeau writes: “The coyote was trotting along as they usually do and unaware of the mountain lion which just happened to be walking along his normal route.

“Just before entering the frame, the mountain lion noticed the coyote and went into action to secure his next meal. Notice how the mountain lion pounces quietly rather than sprinting.”

ALSO: Can you spot the elusive Yellowstone pika in this photo?

Girardeau explained that mountain lions are ambush hunters that rely on stealth to capture prey.

“After checking the area, we noticed lots of coyote fur but did not locate a kill so we’re uncertain of the outcome,” the photographer continued, noting that mountain lions often drag kills off-trail. “Our guess is that the mountain lion was successful based on other nearby cameras which showed him hanging out in the area for the entire night afterwards.”

The mountain lion, a young male nicknamed Toro, is scientifically cataloged as M313. Girardeau said Toro might be the father of kittens recently born to Uno, who occasionally appears before Girardeau’s cameras.

The footage was captured on private property in the Orange County Wilderness.

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