I had my new Bushnell trail camera set out all winter here in Nolalu, hoping to get some good photos of the timber wolves that regularly hunt deer behind our home.
My first wolf photo, Jan. 12, was the best. But I did get some others. They are shown above.I left the time and date stamp on the pix so you could see when they were taken.
In two of the three, the wolves have obviously detected the camera. It's pretty hard to see in the daytime as it has a camouflage pattern and blends in well with the tree it is fastened to. However, at night it has infrared LEDs that glow and this frightens animals if they see it before the camera clicks.
This camera is the Bushnell Trophy Cam. It is the first camera I have had that will work in -20 C (below 0 F) temperatures which is basically what we have here all winter. It uses lithium batteries that are unaffected by temperature. However, the camera trigger is slower to respond in the bitter cold resulting in the camera sometimes clicking after the animal has gone by.
I cannot brag about the Bushnell Trophy Cam much, however, as I had to buy three before I got one that worked. There was a glitch in the other two that made them click photos continously once the camera was triggered. They would fire away until the batteries were dead.
Wolves are common in Northwestern Ontario and are most abundant in those areas where there are whitetail deer, like in Nolalu. There are few deer in the Red Lake area although there are many between there and Minnesota.
Contrary to popular belief, wolves don't "wipe out" prey species like deer.
In fact, as evidenced almost everywhere in Northwestern Ontario, they hardly make a dent in the population and actually do us all a service by selecting the weakest and smallest animals for their kills. That is one of the main reasons our deer are larger than those to the south where there are either no wolves or very few.
Human hunters have the opposite effect on deer. They always harvest the largest animals and end up promoting a deer herd that is smaller in stature and antler size.
Wolf numbers also have a maximum limit. That is because wolves are territorial and won't allow other packs in their territory.
Territories can be compressed a bit when deer are abundant and spread out when deer are scarce.
What really controls deer numbers in Northwestern Ontario is the severity of the winter. When we have winters of deep snow, the deer are unable to move around and consequently starve.
Deer aren't made for deep snow, but moose, with their extra long legs, are.
Unfortunately, deer carry a parasite called brain worm that is fatal to moose.
Once you have lots of deer, you don't have moose. And that's the situation in all of the southern portion of Northwestern Ontario, including Nolalu.
The deer are spreading northward each year, and moose are disappearing.
Red Lake is one of the last communities in Northwestern Ontario where moose are still abundant.
Click to go back to our website:
http://www.bownarrows.com/Click to see the latest on the blog:
No comments:
Post a Comment