This hiking season has been a significant departure from last year's toting of an inanimate object who only needed to periodically latch onto my hiking partner for sustenance. The summer #2 version can be distracted for short periods of time but you better be supplying new stimuli or delivering a rousing rendition of the "ants go marching" to avoid kidney kicks.
Back on the property I collected another round of pictures (3 weeks worth on all 4 cameras). In the process of making the loop, Oak and I were able to get within 100 yards of a group of six elk that included one spike bull and then a few minutes later we were in a staring contest with a good looking mule deer buck. Of course, I knew I wouldn't be seeing any wildlife in person so the camera was back at the tent... Getting the phone/binoculars in alignment proved to be beyond my abilities but for every 30 failures there were a few random shots where you can tell there is some sort of animal in the frame (three elk, spike bull, mule deer buck).
We also hiked up onto the state land to the north and got nice overlooks of the property's eastern half and the camas meadow. While I'm just throwing out random weekend notes, Oak would like it to be known that he had two separate grouse flushes. The first was a family unit and he almost chased down one of the babies in flight before his cruel masters called him back.
Trail Cam Pictures: This is where I am really struggling to select just a few shots for sharing. I got 480 solid critter pictures in this round from what will be a monster 6+ point elk bull (making an appearance on three different cameras) down to itty bitty fawns. What will be lost is how much fun it is to see all of the pictures. The full data set lets you appreciate how the animals move (or don't) and how quickly each animal or herd is using the area. I was stoked viewing the cameras individually but when I uploaded everything online, they all sorted by timestamp and that was even better!
Camera #1 (100 good shots) - Highlights were the big bull, his likely 5x5 travel companion and lots of elk herd traffic. A single buck was the only other critter on this trail.
Camera #2 (277 good shots) - Lots of different mule deer bucks. Probably less animals overall but several were lounging/feeding so they account for 50+ pictures each.
Camera #3 (18 good shots) - Probably need to move this one but it did catch some very young fawns and a blurry combo of a young buck walking peacefully past and then bolting back the other direction 10 seconds later. Don't worry about the fawns, mama was in the previous picture.
Camera #4 (85 good shots) - Got to see an elk stampede (likely from Weyerhaeuser loggers heading to work) and a very elderly mule deer buck.
