Bone Yard and Gut Pile Thread 2016

[Curmudgeon]

I just went and dumped the remains from the second deer butchering on the bone pile. I usually hang the carcasses in a tree for the small birds. I did this with the first carcass but dropped the second one in front of the camera due to the current scarcity of deer butchering waste. I want photos. I pulled the card and got these. They aren't dramatic but I like the crow perched on the deer foot I stuck in the snow. I also like that everything isn't megafauna. Chickadees and downy woodpeckers like this stuff too.

While I was out there, I uncovered the gut pile with the camera on it. There was a set of tracks approaching, then leaving. It was probably a coyote spooked by the IR flash. It came from downwind of the way the wind blew for 3 days. I had not brought an extra card because I didn't expect anything on that camera. Those photos will have to wait. The second gut pile is a 1/4 off my property - way down hill, almost 3/4 mile from the house. It isn't getting a camera.

 

[Curmudgeon]

I finally got some photos from the gut pile, and more from the bone yard. Notice that the red-tailed hawks are not the same bird. One is quite dark on the chest - a plumage that is representative of a far northern race. The bird feeding late may have been a subordinate bird that had to wait. There were a lot of hawk photos on the bone yard. The gut pile had mostly crows and ravens. One hawk showed up.

Redtail approaching gutpile

 

Late feeding hawk.

Dark redtail, probably from the far north.

Much lighter redtail, belly band is almost missing.

 

Ravens at gut pile.

Crows at gut pile

[wooly]

Nice shots Curmudgeon!

 

I got a fresh gutpile in a fresh creekbottom location and had a fresh redtail visitor.

Also had a woodpecker, bluejays, and a mouse so far, but I'll save those for a compilation post of "other critters" that visit the carcass.

I was a little happier with this set of hawk shots, but could still use some sunshine and blue skies.

[Gencountyzeek]

My only visitor to the gut pile so far is a nice looking red fox.

[Gencountyzeek]

Last nite visitor

[Moho81]

Cool pics! I've thought of doing this before but never did. Now next year i might have to. 

[greenecounty]

Was expecting coyotes but 50% of the photos are of a hawk, owl, and a fisher returning to the gut pile

And a small mountain lion.  Dont know how he is out in the woods as ive never seen him at the neighbors and this is very far into the woods

[turkeyfeathers]

greenecounty, I thought you actually debunked the mountain lion theory but instead you started a new one. Black panthers in NY

 

Neat fishers

[Curmudgeon]

Very nice. I love the panther. Now I need to get motivated to check mine.

[wooly]

Only ONE thing better than getting a hawk on cam to me.., and that's getting TWO hawks on cam!

Fresh guts bring them back in no time flat!

The crows and ravens know the cam is there now and wont land on the pile with it so close.

[Lawdwaz]

Love this series....

[Core]

This is an amazingly snazzy thread. I never thought so many awesome pics from a pile of guts. If I ever snag a deer close enough to the car and remember I am definitely going to drop a cam.

I also didn't know NY had bald eagles. http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/74052.html

[Curmudgeon]

2 hours ago, wooly said:

Only ONE thing better than getting a hawk on cam to me.., and that's getting TWO hawks on cam!

Fresh guts bring them back in no time flat!

The crows and ravens know the cam is there now and wont land on the pile with it so close.

Very cool. At least the hawks are getting along. Sometimes they don't.

Smart birds remember where food comes from. And, Ravens are the smartest.

I have had ravens get so used to the cameras that they try to take them apart. A lot depends on the individual. Ravens are usually very wary at first.

A fascinating read is Ravens in Winter by Bernd Heinrich. His second book on Ravens -  Mind of the Raven -  is also a great read. 

 

[Curmudgeon]

I found some time to walk back to the bone yard this morning. Since the last download, it is only birds, mostly crows and redtails. There isn't much special. I am posting 3 redtail shots. The first 2 are different birds at the same distance from the camera. You can see a significant difference in size. Females are larger than males. The third shot is somewhat fogged. It shows a very wet bird yesterday after hours of hard rain just as the temperature was dropping below freezing.

 

 

 

[wooly]

19 minutes ago, Curmudgeon said:

I found some time to walk back to the bone yard this morning. Since the last download, it is only birds, mostly crows and redtails. There isn't much special.

That's the way my gutpile location is currently. I'm trying to fight off the temptation to move it for something different right now.

As soon as the creek in the background of my pics freezes, it becomes a K-9 MEGA-highway as well as a few other unexpected visitors. A few years ago I found a deer carcass down here that was getting pounded by a group of winter mink even during daylight. Countless times I'd walk up to the carcass while they were gnawing away inside the rib cage totally oblivious to me being there.

I've been meaning to set my blind up here and have a go with the handheld camera and these hawks, but now the creek has flooded and my blind is on the other side. Maybe I'll give it a shot this evening in snow camo from the brush. I can bring old smokey along in case I see some more walking guts to add to the pile!

[Curmudgeon]

It is great seeing positive feedback on non-game wildlife. Like Wooly, when I am hunting I am watching everything from deer to spiders. I find it all fascinating. Sometimes, I engage in purely hunting discussions on this forum. However, there is so much more than game species out there.

If you are new, soon I will start another thread on this winter's eagle research. We start putting out bait tomorrow. Currently, I have one GPS tracked golden eagle making a regular cell connection. During the 9 days she has been on home range in the  Catskills, she has already visited most of the sites where she found food last winter.

If you don't know who I am, you can see me explaining a gut pile to a film maker in this video -

 

[QB1]

STC_0061.AVI

[BigMedicine]

Awesome pics!

 

[Curmudgeon]

Another download of mostly redtails, a fisher and dogs, dogs, dogs. Dogs sans collars, looking feral, 4 of them.

[wooly]

I decided to move some of my creekbottom pile today since I wasn't getting what I was after yet.

Relocated to an area with heavy yote and fox traffic right now, so that's the shots I'll have coming next....... hopefully.

Just a few shots to wrap up from where I had been running the cam.

A few deer.., one fox.., some crow close-ups.., and a big fat hairy blonde!

[Curmudgeon]

Note: That fox looks like a female.

[wooly]

38 minutes ago, Curmudgeon said:

Note: That fox looks like a female.

Good observation..... I thought it may have been taking a dump, and could have went either way.

 

[LET EM GROW]

Great pics!!

This may have been mentioned before but.. 

I got a tag for a road kill doe about 12 years back, to set a trail cam over it and see what would happen. This was back when Stealth Cam came out with there first digital flash camera. I was surprised to see there was a TON of deer checking out this "dead fully bodied deer carcass". Kind of seemed like they were there checking to see which deer she may have been. Groups of deer would stand over this deceased doe just sniffing away. day after day, until gone. I was quite surprised. 

I left the cam up for near 2 weeks, had a few coyotes that would set off the cam at a distance but would never come in and gorge. Red fox and other critters would, but not 1 coyote. After the near 2 weeks I took the cam down, and the doe was totally gone in 2 days. They must not have liked the bulky loud flash cam. 

May have to try this again with the modern cams.

[Curmudgeon]

In some areas, coyotes are really sensitive. It probably matters how much they are hunted and trapped. A modern cam would probably help.

[LET EM GROW]

Yea I haven't called a coyote in a few years. Lost interest. I def would like to get back into it someday. I still have that cam, and surprisingly it still works! Unlike the new cams out now a days

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