trail cam pics.

[Barry Willis]

I hope everyone is celebrating remembrance day for what it is and means. I never had the opportunity to meet or get to know my grand fathers as they lost their lives in the first world war long before I was born. 

On a lighter note just a few trail cam pics. Finally got some cougar pictures. Some pics of whitetail deer with the forest ground covered in yellow poplar leaves, not near as pretty as the maple leaves you folks have in the eastern provinces but still kinda nice.

[fisherman7]

Great pictures. Where are they from? Not looking for the exact area, just maybe the closest town. 

[Barry Willis]

Likely farther away than you expect Lol. North west of Water Valley Alberta. My favorite stomping ground for over forty years now.

[smitty55]

15 minutes ago, Barry Willis said:

Likely farther away than you expect Lol. North west of Water Valley Alberta. My favorite stomping ground for over forty years now.

So I just looked that up on Google Maps. How close to the Rockies are you? Looks like you're only 55km away.

[lew]

Nice pictures Barry, specially the cougars.

[Barry Willis]

On 11/12/2024 at 3:11 PM, smitty55 said:

So I just looked that up on Google Maps. How close to the Rockies are you? Looks like you're only 55km away.

I'm happy you took some interest and looked that up Smitty. It's a very beautiful country out here especially when you in the mountains Yeah I'm not far from the Rockies. My trail cams and hunting grounds are actually north west of Water Valley. If you follow the road west of Water Valley a few miles down there is a road that goes north called Doc Mills Road to the Burnt Timber road, which is a paved and well maintained  road. I can't remember the range road numbers,  I have my trail cams scattered around that area. Tomorrow I will be bow hunting on the north east corner of the road west of Turner Valley and Doc Mills Road. Lots of white tail there and the rut is in full swing. I've never hunted this parcel of land before so we'll see. One thing I found out while on Google Earth, which is a lot better than it used to be. Out of curiosity I went on maps go and typed in Burnt Timber Shell gas plant which is where the Forestry (crown land begins) where I also used to put trail cams,  (but due to logging there isn't a critter to be found)  and entered satellite and I couldn't believe the clarity, it was far better than Google Earth. In one area I could actually pick out the pine tree I have a camera on.

[Barry Willis]

On 11/12/2024 at 3:21 PM, lew said:

Nice pictures Barry, specially the cougars.

Thank you Lew, I just wish they were clearer. I have known they are there as I've seen their tracks over the forty plus years I've been frequenting the area for miles around. One of the reasons I always carry bear spray. I would much rather have a grizzly confront me than a cougar sneaking up behind me. 

A couple months ago on our local news was a guy on there that said he was attacked by a cougar near Canmore , (where there are cougars) while trying to protect his dog. I knew right away it was  a crock of sh@&. There is no way in Hell you are going to escape a cougar attack. I don't care if it's Hulk Hogan, they are big and powerful. In a surprise attack a cougar will attack a human very much the same as they would a deer, their main food source, if on the ground they come up from behind and throw their front legs over ones shoulders and dig their claws into your front torso, in most cases you won't even know they are there until it's too late which this guy claimed happened, than grab you by the back of the neck with their powerful jaws and hang on until you quit breathing. Of course Fish And Wildlife and the RCMP were very concerned as it is a popular hiking trail and close to town and investigated the alleged incident, it turns out, as I expected just a false claim. Someone looking for attention I guess.

1st track cougar, 2nd track wolf. Very distinctive difference.