For our second deployment with the NC Candid Critter project we decided to head to the Pisgah Ranger District area of Pisgah National Forest. If you haven’t heard of this awesome citizen science run project check out my first post on our experience with the NC Candid Critter project.
I’d found this area a year or so ago while doing some e-scouting using my handy dandy topographic map and the assistance of maps online. (If you don’t know what e-scouting is check out this great post by Modern Hunters.) My mom and I went to check it out one Mother’s Day and I saw lots of potential for good deer and turkey habitat.
This area has lots of little creek’s and run offs from the steep geography of one side of this area that runs up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. There were lots of little saddles and pinch points in the land that would allow for deer to move through, and when looking at one of the Wildlife Resources maintained areas I saw sign of deer beds.
We hung our cameras from coordinates we had already selected on the Site Selection Map. Tyler’s sat in between the road. His spot mainly had pines and a lot of small growth shooting up from the forest floor. He didn’t seem too excited for his camera placement.
When we picked up his camera and looked at the pictures, his feelings about his deployment site were reinforced. The only pictures on his camera were of us setting the camera up, and then of us coming to retrieve the camera. Although this felt like a let down, it is still valuable information for the Candid Critters Team!
My site ended up being off of an old trail that came into a field that is maintained by the WRC. At first I was a little nervous about my spot as the hike up to it was full of thick rhododendron but, we turned down off the ridge full of rhododendron and my coordinates were located in a spot that was far more open.
In the slideshow below are some of the pictures on my camera. There were once again squirrels, and several deer, and this time I got a rabbit or two on my camera as well!
Stay tuned as we are launching our third deployment today in another area of the Pisgah National Forest!
arch-HER Outlook 