Capturing Farm Wildlife on a Trail Camera

A motion activated trail camera is awesome for capturing photos of elusive wildlife roaming our Tennessee farm that we might otherwise not see in person.

For example, soon after we moved here we found a huge paw print in the loose soil of our garden. Town folks told us bobcats stay mostly down by the river and rarely come up onto our ridge. Even though the print looked to us like that of a big cat, we were told it was more likely a stray dog. But our trail cam confirmed that bobcats frequently prowl our farm, mainly during the dark of night.

This route across the driveway seems to be popular among local wildlife. At the left they come up through our orchard. After crossing the driveway, they travel along a goat pasture fence and down into the woods. We often find bobcat or coyote scat in the driveway at this juncture.

Many’s the night we have awakened by the sound of yapping coyotes. But they are not often out during the day. Of 1074 coyote photos we saved from our trail cam, only 8 where shot during daylight. Our photo archive helps us keep track of what time of day (or night) during each season the different species travel.

Deer are plentiful on our farm. They often graze right outside our kitchen window. But they tend to keep their fawns well hidden, so we’re always delighted to see a young one on the trail cam.

We had a hard time picking out a trail camera from among the many look-alikes, until we connected with the good folks at trailcampro.com. Based on our intended use, they suggested a couple of suitable models. We selected a Reconyx Hyperfire, which turned out to be a good choice. The trail cam often reveals unexpected visitors to our farm.