Getting Antsy

I hadn't checked the trail camera since the April 22 snowstorm and I was getting antsy about what images it may have.  Plus, I suspected the batteries were probably dead.

 One of the neat things about trail cameras is that they always have a story to tell.  And this was going to be one of the better stories.  Here, we can see just 4 hours later, the snow has melted quite a bit.  But you can still see my ski tracks.

 And three days later, not a trace of snow.

 Notice how a week later how much things have greened up and the dandelions are in bloom.

 Even more lush a few days later  as this hungry bear wonders by.

And five days later, even more lush as a different bear browses.

This young buck is finding a nice meal.  

As is this turkey.

And now the autumn olive and honey suckle shrubs are in full bloom.  If only the camera could capture the aroma.

An interesting back story here is when I went to retrieve the SD card from the camera, the camera was covered with ants.  My efforts to brush them off were futile so I retrieved the whole camera and brought it back to camp.  I soon realized the camera itself was infested and I could see ants inside the lens!  Oh, the batteries were still good.  But the 2 gig card was filled with almost 3,000 pictures and had shut down.  Apparently, the ants invaded the camera on the 14th and their movement inside the lens caused the camera to trigger every few minutes for the next several days.  But I still had pictures of deer, turkey, and bear mixed in.

It took a few days to get all the ants out of the camera and it is now back in service.