Special Edition for Athens, Ohio: The Cat

I saw this cat's photo last week but didn't think much about it. Last night, though, I had a dream about trying to feed the same cat in about 6" of snow in the woods. Today I'm thinking that maybe it's not simply a stray cat and that maybe somebody knows of a cat that's gone missing in the general area of Old Route 33 near the Last Chance Corral. Who knows if it will show up again, but at least I know where to start looking. You can contact me at orth@ohio.edu

Lower Route, Section #27

Here are the first photos from my new Stealth camera (Model #STC-P12). There were 254 photos snapped in the first 48 hours, so it clearly works. Ignore the dates/times however - guess I forgot to set them. Images are crisp in daylight and I'm impressed with the shots captured at night. Today when I moved the camera, I also switched it to video mode, so there should be some interesting short movies later this week.

Luggage manages to show up in the very first photo taken by the new camera!

Upper End, Section #21 and Lower End, Section #17

The two cameras are pointing toward the same spot today - the peak of the steepest hill. Turkey and deer were at the upper camera, while one lone squirrel showed up on the hill itself.  I moved both cameras today, and they are now (finally) pointing at each other (I think).

First, though, a couple of pics from my digital camera. Here's a look at the hill from about 1/3 the way up, and a shot of the view from the side of the path at the top of that hill.

From the upper camera:

Notice the beard under the far turkey's neck

First time we've seen this young buck

Just one shot from the lower camera and it's not a very good one, but you can see the final climb of the hill. If you look closely, you'll also see a squirrel.

And finally, it was a long walk for my sidekick today, so when we got to Luggage Beach, she decided to take a break ;)

Lower End, Section #4

A bit of orientation: While the upper end of the path is starting to work uphill through a pine forest, the lower end is running parallel to, but well above, the creek, and the daily camera moves are in the upstream direction. Today's section is a short but sharp drop and rise in the path. I tried to shoot the downhill part but it's difficult to get the trail cam to do that without a tripod. Next time we visit this cam, it will be shooting the uphill side.

It was supposed to rain cats and dogs yesterday. We didn't get a drop of rain, but....

I'm surprised to learn that Luggage still walks the path without me!

I'm sure Natalie can tell you which dog this is. I'm not sure.

The Final Appearance of Long Tines

The buck whose tines you see was harvested by a bow hunter last weekend. R.I.P. Long Tines

Turkeys stopped by the feeder again,as did a stray cat

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At Last...A Buck!

Finally this morning a buck showed up at the mineral lick. From what I can tell, it's an 8-pointer.

The only other visitor - a stray cat.

It's 3 AM - Do You Know Where YOUR Cat Is?

I thought I did - but it seems that Luggage was not asleep on the floor all night. (You can tell I'm really having a hard time finding interesting new photos right now!)

Walking with Luggage

My cat Luggage has never found a downed tree she could ignore.

A Cat? Bobcat?...and a Broom-Tailed Doe

Not much going on at either camera right now. We haven't had a rain for a couple of weeks, so I'm guessing I should set up a 3rd camera near the creek. The first photo isn't very good - is it a cat?


This doe's tail really spreads out like a broom when she runs. If it's the one I think it is, she has had twins each of the last 4 years.

Little Did I Know...

A trail cam may do more than capture images of wildlife. Little did I know that my cat (named Luggage) travels over a half a mile without me sometimes.