Wild Things: Gift ideas for nature nuts on your list

A fisher's image captured by a trail cam. Ed Kanze Photo

By ED KANZE

Christmas is coming. So is Hanukkah and a variety of other sacred or otherwise significant occasions (birthdays among them) when a shopper with a charge card in hand might be wondering, “What on Earth to give a nature enthusiast?”

We are a strange breed, not always the easiest to shop for. One could, let’s say, buy a bird book for a passionate bird watcher, only to discover that this particular volume is unsuitable in some way, or the bird lover already owns it. Yikes. What’s a generously intentioned gift giver to do?

Anguish no more. There is one present that I cannot imagine any avid nature lover between the ages of 10 and 100 would not enjoy having and using. And that, my friends, is a trail camera. One can’t own too many of them.

These gizmos are astonishing. I wish they existed when I was a lad, and all my teenage friends were leaving me behind for human-focused pursuits while I still considered it the height of fun and adventure to run around the woods all day. Oh, the fun I might have had with a trail camera! But not to worry. I’m having that fun, with interest, now.

A trail cam (“cam” is short for camera) is also sometimes called a “game” camera. It’s a plastic box smaller than the average hardcover book, in which lurks a camera (digital these days, although older models shot film), a flash, and a motion detecting device. You find a promising spot where a wild thing might turn up, a spot that might be deep in the woods or could be right next to your garbage can, insert batteries, slide in a memory card, and strap the camera to a tree or post or something else sturdy and immobile. Then you walk away. The camera takes care of the rest.

The most sophisticated trail cams, well beyond my budget but undoubtedly appealing to those with deep pockets, essentially have their own cellphone service. These high-end units relay images from the wilds or the backyard straight to the comfort of the phone in your hand, even as you sip tea or something stronger in an armchair. I’m quite happy with the kind that operate with memory cards. The suspense between card readings is half the fun. I have two cards for each camera. One remains inside the cam recording images, while the other comes home with me after a switcheroo. Big memory cards hold an astonishing number of images. I once went away for two weeks, leaving behind a trail cam in shooting mode, and came home to find who and what in my absence had been prowling.

I own two inexpensive (under $100) trail cams made by Moultrie and one new fancier one made by Browning. The Browning unit, an Elite HKP5 Spec Ops, was recommended to me by a scientist friend who studies bobcats. She has dozens of units and especially likes this Browning. I’ve only used mine for a week, but so far the features and results are all I’d hoped for. 

On my trail cams, I have photographed a variety of animals: fishers, martens, otters, mink, ermine, snowshoe hares, whitetail deer, gray fox, red fox, eastern coyote, neighborhood dogs, black bear, wild turkeys, bald eagles, a rough-legged hawk, barred owls, ravens, crows, and, perhaps dearest to my wildlife-loving heart, bobcats. 

Sometimes I put out bait, and sometimes I simply set up a trail cam in a likely spot and hope for the best. A typical unit comes with a sturdy strap that can be fastened around vertical items such as tree trunks and fence posts.

To read memory cards and see photos, I switch cards and bring the one that had been inside the camera home. I sit comfortably on our couch and scan images on a laptop computer. Other trail cam users employ readers that plug directly into their phones. This way, images can be reviewed in the field.

It’s a wild world out there, full of interesting creatures leading fascinating lives. But because we humans have a less than favorable reputation among our nonhuman neighbors, getting looks at animals can be difficult to impossible. This is what makes a trail cam fun. The gizmo can watch while you sleep, and it can take pictures without scaring off the fauna. Later, when you’re ready, you read the card, and every image is like another present under the Christmas tree.