It's a pretty nice walk when the bugs aren't too bad. There's a little detour out to the porcupine tree that leads down to the seasonal beaver lodge. You see the occasional deer and lots of coyote scat and occasionally discover, usually by smell, small furry bodies turning to compost.
Anyway, Mrs. N is always on the lookout for something new. It was exciting and a little out of the ordinary, to come across the occasional pile of bear dung... but discovering fresh bear tracks in the soft mud in the woods was a much bigger deal. She managed to get some pictures of the pie plate sized footprint... but despite her industrial-strength canister of bear be-gone... was glad to walk on back down the road.
So that got me thinking about trail cams again.
These are ruggedised, digital cameras that you fasten to a tree in the woods and leave for a day... or even longer. They have proximity sensing shutters that take pictures when they sense movement... and infrared flash units so they can effectively see at night. You just strap 'em up where you think you've got wildlife and come back next morning... or next week.
Gotta do a little more research, but if anybody knows anything about these things, I'd love to hear it.
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FROM THE COMMENTS:
Cool trail cam link.*