Have you ever seen a bear family digging up a wasp nest, a wolf pack chasing elk on a snowy night, or lynx kittens playing? These are exceedingly rare sights even for experienced wildlife trackers and photographers, and yet they are all within reach of anyone with a low- cost trail camera, patience, and an willingness interest in to learning more about these species.
In our series, Trail Cameras and Custom Camera Traps, our goal is to provide hobbyists, citizen scientists, wildlife educators, photographers, hunters, and biologists with the critical information needed to capture compelling wildlife photos and/or explore wildlife behavior through the responsible and ethical use of camera traps.
This second book in the series includes range maps, This series includes track and sign descriptions, behavior, and camera placement hints for 17 species/families found in western North America. The include canids (wolf, coyote, gray fox, red fox, kit fox), mustelids (weasels, mink, river otter, marten, wolverine, badger) as well as skunks, ringtail, and white-nosed coati.
We focus on bringing together information typically found only in multiple books, along with practical advice,, examples, photographs, and illustrations to put this advice into context. The "Camera Trapping Tips" sections for each species include examples of potential research questions that could be answered by an intrepid camera trapper.
The 3rd book in this series will cover additional animal species, including cats (mountain lions, lynx and bobcats), ungulates (deer, moose, mountain goat, big horn sheep, and pronghorn), and rodents (kangaroo rats, wood rats, prairie dogs, marmots, porcupine, and beaver).
Janet Pesaturo is a conservation biologist by training, a Level III Cyber Tracker, a camera trapper, and a wildife educator. She has taught several workshops, and given ma ywals and talks on wildlife tracking and camera trapping. She has written blog posts on animal behavior based on tracking and camera trapping data and she has a published scientific article. The latter describes previously undocumented scent markign beahvrios of mammals based on camera trapping data.
Robert Zak is a consultant, blogger, and developer of camera trapping hardware and software. Bob retired from Intel in 2022, where he was a Fellow and recognized export in networking for high performance computing systems. Bob is coather of several published papers, including and award-winning foundation paper in parallel computing He holds more than a dozen US patents.
"This is far more than a guide to camera trapping, it's a field guide to finding, understanding, and successfully photographing North America's wildlife. Drawing on the authors' extensive field experience, it combines tracking, behavior, camera placement, and proven techniques into a comprehensive resource that gives you the knowledge to make better sets and come home with better images. There's simply nothing else quite like it." — Casey Anderson, Wildlife Filmmaker & National Geographic Explorer
"This book offers a clear, well‑researched overview of the region's selected wildlife species. It focuses on the most useful animal behavior and identification details, including tracks, signs, and habitat—without unnecessary fluff. With its balanced mix of scientific accuracy, practical field tips, and helpful images, it's a valuable reference for both new and experienced camera-trappers and wildlife enthusiasts. I learned some fascinating information by reading it." — Mike Taras, Tracker, biologist, wildlife education & outreach with Alaska Dept Fish & Game
