Incredible Footage Caught On Trail Cams

Published

5 years ago

May 1, 2020

Money + Investing Staff

Trail cams serve all sorts of different purposes, from hunting to helping conservationists monitor species in high traffic areas. Not only are trail cams a cool way to research and survey the surrounding environment, but they also reveal what goes on when humans aren’t around.

Whether it be in national parks or more adventurous trails in rural areas, tons of species live along these paths, and even they are intrigued by these curious cams, especially at night. Click “Next” to see the craziest things animals were caught doing by researchers on these trail cams!

On Two Legs

Either something spooked this deer, or it enjoys walking on its hind legs at night when no one’s looking. Definitely not typical behavior, but without a cam, we may not have caught this peculiar moment.

Date Night

It seems as this cam intruded on these lovely cats’ evening dinner plans, as the two mountain lions were captured sharing an affectionate moment near their food dish. Classic example of a cam rigged up near a designated feeding site.

Raccoon Hitching A Ride

This raccoon seems unashamed to be taking its liberty with a wild boar that he’s decided to just hop right on. He must realize that the boar knows where the food is, and even his buddy in the background is ready to follow.

Antlers Full Of Sticks

Who knows what this particular deer was getting into before he stumbled on the camera, but it certainly looks guilty. With that bushel of sticks caught up in his antlers, you’d think it was either in a fight, or running for its life.

Howl At The Moon

In quite a remarkable moment, this cam managed to capture three wolves all howling at the moon at once. Even though it’s something they’re known for, hard to imagine you’d ever get this close in person.

Selfie With Deer

This raccoon seems to be having a great time with his deer friends, so much so that he wants the moment to last forever on camera. While this little guy was definitely just curious, it’s cool to see different animals mingling like this.

Cat On Bull

While at first you may only notice this bull on the trail, if you look closely, there’s some kind of small cat riding on his rear. You can tell it’s hunting too, because those glowing eyes are clearly on the lookout for a snack.

Deer In The Cam Lights

One thing about trail cams is that they do draw attention from creatures, and some are definitely more spooked by their existence than others. Here, we see a deer making a mad dash right in front of the lens, but perhaps it was being chased by a predator.

Feeding Foxes

In one of the more rare trail cam moments you’ll ever see, this mother fox was caught feeding her young pups in the dead of night. This precious moment shows how crucial every second of survival is for these animals.

Food Naps

The trail cam stand quickly became a feeding post when these raccoons descended upon the plentiful food that was underneath. As you can see, they clearly enjoyed their feast to the point where they had to nap it off!

Ready For Takeoff

As you can already tell, these raccoons seemingly only know how to get in trouble, as this raccoon once again took advantage of human placement and latched onto the feeder so he could feed his friends below.

Startled Bear

This bear appears to have stumbled right in front of the trail cam, only realizing he is now the main subject. It’s a clear indicator that animals know that these devices don’t belong in the wild, and are puzzled by their purpose.

Bird Crossing

Birds are some of the most intelligent creatures on the planet, and they tend to be smart enough to pick up suspicious cameras in their neck of the woods. This curious guy just wanted to make sure it wasn’t an enemy.

Feeding Teamwork

Raccoons are good at working together, especially when there’s food involved. This squad decided to hop on each other’s backs so they could shake the feeder, which is quite impressive.

Gorilla Crossing

It’s not every day that you just see a gorilla along the pathway, but this one in particular seems to be in a hurry by the way he hustled right by on two upright legs. He surely looks to be a silverback, which means this is one of the more rare species in the world. Wonder how he got there…

Beak Attack

We talked about how birds are willing to defend their territory, and this one is not having the trail cam at all! It decided to get up close and personal with this one, and left the researcher with a priceless still image.

Porcupine Faceoff

While we can’t necessarily tell if these porcupines are trying to hug or square up, it is interesting to see them standing face-to-face so closely. Hopefully they’re being cordial, but noticing their different colors and sizes, mating isn’t out of the question either.

Otter’s Snack

In the blackest part of the night, this cam caught a hungry otter doing some late night fishing, and he seemed to notice he was being watched. Fearlessly, the little guy decided to investigate while enjoying his midnight snack.

Down The Rabbit Hole

While this may not be the white rabbit from Wonderland, this bunny seems to have been drawn to whatever food was left in the bin. And the camera was set up perfectly to catch this action shot of the rabbit leaping in.

Deer Ears

Most people don’t like being affectionate on camera, but these animals don’t really have a choice. Here we see a deer taking a nice nibble of its friend’s ear, and it seemingly doesn’t mind too much.

Squirrel Incoming

This squirrel was planning its aerial attack very carefully, and it seems to have worked to perfection. Such calculated grace and timing is being executed here, there’s no way the deer saw it coming.

Trail Selfie

Sometimes you just gotta stick your tongue out for the camera. This deer is probably a frequent traveler of this part of the trail, so it figured it’d spin its head around for a quick selfie. The owner probably got a kick out of it.

Gang’s All Here

It can be hard enough to capture any cool footage on a trail cam, as much of it is up to chance, but this is outstanding. Somehow, an entire herd of deer managed to all be photographed while looking at the lens, which had to be a one-in-a-million chance.

Beary Helpful

This bear wanted to make sure its offspring didn’t go hungry, but instead of just retrieving the food, it decided to lift them up instead so they could dig in for themselves. Just another example of how smart bears really are.

Territori-Owl

A lot of animal’s biggest priority is protecting their homes, and that’s exactly what this owl was doing when it fended off a deer. For nocturnal animals, they know the threats come at night, but this deer probably got the short end of the stick.

Night-Time Standoff

Encounters at night can be contentious for some animals, but raccoons aren’t really scared of anything. So when coming face-to-face with a buck, the raccoon decided it wasn’t backing down without a fight.

Trophy Hunter

Not all nature is calm and peaceful, as this buck is putting on display in a rather chilling shot. It seems that it has not only won its battle with a foe, but got it stuck in its antlers as well. Now the rest of the herd will know who not to mess with…

Catch Of The Day

One thing about the circle of life is that nature will run its course, and winters can be exceptionally brutal. Here we see a giant hawk of some sort attempting to drag a carcass back for some hearty food during the cold months.

Pumpkin Head

One theme that seems to be common amongst deer is that they tend to get things caught in their antlers. As this one looks curiously off into the distance, it nonchalantly carries a pumpkin on its head, which is probably a pretty good dinner haul.

Owl Strike

Owls are exceptional hunters, and they can be known to take on pretty big kills in order to feed their families. Since they’re active at night, deers can be easy prey considering they already have bad eyesight. We can assume it didn’t end well for this one.

Necessary Boost

When trail cams are pointed near designated feeders, you’re usually bound to capture some shenanigans. Once again though, the feeder is being ransacked by a raccoon, who looks to have used another animal as a stepping stool.

Net Crawler

Many times these cams are placed to monitor conservation zones in order to see what’s taking place, and here we see a sneaky critter making its way either in or out of a fenced area, which only leads you to believe it was up to no good.

Out-Foxed

This cam captured an eager fox who seems disappointed to have been fenced out of whatever area he was looking to hunt. This is exactly what they’re installed for, and now researchers can see they’re a legitimate threat to the zone.

Take Home The Kill

It appears that this bobcat or other type of small cat-like predator has caught itself a raccoon, and by the looks of it, in a contained area, because now it’s trying to bring it back across the fence.

Wolf Sense

Wolves are some of the most threatening predators on the trails, but they’re also pretty elusive, which is why you don’t see them as much. However, in the middle of the night, this wolf sensed a trespasser and sniffed down the camera.

No Thanks

Whoever the parents of this creepy kid are need to come get him, because this is not okay. Perhaps it’s just a chilling still, or maybe some artful photoshop, but either way, it’s terrifying.

The Reaper

Okay seriously, this isn’t funny anymore… No chance this wasn’t on purpose, but to the people who are purposely terrifying those who are just trying to film on some innocent trail cams, why?!

#1 Attraction

The most popular spot in town is always the feeder, and it’s a big reason why cams are always placed next to them – to monitor activity and behaviors by different species. Turns out, like you and I, they all like to eat.

Hawk’s Meal

In another winter time hunt, these hawks have stumbled upon a rotting carcass of some sort, and are likely taking it back to their flock. In hard times, these fierce birds have to do what they can for food.

Turkey Time

This gang of turkeys was just out enjoying a nice stroll when they were caught by this well-placed cam. While definitely not your typical bird sighting, it’s cool to see the variation of species in the area.

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