by Janet Pesaturo
Stackpole Books, 2018
It used to be that in order to see or photograph wildlife, you’d have to be either incredibly lucky or spend hours crouched behind a blind. But now, thanks to the wide availability of high-tech trail cameras, it’s much easier to peek into the lives of the wild animals in our own backyards and woods.
Janet Pesaturo’s Camera Trapping Guide helps readers take their trail camera game to a whole new level – no more blurry streaks just passing through the camera’s frame. Pesaturo gives you the tips to achieve David Attenborough-like imagery with your camera.
The first step to taking better shots is to learn to identify sign. Pesaturo’s experience as a certified tracker and a conservation biologist inform the book: She covers 31 mammals, 5 birds, and even 1 reptile (an alligator, though you’re not likely to get a shot of one in the Northeast). In fact, the book is a great wildlife education tool even for those who aren’t camera trapping enthusiasts. It is for anyone interested in learning how to identify sign, scat, and other evidence of the animals in eastern North America, with photographs included to help readers learn exactly what to look for.
Most readers of this book will be interested in learning the basics of camera trapping, such as what to consider when purchasing a trail camera, and how to set up the camera in the field. The book contains all you need to know to get started. Pesaturo also deftly discusses the pros and cons of using baits and lures, and presents her thoughts on this sometimes controversial subject with clarity and forthrightness.
It is the camera trapping tips at the end of each species account that are the jewels of this book. These tips, based on Pesaturo’s personal field experiences, reinforce the idea that good shots come when you pay attention to the seasonal variations in animals’ lives, where their food resources are, and what their breeding behavior entails. The proof is in Pesaturo’s own shots: The guide is filled with amazing game camera shots of wild animals doing things you’ve only read about, from a grouse drumming on its log to two juvenile coyotes playing.
Perhaps the thing I admire most about this rich resource is the author’s genuine curiosity and interest in wild animals. She wants to know all she can about them, whether it’s how little deer mice eat of a particular nut or where the raccoon makes its clam midden. We are the lucky recipients of her passion.