When I attached a trail camera to a tree in mid-October on a mowed trail just off my back yard, I was hoping to discover deer or even a buck that could be hunted. Hunting wild turkeys has been my interest but in recent years I envisioned becoming a deer hunter. I wondered why I let the seasons pass with no effort on my part to try the sport.

Trail cameras are attached to trees. Motion of an animal walking in front of the lens activates the camera. Night images use a red light flash to which animals seem oblivious. Cameras are waterproof and my camera runs on eight AA batteries.

I received some helpful advice from an experienced trail camera user who advised me to purchase the least expensive camera without video options. Sunlight often triggers the shutter so the camera should face north. Movements of tree branches and large weeds close to the camera lens also can trigger the shutter. Many makes of trail cameras are available at outdoor specialty stores. Mine is the least expensive at $80, but some cost over $200.

What a surprise when I retrieved the SD card from my camera, slipped it into my laptop computer and there was an eight-point buck white-tailed deer. Another frame revealed a doe followed by a grown up fawn. During the week, the camera was on the trail and about 30 exposures accumulated each with the time, date and moon phase labeled on the image. I have never seen a buck in my back yard but the camera noted one was there at 7:30 one morning and 11:30 one night. Images the next week produced an unsettling surprise – likely a coyote, which illustrates this article. Sometimes, late at night I hear a yipping, presumably a coyote, from my neighbor’s fields cross the street. Now, coyotes are in my back yard. The specimen caught on camera appeared healthy since the neck was wide and its fur was fluffy and full. This week the Economist magazine described a suspected new species, the coywolf, larger than a coyote, resulting from the interbreeding of wolves in Ontario, Canada, with coyotes and large domestic dog breeds over the last 100 years. I wonder if my back yard visitor was a coywolf.

Next, I was curious what animals might show up in my front yard since, over the years, I’ve seen skunks, rabbits, opossums and chipmunks. The front yard trail camera captured only an image of a nuisance, a red squirrel, which has been an uninvited house guest in the past.

Now I understand why I passed up the chance to hunt deer. One friend who has hunted deer for a lifetime harvested an eight-point buck during this archery season but had to search for hours to find his trophy. This requires effort to search and to track the deer.

Recently, I watched an online video advertising a new rifle ammunition designed to drop a deer immediately. In the video, when the hunter fired at a mature buck with large spreading antlers, the deer slumped to his knees and immediately rolled over dead. While deer deserve a lethal shot so suffering and pain are brief, this mental image of the deer dying unsettled me. I wonder if a hunter who has to track and later find his lifeless quarry is more emotionally detached from the deer since the hunter is spared witnessing its final breath.

I am reluctant to hunt deer. Tracking the wounded animal is a physical challenge I may be unable to accomplish. I think I will be unable shoot a deer even though I understand hunting is necessary to manage and thin the herd. Maybe I will change my mind but, fortunately, other men and women are eager to carry on the hunt.

I will stay a turkey hunter. My thrill and excitement will come from checking my trail camera images every week since photography season is always open. A trail camera is a handy recreational toy that can reveal animal life never suspected in the neighborhood.