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Vinland, Wisconsin — Lately, Don Burroughs couldn’t stay indoors with just sharp cold air and crunchy snow.
He left the glow of the warm fireplace behind to do whatever he wanted or check out the trail cameras. Burrows enjoys deer hunting and the trail has interested him since the camera first hit the market.
“My wife bought me a 35mm camera with two motion detectors. I think it was $500 at the time,” says Burrows. “I had to bring the film in to process it. It was always fun to take pictures of them.”
Recently, he’s deployed about a dozen cameras on 40 acres of land outside Nina. There were many signs. There were hoofprints making cattle trails in the snow and plenty of deer berths.
(Spectrum News 1/Jon Fuller)
As he approached one of the cameras, he picked up his pace.
“It looks like a new deer rub. It must have been just before the last snowfall,” Burroughs said.
It kind of excites him.
“Especially when you’re in front of the camera,” he said.
This particular camera was not his. This was provided by Snapshot Wisconsin, a DNR program where his 1,800 volunteers like Burrows monitor trail cameras and upload photos.
“Snapshot Wisconsin is a wildlife monitoring program that engages the public in science. The data generated will help the Wisconsin DNR make wildlife management decisions,” said Christine Anhalt-Depies, who oversees the program. says Mr.
(Spectrum News 1/Jon Fuller)
It started in two counties in 2016 and expanded statewide in 2018. Over 74 million images have been submitted.
After volunteers upload their images, the animals need to be identified, which is also crowdsourced.
Anhalt-Depies said:
Over the years, volunteers across the state have captured unique images of badgers, foxes, bobcats, and more.
(Courtesy Wisconsin DNR)
“Elk come to northern Wisconsin as occasional visitors, so we can detect them,” says Anhalt-Depies.
Snapshot Wisconsin also provides a dashboard of data collected from the program.
Burrows has seen a lot of wildlife through the lens of a trail camera at his home and other properties.
After uploading the image to Snapshots, he looked at the shot and got a pretty good idea of what kind of tracks the deer had left.
Burroughs also found a Disney movie-like scene of a young bitch and a rabbit lying next to each other in the middle of the night.
(Don Burroughs)
He’s been with Snapshot Wisconsin for five years and doesn’t plan to quit anytime soon.
“I look at what’s on our property. The people at Snapshot use the data for research, so it’s fun and informative,” Burrows said.
Snapshot Wisconsin offers trail cameras that should be monitored at least every three months. Volunteers must have at least 10 acres to host their cameras, but placement on public land is permitted.
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