VINLAND, Wis. — The sharp cold air and crunchy snow weren’t enough to keep Don Burrows inside recently.
He left the glow of his warm fireplace behind to do something he loves, check his trail cameras. Burrows enjoys deer hunting and became interested in trail cameras when they first came to market.
“My wife bought me a 35-millimeter camera with two motion detectors. I think back then it was $500,” Burrows said. “You had to take the film in to have it processed. It was always fun getting those pictures.”
These days he deploys about a dozen cameras on his 40 acres outside of Neenah. There were plenty of signs. Hoof prints made a cattle path in the snow, and deer beds were plentiful.
As he approached one of the cameras, he picked up his pace.
“Looks like a new deer rub. It must have been right before the last snowfall,” said Burrows.
It’s the sort of thing that gets him excited.
“Especially when it’s right in front of the camera,” he said.
This particular camera wasn’t his. It was provided by Snapshot Wisconsin, a DNR program where 1,800 volunteers, like Burrows, monitor trail cams and upload their pictures.
“Snapshot Wisconsin is a wildlife monitoring program that gets the public involved in science. The data generated helps Wisconsin DNR to make wildlife management decisions,” said Christine Anhalt-Depies, who oversees the program.
It was launched in two counties in 2016 and went statewide in 2018. Over 74 million images have been submitted.
After volunteers upload the images, the animals need to be identified, which is also crowdsourced.
“Anyone from around the world can go to snapshotwisconsin.org and help to identify what we’re seeing,” said Anhalt-Depies.
Over the years, volunteers across the state captured unique images of badgers, foxes, bobcats, and more.
“We’re able to detect moose as they’re coming into northern Wisconsin as occasional visitors, said Anhalt-Depies.
Snapshot Wisconsin also provides a dashboard of data they collected from the program.
Burrows has seen plenty of wildlife through the lens of his trail cameras at his home and other properties.
After he uploaded his images to Snapshot, he viewed the shots and got a pretty good idea of what deer left its mark.
Burrows also found a scene that could be straight out of a Disney movie, a young doe and a rabbit lying near each other in the middle of the night.
He’s helped Snapshot Wisconsin for five years and doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
“I’m viewing what’s out there on our property. It’s fun and beneficial for the Snapshot people because they use the data for research,” said Burrows.
Snapshot Wisconsin provides trail cameras that require monitoring at least every three months. Volunteers need at least 10 acres to host a camera, but placement is allowed on public lands.