Grant Hiebert of Salmon Arm has been hitting the trails with his video camera for the past decade recording wildlife.
Image Credit: YOUTUBE/Grant Hiebert
June 13, 2021 - 9:08 AM
Grant Hiebert of Salmon Arm has been hitting the trails with his video camera, recording wildlife for the past decade.
His video collection has grown over the years and includes footage of smaller animals, deer, moose and many predators. He says he feels fortunate to witness what B.C. has to offer from a wildlife point of view.
“Years ago I put a couple of videos up on YouTube to share with family and friends and the library just kept growing over time,” Hiebert said. “Eventually, more people saw my videos and I felt a bit of a calling to keep uploading them. I'm fortunate enough to live in a place where I'm able to do this and if I can share a bit of it with others then that just makes it more enjoyable for me.”
Hiebert initially began his hobby with what he calls an "archaic, battery-eating" video camera. He has since upgraded to newer cameras with vastly improved audio recording capabilities.
“The cameras I use now have 14MP image sensors, rich video and audio recording abilities and can last well over a year on a fresh set of batteries,” Hiebert said. “I place some cameras each fall knowing I won't see them again until late spring of the following year. Recently I got together with a few like-minded people and we bought 40 cameras between us. It truly can be an obsession.”
Hiebert has spent hundreds of volunteer hours in the last few years working with the SIMDeer Project ( https://bcwf.bc.ca/initiatives/mule-deer-project/ ) to help preserve the Mule Deer populations in the province. During the course of the project, a diverse variety of wild animals were caught on video.
“As part of the SIMDeer Project, one camera we pulled had virtually every predator in B.C. on it ranging from wolves, cougars, black bears, grizzly bears and even a wolverine,” Hiebert said. “These kinds of finds are what makes it such a rewarding hobby. While I love seeing all forms of wildlife on camera, I always like to see our iconic predators show up. We have a resident cougar on our property right now and it seems to be showing up pretty regularly. Large predators are a lot more common in our forests than many people think.”
After all of his hours spent in the wild, Hiebert has some advice for other trail camera enthusiasts. He says he learned some lessons the hard way.
“Do not handle food before setting your cameras,” Hiebert said. “Bears will pick up on that scent and will destroy a camera while looking for the source of that smell. Sadly, that's a lesson I've actually learned a couple of times. Hopefully, I'm wiser now.
"Also, when placing your camera, leave the beaten path and hike into a random spot. Find an obvious game trail and set your camera up to look at it. I've heard many stories of cameras being stolen but if you put a little bit of effort into placing it you should be able to find a spot where you'll never see a human on your camera."
"For those that like to enjoy our backcountry trails and roads, go slow and keep your head on a swivel,” Hiebert said. “There's always lots to see if you just take the time to look. At the end of a day in the bush, I often reflect on how many animals I saw and then wonder, how many saw me?”
Hiebert grew up in a rural farming environment south of Nanaimo where he said he was taught to respect wildlife and their environments.
A photo taken in the forest in the Salmon Arm area by Grant Hiebert on one of many days he spent setting up trail cameras to capture footage of wildlife.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Grant Hiebert
News from © iNFOnews, 2021