Been running cameras on my place for 10 years now and each year I get several Florida black bear hits... but somehow always have been lucky with bears not tearing up my cameras.
Kind of shocked when I was looking at a recent camera card pull and saw THIS. Actually feel I owe the bear thanks for improving my camera angle!
VERY lucky, SwampCat, as the bear didn't even scratch up the housing enough for me to notice any change when I checked it.
Semi-related luck note, had my 2nd or 3rd camera to go down on a tree during a hurricane -- this last one as Idalia went by with the center only (but also blessedly) about 30 miles to our east. Strap was broken with the camera sitting pretty as could be on the ground and still working. Other times I've had them on trees blown down they stayed strapped but was lucky then too in them being to the side versus pancaked.
Knowing you can appreciate what it's like dealing with hurricanes, this one marked the first time I evacuated. In the days leading up to landfall they had us west enough I felt safe riding it out, but the 11pm NOAA update lifted projections to a cat 4 landfall and moved us into the center of the projected path. Made a midnight run to Dothan, Alabama with the wife, daughter, and two dogs and parked overnight in a Wally-World parking lot with a ton of other folks. Woke up about 5am to see that the storm weakened to a 3 and bounced back east at the very last minute, saving us from truly catastrophic damage. Still managed to wipe out power for 100% of folks in my county, Jefferson, which is just east of Leon (Tallahassee). Had to run generators for 4 days, but worked out just about perfectly giving me the time to work outside sawing up a handful of downed trees on my place.
