Southern Arizona is home to beautiful and rare wildlife and people trying to capture it on camera.
Last month, local photographer Jason Miller used a trail camera to capture one of Southern Arizonas rarest wild cats: an ocelot.
It was off chance that I got him, Miller told KGUN. Usually, I concentrate on a trail, an animals markings or whatever and set the camera up and hope for the best.
Arizona Game & Fishs Mark Hart confirms the ocelot in Millers video has been moving through Southern Arizona for more than a decade, and has been captured several times before. But the big cat is a rare and exciting sight in the wild, infrequently coming up from Mexico.
They are similar to jaguars, which also come up from Mexico and are an even rarer sight in Southern Arizona. Getting a jaguar on camera is what got Miller involved with trail cameras in the first place, and is still an elusive goal for him.
Miller is a landscaper by trade. But for five years now, capturing wildlife videos has been his full-time passion.
Its like when you open a gift at Christmas: You dont know whats inside til you open it, he explained. And thats how it is when I open a trail camera, take the SD [memory] card out and check it. I have no idea whats walked by there in the last 3 or 4 weeks.
Miller says he currently has 14 of these motion-activated trail cameras set up deep in the wilderness, all over Southern Arizona. He leaves for them a few weeks at a time before returning to check them.
Its not a home run every time I check em, he admitted.
But when it is, he posts the remarkable results on his YouTube channel, Jason Miller Outdoors.
It captures up-close videos of everything from bighorn sheep, big cats, bears as well as smaller animals like quail and a Gila monster.
Everything I get, I love, and I love sharing it. And the response I get from it, said Miller, whose channel has thousands of views and subscribers. Javelina giving birth, I got two mountain lions mating I usually set up on game trails or water spots.
Miller knows where to look because he used to be a hunter. Two years agoArizona Game and Fish banned using trail cams to aid hunting.
While Miller says he never hunted in the same place as his cameras, he still decided to choose photography over hunting.
Just decided to go with the camera stuff. I enjoyed it more, he said. Im still kind of hunting but just with a camera. Instead of pulling the trigger, still getting wildlife footage. And I love it.
Millers videos have inspired others to start using trail cameras. But theres a responsible way to do that which he follows: not revealing exact locations in footage in order to protect the animals.
While were excited to see the new image Not everybody shoots with a camera, Hart said. And thats what worries us. That someone mayfor reasons known only to themgo and try to take that creature out.
Amateur trail cam operators are also asked to notify Arizona Game and Fish or U.S. Fish & Wildlife when they find rare or endangered animals.