Trapping animals, photographically

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We get a fair bit of wildlife in out garden. We have seen foxes, hedgehogs, squirrels, bats and lots of different birds. I had considered getting a camera to see what goes on at night, but when we visited my parents I saw my dad had bought a wildlife camera and he offered to lend it to me.

The camera is a CamPark T80 which manages 20 megapixels and high definition video with infrared recording.

Fox

Blurry fox

This was a fox last night. I put some water out there to see if anything would come out. I did set the date and time, but sometimes it is showing a default value. It can run off eight AA batteries and does not recommend rechargeables. I have it running from a power supply.

Camera

The unit looks quite sturdy. It has three PIR sensors so it can detect animals coming across the field of view. Using it on the tripod is tricky as the bottom screen hole results in the power supply socket getting blocked. It has fixings on the back for strapping to a tree or pole as well as a second tripod screw.

Inside

Inside is a screen and controls to configure it as well as viewing the pictures. There are lots of options. You can enable wifi on it, which allows you to connect your phone to is as an access point and use their app to download images. It takes a standard SD card for storage.

The only other animal I have caight so far is the neighbour's cat.

Cat

It is set to record video and still, but has only done a couple of videos at night that were not too interestng.

I will try it in some different locations to see what else we can spot.



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25 comments
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Amazing...
How do you get to do this recording? Do you place a monitor at home and watch what's happening in the wildlife from home? Or do you just play the video and leave it there?
Sorry for being too inquisitive to learn.

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The camera is automatic and detects movement to decide when to take pictures. If running from batteries you could leave it in the woods to capture what is going on.

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Oh that's absolutely awesome.

And yes set up a watering station. Just leave this camera record for a while and you will be absolutely astounded at the amount of wildlife that will learn there is available water.

As well as putting a little salt lick out... I don't really recommend putting food out because that will really draw them in however having a little watering stop for wildlife is definitely a very humane and amazing thing for a human being to do..

Got to remember about those little critters out there.

And now with the circle of life being what it is any watering hole automatically becomes a choke point for predators.... Just facts of Life but ironically it definitely stands to reason why bars have so much violence...

Anyway keep capturing those pictures of wildlife you would be really surprised what will end up here soon on that camera.

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My dad has a tiny garden, so he won't get so much. We have some wild areas near us so there is plenty of wildlife around. We see lots of bird during the day, but there are owls around. I'm having fun with it.

!BEER

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And that's the most important thing is for you to have fun and absolutely enjoy what you do.

I can't wait to see the upcoming critters!

One of these days I need to get one of these trail cameras and set it up and see what I get around my camp at night.

One night I had a mountain lion. I had to look up what the sound was of different creatures. When I got to the mountain lion meow all a sudden I got Hairs on the back of my neck standing straight up.

You never know what's going on in the dark until you finally see in the dark.

Which I can't wait as well for the next generations of night vision goggles to come out that are able to see and record in full color..

Syonix is a company I really want to check out.

Now if I only could part with some of my toys to get night vision.

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No lions around here. A fox is the largest predator we are likely to see and they are not too dangerous to people.

Be careful out there!

!BEER

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My dad had one of these cameras setup, looking over his garden. It's out in the country and said all he was getting was the farm cats roaming around. He told me he was a bit disappointed until one night a cat was basically sitting in view, staring at the camera, for quite awhile, doing nothing. Then you see a blur of what looks like a coyote come into frame. My dad joked the cat was just baiting the coyote so he could help get a good picture...

And the cat was fine.

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It would be better if it had wifi on all the time so I didn't have to go out and switch it over, but it's just a bit of fun. A guy at work has one on his house all the time and sees various foxes and bats. You can get them fairly cheap. Not going to see a coyote around here unless they escape from a zoo.

I've heard cats are not at too much risk from foxes. Ours is a bit old, so she doesn't go out at night anyway.

!BEER

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Coyotes are even running wild in the cities here. Some house cats, if they're used to being around dogs, will walk right up to a coyote and want to cuddle. Coyote is like, "Are you kidding me? I don't even have to hunt today?" It's unfortunate but that's usually where the strays and lost ones end up. At night out in the wilderness, their howling and yapping makes it sound like there's 100 out there in the darkness somewhere. They're actually one of my favorite animals. And now I'll even see the odd coywolf. And that's without a camera.

I'm not sure if foxes go for prey as large as a cat. Around here they go after gophers and things like that. Chickens too. Trash.

I might get a couple of these cameras if they're cheap. When its hunting season you can actually find them growing wild on trees...
A bit of a joke...

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We have chickens, but have never lost one to a fox. Came close once when the chickens were out during the day. The run is well protected, but there's no real sign the foxes tried to get in. A neighbour lost their chickens recently, so it is a risk.

We don't get much large wildlife. There are some deer and badgers around. I hit a badger with the car once and it made a real mess of the car. I think cars kill more wildlife than anything else.

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Badgers. I don't know what yours are like but here, if the ground is growling, you run. We have those wolverines too. Stay out of their way. And if you're walking in the woods, you have to talk loud to yourself and friends. That scares the bears away. Startle one and it won't like you, one bit. Wild cats too but they're elusive. They exist, you never see them but if you do, they're running away. And so many different kinds of birds I still haven't learned all their names. They make it sound like living in a jungle here during summer. It's awesome.

And yes for sure, roadways and wildlife don't mix. Hitting a moose here is more like the moose hitting you. They don't usually run out in front like deer do though. I nearly hit a buck while traveling back roads/trail on my dirt bike. It then decided to take the same path as me, so we raced for a bit until he darted off into the woods again.

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I've never seen a live badger, not even the one I hit, as they are pretty shy animals and tend to avoid humans. We don't have much that would attack you.

A friend hit a deer on his motorbike and broke a few bones. I've come close a couple of times.

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When I was eleven years old, I had a smaller dirt bike, kid size 80cc. I hit a cow calf on the farm, traveling down my wooded trail. Crazy thing ran out from some brush. It was fine, but I wasn't. Broke both the clutch lever and front brake lever on the handlebars.

Plus I had to explain to dad...

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I'm thinking of getting one or two wildlife cameras as security cameras, I think they'd do the job quite nicely!

They are great pieces of tech, wonder what you'll find!?

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There are systems specifically for security. You might want an alert when it spots someone. I expect they have some 'AI' to recognise people these days. I am just playing with this one.

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Yes fair point, I will shop around of course, but i think these wildlife cams are cheaper!

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I definitely need one of those, lately I've been hearing strange noises in the yard and I don't even know what animal they are from, my wife is freaking out.

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There are some fairly cheap models out there. May be worth trying one.

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Nice! I saw two deer in the backyard where I am sitting right now in Big Canoe, Georgia

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