Got a new trail camera.

[WolfCub]

I've been dithering over these for a while now. Recently had some overtime and extra jobs on so had some cash not already spoken for
Had a look around and couldn't make any real sense of all the jargon and blurb. Contacted BushrangerCZ and asked for some advice which he very generously and happily gave. Thanks !
I've now speant my money and have a nice new piece of gizmo kit to play with !

Had it up for several nights/days in different locations round the Farm. Think I've been fairly lucky so far with pictures and vids captured.

Was very pleased with the badgers. They turned up with in a few minutes of the same time for three evenings. The foxs varied over an hour. Also got pics and vids of muntjack, mice, rats, farmer, pigeon, squirell and the farm dogs.

This camera is going to get a lot of use. We have our own familly who enjoy the wildlife around us. Also have a number of school educational visits to the farm each term and numerous Cub and Scout visits.
What I hope to build up is a library of pics and vids taken at various fixed locations round the Farm throughout the year. These can then be pulled up on a laptop as we go round and used to build up and expand on what we can share with the groups.
With just the one cam and the varied movement of the wildlife on the Farm this could take some time.

 

[JAG009]

Well done, results straight away with you new toy ,,good pics
can you tell me were you got it and what make it is

Cheers


Jason

 

[Dave]

Great stuff. They must completely change your perspective on the local nocturnal wildlife.

 

[WolfCub]

Hello Jason, I'm lucky in living on a farm and having a fair idea of likely hit sites, it'll get harder I'm sure.
I went with the recomendation of BushrangerCZ as to make and model. It's a 'Bushnell Trophy cam - brown'.

Bought it over the phone from Photosound Cameras in Bishop Stortford. Their website is down at moment but if you phone them they are very helpful.
It is cheaper in the US but if any problems it'd be harder to sort it out. So I paid a bit more to have reasurance of a retailer with a shop and staff. They were within a few £ of the best prices I could find for UK online price.
No connection with them other than this purchase but very happy with their service.

Duncan

 

[JAG009]

Thanks for the info Duncan ,good luck getting more good pics, hope to see some more soon .

Cheers


Jason

 

[WolfCub]

Set the camera on the bird table this afternoon. In just under 2 hours it took over 300 pic's.
Thats a lot of duffs to trawl through and deleat !
Did get some good ones though.

Cam' was strapped to a stack of garden chairs. Must find a tripod and figure out best angle to set it at. I had hopped to get the woodpeckers that occasionaly visit but they didn't oblige today.

 

[Dave]

How's the new trail Cam coming Wolfcub?
I got one a few days back, http://www.bushnell-store.co.uk/trail-cameras-c72/trophy-cam-2011-trail-camera-camouflage-p1043
and I'm gonna give it its first trial run tonight in the back garden. I'm also pretty sure we have a fox and a hedgehog visiting nightly.
[Summat's been nicking the blackbirds pears off the lawn......!]

 

[Dave]

Well, we had this visitor in the garden last night. So it works! But the image quality is crap. Will have to get used to the settings. Any advice on settings? I'll have to ask BushRangerCZ for some tips.
I can see how these could be fun.

[/IMG]

 

[daveO]

You won't get great pics from a trail cam especially at night. They're really just to show you what animals are around rather than to get good pics of them. I find video is a better option at night, and making sure that the camera is far enough away to avoid the subject being too bright but close enough so that it can be seen clearly. Easier said than done though...

Got a great capture earlier in the year though, completely by accident.

 

[Dave]

Aye thats a beauty daveO. I tried the cam, and it works well. Have you seen sme of the rsults BushrangerCZ gets though?

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66325

some cracking shots with the trail cam

 

[daveO]

Wow I must have missed that thread, amazing stuff. Thanks for the link.

 

[BushrangerCZ]

Bushnell will do a good service to you mate

 

[WolfCub]

Had the trail cam up for a month or more pointed at an owl box in one of the barns that had signs of some activity.
Got absolutely nothing of interest.

Then we had a couple of nights hearing a barn owl near the buildings and the wood just above so quickly put it back up.

Result ! Got quite a few pics of the owl as well as some other things. The owl pics were all with the ir flash so visualy not stunning. The excitement is in catching something we only normaly hear. Also with the date and time stamp we can start to figure if there is a routine to the visits and possibly sit up in the hay loft opposite to catch a real sighting.

Good catch on the fox Dave. It takes a bit of playing around with the location, hieght, angle, distance etc to get the best pics. Still learning here and some locations, like with the owl box, pressent only one workable option.

Looking at the pics and time stamps on the owl images the bird isn't ressident ( or the squirel could have had a nasty suprise !) No images of the owl coming out of the box, only of it already on the ledge and to the right of entrance.
We have another box up in a tree line on the farm that had 3 chicks raised earlier in the year. Be nice if both boxes were active next season.