alexm Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 (edited) Inspired by this thread I thought I'd invest in one of these gadgets to try and get some intel on the enemy at a local sheep farm that's recently lost a string of lambs. As I was trying to get an idea of what direction they were coming from I set it up to grab video clips... here's a few from the last couple of nights... First a still of the enemy! Badger... (click to view vid) Two sets of foxy eyes, watch stage right! Bunny Family of moggys... Mr Fox again Now here's an interesting one, taken this evening... In this one, I am actually just out of shot to the left lying in wait behind a wheelie bin with a shotgun!... The fox appeared in front of me in the gloom, then bolted.... what looks like a smokey whisp on the IR camera shooting across from the left is the beam of my lamp.... didn't even get a shot off! Edited February 8, 2008 by alexm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewis Posted February 8, 2008 Report Share Posted February 8, 2008 great vidds n pics mate, i should invest in one and gather intel on the enemy cheers Lew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v-max Posted February 8, 2008 Report Share Posted February 8, 2008 Exelent looks like i need to come down for some sport.In your last vid it looks like you have made that fox more lamp shy than it already was & gave it a bit of a scare & will be a hard charlie to get now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAVAGE HMR Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 Great vids and pics mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazza Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 I enjoyed watching those. Where did you get the cam? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexm Posted February 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 it looks like you have made that fox more lamp shy than it already was & gave it a bit of a scare & will be a hard charlie to get now. They seem to be very wary already which is odd because apparently they haven't been lamped before... at least not on this farm. In virtually every picture they are looking straight at the camera and it only emits the faintest red glow when it takes the picture so they seem to be extremely alert to what's going on around them. One sign of a light on the horizon and they are off, which is why I am having to try an ambush where I know they will be. I had some initial success calling them in the dark without a lamp, but obviously this depends on me being able to see them before they can see me! Any other suggestions gratefully received! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexm Posted February 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 I enjoyed watching those. Where did you get the cam? I got it shipped over from Cabelas in the States http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/template..._requestid=1854 You can also get them from here (also in the US): http://huntingproductsetc.com/cart/index.p...products_id=255 It's a great product, and cheaper and more highly specced than any equivalent I could find in the UK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magman Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 Bait up for a week putting bait down about 4 oclock . After a week get there early and well hidden ,should work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexm Posted February 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Just been out to change the memory card over... The farmer didn't tell me he was going to move a load of sheep into this paddock. 62 photos of woolly ruminants! Shows the daytime quality though... And another moggy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean k Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Can't wait to get mine, have a group of mates who head out to USA at the end of the season and buy loads of cool gear!! They are back in 2 days and then I can set mine up!! How long do the batterys last for?? I have got a 2gb card but think the power will go before it fills!! Dean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexm Posted February 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 (edited) They say the batteries last "up to 150 days".... so quite a long time. Mine has been out a week and is still on 99% on the battery indicator, although I don't know how accurate this is. It also depends on whether you have the remote enabled, and how many pics it takes etc. I'm using a 2Gb card too... the images on the second highest quality setting are about 800k and the display says I have over 2,000 pics remaining! I've got 2 cards, so I can easily swap them over and take the pics away to view at home so I don't have to take the camera down or bring a laptop out with me. Edited February 11, 2008 by alexm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry d Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Nice pics there, if it weren`t for the wooly maggots and the badger I`d have ran wires all over the place as it seems to be a vermin highway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexm Posted February 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Nice pics there, if it weren`t for the wooly maggots and the badger I`d have ran wires all over the place as it seems to be a vermin highway. Yes, the thought crossed my mind too... I had hoped to identify some runs to snare. There is a disused railway that runs for several miles passing by the back of this paddock and it is an overgrown highway for wildlife. They can pretty much come and go as they like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexm Posted February 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Update We have been experiencing a kind of freezing fog the last couple of nights and the Game Spy has been struggling with this. Condensation forms on the lens and freezes meaning that pretty much all the night shots have been useless. Not really a limitation of the design, just one of those things I guess. I was out last night and ice was literally forming on my gun barrel so the conditions are far from ideal. The case seems to do a pretty good job of keeping the moisture out though because then the sun comes up the outside of the lens dries up nicely with no fog left on the inside and the daytime pictures are completely clear again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferretboy111 Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Thats really neat, certainly would benefit in snaring to find the regular runs of the foxes. I take it its a infa red outfit so can take pictures in the dark, how far is the range of it during the night? Certainly seems to be a worth while piece of kit. Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexm Posted February 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 I take it its a infa red outfit so can take pictures in the dark, how far is the range of it during the night? Yes, it reverts to monochrome infra red at night. The range of the motion detector is not huge, 4 or 5 metres probably... maybe a bit more depending on the conditions. The infra red LED's light up a similar sized area. There is a bit of a delay as the camera focuses too so you need to set it up with this in mind. For example, if the animal is travelling across the field of view left<->right quite quickly it might be out of shot by the time it takes the photo so it's best to try and point it more in the direction the animal is travelling. It has now confirmed that one hole in the hedge I was going to snare is being regularly shared with a badger (which I saw again last night) so it has saved me some possible grief there! (As an aside isn't it amazing how totally different a badger's approach to humans is. The fox I am after spots me and either bolts, or tries to sneak around me... the badger turns around in the glare of the lamp, shrugs and carries on about his business, completely unperturbed! The damn thing wouldn't go away and was scratching around making loads of noise and ruining my stakeout ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexm Posted February 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2008 Some more... Looks like it could be a territorial scent marking spot given foxy's interest... Great white hunter ... where's the ginger ***?... Oh, here he is, running late! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexm Posted March 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 We've shot two foxes so far and the routine seems to have been broken. They were running by the lambing shed regularly at about 2200 each night. I have moved the camera to by the lambing shed to keep an eye on activity but I'm going to back off until the cubbing season is over and only target them if they are seen coming in for the lambs. Here's a photo taken Monday night... a bemused looking sheep watching the fox's disappearing brush! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted March 6, 2008 Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 Im just waiting for the photo that includes both you and the fox next seems you keep missing eachother :yp: Good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnGalway Posted March 6, 2008 Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 Great photo's and videos Alex :yp: There is a bit of a delay as the camera focuses too so you need to set it up with this in mind. For example, if the animal is travelling across the field of view left<->right quite quickly it might be out of shot by the time it takes the photo so it's best to try and point it more in the direction the animal is travelling. The delay is actually because of the great battery life. Moultrie has made the camera so that it goes into a "sleep" mode to save on power. Battery life is ridiculously long to be honest, but it does come at the price that it takes I think up to three seconds to come to life and take the pic. It doesn't sound like a long time but we all know how quick foxy can move. I've had many photos of scenery, most of that is my own fault having such open ground and not siting it correctly. Here are two sites anyone thinking of getting a trail camera absolutely have to read here and here. The most important thing to be aware of is that not all of these cameras will do the same job. For instance, I believe the Moultrie (which I also own) is more suited to say a deer feeding station or salt lick or whatever it is ye deer hunters stick out for them (Or a bait station or carcass for fox). In that situation the camera doesn't actually have to be all that quick in taking the photo. But, if you're intent on setting it along a trail or run to take photos of animals that are on the move, or even people for that matter, I honestly think (taking into account I've spent my own money too) there are better options. Such as the Reconyx (expensive! but look at the person walking across it's field of view, it had them in shot almost before they were in shot, that's impressive.) or a Bushnell Trail Scout (cheaper but I'm a little concerned about it it's on it's way to me though). They all have their pro's and con's, it's up to you to really have a think about what you want to capture on camera and how it will behave at the camera site Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted March 6, 2008 Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 Quite fascinating, it certainly adds an interesting slant to things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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