Need Help In Central Texas.........

[SWWASAS]

It is a bit late for this film canister, but if the same thing happens again, and you want to spring for the DNA test, biting will leave DNA. You would have to prepare the film canister, carefully wash it off with alcohol, and use clean rubber gloves to handle it before you load the camera and deploy it. The strange thing is that film can just be pulled out of the canister. Why would it have been bitten too? They want to discourage you but do not want to destroy the camera? Of course my theory has always been that BF only have a marginal understanding of photography. How they would get that I do not know other than lenses look like eyes. Why don't you measure the radius of the bite marks, if they are that and determine the size of the jaw that would have made them? That might be interesting. You could compare your own bite mark radius and determine how big a jaw would have to be to make the marks on the film canister.

A military technique to determine if there has been movement in a certain area is to rake or sweep the ground as you leave. You could eradicate your own footprints and make it difficult to approach the camera without disturbing the soil. At least you might be able to figure out if who messed with the camera was human or something else.

Edited November 11, 2014 by SWWASASQUATCHPROJECT

[Bigtex]

It's entirely possible there's another explanation. I basically advertised here at the forums what & when I was doing this, maybe some members or non-members set this up to hoax me.......anything is possible, but would hate to think someone did this.

[SWWASAS]

One way or the other something physical happened. Either way you need to try to figure out who did it, human or BF. For sure it was not a bear moving your camera or something that simple. Some one or something, got into your camera, removed the film and tampered with the film cartridge. When camera tampering happens, perhaps my chain of cameras, with one camera watching the others is in order. At least something happened. Most of the time a camera is deployed and nothing happens to it one way or the other.

[WSA]

I'd keep your eyeballs peeled for signs of that film from here on out. I know you wil. The state of it, when and if you find it, might tell you something more. Like everyone else here, for now, I'm completely baffled for a plausible scenario that makes sense. Maybe that conclusion alone is significant.

 

But O.K., here's a stab at it......something with a mouth and hands put the cannister inside its mouth and between its teeth, clamped down to hold it fast and stripped the film out from between its teeth with its hands. (I have to note though, clamping down on the opening is not going to make stripping the film out any easier) If so, the orientation of curve of the bite radius would be significant, if you can tell. Can you say if the cannister was inside the mouth, or outside of it, based on the curve of the teeth marks? 

[Cotter]

Maybe it was doing the ol' handkerchief in the mouth trick?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyw0CX41JLA

[SWWASAS]

From the picture it looks like the radius of the marks were away from the canister. If biting was involved then the canister was outside the mouth. Film is pretty rare now. So unless it was human, perhaps it was something unknown to whoever messed with the camera. There are younger humans that probably have never seen a film camera either.

[Bigtex]

I have barely handled the damaged film canister since retrieving, it's back in the plastic case, and could send it off someplace if knew where, any suggestions?

 

I marked the picture in red on the undamaged canister to show the bite arc, and the film must have been removed before this was done.

 

It would break my own teeth if I tried, as a fair amount of pressure is needed to make the impressions.

 

If humans did this, would certainly like to know what they used to damage the canister, and at the same time......so very careful not to leave any additional sign.

 

Also, this camera was strapped to the tree tightly, and the strap would have to be released first to even open the camera.

 

Someone or thing re-strapped the camera, and wove in the smaller tree limbs back around the camera just like I did........lotta effort involved here.

 

Yes Randy, canister was mostly out of 'the mouth', with just the canister lip inside.......there is material on the lip that looks to be absorbent, might have soaked up some spit:)

Edited November 12, 2014 by Bigtex

[WSA]

Well...how about somebody without pockets needed a way to hold on to the cannister as it repositioned the camera with both hands? (O.K., I'm grasping here, I know) Somebody needed to hold onto to it REAL hard too?

[Bigtex]

Hey WSA.......you are not grasping, was thinking the same thing. I had to get in an awkward position, push & hold the box to the tree with my head, strap & tighten with the other two hands, and wasn't easy, all the while trying not to leave any ground disturbances. This would be even harder if it was night. Of course, I'm not even fumbling around with the film canister as you mentioned..........maybe I'm in the wrong forums on this one, it's Alien's! 

[SWWASAS]

Well I don't expect aliens want to be on film either.     Did you see the pictures from one of the Mars Rovers that showed a ball of light moving just above the surface of Mars?    NASA is pretending it did not happen.   Those darn cameras are just such a problem sometimes. 

[Bigtex]

I am joking about the Alien's of course, and will close this chapter as just another weird unexplained thing that happens in the field.

 

Planning another similar outing and will stay around all night this time.

 

I will post the results after the fact this time.......just in case I attract party crashers:)

Edited November 13, 2014 by Bigtex

[Guest sacripper]

Bigtex,

Was the camera on public land or private? If on public the was it close enough to private land for a land owner to think it was on their property?

Having read the situation I am wondering if there might have been a person who heard the shutter and or flash and decided they didn't want to be on camera. Maybe they were worried they were trespassing or maybe they were carrying a poached animal or ???? Lots of possible scenarios here where a human didn't like being filmed.

Hard as I try I can't imagine a BF doing what you described. I agree they probably have the manual dexterity, just don't think they would know to go after the film.

Fwiw,

Grant in iowa

[Bigtex]

It was fairly remote, and hard to get to public land, with city land nearby and No Trespassing there. Here is a picture of the gate they would have to use to access this land, posted before, and after careful inspection, I could tell the gate hasn't been opened in quite sometime.

 

Also, can't hear the camera, even close by......the box muffles the sound very well, but of course the flash.

[Bigtex]

I agree with you sacripper about the many scenarios involving humans on this, and the only part that doesn't make sense is the damaged film canister......just trying to understand why that was done.

 

The only two reasons I can come up with are 1) A warning from a BF, or 2) A person that wanted me to think that a BF did it.

 

I'm hoping for the former, and tells me that my homemade Game-Cam works!

 

If you read back when I was planning this, I knew it would be important to stay in the area, and have the sound recording evidence too, neither of which I was able to do:(

[Airdale]

Tex, is it possible that a tool like these Vice Grip welding pliers could have done the damage to the canister.

 

 

That could account for the equivalent force applied for each impression. It still doesn't account for the "why" of the damage. WRT a BF being responsible, that seems like a stretch to me. Even allowing for the possibility of the intelligence, opening the back of a 35 mm film camera can be a challenge even for a human with small hands like mine, depending on the mechanism. I've had cameras that open with a slide lever, at least one that opened by pulling the rewind knob up an extra notch after rewinding the film. One compact where the entire back pulled away after prying up and rotating a locking handle that recessed flush with the bottom of the camera. The more I think about it, the more it seems that it was done by someone with more than a passing knowledge of that type of equipment considering it was after dark and the camera was re-concealed. Your custom triggering setup might have caught even a pro by surprise, but the response speaks of a person or persons who are not strangers to that kind of work. Seems pretty sophisticated for a poacher.