Brief update on latest research and question about white post

[Xion Comrade]

So first question is what is this post? There is nothing techy about it, no wires or anything, just those plastic beehive things on top with nothing in them bolted to a wooden post and a metal pipe coming out of it with grease or food on it and a cap screwed on the end to close it up. I think it's some sort of feeder, it is in a national forest where I have researched for 3+ years with tremendous success, that is right where I usually rendezvous with my foots. I had left gifts up there and they were all gone, the foots apparently took it all once they figured I wasn't coming back there for a long time...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ME6xS2IdNA

 

 

 

And here is some of the latest big blessings...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdKXyfU3wtE&t=411s

The best knock I have ever recorded in my area

 

 

 

https://soundcloud.com/dustin-ryan-templeton/kiamichi-knocks-amplify2?in=dustin-ryan-templeton/sets/kiamichi-mountains-trip-2-nighter

And I finally was able to make that trip to the Kiamichis, spent 2 nights up there and came out with this beauty! Woke me right the heck up.

[Sasfooty]

That thing is strange! I hope somebody knows what it is.

[Xion Comrade]

Yup! No wires or anything, those fins felt like plastic too, I could see up under them all and they are just bolted onto the post for no reason I can figure, just like plates upside down, and there was like grease or food around the cap where the pipe is sticking out, never did take the cap off though. That is not private property but that doesn't stop people from messing around in the woods for hunting season, I find stands sometimes in those mountains just sitting up lol

[Sasfooty]

Did you look around for game cams ? I keep thinking it may be something to see who & what has been around.

[Xion Comrade]

Yes I checked that thing in and out, there is nothing electronic or special about it! I've never seen any cameras up there, no reason for them really I guess, there are just so many critters to blow away they practically come to you! I have found where ages ago people had baited bears and things, like rusted barrels and such, but that's it!

[hiflier]

Can't say for sure but it looks to be what is called a Stevenson Screen set up which is a kind of weather box. The louvers allow things like humidity and temperature but discourage other elements like wind and rain. The height looks about right though the cylindrical part looks smaller in height and diameter than usual. I'll see if I can find a photo of one.

 

It could also be an insect trap to monitor perhaps beetle infestations by using a pheromone as an attractant.. If it is a weather box then there may be a battery pack and space to allow for taller instruments. The boxes though are supposed to be not under the tree canopy and so have distances to maintain away from trees of certain heights. Don't know what the extended pipe is in the side unless it something to grab onto for augering into the ground?

Edited January 21, 2017 by hiflier

[Xion Comrade]

It was just a pipe sticking out about 1.5-2 feet with a screw on cap on it and what looked like grease around the threads of the screw part, never did undo it. The thing ontop is plastic and is just bolted/screwed into the wood with nothing else up in those fins/plates besides that, the whole thing is clean and the paint is obviously to good on it to have been out in that area for long, trees are hanging overtop of it.

[JustCurious]

Did you contact the Park Office/Ranger Station and ask them what it might be? 

[Xion Comrade]

Nope, I have kept the area private, as far as anyone needs to know there isn't a soul that knows about it or the fact that someone even goes there at all, and that especially goes for any rangers, they don't give a good researcher hardly anything but trouble if you ask me. Secrecy is the only reasonable way to keep a decent research area going tbh if you ask me. I figure it is just some mundane thing, but there was definitely some curiosity about it and where it was at so I figured I might as well ask!

[Old Dog]

This appears to be a remote weather sensor for sensing barometric pressure and temperature.  The threaded pipe to the side is for mounting a wind speed and directional piece, but would not be needed in the area that it is deployed in, due to the surrounding woods.  It appears to be a standard set up, like the ones we used in college for doing research, but only has the one sensor piece mounted.  Our's were round, this one is square, but serves the same function.

 

As for keeping this area a secret, it would appear that is now a lost cause, and you may not get the results you once did due to increased traffic.  Hopefully I'm wrong.

[Xion Comrade]

The area is still definitely banging with activity, I would doubt that thing gets much attention, it certainly won't get any during the winter as the gates to the area are all shut and locked and will stay that way until about april or may. Regardless I am moving to the east coast and will be finding more areas in the swamps!

 

That is the only explanation I can figure too, but shouldn't there be more to those plastic "fins" than just...plastic fins?

Edited January 23, 2017 by Xion Comrade

[LeafTalker]

That white thing is weird.... Loved the knock in the second video! That was super loud!!!! And loved all your thoughts about flashlights, safety, etc. 

 

And there might be some other stuff in that second video. Possible eyeshine at 00:00-00:02, lower left corner. Eyeshine on the right at 00:27. Stick break at 1:06-1:07 (unless that was you).

 

Thanks for sharing those vids with us!

[Old Dog]

On 1/22/2017 at 5:26 PM, Xion Comrade said:

 

 

That is the only explanation I can figure too, but shouldn't there be more to those plastic "fins" than just...plastic fins?

 

If it is what I surmise it to be, there is a small circuit board inside with some small sensors attached to it.  The fins are meant to let the air in for taking readings, but deflect rain so that the circuitry stays dry and doesn't malfuntion.  The plastic fins should actually be, just plastic fins.

[Yuchi1]

In the south, they have been using something similar for 20+ years around the edges of cotton fields to detect the presence of certain agricultural insect pests with the coloration of the device allegedly being what draws the bugs to the device. Wonder if this may be something along those lines?