Trail Camera Safety Net

[TritonTr196]

1 hour ago, hiflier said:

Might be a fun experiment to aim a cam at a plain, empty, un-camo'd recorder box hanging on a branch just to see what if anything messes with it- especially at the height you place it. My guess? You've already done that though. 

 

 

Done that in the past. We have around 30 trail cams out. 7 of them being the new bushnell aggressor wireless black led trail cams. And with the advent of black led wireless trail cams, our research has gotten a little more serious. They are out in different research areas in several different states. Some of them are in our best areas and they are put in places that isn't that noticeable. In our best areas we don't want anything to be seen very easily so don't really want traditional infrared trail cams to give off any light and disturb our area. I don't subscribe to the fact that Bigfoot would know if a camera is placed high up in a tree and knows or was even aware of our presence in the area when we put them out unless one just see's it in the tree if it's not camouflaged. I know my house inside and out, I can't find my car keys sometimes, and Bigfoot is certainly no different. We do however, place audio recorders near our best placed trail cams. These are places members live the closest too. Our audio recorders only records for four days and nights continually before the batteries runs out and we have to go retrieve the audio and replace the batteries once a week. Some of our trail cams are out for around 4 months at a time before having the batteries replaced.

 

Sorry, but there isn't enough Bigfoot in these large state and national forests to watch all the amounts of people in those parks day and night, to see what everyone is doing. Now we do put the trail cams and audio recorders out in areas we've had encounters, and they are also places people doesn't or rarely ever treads in these places. Bigfoot can only live in the hardest accessible places in these areas, and that's where we do our research. I will suggest this, Old forgotten out of the way mapped natural springs from very old topo maps is the first and best place to start your research in any area with a camera or not.  

[hiflier]

28 minutes ago, TritonTr196 said:

I will suggest this, Old forgotten out of the way mapped natural springs from very old topo maps is the first and best place to start your research in any area with a camera or not.

 

Thanks T. That's a vey good piece of advice. Especially for areas that are not that plentiful when it comes to much fresh running water in late summer or early fall.

[NCBFr]

On 7/29/2017 at 10:35 AM, hiflier said:

 

Of course if there is an EM field that is detectable by an animal I haven't heard of one but it makes sense. Any electrical source generates EM fields including battery powered devices. One reasonably cheap way to know whether game cams do this is this. Think I'll get one.:

 

https://www.amazon.com/ElectroSensor-Electro-Magnetic-Field-Detector/dp/B000G82KLI

 

The things you learn in shark week:

 

Sixth Sense: The Ampullae of Lorenzini

 

Notice the small pores of the ampullae on this Blue Shark Photo: Mary O'Malley

 

 

Sharks have a solid reputation for locating prey by smell, especially over long distances. However, they can also pick up on the small electrical fields generated by other animals (Campagno et al. 2005). Near the nostrils, around the head and on the underside of the snout, or rostrum, are small pores called ampullae of Lorenzini. Connected to the pores are long, jelly-filled bulbs that lead to nerves below the skin (Sharks: Silent hunters of the deep).

Electrical signals coming from muscle movements of other organisms are received by the ampullae and transmitted through jelly-filled bulbs where they strike the nerves and signal the brain (Sharks: Silent Hunters of the Deep).

Sharks typically have several thousand ampullar pores; the scalloped hammerhead shark, for example, has over 3,000, and the number remains the same during the shark’s life (Kajiura 2001). In many elasmobranch species, the pores are most dense near the mouth, where prey movements are last sensed before being captured.

When light is scarce in murky water or at depths, and vision is impaired, this electromagnetic sense is especially useful for locating prey. Among skates, close relatives of rays, those that inhabit deeper habitats have larger ampullae than shallow-water skates (Raschi 1986). This difference in ampulla size is probably compensation by deep-water skates for their reduced ability to depend on vision for hunting.

Not only is electroreception used to locate other sharks or prey, but it is also employed as a compass during migration.

[Guest Cricket]

I've been thinking about this trail cam issue and was wondering a few things regarding the problems with electronic/digital photography in trying to capture images of BF.  I don't know anything about trailcam technology, but what was used for this purpose prior to digital cameras?  Could an old fashioned film camera be rigged to take photos by a triggering system of some kind?  Then there's the night photo problem.  Film cameras may not be workable at night unless there was a flash, of course, but daytime use could work. 

[SWWASAS]

There have been numerous reports of something triggering game cams by reaching around from behind.   Could be human but could be BF.     Perhaps have one obvious game cam as bait with several well hidden ones watching it.  If they are interesting to BF why not use them as bait.  

 

I live in the country and am often woken up by noises in the night.    I get up go look out a front window for vehicle with prowlers in the long driveway.     I ordered a Guardline System from Amazon.     It is an IR movement detector that has a stated 500 foot range from the detector to the receiver.     The detector has a 40 foot range.    You can pick various warning sounds that the receiver makes when it detects motion.    I picked a dog barking but there are crickets and other natural sounds.    The receiver can accommodate 16 sensors in 4 different zones.      It plugs in but the adapter that powers it produces 12 volts.   So a vehicle battery could power the receiver.   The sensors are powered by 4 AA cells.    I hung it on the back side of a tree not visible from the road.   It is brown and about the size of  a cigarette pack.     A ring of 16 could pretty well ring a camp at some distance and pick up motion of curious BF milling around.    It went off twice last night.    Most likely rodents since I did not see anything when I went out to check the area with a flashlight.    There was a deer in the yard this morning so it could have been that too.       Anyway if you are worried about being messed with or think you are when in camp, you might try this.   It does not take pictures but if it wakes you up you could find yourself up close and personal with a BF exploring camp.   Sometimes I wonder what would happen if we just invited them in for burgers and a beer or two.    Anyone ever try that?  

You know along with this electronic field awareness and seeing in the IR range is a elephant in the room that most are reluctant to talk about.      While I don't think it likely,   one has to keep the possibility in mind that BF could be an extraterrestrial entity with capabilities beyond humans or known forest creatures.    That could explain some of the woo woo things that have been observed now and then.    Until one is on a lab table we can not know for sure what they are.   

[Guest Cricket]

On 7/28/2017 at 10:04 PM, MIB said:

I'll share .. or remind, if you happen to have read it, too .. before he left Bipto and I were talking about trail cams.   Before going all-in on kill, his group tried cameras.   He said something interesting ... if he were going to go back to cameras, he'd skip digital and return to mechanical triggers, white flash, and film.   Something is wrong with the tech, it's got some sort of unidentified achilles' heel.   He might just be right.

 

MIB

 

Sorry, I missed this before posting above.  This is along the lines of what I was thinking.  Even some kind of pressure mat could serve as a triggering mechanism. 

[hiflier]

 

2 hours ago, Cricket said:

I've been thinking about this trail cam issue and was wondering a few things regarding the problems with electronic/digital photography in trying to capture images of BF.  I don't know anything about trailcam technology, but what was used for this purpose prior to digital cameras?  Could an old fashioned film camera be rigged to take photos by a triggering system of some kind?  Then there's the night photo problem.  Film cameras may not be workable at night unless there was a flash, of course, but daytime use could work. 

 

When the NAWAC thread was active they reported experiencing quite a few slaps on their cabin- some of which brought dust floating down from the interior roof framing. But when they had the electronic surveillance gear activated nothing occurred. I had suggested a normal film camera with flash aiming at the cabin set up with a trip wire. The trip wire was then connected to a mechanism that would drop a weighted object onto the shutter and WHAMMO! A Bigfoot caught on film. Never got a response and so I was going to do some experimentation of my own- which I never did. Maybe it's time to at least try out the set up to see if it works as described?

 

A manual winding film camera's button battery lasts forever it seems as it is only used for the light meter needle in the viewer. Flash batteries get burned up pretty quickly though. But I can see this camera mounted into a box or log with one of those short trigger cables attached through the top and when the weight falls it depresses the plunger in the cable. Pretty simple set up really. If night time photos/flash attachment weren't the focus (see what I did there?) then, for day time shots only, the camera battery should have a good amount of life. Besides, the flash unit may give off the same or worse 'noise' than a game cam.

Edited July 30, 2017 by hiflier

[SWWASAS]

Thom Powell participated in an investigation of a habituation situation in Washington State.    BF were running all over a rural property and getting into a refrigerator or freezer on the back porch.      The BF seemed to have a place behind the house where they would gather every night.    But when cameras were pointed at the area they would not go there.     Also when surveillance cameras were installed watching the appliance,  it was not raided.      As soon as the cameras were taken away, the raids on the refrigerator started again.    I do not know if the cameras were in plain sight or hidden in any way.     The BFRO were involved and at that time they were very into the dumb big ape theory of BF.  

 

A mechanical camera may not have electronic components if you go back far enough.   They certainly can be rigged to use a trip wire trigger.    But you get one picture when tripped, and the film has to be manually advanced.   I saw someone a couple of weeks ago, using one of those throw away cameras.     I did not know they still made them.   Flash would be particularly mean to use if BF has the night vision I think it does.    It may even damage their eyes. I have heard reports it really ticks them off.    Flash also has a limited range where things are in bright enough to be seen.   Beyond that range something could be in view but the camera does not pick it up.     A mechanical camera would have a far better chance of getting a picture in the daytime.    Fixed focus,   a manual aperture setting, and trip wire triggered would eliminate all the potential electronic issues.    Just autofocus on video cameras have messed up a lot of potential BF videos, when it wants to focus on branches between the camera and the subject.  Autofocus also slows down any camera taking a picture.  

Edited July 30, 2017 by SWWASAS

[SWWASAS]

Just found this on Amazon.     It measures RF, magnetic, and electrical fields.    Might be useful to test the gear we use to see what we are putting out.    Heaven forbid that the thing picks up fields when BF are around.    I don't want to go there with BF.   

 

Related to this,   in Skamania County Washington,   bigfoot hotspot of Washington, there is a large magnetic anomaly that is so strong, it is charted on Aeronautical charts.   I cannot help wonder if somehow that is associated with BF.   If not directly,   then is it a reason they are attracted to the area?    Geologically it should not be there.   The only thing I can think of is that a large iron meteorite impacted there, before the Columbia basalt flows buried the area in 2000 feet of basalt.     

[hiflier]

1 hour ago, SWWASAS said:

A mechanical camera may not have electronic components if you go back far enough.   They certainly can be rigged to use a trip wire trigger.    But you get one picture when tripped, and the film has to be manually advanced.

 

Yep. I have three Pentax K1000's that have been real workhorses forever it seems. Plenty of them around though most need work- the more expensive repair being a typical replacement of the light-blocking fabric around the edge of the internal mirror https://www.amazon.com/Pentax-K1000-Camera-50mm-Lens/dp/B001AO4JRK Two are bayonet mount lenses and the third is the screw mount. Both types have a full set of lenses from macro to telephoto and several filters for B&W enhancements along with polarizers. I also have a much sought after Minolta Spotmeter-F which is one of the finest 1 degree spot meters ever. Amazon gets $20 just for the manual. It doesn't list the meter itself though I've seen them going for as much as $280 new in a box mostly from Japan.

[MIB]

On 7/29/2017 at 9:49 AM, SWWASAS said:

The other factor that has not been mentioned, is that if we go into an active area and start deploying cameras,   we are likely detected entering the area and under observation the entire time.

 

I don't think that applies to the area I've been researching.    The bigfoots are not there year around.   This may sound too 'woo' for some but I swear, the whole dang area feels different when they're around than when they are not. 

 

MIB

[hiflier]

I don't think it sounds woo at all coming from someone, or anyone, that frequents an area often enough to read the 'atmosphere' so to speak. Sometimes it's subtle enough but familiarity with surroundings can allow one to be tuned to it. I've no doubt that creatures that live in an around those places know the softer changes very well even if it isn't something that Nature has done seasonally like tree falls or Humans like a new forestry road. If a BF or two or are present, or there's been more Human activity and visitation than normal, I can see a kind of domino effect happening. I've heard birds quiet down on my left followed by birds quieting down on my right. The air has a sort of silent pressure to it as a result.

[norseman]

17 hours ago, SWWASAS said:

Just found this on Amazon.     It measures RF, magnetic, and electrical fields.    Might be useful to test the gear we use to see what we are putting out.    Heaven forbid that the thing picks up fields when BF are around.    I don't want to go there with BF.   

 

Related to this,   in Skamania County Washington,   bigfoot hotspot of Washington, there is a large magnetic anomaly that is so strong, it is charted on Aeronautical charts.   I cannot help wonder if somehow that is associated with BF.   If not directly,   then is it a reason they are attracted to the area?    Geologically it should not be there.   The only thing I can think of is that a large iron meteorite impacted there, before the Columbia basalt flows buried the area in 2000 feet of basalt.     

 

The magma chambers of Mt. Adams?

 

http://library.seg.org/doi/abs/10.1190/1.1441987

Edited July 31, 2017 by norseman
Added

[SWWASAS]

     Nope Mt Adams is 60 miles away.      The magnetic anomaly that is charted on aeronauctical charts is one mile North of White Salmon.     There is up to a 6 degree error in a compass at ground level in the area.  

 

I would love to get my hands on some of the people detecting radar systems that are deployed around some high security military installations.    Anything moving is detected.    LIDAR also has potential.   Some lasar spinning should be able to detect motion between stationary objects like trees.    It just takes more tech savy than I have to develop systems like that.  Then again the more gadgets we deploy the less likely thccey are to come around.    Does that part bother anyone else?   If human hikers blunder into game cameras all the time,  and they do,   what do BF have special that lets them avoid?   

 

MIB in my case I  finally became aware of the thuds and thumps they make when they move around.    It is right in the bottom limit of my hearing and it took me quite a while to tune into it and realize when they were around.    I may have been aware of it on a subconscious level before that and got the hair on the back of the neck thing or being watched thing before that.     

Edited July 31, 2017 by SWWASAS

[bipedalist]

On 7/30/2017 at 1:07 PM, Cricket said:

 

Sorry, I missed this before posting above.  This is along the lines of what I was thinking.  Even some kind of pressure mat could serve as a triggering mechanism. 

 

Big Tex, a former member of this forum I have not seen in a long time manufactured a camera and trip mat arrangement that he was dissseminating for awhile at cost.  Not sure if he had much success with it but it was rigged to be hair trigger as I remember.  Problem with BF is they detrect small changes in their environment as I have learned and that probably includes recent dirt excavations and such too.  

On 7/30/2017 at 11:39 AM, NCBFr said:

 

The things you learn in shark week:

 

Sixth Sense: The Ampullae of Lorenzini

 

Notice the small pores of the ampullae on this Blue Shark Photo: Mary O'Malley

 

 

Sharks have a solid reputation for locating prey by smell, especially over long distances. However, they can also pick up on the small electrical fields generated by other animals (Campagno et al. 2005). Near the nostrils, around the head and on the underside of the snout, or rostrum, are small pores called ampullae of Lorenzini. Connected to the pores are long, jelly-filled bulbs that lead to nerves below the skin (Sharks: Silent hunters of the deep).

Electrical signals coming from muscle movements of other organisms are received by the ampullae and transmitted through jelly-filled bulbs where they strike the nerves and signal the brain (Sharks: Silent Hunters of the Deep).

Sharks typically have several thousand ampullar pores; the scalloped hammerhead shark, for example, has over 3,000, and the number remains the same during the shark’s life (Kajiura 2001). In many elasmobranch species, the pores are most dense near the mouth, where prey movements are last sensed before being captured.

When light is scarce in murky water or at depths, and vision is impaired, this electromagnetic sense is especially useful for locating prey. Among skates, close relatives of rays, those that inhabit deeper habitats have larger ampullae than shallow-water skates (Raschi 1986). This difference in ampulla size is probably compensation by deep-water skates for their reduced ability to depend on vision for hunting.

Not only is electroreception used to locate other sharks or prey, but it is also employed as a compass during migration.

 

 

Along these lines, many researchers attempted to use special HEX suits to screen EMF profiles that BF might pick up on (if equipped with special sensitivities such as above). 

Edited August 2, 2017 by bipedalist