One of the things that just wore me out on safari was getting up at 3am every day to go sit in a hyena blind, and never seeing a darn thing, though we did have our baits wiped out each night, and could hear all kinds of grab ass activity before daylight. Lion and hyena tracks everywhere.

I was flipping through Cabela's last night and started to wonder about those cameras you can strap to a tree etc, to get game pictures at night.

Has anybody tried this? I'm thinking it might be kind of cool for next years trip.

I'm not a fan of sitting for hours on end in a blind and find it very frustrating and I started using trail timers and motion detectors this year...... the longest I sat in a blind was an hour and the shortest time was 20 minutes. I also never sat in a blind without getting a result.......they worked a treat.

Unfortunately though I left the motion detector taped to a tree overnight thinking I'll go back and collect it in the morning...... by the time I got back there a bloody hyena had got hold of it and chewed the hell out of it! It's only got half an arial now and looks pretty buggered but it still works!

I'd guess a camera would work equally well.....

Mark, take a look at Adam Clemets Safari12's site. He has some shots of a leopard eating a bait with one of those cameras.
http://www.safaritrackers.com/2005photos/index.htm

Last year in Botswana we set them up at a couple of waterholes. As Steve said the hyenas thought they were food and destroyed them. So I guess they may be a great idea but they need to be fairly high to avoid varmints.

Mark

Adam Clements (Safari Trackers)used these cameras in '02 in western Tanzania and we eliminated Lion baits based on what the camera captured. He put them high up in the tree and shot downward to prevent issues with Hyenas or rouge anteaters. This technology coupled with encrypted time of photo lets you know the timing of the action. As Mark mentioned they are still being used.
Robert

Mark,

I am buying a Cuddyback trail camera for the Selous in 06...


Mike

I had a real exercise in frustration with this effort this past season. I have an old digital camera and a motion sensor that is battery operated. I wired them together kinda and got it to work OK when tested but in practice it was kind of a struggle. I made it work but it was a pain in the butt to deal with. Once I actually figured out how to get it all to work it was pretty amusing. Here are some of the photo's it took while set up at a few different places.


A curious Kudu with those big ears could probably hear the bits forming it's picture inside that camera


Some time later this nice impala ram was strolling by


Another photo from the same place with warthogs(2) and an impala

Maribou storks and a vulture on a gut pile[/img]


On that tiny little camera window I could not see anything at first. Then I used the zoom function and saw that through the reflective dust particles there was a buffalo staring right at the camera! Must have been a whole lot of them to stir up the dust before the camera fired.

another at the gut pile several levels of activity here!

I'll have this thing figured out with a better mounting system and a larger memory card for next visit. I think I can get some awsome photos using this setup I bandaided together if I can solve a couple little issues.

Here are a couple more that I just found


Young waterbuck bull

Another couple of warthogs

A friend of mine took one with him to Namibia last year and put it up on a water hole. The picture turned out good. Very similar to those posted above. It was one of the 35mm jobs and he had planned on getting a digital, so he left it with the PH.

I thought about taking one with me on my trip, but it was just one more thing to carry and worry about so I did not bother with it. I kind of wish I had now.

That is the same trick the Craig B, talks about on the last video,, seems the PH running Chufuti{sp}, likes them for leopard baits.

JJHACK,

Do you miss many shots due to digital shutter lag?

Jaywalker

Mark,
Do you know the make/model of the one Adam uses? Doesn't the flash scare off the animals?

quote:

Originally posted by SBT: Mark,Do you know the make/model of the one Adam uses? Doesn't the flash scare off the animals?

Scott, Adam uses the Cuddybacks. We set some up at baits, they worked great and take an excellent picture at night, and MOST animlas do not seem to give notice to the flash. I set one up on a lion bait, they are not easy to position as there is no "viewfinder" or aiming device.

With a digital card reader and notebook we were able to review the pictures while in the field, to see what was feeding and when. It does not take the place of sitting, but does help in optimizing time and evaluating age. And it is fun. I have pict's of leopard and lion which I'll post. Really cool.

I say most - as three young male lions chewed on one of the Cuddybacks that Brian was using in Lobo, they didn't eat the memory card at least, so he was able to tell they were not shooters.

Mark, if you do it, you won't be sorry. It is fun, and just having the pictures is neat. And you can position them high to help stay out of harms way, and/or put some thorn bush around, although don't be shocked if it does get chewed on.

They also sell a steel case to protect them from bears and lions and everything else with the exception of elephants..

Mike

Hey JJACK that buff picture is great!

I use them all the time at my farm and find them an invaluable tool. When lion hunting in Tanzania last July I asked my PH about the concept. We discussed the fact that most safaris try to hunt the traditional way, and that such technology doesn't really fit into that, but we had no doubt that using such cameras would prove to be a highly efficient way of determining what was hitting a bait and the time that should be dedicated to a particular spot. The bottom line was that Tanzania Game Tracker Safaris has never used them, but my PH said that if I had brought one, he would have been glad to give it a try. If they haven't bought a few by the time I ever go back, you can bet I'll have my own.

These cameras are just great. I am using mine especially when doing leopard. I have bought myself the Leafriver Infrared Digital Camera. It works just great and eliminates blind sitting for nothing.

Here are a few pictures of scavengers on my leopard bait earlier this year from my camera.

Zingeli,

In Cabela's, Leaf River offers a version with a 1.6" LCD screen for field viewing. Does yours have this, and if so, is it big enough to actually tell the quality of an animal?

I have used TrailMaster products extensively here in the States for part of my wildlife work. They can do very well, but you really need to clean them off after set up with rubbing alchol. If you don't you will have hell to pay in the morning. Every scavenger and carnivore will sniff it and take a test bite. Somewhere I have a nice photo of the inside of a bear's mouoth.

Here are a few pics I have:



If you have any concerns about them I can help. I have a total of 38 of these and we were running these all from November to March every year for about 8 years.

Sorry, there are no Arfrican animals, but I have failed at getting to Africa. Anyone need a wildlife biologist?

SBT,

Yes my camera has the LCD screen. In my honest opinion I think it is a bit small especially when in bright light it is impossible to see. I have two flash discs and when I visit my camera I take one out to my Laptop where I copy the pictures onto. This is quite big enough to see many details. I even have a picture of a brown hyena on the ground behind the bait very vague though. What i like from this cam is the fact that it does not have a flash (infrared) and the time and date factor is vey important for me though. On my pictures in the post you can easily determine the size and quality of the animal though. Visit their web site: http://www.vibrashine.com the owners name is Mark Mattox - very helpful.

quote:

Originally posted by SBT:
Zingeli,

In Cabela's, Leaf River offers a version with a 1.6" LCD screen for field viewing. Does yours have this, and if so, is it big enough to actually tell the quality of an animal?

Zingeli,
The LeafRiver was my top choice, but I'd prefer color and theirs is B&W.

Bill,
The Cuddlebacks look pretty good. Do you remember what type media card they use? It would really be handy if it was the same as one of our cameras so we could view the images in the field.

Cuddeback uses the compact flash card.