Best Yowie Hunting Equipment

[TakingTheEdge]

I have opened this thread to get suggestions of what i should buy.
Trailcams
Nightvision Cameras
Video Camera
Plotwatcher
Soundrecorders

W#hat are some of the best or the ones you like. I already have my eye on a JVC Everio Video Cam and a Moultrie Game Spy® M-80xt trailcam.

Thanks
TakingTheEdge

[TakingTheEdge]

I have opened this thread to get suggestions of what i should buy.
Trailcams
Nightvision Cameras
Video Camera
Plotwatcher
Soundrecorders

W#hat are some of the best or the ones you like. I already have my eye on a JVC Everio Video Cam and a Moultrie Game Spy® M-80xt trailcam.

Thanks
TakingTheEdge

Also any other equipment like therm or anything else you might suggest. I am not going to buy all of the above listed but i will slowly "collect" them.

[Neil Frost]

G’day TTE,

I prefer to use basic techniques for most situations. Buy a roll of fine cotton thread and if you like, buy one or two digital VORs with USB - Sony make good quality recorders for around $70, for example, ICD-PX820 or equivalent.

Firstly, it is important to do the leg work to determine if there is anything of interest in your area. Take a casual look for “game trails” on the edge of roads. They don’t tend to be particularly outrageous in appearance, just a simple track. Sunrise and sunset are good times to do this because the low angle of incident light helps with the contrast. Look for small twig snaps at around your waist height and above along the track. A regularly or habitually used path tends to have these in order to maintain the openness of the track. If you find tree breaks or tree bites along the track, this further tends to confirm it’s usage!

Cotton threads suspended on the vegetation across these tracks at various heights will help with verification, with threads broken or trailed at heights above the local indigenous animal population, being the most promising. If this is the case, placing a VOR along this path may confirm matters.

If all the above boxes are ticked, you may wish to invest more heavily, or stake out the area without the equipment. As technology goes, the only viable option is a FLIR. Alternatively, you may prefer to camp out and simply experience what visits. Realistically, these are the options. Hope that this assists you financially.

Neil

[forestguy]

I agree with Neil there - that said, I'd love a plotwatcher. Also a parabolic mic like mentioned in the other thread.

[Jo Blose]

Neil wrote, "Cotton threads suspended on the vegetation across these tracks at various heights will help with verification, with threads broken or trailed at heights above the local indigenous animal population, being the most promising."


Hi Neil! Hope all is well! My concern with the cotton thread trick is does anybody know what becomes of birds or bats that fly into it? Can the cotton thread injure or even cause mid-air amputations or instant death to an unsuspecting bird or bat flying along, or does the cotton break, or can a bird or bat become entangled, or does the thread have no effect because it is hung slack across the track and either a bird or bat are unlikely to drag it forward to taut point causing injury? I'm sure most will have experienced when cotton is dragged with pressure across human skin, it has the capacity to slice.

Just throwing it out there, folks!

[Neil Frost]

G’day JB,

We are mostly well at present. I hope that things have improved up your way?

As you know, I have been using cotton thread as a simple tracking method for a long time. I have never found any problems associated with birds or bats although, I do know that you are most probably referring to Jerry and Sues' experience, where a magpie somehow managed to become entangled in it, severing it’s leg.

I think that the difference between us was how the cotton was installed. I have typically anchored the thread to stout trees at intervals and hung the line loosely through the undergrowth at the required height, whereas Jerry would simply pull the cotton tight between anchorage points. This was how I initially placed the thread too but the slack line provided substantially more results, probably because it is less detectable.

A further improvement to this method (v2.1) was recently suggested to me by Andrew where only one end is anchored, with the other end floating freely in the vegetation. Apart from further removing any potential issues associated with birds, it has the added advantage of being even less detectable, as the thread never becomes taunt. A single anchorage point still prevents the thread from being trailed away and lost.

Neil

[forestguy]

only one end is anchored, with the other end floating freely in the vegetation.

That's the way I've always done it Neil after first talking to you - no 'taut' moment to draw attention.

[topender]

I agree with Mr frost

he put me onto the cotton thread trick, i camp out often in remote areas of the NT with my work and i always set up a cotton perimeter and set the Sony VOR, often the simplest technology works

cheers

[Jo Blose]

Thanks Neil. I do vaguely recall something said by Jerry but I could never fully grasp slack cotton thread causing injuries to birdlife. Your extra knowledge on the taut technique he was using makes a lot of sense. I do recall some of that cotton we strung up being still up months later and being particularly irritating. If the slack cotton were such a risk to birds then surely we would have seen injured birds and bats all through your backyard swamp and various trails we had set up. Which we never saw. As you say, perhaps tying one end and draping the other may also be effective, but the effectiveness would be reduced by the draped ends detaching during strong wind currents?

[TakingTheEdge]

I'm not actually the ones looking for the equipment. A relative is so don't worry about the financial situation. Thanks for the cotton thread trick!! That's great.

[Dean Harrison]

This is my new toy - https://www.camtek.net.au/index.php/pag ... uct_id/950

It sends the pictures back via email and is very affordable.

We should have it deployed by next Week along with the standard units.



DMH

[Neil Frost]

G’day Dean.

Great technology! This makes things much easier by not having to revisit the site and risk giving your presence away.

Thanks for sending me the old archived photos of Fatfoot from 1997. Digital photography has improved greatly also! For the benefit of new members, below was the setup that I was using back in 1993. Complicated and very unwieldy but it did work on a few occasions.

PIR film camera 1.JPG

PIR film camera 2.JPG

A standard PIR sensor with two attached 100 Watt flood lamps; 240 volt relay; 12 volt car battery; modified car starter motor with solenoid; camera cable release and; Olympus OM2n 35mm film camera with f1.4 50mm lens and Olympus T20 flash (not shown). Later updates (also not shown) included an Olympus Winder 2 motor drive and an additional T45 flash.

When the PIR was triggered, this turned on the twin 100 Watt flood lights and closed the attached 240 volt relay (long extension leads required), which then powered the 12 volt system causing the solenoid to push the cable, pressing the shutter release and taking one photograph per night with flash. The later modifications allowed multiple exposures using the motor drive. The range was significantly increased by simultaneously using the T20 and T45 flash units.

How things have changed!

Neil

[Dean Harrison]

Neil MacGyver..... finally perfected it with a hair clip, bandaid and can of hairspray.

Was that the system Fatfoot knocked down with a stick? I remember when it went off with a flash cycle and the neighbours thought Aliens were landing.



DMH

[Neil Frost]

G’day Dean,

Yes, that was the same system with everything attached. Ian helped me set it up in the swamp and we must have had the best serviced wetland in Australia! We ran every extension lead that we could find to power it up remotely. On that occasion, we decided to set the motor drive to fire the entire 36 exposure, high speed roll at the first triggering of the PIR, rather than individual shots.

Big mistake! After Ian and I had comfortably set ourselves up on the verandah to oversee the action that evening, we were excited when it fired up. The swamp lit up as if a mothercraft was landing and we could hear the reactions of people in the valley. Unfortunately, it seemed that Fatfoot was testing the PIR perimeter because the swamp lit up repeatedly for some time afterwards but all the film had already been exposed!

The other incident that you are referring to was after Robert had set up flood lights in the bush around the house. This was during the period of the Police investigation. One afternoon after work we found that one of the lights had been removed from the tree by a stick that had been pushed through the bark beneath it.

Neil

[Jo Blose]

Very nice purchase Dean!

Also nice to see some of the ingenious backyard creations from you Neil, years before technology has taken the fun out of needing to be clever! Fingers crossed that one of Fatfoot's descendant's with two left feet trips up right in front of one of these devices, so you can finally hand one of them after all these years, their own passport photo!