BiG feet

[skyhunter]

this critter sure comes with nice size "swim fins"..

[Dom]

I have to to say that you provide us with som great pic's.What water/creek are your pic's from?Thank's for shareing. your photo's are alway's nice and clear,what cam do you use?

[Doc]

I really do love these pictures. It all brings back great memories of my days as a kid trapping muskrats. And I've got to say that is one heck of a camera you have there. It does a great job.

[skyhunter]

I have to to say that you provide us with som great pic's.What water/creek are your pic's from?Thank's for shareing. your photo's are alway's nice and clear,what cam do you use?

thanks, the unit is called a "homebrew" P41 trail cam made from an old model Sony 4.1 megapixel camera. They do a nice job. The whole unit is made from a kit that starts with a "Pelican" weather proof case; then you add the motion detector /control board; which is then wired to and hacked into the camera itself. I'll post some pics of one of mine soon.

Edited February 5, 2012 by skyhunter

[Doc]

I'm going to start doodling around and trying to design a lightweight, compact, floatable camera mount. I want a camera mount that is close to the ground For the little critters (like muskrats, mink, beavers, coon, etc.), and will go up with the water level if flooding occurs. So, I got this idea for a small camera mount that I will set up along the creek bank, or along some of the beaver channels, and design in some form of mini-pontoon system that can be staked down with a length of cable so that if the water rises up a couple of feet above ground level (which happens often during sudden snow run-off conditions or big flooding thunderstorms), the whole thing will just rise along with the water without drowning the camera. I'm thinking something small and light and maybe even collapsible. We never get a whole lot of current, so that's not a concern. The water level just goes up and down unexpectedly at times. I'll see if there is anything I can conjure up.

[WNYBuckHunter]

How about a bracket that connects to the tree, with an arm about 4 feet long with another bracket on the other end that attaches to the camera. The long arm would pivot on each end, but still hold the camera toward the target area. You could then put some sort of floatation on the bottom of the cam bracket, and if the water level rose up, the bracket would pivot up as the camera floated upwards. You could make it out of plexiglass or some other plastic or composite to make it light and portable.

[Doc]

That's kind of on the order of what I had in mind. I'm a bit concerned about using trees as an anchor though. There has been a lot of recent beaver work over there ..... lol. I am envisioning checking the cameras and finding just a stump and a few wood chips and no camera. That would be a bit irritating...lol. I'm thinking of staking it all down with some heavy wire.

I am thinking now that I might use painted styrofoam for flotation. I was going to use some 3" PVC pipe (or larger) capped off to make mini-pontoons but today I went to Lowes and looked closer at that stuff and it has very thick walls and weighs a ton. I was surprised.

Hopefully this would all just be a safety design since the whole thing would be set high and dry on the bank. but sometimes we get some rather sudden rises in water level so I'm just trying to be safe. I want the pictures to be at ground lever and not up in a tree looking down.

[skyhunter]

A few months back I had a similar idea of using natural logs that float and mounting a post to the log. The camera unit would then attach to the post.

Of course you have to figure out how to keep the log from "rolling" with some kind of anchoring system. A 2nd log could be attached to the first similar to the pontoon system suggested by Doc. Then this floating camera base needs to be anchored somehow in an upstream direction with enough play that would allow it to float in an upward direction when the water rises.

I'm gonna construct somehting this year so I can keep a cam or 2 running even when the creeks floods.

[Doc]

A few months back I had a similar idea of using natural logs that float and mounting a post to the log. The camera unit would then attach to the post.

Of course you have to figure out how to keep the log from "rolling" with some kind of anchoring system. A 2nd log could be attached to the first similar to the pontoon system suggested by Doc. Then this floating camera base needs to be anchored somehow in an upstream direction with enough play that would allow it to float in an upward direction when the water rises.

I'm gonna construct somehting this year so I can keep a cam or 2 running even when the creeks floods.

Yeah, the problem I have is that there may be no warning that a flood is about to happen. Our creek/swamp can raise up a good foot or two overnight if we get heavy enough rains. So, I was just looking for a little insurance. So I was looking for something that is light and portable so that I could use one at every set-up that might flood. I could probably lash together some logs with wire or something right on the spot, but if I want to move it a couple hundred yards, I don't want it to become a major project.

Anyway, I am still at the preliminary designing stage .... lol.

By the way, the only situation where I think this would work is where there is very little current during a flood. If there is too strong a current, I suspect that it would pull everything under even if there are float features incorporated. Fortunately, that is exactly the situation where I will be photographing. Because of the swamp serving as a reservoir, the water just comes up and goes back down. No roaring current. Another thing that might make it all not work would be an ice-out condition. Nothing will withstand some big slab of ice coming through .....lol.

[skyhunter]

Yes Doc, there will be some unforseen perils some of which you have already outlined. Good ole trial and error will be tough to aviod here. good luck!. .

[Doc]

The "Cam-float" is finished. It's a bit crude, and I didn't realize what paint does to styrofoam ..... lol. But anyway I'm sure it will work. The thing weighs nothing so it should carry well. It came out just about the right height for little critters (muskrats, mink, beaver, fox, coons, etc.) And if the floods come .......... I'll be ready ......lol.

The only problem is that it is designed only for that camera, and I cannot use thetwo Bushnells or the primos. But those are IR cameras so I wouldn't be using them anyway.

[Guides ForHire]

wrap hardware cloth around any trees you want to save from beavers, 3 feet in height from ground up usually makes them move on. this is what we have always done when establishing new trees in beaver areas.

those are very clear photos, I've seen some of those pelican built cameras and they are very impressive, too much coin IMO but still nice.