I have not been happy with the trail cam I have at the upper scratchpost since I got it. It was a cheap trail camera, but it doesn’t deliver even to the level of a cheap gadget. It doesn’t balance out the intensity of the IF (InfraRed) light so if the camera is too close to the target object at night, the image will be too bright, and if too far, then the image will be too dark. More over it doesn’t record any audio and takes 10 batteries, which is a ridiculous number seeing that batteries come in packs of 4 and chargers are made for 2, 4 or 8 batteries.
On my latest trip to the upper scratchpost, another significant negative has been uncovered. The camera drains batteries way too fast. It’s probably because it goes full blast with the IR light, which is a major power drain, so if the cam is triggered multiple times a night with so much power being sucked out by the IR LEDs, there’ll be nothing left in the batteries after a few days.
My other game cams take 8 batteries and on average last 1 month before requiring a charge. The cam at the upper scratchpost lasts 4 to 5 days.
Because I was not prepared for the possibility that the camera would drain the batteries so fast, I only carried the usual 8 spares with me. Leaving the camera there with batteries dead would do me no good. So I took the camera with me and after changing the batteries, decided to use the cam outside the house for two night so there is at least some footage from it.
I knew I would not return to the upper scratchpost for 2 days because the following day I was planning to take the 8km each way trip to the more distant part of the forest where a lively badger pair has the sett. I’m curious how these guys have been the past few days.
The trail camera footage is at the end of the video. It includes mostly packs of family-oriented razorback wild boars (Sus scrofa) doing that tree hard, but also the ever vigilant red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and the graceful roe deer (Capreolus capreolus).
The background music is my own guitar solo. It’s an instrumental improvisation to the rock’n’roll backing track. It was performed and recorded live. There is no studio recording of this musical piece.
00:00 Disclaimer
00:10 Batteries in trail camera found dead
00:28 Decision to take camera with me
01:00 Camera uses 10 AA batteries
01:48 Trail cam footage compilation
02:05 Razorback wild boar trail cam footage
05:36 Shadowy figures
05:58 Red fox trail cam footage
06:15 Roe deer trail cam footage
Keep rocking :o)
Mark
https://www.nophoneman.com/
▶️ 3Speak