I hate hunting! (and filming)

[Atchman2]

So I've been working on getting some footage of my night hunts for possums and raccoons.  Since it is on my land, the critters are a little bit shy-okay a LOT shy. I've probably shot at them all at least once.  The seaon ends in a month and I need some more footage for my Suburban Outdoorsman, night patrol show.   I'm going to do a "how to" for those of you that have never done a night patrol.  I'm lucky that a busy game trail runs right through my property! 

After killing one coyote and running off the other one, the night critters have slowly showed back up on my game camera.  There is a decent mix of country rats and bandits the last few days.  Before the season it was nothing to see a dozen bandits in a night.  Since the coyote infestation, the numbers have drastically dropped. Also I think the poor mast crop this year has a lot to do with it. Normally I'd have acorns so deep in my yard it is hard to walk. This year-NONE!   





So in order to shoot some better footage, I fixed up a nice blind.  From work, I got one of those super heavy pallets with the solid top. That made the floor of my blind. Then I took my popup blind and set it over the pallet.  Inside the blind I put a comfy chair since I knew I would be setting there for a long time.  Outside, I put a splitter on my lights and ran power in to the blind!  That way I didn't have to worry about the camera running out of battery power.  My comfy chair was a little short to use the fence as a rest, so I put my NASCAR cushion on top of it-PERFECTION!  The only thing I'm going to do differently (and you'll see why), is to bring a bunch of tapes outside so I can just leave the camera running constantly.  I'll just re-use the tapes.  My camera is digital, but the output is unfortunately tape. 

So I even took an early nap when I put my son to bed so I could stay up a lot later than normal.  By looking at the game camera I knew what time to be outside to get in on the action.  It was a warm night so at least I didn't get cold. With a power cord though I could put a heater in there.  

I got in the blind around 11:30, knowing that usually the next hour and a half were prime for possums at least.  I was there about 30 minutes when a big ole country rat came ambling down the game trail, doubtless to get some cat food or bird seed in someone's backyard. 

Here is where it is hard to be your own camera person. I had to turn on the camera, track it awhile, hope it stopped, and THEN shoot it!  When I moved the camera I made a noise and after setting there, staying awake, I blew the stand.  

My change for tonight, weather permitting, is to keep the camera going all the time. I'll just focus it on the trail with a wide view and worry more about shooting.  I'm going to try and order a remote for the night camera. We used to have one, but I'll be darned where it is.  I'm wondering if a universal remote will work? I'm guessing not since I need a "zoom" function.  Hopefully I'll do better tonight. The ding donger went off around 4. I'll have to check the game camera later to see what I missed. I tried to get back up at 3, but I was done for the night.  My MS meds make me really tired. Perhaps tonight I'll just go to bed early and get up at 2:30 to try and get in on the raccoon action. 

[Tarheel]

My camera is digital, but the output is unfortunately tape. 

I have a possible solution for your problem, if you have a DVD Recorder or a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) . . .

If your camera has a Video or Video/Audio output jacks on it, you can hook it up to the DVD / DVR via a long cord ( single or twin-conductor, depending on your camera ) and record digitally. Use "adapters" from Radio Shack, as needed.

I run the same setup at my church, using two old Hi-8 video cameras, a switch-box to alternate cameras, and a DVD recorder to record the services and special events . . . Works great !

Dave

[dk1677]

Nice pix Randy! Take care of yourself!

[eddielee70]

Does ur game camera record video? Longest my game camera record is 60 sec. So I mostly miss action shot video.
If u check out dealextreme.com they have car dvr runs on battery as small as cell
Phone. They record in a loop no matter what size of sd card u put in them, battery last 8 hours.

[shadow]

Night Patrol hunting look forward to your vid bro and I'm gearing up myself to get back after em. Ed

[Atchman2]

Does ur game camera record video? Longest my game camera record is 60 sec. So I mostly miss action shot video.
If u check out dealextreme.com they have car dvr runs on battery as small as cell
Phone. They record in a loop no matter what size of sd card u put in them, battery last 8 hours.

I will thank you.  I have a video out on the camera BUT, when the tape runs out it stops recording!  I have some old footage somewhere.  I'm still refining the taping techniques, this was version 1.0. 



Another one from a couple years back.

[Atchman2]

SO I went inside about 12:15

Here is 12:36



Got to be MORE patient!  However I'm old and my medication messes me up trying to stay up too late.  














No idea what this creature is!

I guess the only way I'm getting more footage is an afternoon nap and no doze.

[eddielee70]

great videos, 

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/720p-wide-angle-vehicle-car-digital-dvr-camcorder-w-4-ir-led-night-vision-sd-av-2-5-lcd-59283

records in a loop, motion detection and infred lights.  bad is that it is not waterproof.  if you hook it up to a 12volt car battery, you'll have 30 days of loop recording.

from your videos, I think you just need a tripod for your video camera( zoom in and hold, while you take your shot) if you are video it from shooter's point of view, how about a digital camera with Saken scope mount.

[Atchman2]

Those were old videos. I have two tripods now.  Sometimes it is still jerky because I'm trying to shoot and video. 

[CFH]

Filming and trying to shoot adds a whole new aspect to the thing!

We just added a new camera to our collection as our old one was recording internal noises, just not nice, so it becomes my gun cam along with a bicycle camera mount, I think this will help a lot!



Our new camera which I tested this morning seems nice, a Panasonic SDR-T70P, hardly top of the line, but decent I think.  Here's some test footage I filmed down at the lake early afternoon.  I show how far I am zooming at the very end of the video. 



Best,
Tim

[Atchman2]

Nice video! I can mount my good cameras on a rifle, but the only rifle I put it on is my Sheridan. The spingers are just too harsh to trust with my HD cameras.  That is one of the reasons I want a Disco; so I can make better films. 

[dk1677]

Randy the Darkside is calling 

[hoagy]

enjoyed it all...thx

[DSB65]

i always look forward to watching your videos.

[Atchman2]

Thanks folks! My biggest issue is trying to stay awake!  The MS meds really hit me hard so I want to sleep almost all the time.  Tonight though I think I'll just take the sleeping bag outside. I have two sensors that are on my Hunter Alert that I can use with my hearing aids.  Last night I saw a BIG coon, but couldn't get a shot at it. 

I've got to get some film over the next couple nights because I'm getting ready for our club coyote hunting contest.