The Use of Remote Sensing Cameras for Deer and Wildlife Management

Our world today is considered as one that is so modernized and technologically advanced. A world so convenient and yet plagued by so many social problems - the greenhouse effect, the unprecedented increase in petrol prices and now the increasing number of animals, which are considered as endangered. 

Several environmental organizations have called for the preservation of the environment, while other groups have decided to take concrete actions to protect the wildlife as these animals help preserve the balance of nature. Some researchers have decided to study the movement of the deer and other animals in the wild so as to see their reproductive pattern and to identify their biological needs. This way, humans are more equipped to help these animals in case they are injured or if they will need human intervention so that their breed will continue. We have heard the story of the dodo and how it became extinct. In a world dominate by knowledge and information, being ignorant is not an option. We need to learn much about everything around us, and thanks to new technologies such as digital cameras, we can now observe nature, live from the comforts of our homes. 

Most video systems used to study wildlife are activated through infrared, and can be categorized as passive infrared (PIR) or active infrared (AIR). PIR are activated by motion or even the difference in the temperature of the background and the subject while the AIR system is activated when the subject passes the “beam” between the transmitter and receiver. Aside from this, live cams used for wildlife management can be further subdivided into 35MM photography, digital still photography, digital video and VHS video and most units are powered by dry cell batteries. Digital still photography systems, digital video are usually PIR activated and uses a flash card to store images while VHS video is also PIR activated storage is on VHS video tape. 

Of course, field studies have already been made to identify which camera is best used to monitor wildlife and the answer differs depending on what kind of animals are being observed and the location of the cameras. Some use remote cameras to census deer population while others try to determine age structures, identification of bucks to be included in harvest or protected from harvest, get the sex ratio, and identify the general condition of the animals. Some people say that the use of live cams in wildlife management is not only for research but also, it improves the quality of deer and hunting experience as hunters can now study the patterns of the deer they want to catch.

Now, hunters have a better idea what their deer is doing at a specific time, which enables them to create a hunting plan to anticipate the daily patterns of their game. Not only that, they also get an idea how other factors such as the weather affects deer pattern. Of course, other uses of live cameras for deer and wildlife management include advertising and marketing of hunting operations.