Since my last post on record keeping, I decided I needed a customized logbook for my 2009 field records.
This layout, done on my computer, works for me well. It cues me to record the data on the spot. When I get home and want to update my spreadsheets, all the information is there.
If I have just a few new sets, I don't have to hook up my GPS to the computer. I just enter the GPS waypoints from the notebook on a topographic quad using MacGPS Pro, and I see where I was.
If I want to upload tracks or a large number of waypoints, then I cable the data from the GPS to the Mac.
I settled on a format that allows me to record up to 4 sessions at a camera trap set. If it's a really hot set, I can continue sessions to a new page.
I also included several calculations. They give me access in the field to success rates and pictures/day at different sets -- a chat topic that may come up during a break or lunch.
For reference I have a calendar and a list of my cams on the inside of the back page.
My camera traps are a mixed bag that use anything from 2 D cells to 6 NiMH AAs for external power. I use the camera list to figure out the number and type of batteries to take when I go to check cams.
Oh yes, after I printed the pages, I trimmed them with an xacto knife, and stitched 18 double-sided pages together in a single signature. The cover is a recycled file folder.
Very satisfying for an old codger who has plenty of time and not much money.
You just gave away for free what you could be making money on. Sell your camera trap recording notebook as a workbook for all those other camera trapping note takers out there. You could have made like $1.50.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jayla but we don't want you to get so rich that you sail away somewhere and quit your camera trap activities including your blog. That would be too much to handle for all of your codger fans including me.
ReplyDeleteWell, I don't think there are many camera trappers who are obsessive compulsive notetakers.
ReplyDeleteBut thanks for the kind thoughts and chuckles.
Hi Codger,
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed your blog for a little while now but have never posted. I'm working on a wildlife project that uses camera traps down near the AZ-Mexico border, mostly commercial game cameras, which are functional but not very aesthetically pleasing. I was looking into buying a digital SLR and converting it to a camera trap so I can take some more artful pictures. Just wondering if you knew of any good online resources for that kind of thing (or if you had any suggestions yourself). In my own searches for this kind of stuff, I seem incapable of finding anything useful and always wind up instead on sites for obsessive bigfoot stalkers. Thanks!
Ed
stowe.edward@gmail.com
pardon my forgetting to include my email address:
ReplyDeletebuckhastings@yahoo.com