BSK
Well-Known Member
280,000 trail-cam pictures and they're still coming in. My eyeballs and brain hurt. That is all.
Ugh...
- Thread starter BSK
- Start date
Screw that. My head hurts for you.
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
Shew...I cant imagine....I've got 2500 to 3000 to review and im getting sleepy thinking about it.
tree_ghost
Well-Known Member
That sounds painful…I'm spent at about 20k a year lol
BSK
Well-Known Member
I generally start at 5:00 AM every day (EVERY day, no weekends off), and I'm still at it when I shut own around 9:00 PM.
Although I take a break every couple of hours to come here and chat with you old farts! Helps clear my head.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
That takes all the fun out of running trail cameras.
I'm sure someone will use AI to do all the work you do to classify deer in a fraction of the time in the near future...
Or maybe you should hook up with a programmer and invent the app yourself!
I'm sure someone will use AI to do all the work you do to classify deer in a fraction of the time in the near future...
Or maybe you should hook up with a programmer and invent the app yourself!
BSK, what all data do you gather from these pictures?
BSK
Well-Known Member
People have asked me about that. I think AI could be used to do the deer counts, as in how many bucks, does and fawns are in all of the pictures. But I can't see how AI could be trained to identify the unique bucks. The antlers of a single buck can look very different when viewed from different angles.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Depends on what the client wants, but the most common information I produce is the adult sex ratio, fawn recruitment rate, total buck numbers and buck age structure (what percent of the bucks are in each age-class). And of course, a series of pictures of each buck captured in the photo census (I choose a series of pictures for each buck that shows what he looks like from as many angles as possible - left profile, right profile, going away, walking straight at you, etc.).
I also produce a list of the bucks that meet the harvest criteria (whatever it is), as well as a list of bucks that need protection, if producing large-antlered bucks is the client's goal. Those bucks are going to be the top-end 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 year-old bucks - bucks that have the highest probability of being true trophy material at maturity. Too often those are the bucks that get picked off quickly by hunters. They look impressive because they are above average antler-wise, and being younger, fall to hunters easier. Taking out these top-end middle-aged bucks can lead to high-grading of the mature buck population, where only the bottom-end middle-aged bucks survive to maturity, meaning smaller-antlered mature bucks. And that's another data point I provide, whether any signs exist of high-grading in the buck population.
Lastly, for those clients who use the system, I produce a list of "management bucks," bucks that show signs they will never be much antler-wise no matter how old they get. These are usually 6-point 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 year-old bucks. How clubs/landowners handle management bucks is up to them, but in club situations they try to give some incentive to the members to shoot management bucks. These bucks are doing no harm to the population, but they are "taking up space" that could be utilized by higher end animals. NOT removing them causes no harm, but some landowners/clubs use these management bucks as extra harvest opportunities in a setting where "target" bucks are limited in number. Basically, just a way to add more bucks to the "target list."
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killingtime 41
Well-Known Member
That sounds like an interesting job. After looking intently at so many photos. Id say you keep the aspirin bottle close.
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
I suspect most of the entities willing to pay you are looking at producing large-antlered bucks as a major goal?
I would add, they also "look" larger antlered than their realities simply because their bodies generally don't reach their full skeletal frame until closer to 4 1/2. With a typical 2 1/2-yr-old buck, a 115-class rack may "look" like it has to score 140, simply because we hunters tend to use the relative size of the buck's body to his antlers in field guessing the size of those antlers.
PREACH ON, BROTHER!!!
Assuming all the parameters are good, agree, no harm in taking some of these out before they mature. These can be great targets for youth & novice hunters.
The way you're doing this, I agree with you.
But the way many hunters take the ideals of it being ok to kill all the "management" bucks, then the risk is too many bucks get falsely labeled as "cull" bucks (as an excuse to shoot them when they otherwise don't measure up to a pre-stated criteria).
When speaking with other hunters, I generally avoid ever using the term "cull" or "management" buck. It can cause an over-harvest of bucks, and actually contribute to high-grading, since the largest cohort of bucks is usually the yearlings, many of which get erroneously labeled as "cull" bucks.
This is why most super-large, highly-managed ranches in Texas often wait until a buck is 4 1/2 or older before labeling him a "management" buck?
BSK
Well-Known Member
I need to have my eyesight checked. I haven't updated my glasses prescription in over a year and I'm really starting to suffer from eyestrain staring at the computer screen for so many hours a day. I generally start at 5:00 AM and don't shut it down until 9:00 PM. It's a crazy couple of months (August-October), but the data is very time sensitive. Baited censuses are run in August but hunters need the data (at least the list of target/protect bucks) by bow season. I'm struggling to get that part of the data out as quickly as possible.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Most yes, especially the clubs. Some single-family properties just want to manage for family fun/entertainment and aren't as worried about trophies. They just want to produce the healthiest, most fun-to-hunt herd possible.
This. An above average 2 1/2 can look huge out in the field because of his small body size.
And that's why, if he's not on my official "management buck" list, he isn't a management buck. Too easy to shoot any below-average buck and call it a management/cull buck.
Two reasons really. In Texas, mature bucks are much more visible during daylight. They are frequently seen by hunters due to the habitat and harvest rules, so they are a bit easier to harvest. Second, bucks can live to very advanced ages in certain terrain/habitat conditions. In those situations, bucks may be living to 6, 7, or even 8 years of age. If that is the case, waiting until 4 1/2 is a sound practice. However, in areas with very limited visibility - like ridge-and-hollow hardwoods - and where bucks DON'T live to advanced ages due to habitat and rut stress, allowing hunters to take management bucks at 3 1/2 (when they are more harvestable) makes sense.
Even if there were a way for AI to cull pics with no antlers, that should cut down on the number of pics you're having to look at.
Do you have any type of anti-glare covering for your monitor?
BSK
Well-Known Member
Actually, I have to go through all pictures twice. Once to do the deer counts (how many bucks, does, and fawns in all the pictures), and then a second time to identify each unique buck. Slow process with a lot of pictures, but I rip through them faster than most would assume. I generally can get through around 800 to 1,000 pictures per hour.
No, and I probably need one. And definitely need to have my glasses prescription updated.
Consider using blue blocker glasses. Alternatively, enable Night Light on Windows. At first you won't be able to stand the yellow hue. After just an hour or so you never notice it. Then when you switch to a monitor not using Night Light, it looks garishly bright. f.lux is a third party app that does the same thing as night light.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Cool advice. Thanks, I'll try it.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Well, I'm through about 120,000 of the now 198,000 total pictures so far. Making progress!
