Capturing the Wild: A How-To Guide on Camera Trapping in your backyard.

Introduction

Tracking wildlife can be challenging, especially for elusive species that avoid human presence. At The Niche - Malnad Farmstay in Sirsi, we’ve set up seven camera traps to document animal movement that would otherwise be impossible to witness firsthand. Over time, these traps have provided incredible insights into the secretive lives of our local wildlife, including frequent sightings of the leopard—the apex predator of this region.

Why Use Camera Traps?

Camera traps are invaluable tools for wildlife enthusiasts, researchers, and conservationists. They allow for nonintrusive observation, operate 24/7, and can capture animals in their most natural behavior. Camera trapping has helped researchers understand movement patterns, identify resident species, and even capture thrilling moments like predator-prey interactions.

Here are some points to help you set up your camera traps :

Choosing the Right Location

Selecting the right spots for camera traps is crucial. Over time, we’ve identified strategic locations based on:

• Animal Trails: Well-worn paths used frequently by animals, based on various pugmark/hoofmarks.

• Watering Holes: A hotspot for various species, especially during dry spells.

• Natural Gaps in undergrowth: Gaps in vegetation that predators like leopards often use.

• Scrape Sites and Scent Marks: Areas where big ungulates rest/sit, leaving behind hair. These are identifiable to species.

A typical forest path used by mammals, sometimes even cattle.

Setting Up Your Camera Trap

Positioning & Height: Mount the camera at an appropriate height, usually around knee to waist level, depending on the target species. In the ghats, paths can be lower than adjoining trees because of varying gradients. Best method is to trigger the camera trap as if it were being triggered by an animal, by kneeling on all fours.

Naman checks a sample trigger.

Angle & Distance: Ensure the camera is perpendicular to the trail to ensure a trigger and almost always a full body capture. At a distance of 2 meters from the path, our camera captures full body images. This will vary on the field of view of the camera. Don't shy away from hits & misses, test them on the field!

Securing the Camera: Mammals are curious creatures (Humans are mammals too). Use sturdy straps or lockboxes to prevent theft or disturbance by curious animals. We've had to deal with theft. Since that incident, we used steel cables, crimped with 2mm crimps and a lock to secure the camera after the straps.

Avoiding False Triggers: Inevitable but minimizable. Clear excessive vegetation in front of the camera to reduce wind-triggered captures.

Camera placed perpendicular to the trail on the left.

What to expect?

Camera trapping can be extremely satisfying if done right. We've learned from past experiences by placing camera traps in bad locations and sometimes even in bad weather. Understanding mammal movement by looking for signs and marks is key to having successful triggers. It's not just about placing a camera on what looks like a trail. Read the weather, always look out for mammal presence, and talk to the locals if they know of any movement.

Not every trigger is a Tiger or a Leopard. We've pulled our hairs out by having to review footage of falling leaves, in hopes of mammal. One time, we had a black tail that triggered the camera. We were over the moon thinking it was a melanistic leopard, only to see a Rottweiler in the next video.

This will happen. Your first images will be terrible and will have ghost triggers. Expect niggles.

Some of the 500 images we've gotten since we first camera-trapped judiciously in December 2024.

An Indian Leopard - Panthera pardus

A Barking Deer - Muntiacus malabaricus

A Sambar stag - Rusa unicolor