Tips for Trapping Wildlife on Camera
Using Traps to Capture Wildlife As Never Before Seen
This photo is an example of how a camera trap can capture stunning images that have never been seen before.
In this shot, the herd of Pronghorn are migrating south. They travel about 150 miles each fall to reach their winter grounds after having spent the summer in Grand Teton National Park.
Even though the route is known and is long, it was not documented until now.
A herd of 300 pronghorn spend their summers in Grand Teton National Park, each fall they migrate down into the Upper Green River Basin of Wyoming, a distance of about 150 miles. This migration is the longest land mammal migration in the United States, it has never been photographed before my project.
A remote camera trap is pretty simple. It’s just a normal DSLR camera connected to a motion trigger. I don’t push the shutter button, the animal trips an infrared beam, and then click, click, click. It’s really the only way to make intimate wide-angle pictures of wild animals without disturbing them. Pronghorn like to see far and run fast—it’s impossible to get close to them. So, if I’m around, they are not, that’s why I need to use a remote camera trap. ~Joe Riis
– Nikon DSLR with wide-angle lens
– Trailmaster 1550 trigger
– custom weatherproof housing, camouflaged
– extra batteries and big SD cards
Riis has also worked with video traps.
A little advice when shooting wildlife, with or without a trap. The trap is a tool. Like all tools, things can go wrong. In the end, you have to have patience and know what to look for.
The skill is in the photographer, not the tool.
Thanks to Joe Riis of Joe Riis Photography and National Geographic. For more information and to watch a video of the set up, click here.
Photograph by Joe Riis.
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