| Remote cameras are commonly used to monitor a variety of wildlife species for behavioral studies, document wildlife presence/absence, and to record scavenging events during carcass persistence trials for fatality monitoring projects. While performing a remote camera study on rangeland in the San Francisco Bay Area during the fall of 2016, it was discovered that cattle were knocking over cameras by rubbing on the camera or the camera post, often breaking the camera brackets and rendering the camera useless until repaired. Several changes to the remote camera setup were made over the course of several months, including a deterrent in the form of four T-posts surrounding the camera, changing out the nylon straps for zip ties, and hanging the camera loosely on the post instead attaching it tightly. After much experimentation with materials and observations of cattle behavior, a final configuration completely eliminated camera brackets being broken by cattle and additionally greatly decreased the number of events where cameras were knocked over. |