# What is this thing on a post? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 26, 2020, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339 "2020-03-26T16:52:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/1 "2020-03-26T16:52:13Z")
At work I let my dogs run around for some exercise and [noticed this thing.](https://imgur.com/mldKLyp) It is on a neighbor’s property, adjacent to mine. Nearby the neighbor has a spot where he’s allowing people to dump fill. Any ideas? The blue cable seems to be a lock. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/2 "2020-03-26T16:53:01Z")
It’s a camera. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/3 "2020-03-26T16:54:47Z")
Its a trail cam. Activated by movement in its field of view. Often used to record passing wildlife for hunters scouting out a spot. I just downloaded 850 pictures off of mine yesterday…825 of which was the same damn stick waving in the wind ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/4 "2020-03-26T16:56:43Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > It’s a camera. Really? Seems odd he’d want pictures of people dumping fill. Standing behind the thing it would be pointed right at the sign he has that says “DUMP FILL HERE”.😕 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/5 "2020-03-26T16:58:10Z")
And come to think of it, I wonder if he has a picture of my ugly face staring at the device. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/6 "2020-03-26T17:11:55Z")
Maybe he wants to capture people dumping something other than fill. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/7 "2020-03-26T17:16:23Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Maybe he wants to capture people dumping something other than fill. Yeah, that’s gotta be it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/8 "2020-03-26T17:19:33Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Maybe he wants to capture people dumping something other than fill. Like a couple of hippies [dumping a bunch of trash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice's_Restaurant) that they had cleaned out of a friends’ house, and needed a place to dump it because the city dump was closed on Thanksgiving. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/9 "2020-03-26T17:37:50Z")
I worked for a tribe that kept some of these cameras on trails and roads on their land (camouflaged somewhat) and every now and then they’d bring them to me to download photos. The cameras they had were motion-activated and would take photos whenever there was movement. Which sometimes meant having pictures of branches when it was windy, and often there were cool wildlife photos (my favorite was a family of bears). A few times they caught a picture of a vehicle that wasn’t authorized to be there and we were able to get plate numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Fleetwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fleetwood/32/271_2.png) [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/10 "2020-03-26T19:54:24Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > And come to think of it, I wonder if he has a picture of my ugly face staring at the device. “Look Honey! I got Kayaker staring into the camera again!” ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/11 "2020-03-26T20:23:59Z")
That barn looks all kinda lopsided! ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/12 "2020-03-26T20:41:44Z")
Sneak up on it and give him a goatse. Oh, Hell. General Questions. I rarely come here. Let me try again- it’s a camera. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/13 "2020-03-26T22:06:13Z")
That doesn’t look like it can, but some trail or game cameras can send photos directly to your phone via the cell network. The more common models store the photos or video on a memory card. The cable is so folks don’t steal it. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/14 "2020-03-26T22:09:57Z")
Please fight my ignorance: what does it mean to “dump fill”? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/15 "2020-03-26T22:31:01Z")
> [@Enola\_Gay](#): > > Please fight my ignorance: what does it mean to “dump fill”? You need to dig a big hole and have dirt left over that you don’t need–someone else has a hole they don’t need and not enough dirt. Take one stone and you have a couple of dead birds. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/16 "2020-03-26T22:43:33Z")
As noted, it’s a trail cam. The red eye at the top is the camera. The grey thing below it is an LCD display for configuration. The black thing below that is a motion sensor, and the transparent things below that are infrared LEDs for nighttime illumination. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/17 "2020-03-26T23:22:38Z")
Also, those wide ridges on the left are hinges, and the strappy thing behind it is a strap. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/18 "2020-03-27T00:25:52Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > That doesn’t look like it can, but some trail or game cameras can send photos directly to your phone via the cell network. The more common models store the photos or video on a memory card. > > The cable is so folks don’t steal it. That’s what I was doing, was downloading photos off an SD card via card reader. It was fun when i caught someone being where they shouldn’t. That made IT work a bit more exciting. That was years ago though. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/19 "2020-03-27T11:10:36Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > That barn looks all kinda lopsided! Heh, I think that’s my fault. I edited the picture a bit, straightening the object of interest, as a result, torquing the rest of the world a bit. It is an old, abandoned barn. > [@Enola\_Gay](#): > > Please fight my ignorance: what does it mean to “dump fill”? The property owner has a pretty big chunk of his land that is unusable because it is a valley. For years now he’s allowed all manner of stuff to be dumped in an attempt to fill his valley and create usable flat land. People dump dirt, bricks, asphalt, etc. “No wood” is the only real rule. I’ve seen another situation where someone has a hill on otherwise flat property and posts a sign, “NEED FILL? TAKE THIS HILL”. People take truckloads of the hill and after many years the propert owner realizes improvement. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339/20 "2020-03-27T12:40:37Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Also, those wide ridges on the left are hinges, and the strappy thing behind it is a strap. What are those tree-like objects to the right of the barn? mmm [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-a-post/850339.md?page=2)