Lately, I've been doing night rides at some ungodly hour
（basically starting around 2 AM）, and
one of my courses is basically a supernatural wasteland at night, so
I run into deer constantly.
I see them about 5-10 times per training session.
Sometimes I hear rustling sounds coming from the woods alongside the road
（which is honestly pretty scary）, probably startled by my light,
and the louder ones are definitely deer.
Though sometimes it's raccoons or wild boar instead.
So I wanted to film them, and instead of a GoPro...
I ended up buying a Sony HDR-AS100V video camera.
My regular digital camera can do video too, but
the image stabilization and field of view are completely different.
Compared to GoPro, this one supposedly has better battery life.
Also, not really a matter of which is better, but
GoPro has that fisheye lens look to its field of view.
In the shots above, I haven't put the AS100V in its waterproof housing,
but GoPro is probably more robust when it comes to durability in a case.
It does have some water-resistance even without a case,
but I'm too scared of breaking it to trust that completely.
For the mount, Sony's official option didn't have a clean shape, so
I picked up a Minoura VC-100 handlebar camera mount.
（It comes in two sizes depending on your handlebar diameter）
With this camera mount though,
the manufacturer doesn't recommend operating or recording while riding,
so it's all on you if something goes wrong—that's their warning.
When filming video, I barely touch the camera while riding,
but using it to snap photos constantly while moving is dangerous.
Officially speaking,in theory the bike is just serving as a tripod, that's how it's positioned.
The cork mount rotates to clamp onto the bar,
so the grip is solid, but
the threads are shorter than I'd like—one more rotation would be ideal—so
I have to be careful not to accidentally drop the camera when removing it.
Anyway, I went out for a night ride.
Hence "deer seeker," but
this camera I bought is basically just a toy to motivate me to actually train.
The following are stills pulled from the video.
Deer have an insane proximity sensor and wariness, so
seeing them is pretty routine,
but getting a clean shot is extremely rare.
They just bolt into the nearby woods with a rustling sound.
Two deer passed right in front of me.
They're pretty big. They jumped right over the guardrail.
The one in back has long antlers, so it's a buck.
Once I hit the mountain trail, it's pitch black without my light—
just moonlight, and even with my eyes adjusted I can't see my own hand in front of my face.
Everything that looks bright is reflective material.
So when I suddenly appear in that darkness,
we end up colliding head-on.
This is a downhill section, but I ended up being the one chasing.
The deer running away must be absolutely terrified,
and honestly I'm just as scared.
If we collided, I'd definitely lose.
You've got to respect wild animals.
That's about all the good footage I got.
For the fleeting glimpses, I also caught
raccoons, palm civets, and wild boar.
Bonus
There are three piglets here（one on the far right）.
The striped pattern on piglets only lasts from birth through the nursing period,
so the mother boar is always nearby.
Which actually makes this extremely dangerous.
One time without the camera, a mother boar with 4-5 piglets following her
like little ducklings crossed right in front of me
（though from much farther away than this）, and
wild boar are genuinely scary.
I can't recommend doing night rides with these hazards.
But the camera does perform well.
The slight blurriness is just from my light brightness—
in brighter conditions you can get really sharp video.
Addendum:
Someone commented: "I'm interpreting this entry as you really just wanted to say 'Deer Seeker'..."
→ Correct.
（basically starting around 2 AM）, and
one of my courses is basically a supernatural wasteland at night, so
I run into deer constantly.
I see them about 5-10 times per training session.
Sometimes I hear rustling sounds coming from the woods alongside the road
（which is honestly pretty scary）, probably startled by my light,
and the louder ones are definitely deer.
Though sometimes it's raccoons or wild boar instead.
So I wanted to film them, and instead of a GoPro...
I ended up buying a Sony HDR-AS100V video camera.
My regular digital camera can do video too, but
the image stabilization and field of view are completely different.
Compared to GoPro, this one supposedly has better battery life.
Also, not really a matter of which is better, but
GoPro has that fisheye lens look to its field of view.
In the shots above, I haven't put the AS100V in its waterproof housing,
but GoPro is probably more robust when it comes to durability in a case.
It does have some water-resistance even without a case,
but I'm too scared of breaking it to trust that completely.
For the mount, Sony's official option didn't have a clean shape, so
I picked up a Minoura VC-100 handlebar camera mount.
（It comes in two sizes depending on your handlebar diameter）
With this camera mount though,
the manufacturer doesn't recommend operating or recording while riding,
so it's all on you if something goes wrong—that's their warning.
When filming video, I barely touch the camera while riding,
but using it to snap photos constantly while moving is dangerous.
Officially speaking,
The cork mount rotates to clamp onto the bar,
so the grip is solid, but
the threads are shorter than I'd like—one more rotation would be ideal—so
I have to be careful not to accidentally drop the camera when removing it.
Anyway, I went out for a night ride.
Hence "deer seeker," but
this camera I bought is basically just a toy to motivate me to actually train.
The following are stills pulled from the video.
Deer have an insane proximity sensor and wariness, so
seeing them is pretty routine,
but getting a clean shot is extremely rare.
They just bolt into the nearby woods with a rustling sound.
Two deer passed right in front of me.
They're pretty big. They jumped right over the guardrail.
The one in back has long antlers, so it's a buck.
Once I hit the mountain trail, it's pitch black without my light—
just moonlight, and even with my eyes adjusted I can't see my own hand in front of my face.
Everything that looks bright is reflective material.
So when I suddenly appear in that darkness,
we end up colliding head-on.
This is a downhill section, but I ended up being the one chasing.
The deer running away must be absolutely terrified,
and honestly I'm just as scared.
If we collided, I'd definitely lose.
You've got to respect wild animals.
That's about all the good footage I got.
For the fleeting glimpses, I also caught
raccoons, palm civets, and wild boar.
Bonus
There are three piglets here（one on the far right）.
The striped pattern on piglets only lasts from birth through the nursing period,
so the mother boar is always nearby.
Which actually makes this extremely dangerous.
One time without the camera, a mother boar with 4-5 piglets following her
like little ducklings crossed right in front of me
（though from much farther away than this）, and
wild boar are genuinely scary.
I can't recommend doing night rides with these hazards.
But the camera does perform well.
The slight blurriness is just from my light brightness—
in brighter conditions you can get really sharp video.
Addendum:
Someone commented: "I'm interpreting this entry as you really just wanted to say 'Deer Seeker'..."
→ Correct.