Newb question, how do you catch batches if you aren't running a panda on TM?
Butterfly net.
Nah, if you aren't running a PANDA on Turkmaster there are still several ways to catch stuff.
If it's a big batch that's got thousands of HITs in it, you can just open the HITs up and accept them manually. Some batches go down so slowly, or have such short timers, that PANDA'ing them isn't entirely feasible or necessary.
For batches that have to be chased around, you can manually refresh the Preview and Accept link. It's slower, but it still works sometimes.
And then there's always just plain dumb luck, stumbling on something while you're searching on Mturk.
But because so many people use Turkmaster and PANDA links, you're competing against people who are much faster than you are manually, which is why running PANDAs is still the easiest way to get stuff.