Is There Any Interest In Trail Or Game Cams?

[woodshunter]

I put this in the hunting section but it really don't involve hunting unless its being used as a scouting tool. Guess there's a lot of reasons to cam, see what animals are in your area, see what size game is in your area, see what amount if any people are in a given area, hope for a pic or video of sasquatch , get looks at animals you would never normally see, security on camps or homes, get pics of mice on up to large moose and bears in my area. I started in the mid eighties when only two companies were making them, they were pricey and used film and a normal flash. I didn't take long to discover that bears had a thing for the film smell and were capable of ruining your day by giving them a durability test right quick. Before long digital cams with IR flashes came along and the film expense and developing costs went away. Then no glow flashes and sound and video appeared. I have taken thousands of pics and videos and had a lot of fun as well as learning animal patterns and movements. Still use one to this day, heck I even made an epic fall going in the woods to get my cam last Christmas that operations and therapy, as well as time hasn't fully erased yet. But that's life and things do happen, learned to always have a headlamp with me in the dark. Does anyone else play with these things or is it just my addiction?...…..I do have some unbelievable buck and bear pics though.

 

[FL-NC]

They are a valuable tool to give me an idea of what stands are best for bucks, which ones to score an easy doe, and which are a waste of time. A friend uses them year-round for security around his home which is on 45 acres. He is a real "McGiver-type". He has them rigged to rechargeable laptop batteries, which are in turn hooked to solar panels with the Moultrie app sending pics in real-time to his phone.

 

[jmorris]

I had the 35mm versions that you had to wait a few days after you had made it back to town, to see what was there a week and a half ago.

When digital cameras came along, I built a digital game camera before they could be bought.






The dip switches controlled the delay between photos. The RC servo had its control circuits removed and is just used as a small gear motor to depress the button.

Wasn’t long after that we were hunting one location and came back by the camera location to see we had photos of them at the location we weren’t. So I built radios that would play back prerecorded (location) messages when motion was detected.




That worked for lots of years at getting us to the hogs but for whatever reason they were really bad this year so I upped my game again. I bought a spypoint cellular game camera. So I get a notification on my phone that shows me a photo of what is there right now.



Within a minute I can call the trap and drop the gates on them.



After a few minutes they calm down and wait for me to get there.



There is one gate behind the camera but the one you can see in the “driven” gate, behind the feeder.

This is how the gates work.

 

[JustSomeGuy264]

I have 4 and I really like using them. I don't get a lot if time to hunt so they help me spend my time in places that are most likely to produce.

I also just enjoy looking at the pictures you never know what might show up. Although it's frustrating when you have 350 pics and 300 are of the same dang squirrel.

 

[Patocazador]

I never had any until last year when I got 150 acres to hunt on. My son and grandson went camping in March right after I put the 1st one close to where they camped. It showed a bear on the same night they were in a tent 60 yards away. Also a coyote that night.
He quit camping in the tent there after that.

 

[Armored farmer]

My sons and I have several trail cams.
We keep them up until spring to see which bucks survived the hunting season.
We run them every Sunday afternoon like a trapline.
Fun!

 

[Arkansas Paul]

This is the first year I've ever owned a trail cam.
I got pics of a good buck, hunted him and he is now in my freezer awaiting transport to the taxidermist.

I'll likely do like Armored Farmer does as well, and put them out after season so I can see if my little bucks survived.

 

[Patocazador]

Although it's frustrating when you have 350 pics and 300 are of the same dang squirrel.

... or of a tree blowing in a wind storm.