Game Camera Frustration

[Mossy Bloke]

A friend gave me a StealthCam recently. It's an IR camera. Don't know the exact model number.

I set it up in my backyard to test it out. Walked in front of the thing twice and both times it took a picture but when I look at them on my computer it triggered late both times. I'm actually half out in one pic and completely out in another. And I was walking slowly by it at around 15 or 20 feet I'm guessing.

Went out and set it up in the woods yesterday over a really big scrape that I've been hunting over. No kidding, this thing is easily 4 feet in diameter. Have seen nothing in the two times I've hunted but it's obviously being used.

Went out today and walking up to the camera saw the number 5 on the little digital readout. Imagine my excitement! Checked the images on my palm pilot right there in the woods and....NOTHING! What the crap?

Are all game cams like this? Maybe it was just a squirrel or something but I'm frustrated with the lag time on this thing (although I can't argue with the price )

Some of you game cam veterans help me out. Is this normal?

 

[redneck2]

I had one of the cheaper cameras. 35mm. Used 3 rolls of 24 each. Got maybe 7-8 pictures with deer. Rest were pictures of brush and trees.

I have a friend that has two cameras and he said his work great. Guess it depends on brand and model. IIRC his were pretty expensive so I suppose the quality of the circuits makes a difference.

 

[jmorris]

Can't say anything about the stealthcam, but a friend uses the Moultrie brand and they work well and cost less than most. I built my own using a digital camera before they came out because the 35mm ones really eat up the money and you don't know what was there until your back in town the next week. You are always going to have birds flying around, squirrels running around, the wind will blow and the sun will shine. So don’t place your camera into the sun (face it north or south), cut nearby branches that might inadvertently trigger your camera in high winds (that will keep the squirrels out of the way too. The motion sensor I used when I built mine had several different lenses with it, one was called a pet lenses, it was designed so your dog/cat wouldn’t set off the alarm in your house but a person would. It turned out to be my favorite as you didn’t go through 100’s of photos of raccoons etc. to see the hogs and deer

 

[Mossy Bloke]

still frustrated

went out this morning and had another pic taken according to the readout. The scrape I'm watching has been used and the pic shows absolutely nothing. Crap!

Defective camera maybe? but it takes pics if I walk really slowly in front of it.

 

[CK]

Just my guess. Maybe, the sensitivity of the sensor is designed, so that it won`t just take pictures when there is nothing there, but the wind just blow the leaves or grass. So, that the camera won`t just take a picture full of false alarm. Is there a way to adjust the sensitivity of the remote trigger so that it is suitable to your liking?

 

[dtalley]

Is it possible that you have the camera to far away from the scrape? I am in the market for one myself and don't know that much about them. But, if it is to far away the sensor may not be picking anything up. I don't know what the optimal distance is but it might be worth a shot.

 

[Mossy Bloke]

I thought about that...

...but it's pretty close. No more than 12 or so yards. And I actually walked behind the scrape this morning and waved my arms for a few seconds and it took my picture...so I know it's working somehow.

I'm really at a loss.

Maybe I need to change the focus of this thread into:

Somebody recommend a digital Game Cam under $150 that will trigger fast...not 15 seconds after something walks through it. Doesn't have to be IR either. I wouldn't mind a flash unit. Oh yeah, and it has to be built so that I can run a Python Cable lock through it so nobody steals it. (I'm hunting on a military base, plenty of others hunting there too.)

 

[Polishrifleman]

I just picked up a couple Bushnell 3 mega pixel cameras. I set them up in the house to test them out. I went out and got an SD card reader today so I can check out the pics.

What I can say is that even when standing in front of it waving my hands it sometimes would take and other times just record an event so I don't know what the trigger is. I was at a distance of about 5 feet so maybe I was too close.

These are IR triggered Flash units from Sierra Trading Post for about $150.00.

 

[birddog]

I'm absolutely NO expert on these things, but I think you'd be better off moving it BACK than closer. Set the sensitivity fairly high, then with the wider angle of view and greater distance, there's more chance the subject will be in the frame at the time of exposure. Closer would actually make it less likely to be in the frame.

 

[keano44]

If your camera is 12 yards back, that may be too far. Try 15-30 feet. My Stealth Cam has two ranges: Close is 15 ft. and far is 30 ft. Mine is a 35mm camera. I have found that in some set-ups I get more pictures of "nothing" than other set-ups. I do try to clear grass, branches, etc. that might wave in the wind inside the trigger zone. I also try to point it north or south and not into direct sun. Here is a sample of what I captured on a trail just off a food plot near my stand on my hunting lease.

 

[jmorris]

Maybe I need to change the focus of this thread into:

Somebody recommend a digital Game Cam under $150 that will trigger fast...not 15 seconds after something walks through it. Doesn't have to be IR either. I wouldn't mind a flash unit. Oh yeah, and it has to be built so that I can run a Python Cable lock through it so nobody steals it. (I'm hunting on a military base, plenty of others hunting there too.)

The previously mentioned Moultrie cost $99 at Cabelas, has a laser to aim it in your target direction and supports up to a 4GB SD card (you’d better get a solar panel). My friend has his set up off a corner post of his feeder pin, so the grass is beat down by the animals and no close by trees. I attached some photos his setup took, you can tell by the second photo it doesn’t wait around to snap the photo, that dude was probably in another county in 15 seconds. The last one shows that it won't trigger on something as small as a rabbit

 

[TangSafetyM77]

How do the hogs get into the feeder pen? It looks like he used horse panels all around and that would certainly keep out cattle, but also hogs I would think?

 

[JG2000]

I've seen a few demonstrations and all cameras are not created equal. With two cameras set up in the same direction the demonstrator would walk past the cameras, both would take a picture but only one showed him walking past. I'll try to find the manufacturer but it escapes me at this moment.
The price was right on the one you've got though, is there any way you could set the camera up to get a head on shot. Find the game trail and face the camera down it. That way you either get a head on or a butt shot instead of setting up so they walk past the camera left to right.

 

[jmorris]

How do the hogs get into the feeder pen? It looks like he used horse panels all around and that would certainly keep out cattle, but also hogs I would think?

If you look at the first two photos on the left side you can see an area that has been cut out 4 squares wide X 3 squares tall and 3 other pannels are cut the same. They keep the cows out and let everything else in.

 

[asknight]

I use a couple of the Moultrie 2.1MP cameras with SD slot and fill them with a 1GB memory card with a Moultrie rechargeable battery. I can almost fill up the card on high quality with one charge. I was afraid I would need a solar panel, but I won't as long as the temp is above freezing.

The motion sensor in mine isn't that sensitive, and I need to have the camera within 25ft of where the activity will be taking place. It works excellent at that range, as it has a relatively wide-angle lens. I'm getting about 50 pics per camera, per day and only 2-4 will be nothing but bushes. I think I'm getting some sun beams in the lens triggering it somehow.

I paid about $89 per camera, $10 per rechargeable battery, $6 for the charger, and about $25 per memory card. I'm happy with them.