Game Camera - Best Way to Use Them

[YosemiteSam]

I'm thinking about getting a game camera or two.  I've never used these things before but am thinking I'd like to set them up in different places as a way to scout before the season opens.  There are at least two areas I'd like to check.  One is fairly close to a road while the other is a mile or so off the road.  I have a small laptop that I can take in the field for a day with an SD card reader.  All of the use will be on public land so keeping it hidden (yet still useful) is paramount.  I know of some specific spots that see a fair amount of deer traffic.  But I don't know what time they're there or whether it's a buck or doe (can't shoot does here).  The closest of these locations is an hour away & close to a road.  The furthest is about 2 hours of driving and probably an hour of hiking.

So my main question is what kind of strategy should I be using to survey an area & keep these things hidden?  How many are needed to get a sense of an area?  How often should I be checking them?  What kind of battery life can I expect?

I recommend getting a cheap one and messing with it around the house just to learn what they are capable of. the cheapest one from Walmart ( tasco ) battery life is supposed to be 6 months. takes good pictures.

[TooManyHobbies]

If theft is a concern, place them high...or low. Not at 4' on a bare tree. I've hidden them in rock piles low to the ground and 7 1/2' up. I'm 6'6", so as far as I can reach is usually higher than most people can reach (I'm sure there are a few hunters much taller than me, but avg is a bit shorter).
You can also camo them up with either paint or glue with woods debris.

I have a Stealthcam. Good pics, not so great batt life. Worst part is; when the batts die, a red light comes on that can be see for a few hundred yards in the dark. Like a beacon for thieves.

[Gdpolk]

Originally posted by TooManyHobbies:
If theft is a concern, place them high...or low. Not at 4' on a bare tree. I've hidden them in rock piles low to the ground and 7 1/2' up. I'm 6'6", so as far as I can reach is usually higher than most people can reach (I'm sure there are a few hunters much taller than me, but avg is a bit shorter).
You can also camo them up with either paint or glue with woods debris.

I have a Stealthcam. Good pics, not so great batt life. Worst part is; when the batts die, a red light comes on that can be see for a few hundred yards in the dark. Like a beacon for thieves.

Cover the light up.    

[Gdpolk]

I think the ones that text or email you are probably best unless your putting them over a food pile as that means you won't be disturbing the areas that you intend to hunt with your scent.

I also know people who will put up cheap cameras in potential stand locations that they hope to hunt the following year and just scoop them up after season and see if their spot actually held animals.

I don't think they will help you get on more animals if your constantly coming in checking them and blowing out the spot with a lot of human activity.  Also realize that it will only capture what's right there on it.  If a deer walks 1' from it on the other side of the tree, your not getting any data on that so while it can give you some data, what it gives may be limited and not representative to the area.  Oftentimes mature bucks won't run the same trails as does and younger bucks, but will skirt off on their own path 10-30 yards away in a more densely covered area.  You may get a bunch of slickheads on the camera and never be privy to a monster lurking just nearby.

[degabe]

I just use mine to see what is wandering around back behind the house.

[DarrinG]

Agree with GDPolk...trail cameras can be fun, and addictive. However that can and does lead to a guy wanting to go retrieve the SD card from them too often. I've done it myself, and found that my intrusion too often led the critters to avoid the area until darkness. If you have a good spot and put up a camera, you gotta fight the temptation to go switch out cards too often. It will educate them quick, especially any mature animals using the area.

[YosemiteSam]

Originally posted by DarrinG:
Agree with GDPolk...trail cameras can be fun, and addictive. However that can and does lead to a guy wanting to go retrieve the SD card from them too often. I've done it myself, and found that my intrusion too often led the critters to avoid the area until darkness. If you have a good spot and put up a camera, you gotta fight the temptation to go switch out cards too often. It will educate them quick, especially any mature animals using the area.

The 1-2 hour drive is a natural deterrent for me.  I'd burn up half a day on the close spots.

Sounds like the ideal location would have some sort of natural barrier to prevent game from walking behind.

I saw that one had a max range of 20 yards.  Is that typical or are there ones that are more sensitive?

[Schmidty3]

My 2 cents.

What I usually notice first if I see a camera is the strap that goes around the tree.

What I do is get a couple of I bolts, one with the proper thread for the cam, and one that's a wood screws. Bolt those together. Screw in your home job mount into the tree. Screw the cam to the mount. I'll also put it up at 8-10 ft. The mount also lets you tilt and pan the camera and makes it easier to aim.

What's helpful when doing this is a camera that has a built in viewer so you can aim the cam.

And my experience is that the cams aren't very sensitive unless you shell out the big bucks.

My $100 browning cams may be good to 10-15 yards. Ive got a nicer spypoint that will do 20-25 in the daylight.

At night they all seem pretty limited in my experience. But ive never had a super high end cam.

[Gdpolk]

[goobersan]

www.chasingame.com  is probably the best resource for game cams. camofire regularly has several reconditioned cams.
Public land may have rules against placement, etc.
Even if you lived within a mile or two your cameras could vanish. Private land is not much safer these days. You could place them high up in a lockbox and make a label like "State Deer Management" or other fictitious name to reduce theft.Good luck

[Gen273]

Originally posted by Schmidty3:
My 2 cents.

What I usually notice first if I see a camera is the strap that goes around the tree.

What I do is get a couple of I bolts, one with the proper thread for the cam, and one that's a wood screws. Bolt those together. Screw in your home job mount into the tree. Screw the cam to the mount. I'll also put it up at 8-10 ft. The mount also lets you tilt and pan the camera and makes it easier to aim.

What's helpful when doing this is a camera that has a built in viewer so you can aim the cam.

And my experience is that the cams aren't very sensitive unless you shell out the big bucks.

My $100 browning cams may be good to 10-15 yards. Ive got a nicer spypoint that will do 20-25 in the daylight.

At night they all seem pretty limited in my experience. But ive never had a super high end cam.

Schmidty,

Do you by chance have picture of your homemade mount?

[Jock Whisky]

How often do you check your cameras

[Schmidty3]

Reference this for the mount

Not my original idea!

 https://www.qdma.com/build-diy-trail-camera-mount/

[Doug Treat]

I see you're from Ca. Most of the trail camera use is for whitetails back east but I love to use them in the west (Colorado and California), mostly to capture pictures of predators. I like to find trails or water to see what is in the area. For me, it gives me a good idea about the bears where I hunt and points out areas that aren't well used as much as giving me info on hot areas to concentrate on. I camo paint my cameras, camo them with branches, and lock them to a tree to try to minimize theft. So far, in about 7 years, the only thing that has bothered my cameras have been bears. One of my cameras got bit so hard, the screen doesn't work any more so I can't set the date/time/other settings. I would suggest cheap cameras that you aren't afraid to loose but long battery life is the most important feature in my opinion.

[Doug Treat]

Oh, also, I write "USFS cam #57" or something like that on my cameras so that hunter haters will leave them alone.

[ShooterF150]

I ALWAYS PUT ANOTE  IN MY CAMERA  THAT  THERE IS ANOTHER       CAMERA   WATCHING  YOU  AND I HAVE YOUR PICTURE..MIKE

[Tom1958]

Check out  https://www.trailcampro.com  and read some of their tests. I believe they are unbiased. Nice folks who offer a free 2 year warranty and card included.
Seems like Browning is making some great cams in the $150 range. I just bought 4 and they are everything that I hoped for.
If you buy cheap cameras you'll end up frustrated.

Best uses...Set one up on a well used, perennial scrape along a field in October. That can be a mock scrape or a natural scrape. Most pics will be at night, but most every buck on the property will visit that scrape so you can get a good idea of what your buck herd is.

Elevating the camera cuts down on them being visible (or smelled) by deer AND thieves. And those Brownings are tiny. Much easier to hide.
I like putting a camera in my tree at stand height, pointing at where I hope to get the shot, and having it on video mode is even better. Make memories of the buck before the kill and possibly getting a vid of the shot and hit location could be helpful.
And you'll be able to see what's passing your tree when you aren't there...could be pics of a monster or a trespasser (if on private land).

And the Brownings have a tiny view screen. Nice for setting up the camera but not really large enough to see detail very well. But for $10, you could get a card reader that plugs into a smart phone. No need to haul a laptop into the woods. Just climb up into your stand, pull the card, plug it into your phone, and drool over the huge buck that walked by the day before while you were hunting another spot! LOL!

[jonsimoneau]

Here are a couple of things I’ve learned when it comes to using them for whitetails. The information you can glean from trail cameras is much more valuable the FOLLOWING year than it is the year you are using it. I have found that individual deer will often be in the same areas at the same time each year provides they are still alive. For example. I have many years of pictures of a doe with no tail. Each year she would show up in a tiny woodlot. She would be there for about a month and then was gone for the year. Get this. She most often showed up on Sept. 17th to the day! Another example is the buck I was after this year. I got only 3 pictures of him last year and 2 of them were during the rut. I set a stand hoping to get a shot at him the following season (this year) but also because it was just a good spot that needed a stand. Going into this season I had no idea if he was even alive because he wasn’t spending much time on the property I could hunt. As it turned out I ended up going to Alaska with some PBS guys and then when I got back I immediately hit the road to hunt another area 4 hours away. While I was gone my wife climbed into that stand. Keep in mind this stand had gone completely unhunted. On her second day in that stand guess who showed up? The exact same buck from last year and she killed him. He’ll score in the mid 160’s. I like using trail cameras but I fear the technology may be going to far. I know a guy in my area who killed a really big buck 2 years ago. He had a bunch of those cellular trail cameras sending pics right to his phone. Once he got a pic of the buck walking by one of his stands he quickly got changed and climbed into another stand in the line of travel the buck was headed and shot him that night. I don’t think I would want to use them in that way.

[jonsimoneau]

Oh and don’t bother with regular batteries. They don’t work as well. You will get more pictures especially in cold weather with lithium batteries. Also you get much longer battery life.