Trail Cameras....ethical or not?

[Bjorn]

The greatest shortcut I have found is the people I have met and learned from,  that far and away exceeds the sum total of everything else combined, electronic and otherwise.
Many of these have been directly or indirectly as a result of this site and I guess that is what makes it difficult for me to separate the PCB in my computer from the one in my game camera. I meant no one any disrespect and if it was taken that way I apologize.

[NJSwampstalker]

I have three daughters, and I take them into the woods as much as possible.  They collect shed antlers, old turtle shells, nuts, feathers, and any other "treasure" they happen upon.  I am doing my best to teach them how to read deer sign and become competent woodsmen.  I own a single deer camera, and the girls love to take it out, pick a likely spot, wave goodbye, and return several weeks later to pick it up.  When we get home, they sit on my lap and we sift through the movies looking at deer, fox, turkeys, and racoons.  It is a way of both increasing their interest in the outdoors and providing one more incentive to get in Dad's truck and wander around the woods.  Scouting cameras are amazing pieces of technology, and can be used in both ethical and educational ways.  I fell in love with trad archery because of some very personal and profound pleasure I get from it.  I don't see that my use of modern technology makes me less of a trad guy.  If anything I spend more time in the woods and more time with my daughters because of them.

[Looper]

Kevin, your experience should also tell you that "your" buck isn't going to hang around while you "bail and run" to where he is. Come on. We can all create a situation where anything and everything is illegal or immoral or unethical. The plain fact is that you don't have to use a tool, like a trail camera, in an unethical manner. Sure you can, but you don't have to.

I own one. I've enjoyed using it. Many others have gotten enjoyment from the pictures it produces. Does it compromise the "code" I've set for myself. Not in the least, because of the way I choose to use it. Has it made me a more efficient hunter. Not in the least, because of the way I choose to use it. Has it helped me kill a deer? Not in the least, because of the way I choose to use it.

[Hoyt]

I finally broke down and bought the cheapest one I could find..bout $30 new..to put on public land I hunt. Problem is it's so hard for me to get way back in where I hunt, I hardly ever check the thing. May not still have it.

When it comes down to having so many like on the tv shows where they know every deer on their properties and have a portfolio on them all I think it's a little much. They seem more surprised when they kill a buck they "don't know" than anything else they do.

[Shawn Leonard]

Looper, very good statement!! I still do not see how anyone can equate a treestand,bow,gun,scent killers and such to a trail camera. The native americans were using all that stuff but guns long before any Europeans or anyone else set foot on american soil, not in the same form but some form or another. To say a device that can tell you exactly when and where a deer is showing up in an area cannot be equated to any of the aforementioned things. Again I use all those things and I do own a couple trailcams and as they are being used by most people I do not have a problem with them. It is when people go overboard with there use and pretty much can tell you when a particular deer is gonna show up in a particular location and use that combined info of repetition to kill that animal. True it can be done a lot of times from afar with a spotting scope and a lot of time spent in the field but the trail cams are taking that human element of having to be out there scouting. I say use them if you like and as you like, I just like to use them in my own way. Shawn

[Three Arrows]

The trail cameras put the time in for you every second of the day and night.  They allow you to map and pattern deer.  They allow you to pick which trails or areas hold the biggest bucks.
I don't think of them as unethical but I would not use them.  It takes the hunt out of the hunt for me.  I know 2 guys who use these things religiously now.  Trail camera arguments are going to go into the crossbow arena of debate shortly.

[Kevin Dill]

So do we have a majority concensus that "if it doesn't kill hunting as a sport, we're all in for as much electronics as the man will allow"?

[NYStickhunter]

I like looking at the pictures but really don't see how using them to harvest game is ethical. Anything I can check from home or work is not hunting or woodcraft as far as I am concerned.

[StickBowManMI]

If a trail camera is considered unethical, than what is using a tree stand considered?