Trail Cameras....ethical or not?

[Shawn Leonard]

Looper ya must not hunt much or pattern deer much. I have set on the edge of a large field 50 acres every year now for 18 years and during Sept. I can pretty much tell you where and what time certain deer will show up, sometimes for as much as 10 straight days. Sometimes only  a few days, but with a trail camera I would not have to be there spreading my scent or worrying about wind and still tell you. No they are not coming to a feeder but a lush full field of alfalfa and clover, or soybeans or turnips, whatever. These guys are hunting prime food plots, again I have no problem with others doing it, just not me as I do not think it is an unfair advantage. I don't think scent killers and camo or GPS are unfair, so to each his own. Do people know that if you use a radio to tell a buddy that a giant whitetail is heading there way or is 15 yards behind them that P&Y will not allow the trophy to be entered? I myself could care less about that, but they feel it is not in the rules of what is fair to the animal. Shawn

[2 Barrels]

I've never had to steal anything to find out if it's ethical or not.I shouldnt have to try a trail cam to see if it fits with my ethics.It just is'nt my thing.I love the mystery of the hunt.

[Roger Norris]

Interesting opinions, thanks guys.

[mrjsl]

I agree with Shawn. 90% of the guys I know that use cameras use them the way he describes, and if they aren't just casting a wide net, they are all aimed at a bait pile.

I don't own any, but I can think of one instance where I would like to. I hunt a huge tract of public land - 35,000 acres. I've got several oddball funnel spots I would like to hunt, but the wind is seldom right, and in some cases I'm not even sure deer use the funnels. I'd like to stick a camera in those kinds of places and just see if anything turns up.

[Coonbait]

WOW, the dreded question if something gives us as hunters an unfair advantage over the animals that we persue. My thought is trail cameras are only a tool. No more of an advantage than treestands, binos, scentlock type clothing,portable ground blinds, rubber boots, camo clothing, carbon or aluminium arrows, synthetic bow strings, arial photos and the list of whats an unfair advantage could go on forever. I guess we could hunt with selfbows,wooden arrows with stone points in loin clothes if we wanted to be completely fair. But someone would come along and say that the bow and arrow really puts the animal at an unfair advantage because a deer doesn't get one! It's a silly argument that really only devides us in the lifestyle we so love.
Glenn

[John Scifres]

There's a line in a John Mellencamp song that goes, "I try somethin' once and then I do it to death!"  That's what I think about some of these things.  There's a line that is crossed.  It's a tough call where that is but when you have a better chance at killing a certain deer than that deer has of escaping, I'd argue that it has been crossed.

I like Midwest Whitetails in some ways but their extensive use of trailcams to target a buck on their "hitlists" is over the top.

[KentuckyTJ]

Originally posted by Coonbait:
WOW, the dreded question if something gives us as hunters an unfair advantage over the animals that we persue. My thought is trail cameras are only a tool. No more of an advantage than treestands, binos, scentlock type clothing,portable ground blinds, rubber boots, camo clothing, carbon or aluminium arrows, synthetic bow strings, arial photos and the list of whats an unfair advantage could go on forever. I guess we could hunt with selfbows,wooden arrows with stone points in loin clothes if we wanted to be completely fair. But someone would come along and say that the bow and arrow really puts the animal at an unfair advantage because a deer doesn't get one! It's a silly argument that really only devides us in the lifestyle we so love.
Glenn

 exactly Wow.

[GRINCH]

x2

[BowPlinker]

I dispise debates like this,,, when the better that you because I do or do not........ Exposes themselves...  
Ken

Trad hunting with or with out a trail cam..? I don't care, have fun and get in the woods  

[Looper]

Originally posted by Shawn Leonard:
Looper ya must not hunt much or pattern deer much.

Seriously? For your information, I've been hunting whitetails for over 30 years. In that short span, hunting in some very difficult areas, I've shot 35 deer off of public land here. I'm not talking yearlings, either. Most are mature deer. That is no small feat. In some of these areas, even seeing a deer is considered a victory. I've got rifle hunting buddies that consider themselves good hunters if they get a deer every other year.

I've also shot around 15 off of my family's land. That time frame also includes 15 years when I didn't live here. I don't hunt food plots and don't hunt bait stations.

I have 75 acres that I lease out to a local farmer. Every other year he plants corn or beans. In between squash or tomatoes. The years he plants corn, deer are everywhere, and, yes, sometimes they'll come in at the same time of day for a week , maybe two. But I can tell you with great certainty that it doesn't take much to bump them off that schedule. A lost coon dog, a storm front, the crop pickers, whatever. My point is that there is no way to know what happens each day that might cause them to change their patterns. They are not robots.

[Blaino]

I don't have enough days off from work as it is. If I really knew what was in my woods I doubt I'd be employed!

I don't have a problem with the ethics of cameras. I have a problem with the electronics. I have just about gave up on them. I have 3 on my lease now and one does not work at all, one only takes daytime pics, and the third only takes pics when it wants to. They cost too much for me to sink any more money into them to only get a year or two out of them. Just my perspective.

Bisch

[Big Ed]

I use cameras in known areas that I have hunted in the past. The pictures are pretty cool to see whats out there. Pretty neat to get a picture of a deer before you harvest it. Hasn't happened to me yet!!

[Kevin Dill]

The cameras when used only as cameras are fine with me. I would have no problems using them for fun and interesting pictures, just as I would my digital Canon. But here's where my mind diverges:

I enjoy the traditional aspects of hunting big game the hard way. I consider the use of electronics to be the antithesis of traditional hunting styles. It is totally unethical for me to use electronics (as in circuit boards and processors) to help me actually find and (therefore) successfully kill an animal. I know a lot of folks will disagree with me, but so be it. I've hunted with a bow for many decades, and I've never resorted to using electronic devices in the field to give me an edge. I long ago made that pledge to myself, and I'll never break it.

[RC]

I don`t have one. Would be cool I think but i hunt mostly public land and I would`nt want to tempt a feller to steal....
  That said my syle of hunting they would not work. I may walk five miles in the swamp checking feed trees till I find a primary feed tree to hunt over. I climb and hunt. Works for me. I feel a great deal of satisfaction hunting this way.
  I`m not sure if setting up on a trail or field you have pinpointed a deers movement too in time and place then climbing and shooting him due to this info you gathered from a Camera is hunting.Shooting maybe?
  No disrespect intended. We all hunt for different reasons and satisfaction is gathered in many ways afield and if you enjoy the cameras have fun. Its all good.RC

[gnihsifnamk]

I like to protect at least one aspect of my life from the high tech fast paced gotta have it materialistic culture we live in. I like to keep my hunting as low tech as possible, it is better for my soul. I try to be as electronic and gadget free as possible, and if that causes me to get less deer I am ok with that.

I also think trail cameras are low on the list of concerns I have with fair chase ethics, so if people want to use them then go for it, the pictures are always fun to see.

[Pepper]

Trail cams can't be ethical, it's the folks who use or abuse them that are ethical or unethical.
If you rely soley on camera stats to locate and kill, then I for one would question your ethics as a killer, not a hunter.
One mans opinion.

[Roger Norris]

Originally posted by Pepper:
Trail cams can't be ethical, it's the folks who use or abuse them that are ethical or unethical.
If you rely soley on camera stats to locate and kill, then I for one would question your ethics as a killer, not a hunter.
One mans opinion.

Thats about where I am at on the subject right now...

[koger]

I was on the fence for a long while, but it has helped me in several situations, I own 3, and dont use it to pinpoint a deer/deers, but just to be aware of what is actually on the properties I hunt, and as of late, I use them more for hunting predators, mainly coyotes than anything else. A valuable, ethical tool, but each to his own. This reminds me of the article in current issue of Traditional bowhunter mag, chastising traditionalists for using pop up blinds to turkey hunt, making it too easy. It does help a lot, but more time than not, the turkeys have way more advantage, at least for me huntiing them! I am careful of anythinking, that puts me in a box of cant do/can do etc. I trad bow  hunt only, but also use ML's, and high power rifles. If not, I would miss out on a lot of great memories hunting with friends, and not make as many new ones. Trail cameras are just plain fun to me, you will have to decide for yourself.

[xtrema312]

I wonder how many would be against setting on a high ridge out west scouting and patterning animals over a wide expanse of space using a spotting scope or good pair of high magnification binoculars.  Shame on anyone not putting down the boot leather, and reading sign to find a critter. You shouldn’t be using high tech unnatural observation devices like that to observe animals at a distance where they are not aware of your presence.  

I found a great looking spot where a buck it rubbing and scraping up the area.  I planned to hunt him this week.  A friend living very close buy said he has seen the buck crossing the road into that spot a couple times a week at about 6 in the evening.  Now I wonder if I should hunt him given he has been observed and patterned to some extent.  :D