Trail Cams

User avatar
Markus
Diamond Participant
Diamond Participant
Posts: 7362
Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2003 8:05 am
Location: Nova Scotia/St Catharines

Trail Cams

Post by Markus »

I'm looking forward to getting into the camp next weekend for a visit. I left a cam on the trail leading into the camp and i'm interested to see what's walked by. According to friend reports, there seems to be a lot of deer on the move around the camp now. It's great to hear about all the sightings and I hope it's a sign of them coming through the extended winter in good shape.

I was into the st catharines bass pro the other night and I couldnt resist grabbing another game cam. I scooped a deal on a Wildgame last year and it worked well, so I grabbed another one because the price was right at $80.

Image

At the check out, the lady tried to sell me a warranty for $20. I decided to pass on it and I'm glad I did because when i got to my appartment and opened the box, it came with a free 1 year mail in warranty.

We now have 12 cams to use throughout the year...a couple have been dedicated to security cams at the cabin, so we have 10 to spread out at bear sites, food plot, mineral sites, deer sites, trails and scouting cams. I'd love to have 10 more. lol
User avatar
banjo
Silver Participant
Silver Participant
Posts: 718
Joined: Fri Jan 24, 2003 9:18 am
Location: Ottawa

Re: Trail Cams

Post by banjo »

A few years back our camp invested in a trail cam to use. Never got anything but hundreds of pictures of the beaver damn we set it up at. It seemed to take a picture every 10 minutes at night. Somebody eventually tossed it in the beaver pond I think. Last year we got a Simmons one for under a 100$ and we got a few pictures of does. It has been on my list to get some more to place around, but won't pay more than that for them since I hunt shared land... and I have heard they tend to go missing.
One question... how long do the batteries last and before the memory card fills up. A couple of the spots I want to put them I am there in May, and not again until Sept.
User avatar
Out4trout
Gold Participant
Gold Participant
Posts: 1746
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 5:38 pm
Location: Eastern Ontario

Re: Trail Cams

Post by Out4trout »

Glad the Wildgame work for you Markus
We have 2 Moultries and used to have 4 Wildgames, 3 out of 4 WGI cams failed in first month so I returned the entire batch.
The Moultries are still functioning after 5+ years, had one warranty issue, but we since switched entirely to Spypoint.
Our 4 Spypoint cams have been totally flawless. Batteries last about 3 months in the cold, thousands of pics.

Agree they are a fantastic tool. It's fun sitting in the stand, and when a deer comes in, already knowing which one it is, and who is likely following.
User avatar
lape0019
Gold Participant
Gold Participant
Posts: 1817
Joined: Fri May 10, 2013 8:54 am

Re: Trail Cams

Post by lape0019 »

Markus,

I gotta say I am interested to see what you get.

I also have to say that I am happy to see that the hunting section is no longer restricted! I am not a hunter so I never signed up for that part. This does not mean I am not interested in what others like and I love seeing reports like these even if it is just a little teaser until the good stuff starts rolling in.

Adam
User avatar
bradford2
Silver Participant
Silver Participant
Posts: 677
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:00 pm
Location: Ottawa

Re: Trail Cams

Post by bradford2 »

Hope that one from me is still going! I too have switched entirely to the Spypoint lineup. I'm down a couple due to some low public land thievery, so will be on the lookout for a couple deals haha. Between me, my dad and a buddy tho we have 15 going and no issues to speak of. Sure do love the trail cams!
Out4trout wrote:Glad the Wildgame work for you Markus
We have 2 Moultries and used to have 4 Wildgames, 3 out of 4 WGI cams failed in first month so I returned the entire batch.
The Moultries are still functioning after 5+ years, had one warranty issue, but we since switched entirely to Spypoint.
Our 4 Spypoint cams have been totally flawless. Batteries last about 3 months in the cold, thousands of pics.

Agree they are a fantastic tool. It's fun sitting in the stand, and when a deer comes in, already knowing which one it is, and who is likely following.
User avatar
Markus
Diamond Participant
Diamond Participant
Posts: 7362
Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2003 8:05 am
Location: Nova Scotia/St Catharines

Re: Trail Cams

Post by Markus »

Banjo, we avoid cameras that are battery pigs. All our cams last a season on 1 set of batteries. These cheap wildgame cams claim to have 1 year or 30,000 pics. If you have a cam that's hard on batteries, try to set it to 1 pic per trigger and spcae the triggers out by 5 mins. That usually helps a lot. The one simmon's i have is an ok cam. takes good pics, excellent battery life, but it has a very short trigger beam. Critters need to be close to trigger it.

O4T, I'm a moultrie guy too. We currently use 3-Moultrie I40's, 1-Moultrie I55, 1-Moultrie M100, 2-Moulrie A8's, 1-Scoutguard, 1-Simmons, 1-Stealth, and 2-Wildgames. I have friends that use the spypoints too and the all love them. I'd add some to our inventory if the cost was a bit better.

Losing cams sucks Brad. I'm due for some jerk medicine too....we've been lucy.
User avatar
Out4trout
Gold Participant
Gold Participant
Posts: 1746
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 5:38 pm
Location: Eastern Ontario

Re: Trail Cams

Post by Out4trout »

bradford2 wrote:Hope that one from me is still going!
Still functions Brad!! It has less range than the spy points but works good at the feeder.
User avatar
smitty55
Gold Participant
Gold Participant
Posts: 1684
Joined: Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:37 pm
Location: Lanark County

Re: Trail Cams

Post by smitty55 »

Good thread Markus. I know there's not a huge hunting crowd here but it sure would be nice to have a trail cam sub-forum in the hunting section. You could team up with Birdee and try to sweet talk RJ into it lol.

I love my trail cams. Specially for bear hunting. They really help to predetermine size and sex
I go way back to trail timers. First one had a thread that you set up across a trail. Then I went high tech lol. Second one used a beam and would record up to 50 events. WOW

Then I got my first Moultrie and I was hooked. White flash of course, which really used up batteries quick. Then I had one that used a 6v rechargeable lantern battery and had a solar charger for the field which helped if you could find a sunny spot for it, but wasn't much help in the denser forest. I've had good luck with Moultries over the years, their battery life has always been good and I haven't had any bad ones that needed warranty. The display started acting up on a couple of cheap I35's (6 C cell)that I had but it was a known defect and I replaced them myself for under $15 plus shipping. One of those has since crapped out. I still have a couple Of I40's that I think still work. 8 D cells lol. What I also liked about the Moultries was that in video mode it would also take a single pic so when needed to access the file it was easy to scan the jpeg list and then select the videos to watch.
So then I went to red leds, which still gave good nightime vids, and didn't seem to bother deer and bear as much. I never bought a high end hi-def one at the time because when you get right down to it, we just want to know what's coming in to our stand. But after seeing the quality hi-def night time videos that Justin Hoffman posted this past winter of the Fisher at a bait he had out, I wish I had one at my disposal.

Then I decided to upgrade again.I picked 2 of the new Moultrie black led cams. The night time videos were horrid. So bad that I returned them to Dale at Pathfinder maps and showed him the videos. He totally agreed, and his supplier had no prob with the return either. I now have 3 no flash cams with audio and hi def video. 2 Coverts and a Uway. Daytime pics and vids are quite good and the audio is great. But I have now come to accept that night time pics and specially videos will never be very good with black leds. However, they are fantastic at not spooking animals as there is absolutely no glow. I had bears walking right by my cams this year and they didn't get touched fortunately. Plus, with their small size and camo pattern they are much less visible to prying low life thieves that get a kick out of stealing trail cams and stands too. Even the jerks that go out at night looking for a flash or glow. The only real issue I've had is sometimes the night videos only last for 3 or 4 seconds even when I have them set for longer.

Here's a few examples of the no glow type cams...

Daytime pics
Image
Image

Even in low light once it switches to night video mode the quality is not the best


Night time vid


Daytime vid at the shaker barrel


Sometimes you can't avoid the sun but still a neat pic
Image

Cheers
Smitty

Straight shooter
User avatar
Markus
Diamond Participant
Diamond Participant
Posts: 7362
Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2003 8:05 am
Location: Nova Scotia/St Catharines

Re: Trail Cams

Post by Markus »

Smitty, I've been tempted to try a black light cam...but until they come down to the $100 range, this cheap ole boy will go without. lol I just cant justify the coin for those. I enjoyed the sample pics you put up for the other cams.
User avatar
Kerrazy
Silver Participant
Silver Participant
Posts: 531
Joined: Fri May 24, 2013 4:49 am
Location: Gatineau

Re: Trail Cams

Post by Kerrazy »

Great pics and videos smitty!

Love the sow with the 3 Cubs.
Kerrazy

"Everyone should believe in something. I believe I'll Go Fishing!"- Thoreau
I'd like to thank my sponsors:
Interac - Be in the Black
Jerry, my neighbour, who foolishly leaves his shed and truck open, so I can try all the latest gear!
RJ
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 8445
Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2003 9:18 pm
Location: Prospect, Ontario

Re: Trail Cams

Post by RJ »

smitty55 wrote:Good thread Markus. I know there's not a huge hunting crowd here but it sure would be nice to have a trail cam sub-forum in the hunting section. You could team up with Birdee and try to sweet talk RJ into it lol.
We need less forums not more! :lol:

RJ
User avatar
bradford2
Silver Participant
Silver Participant
Posts: 677
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:00 pm
Location: Ottawa

Re: Trail Cams

Post by bradford2 »

I'm also a fan of the black flash, and going forward it's likely all I'll buy. The cheapest in the Spypoint lineup runs around 140$ taxes in.
Smitty is bang on though, the night stuff can suffer. You just get a lot less clear photos on average. Still good enough to see what is there and when though.

They do still notice the cameras from time to time though even with the black LEDs. This fall I'm going to try raising them up 8-10 feet off the ground and see if that helps.
User avatar
smitty55
Gold Participant
Gold Participant
Posts: 1684
Joined: Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:37 pm
Location: Lanark County

Re: Trail Cams

Post by smitty55 »

bradford2 wrote:They do still notice the cameras from time to time though even with the black LEDs. This fall I'm going to try raising them up 8-10 feet off the ground and see if that helps.
That might help, but would be a pain to access and setup. You'd need some premade shims to set up your lens angle. Some brands have louder shutters too that can be heard so raising it won't help. We've all had pics of deer staring right at the cam lol. Or they can smell human scent on it. Besides, the old flash units used to work. Once the critters got used to it they don't perceive it as threatening. I've also used a stake with a cross brace if the ground is right, and no trees, like at the edge of a cultivated field.


I probably pushed my luck with two of my setups last year as the bears were literally walking within a foot of the cam. I made sure to use nitrile gloves with no food odours when I switched sd cards. I've had my share of bear,deer coon, squirrel, fisher and even dog real close range pics, and a few bite marks on some cams, found one on the ground, but never lost one to a bruin.

Sure is fun though using trail cams. Response times now of a quarter second. Wild. About the only time I get very excited on a pc, as I check the memory cards looking for that first bear to hit a bait, or a nice buck touring around in the neighborhood. I use deer feeders locally on private land to help give an idea of the local populations. Well worth the cost of feed and batteries and effort. I really enjoy it.

Cheers
Smitty

Straight shooter
User avatar
bradford2
Silver Participant
Silver Participant
Posts: 677
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:00 pm
Location: Ottawa

Re: Trail Cams

Post by bradford2 »

It's as addictive as the hunting is.

There's lots of good reading out there about raising the cams. Many guys seem to be doing it with great success. I figure standing on a 5 gallon pail I'll be able to reach 8 feet or that will have to be high enough lol.

I do agree, that the deer get used to anything, but I'll take any advantage I can get on those cagey old bucks. If it means they will come in during shooting light 2 times in a season instead of 1 it will be worth it haha.
User avatar
Markus
Diamond Participant
Diamond Participant
Posts: 7362
Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2003 8:05 am
Location: Nova Scotia/St Catharines

Re: Trail Cams

Post by Markus »

We decided to put the new WildGame cam through the passes, so we set up a new mineral site near the food plot. We always test the cam before leaving so we know the target area is set up correct and this also gave me a chance to check out the picture quality. Not bad at all.

Image

The other thing i really liked was the camo pattern on the cam. It was a perfect match for the spruce bark. You can see it just disappears. Here's a pic looking back at it from the mineral.

Image

Now all we need is some critter action at the mineral site.
Post Reply