Back in April I bought myself a trail camera, one of these new and smaller models. Just trying to learn how the settings work and all, I set it up on Wardney's illegal salt lick for a week or so. I had it set to take a picture every minute, if there is motion. On average I was getting 20 some pictures per day.

We've got at least 3 buck deer working the salt lick. The deer just had little nubs, about as long as your thumb, but they've got a long time to grow yet.

I moved the camera to another property where my buddy Moe and I like to deer hunt. Guess it's been up there for about 4 weeks now. I've only checked it twice, just changed SD cards, it's on duty right now.

As far as I can tell, I've got at least 4 different bucks, so far. Kind of hard to tell them apart. As their horns develop that might be a little bit easier? Here's a picture of the best buck so far:



The date on the picture is right, but the clock is off 12 hours. I can tell by the way the sun is coming through the timber, that was late in the evening.

Figure it's the first of July, he's got another 2 or 3 months to grow. I've got another buck on camera, looks like he may have a wider rack. I'm getting pictures of them about every day. It'll be interesting to see how they do grow. Pretty sure I have a picture of a coyote too. Next time I go up to change SD cards, I'm going to take a bottle of lure with me, and make a little set. See what all we do have running around.

I gotta get one of those things.

Nice picture, Redsnow!
Here is something I got on my trailcam. [If I can figure out how to post the picture ].

...And this guy!

Ron

This is the same picture, I just cropped it a little bit. Notice the belly on the doe in front, she's heavy with a fawn or fawns? The little scruffy deer on the right, it's a buck. It's got little nubs, hard to say, but maybe the doe's fawn from last spring? Just guessing, the little scruffy deer is only a year old.

Here on my computer I can zoom in and see what's going on.

I'll make sure the pictures go first, then add more.

I have an older model trail cam, that takes 6 D-sized batteries, it takes good pictures and all, but it'll kill a set of batteries in 10 days or so. That's why I don't use it. Plus it's 2 times the size of the new one.

I've read a lot of reviews, asked a bunch of my friends, it seems most everyone just bought what was on sale at the time. I started a thread over on the other forum and asked for advice. Lots to consider, trigger speed, pixels, battery life, ease of use, price, etc. So far this little camera has done a good job. One thing that I don't like, it seems that it's pretty fragile, as far as bear messing with it.

A bear knocked my old camera around sideways on my tree once before, and scratched up the thing, I have no idea why it even found the thing. I had it watching a waterhole, no bait or scent or anything at all. I guess just the smell of my hands, and it was mounted at least 7 feet above ground level too. Don't know?

I know one man that has a camera similar to my old model, he has it rigged up with a car battery and a solar charger. That's ok, but not something you'd want to carry very far.

Moe just bought himself a camera last summer, it's a different brand, good quality pictures and has good battery life too. Mine was about $115, I think his model was another $20 or so? If you've got the money to blow, some of the things will run up over $400. Just for me, I'd rather have 3 or 4 cheap ones. It's not like I'm taking once in a lifetime wedding pictures.

Moe does professional photos as a side job, it's driving him nuts wondering about what kind of pictures I'm getting. Just a guess, but the little camera has already taken probably 700 pictures, on one set of batteries, but it's been warm, easy on battery life.

Ron those are nice crisp pictures, from both brands of cameras. One thing that I noticed, you have your cameras mounted, what shoulder high or so?

I've found several cameras out in the woods, and I also know of folks that have their trail cams stolen. The one boy that hunts on the farm mounted one camera about 50 feet off of the main road, it was mounted about 4 feet off the ground. It stuck out like a sore thumb. I called him and told him he'd better hide it better. Figure that's just like a $100 bill hanging there. And if somebody is trespassing in the first place, more than likely they're going to take it!

It might be hard to see in my pictures, but my camera is up almost 8 feet high. I was standing on a milk crate and put it up as high as I could reach, on my tip toes. I just wedged a twig behind the top, to angle it down where it looked about right. A man hunting through the woods, most of the time you're going to be looking from eye level down. This new camera is camo colored, and it blends in very good.

It's not likely that anyone would steal my camera where it's located, but I figure if anyone does want it, at least they're going to work for it.

Don't be so circumspect. What cameras have (do) you used?

Theft is what bothers me most. My son once put one up in our woods, a quarter mile from nowhere. Someone found it. They didn't steal it, but they knew what they were doing. The opened it up and took the card, I assume so we couldn't identify them.

This is a real nice fisher that was looking in the same cubby that the above Bobcat was interested in. I have [ HAD ] 2 cameras. A Bushnell that also took videos, which was very exciting to watch. The other was a Cuddeback that I bought from Cabellas, on line. Both did well and I have used them a lot. It does take a lot of trial and error to get the settings right, unless you have a modern mind, which I do not. One took D Batteries and the other took the AA Batteries. Both would last a month or more on a set of batteries.

This past fall, both cameras were out in a very remote area in Northern New York. One was pointed at a spot where beaver were coming out of a stream to cut trees. The other was on a ridge, pointed at a game trail. I was dumb enough to leave both cameras out during deer season. When I went back, in mid-December, both were gone. No sign of either of them. I am not really pointing a finger at deer hunters, BUT !

I did always mount them about shoulder high. Sometimes lower when needed---like the one at the Beaver pull out. That one was about 3' off the ground. I want to get another camera, and probably will, but I am a little gun shy now about more theft.

A few more good ones! Quite a few Fisher around in the North Country. Those bigger ones are almost always Males. And what a location for a gang set for Coyotes. This is a seldom used logging road that the Coyotes run on regularly. As you can see, the cameras do a fairly good job at night, too.