Here's a picture from last year.

All of these pictures are good. I checked online, that model Browning is priced at 140. That was pretty much my price range, $150 or less, by the time you get 2 SD cards and batteries, that's about it. I'm not going to spend $400 and stick it to a tree, I don't trust folks that much!

Well, J., you have different cameras, do you have a favorite? Is one brand easier to use than the others?

Musher, what brand of cameras do you like best? With cameras out in cold weather, what's your preference? Pros and cons?

I just have one Stealth camera, honestly, for the price I feel I've got my monies worth. Thinking about it now, it's been out 4 months, on one set of batteries, not sure how many pictures it's taken? More than a thousand!

J. I've been looking at your picture dated 6/21/16, comparing it to my first picture on this thread, dated 6/22/16. I checked, Fairfield Co, OH, is near the center of Ohio, a little North of me. Looking at the picture from 7/18/16. Looks to me like your biggest buck is just about finished growing, maybe a little more tine length yet?

I'm not familiar with Ohio deer hunting regulations, but around here a buck like him would be VERY lucky to survive 3 days of our rifle buck season. Now that crossbows are legal in the archery season, he's doomed!

I have an Amazon Prime membership that gives you discounts on some items and free shipping. I paid 109.00 for the Browning camera.
They have your Stealth camera for 114.95. They have a large selection of trail cameras in inventory. Some brands I have never heard of.
I've got security boxes and cable locks on most of my cameras.

From what I saw in my pictures last year, they started grow more mass later in the summer.

The first Browning camera I bought was in November 2015. It's been out the hole time and is showing fifty percent charge. It uses six AA batteries.

I'm Not trying to say what I'm doing is the best way to go. Just trying to give my experience with the cameras I have. There has got to be some more people on this board with some different cameras for us to see.

As far as survival in hunting season, I would say that in a 3/4 mile radius all the property has had the timber cut so It's pretty thick.

I'm not fussy about brand names. I buy what is on sale. If I can get one for $75-80, and it doesn't need a zillion batteries, I'll buy it. Moultrie is the one I have the most of (4). I had a Spypoint but it broke.

I'm not looking for a quality photograph. I want to see what is making the hooved tracks.

If it gets really cold, the batteries stop working and you don't ge any photos. But when it warms up, the pictures resume. I've gotten many photos in winter. Batteries can last a surprisingly long time. I change batteries about once a year. Admittedly, often enough the camera has stopped operating by the time I get to changing the batteries.

I moved my camera back to the other tree yesterday. Notice how I had it angled wrong, I wanted it angled higher. I don't have a way to check the pictures in the woods, but as soon as I looked at them here on the computer, I knew it was off this time even worse!

But you can see the fawns are just learning to run, just playing.




I'm sure we do have other members with trail cameras, it would be nice if they'd add their input. Pros and cons of different cameras, etc.

Ron, the man from NY should be giving us a report before long.

Talking about survival rates, a buck like the one J. posted above, in this part of the WV, I'll be generous and put his odds of seeing New Years Day 2017 at 1 in 100.

Our archery season comes in early, crossbows are legal. We have a 2 week rifle deer season starting the week of Thanksgiving, then a week of muzzle loader deer season, scoped inline guns are legal. Sad to say, but with a buck like J's, you've gotta add in the "Outlaw factor" too.

WV offers some very tough penalties for illegal actions!

Here are Ohio's Regulations.

White-tailed Deer Hunting


Species

Opening Date

Closing Date

Daily Bag Limit


Archery September 24, 2016 February 5, 2017 Refer to the Deer Hunting Section for details on zone and bag limits.
Deer Youth Gun
November 19, 2016
November 20, 2016

Gun
November 28, 2016
December 4, 2016


December 17, 2016
December 18, 2016

Muzzleloader
January 7, 2017
January 10, 2017



Legal Deer Hunting Equipment


Archery Season
Longbow or Bow: Minimum draw weight 40 pounds. This includes compound bows and recurve bows. The arrow tip needs a minimum of two cutting edges, which may be exposed or unexposed and a minimum 3/4-inch width. Expandable and mechanical broadheads are legal.

Crossbow: Minimum draw weight 75 pounds. The arrow tip needs a minimum of two cutting edges, which may be exposed or unexposed and a minimum 3/4-inch width. Expandable and mechanical broadheads are legal.

Gun Season and Youth Gun Season
Shotgun: 10 gauge or smaller shotgun using one ball or one rifled slug per barrel (rifled shotgun barrels are permitted when using shotgun slug ammunition).

Muzzleloading rifle: .38 caliber or larger.

Muzzleloading shotgun: 10 gauge or smaller using one ball per barrel.

Handgun: With 5-inch minimum length barrel, using straight-walled cartridges .357 caliber or larger.

Straight-walled cartridge rifles in the following calibers: .357 Magnum, .357 Maximum, .38 Special, .375 Super Magnum, .375 Winchester, .38-55, .41 Long Colt, .41 Magnum, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, .444 Marlin, .45 ACP, .45 Colt, .45 Long Colt, .45 Winchester Magnum, .45 Smith & Wesson, .450 Marlin, .454 Casull, .460 Smith & Wesson, .45-70, .45-90, .45-110, .475 Linebaugh, .50-70, .50- 90, .50-100, .50-110, and .500 Smith & Wesson.
Shotguns and straight-walled cartridge rifles can be loaded with no more than three shells in the chamber and magazine combined.

Archery equipment: See Archery Season, above.

Muzzleloader Season
Muzzleloading rifle: .38 caliber or larger.

Muzzleloading shotgun: 10 gauge or smaller using one ball per barrel.

Archery equipment: See Archery Season, above.

You can carry only one HUNTING implement while hunting deer.

Hmmm, it's been years since I've read Ohio's hunting regulations. I was thinking that you couldn't use a center fire rifle.

We can start another thread about crossbows. Last season was the first year that crossbows were legal here in WV, for the average sportsman. Honestly, I've heard lots of bad things. Seems like some folks thought that their crossbow would knock over a deer like their 30-06. It's still a bow, and you've got to hit vitals!

Ohio does have long deer seasons too.

I forget, if I'd buy all of my stamps, and extra tags, I'd be legal to kill about 9 deer per season. That's archery, rifle muzzle loader.

I sell hunting licenses here at work, last fall a non-resident stopped by one morning, he bought every tag and stamp available to him, his license total was exactly $500.

Ohio adopted straight wall centerfires last season. Crossbows have been legal here for ever. We do have a pretty long season, but a few years back we had TOO MANY deer in Ohio. I believer they have trimmed the herd. -- Hal

Back when I first started hunting, our deer season lasted 2 weeks, bucks only, and the season limit was 1. We didn't have a doe season.

I'll check the regulations later today, but now our doe season is over 3 weeks long.

Talking about these straight-walled centerfire guns, I know a couple of guys that deer hunt with these Ruger "ranch guns", in a 44 Rem. Mag. Wardney has one that he'll take out now and then, if he's really serious, he'll take out a real gun.

I guess the old Sharp's blackpowder Buffalo guns would qualify as a straight-walled. They would give you folks in Ohio more range, would need to rainbow that big hunk of lead in on the target.

My bud Moe set up his trail cam the other day, his Moultrie pics look good too. He's got one spike with about 4" of horn, so far.

.45-70's are selling like hotcakes