Hunting cameras for outdoors?
- Thread starter belivitez
- Start date
Hello Hamstring, I haven't ever set up a trail camera at my grow spot, since it is located on a small island deep in the swamp, where I haven't had any two legged guests thus far, knock on wood. I use mine primarily to photograph wildlife.
Here are a few examples of some trail camera pictures dating back to 2012. The video from the Covert Black 60 trail camera is very grainy and of low resolution, so I only set the camera for still shots.
Here are a few examples of some trail camera pictures dating back to 2012. The video from the Covert Black 60 trail camera is very grainy and of low resolution, so I only set the camera for still shots.
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I have used them ..but if they are found its not good ...so instead I used to use night vision to make sure no one was watching me ..lol...yeehaw...wear gloves
I dont understand why its not good if the camera is found? As long as you are not in any of the pics I'm only out the cost of the camera.
For me anyway it very useful to know if someone was at my plot. If you followed the posts of a guerrilla named fast pine his plot was discovered by someone . They reported or supposedly reported his plot and then LEO showed up.
I have no idea if he was caught but knowing that your plot is discovered gives you the benefit of choice. You can choose to take the chance and try to harvest or the choice of moving on.
In my opinion its very useful tool because I personally would walk away from any plot that was discovered wether its by LEO or a hunter, hiker etc. I value my freedom over my harvest.
I would love to hear from guerrillas where using a trail cam paid off for them.
St. Phatty
Active member
That sounds like a good kind of camera to have.
I have a serious security application for it and also a more fun application - I want to film the deer jumping the fence. Last year it was 6 feet and they still jumped it. Thought it would be fun to get it on video too.
My guess is, some of the cameras are motion triggered and some, you just run it 24/7.
Sounds like the kind of work where BIG SD Cards helps.
as long as your prints aint on it your ok....unless your dumb enough to set it off yourself without a mask on...yeehaw
Hello Hamstring. That animal is called the Sitatunga Antelope, and they spend most of the day up to their chests in the swamp, browsing on vegetation, only emerging in the dead of night unto the shore to gallop about, joust for territory and eat the leaves of a few upland plants.
When startled, the Sitatunga antelope will bound into the water, and submerge itself to effectively vanish, with only the tip of its nose breaking the surface, to breathe and scent the source of threats.
@SirPhatty these cameras are all motion activated, and on windy days when the foliage sways about, you do get hundreds of false triggers, so a larger capacity SD card of 16 or 32 GB will ensure you don't run out of storage space, even if you don't get around to checking the camera for weeks at a time.
An eagle eye must be kept on the 12 AA batteries in the camera, so they can be swapped out when they run low, to prevent them leaking and thus ruining the camera. That battery leakage is less of an issue in dry climates, than it is here in the tropics next to a swamp, where batteries will start to sweat much sooner.
The cameras do have connectors so that external batteries can be used, but for the Covert 60 Black, I have had a devil of a time finding the right plug to fit the socket on the underside of the camera. When I do find that plug, the problem of leaking batteries inside the camera will be a thing of the past, while battery life will be greatly extended to last months on end.
With good concealment, these cameras can be made to really blend in to the tree trunk or brush pile where the device is secreted. I use those realistic looking plastic leaves that bow hunters attach to their clothing. Of course, for stealth grows, a final precaution of wearing gloves, and wiping down the camera inside and out, to erase prints, might be a good idea, just in case your concealment does not work as planned.
http://www.turkeyhuntingsecrets.com/store/store-camo-3d-leaf.htm
Most of the good trail cameras can be locked with a 4-digit password numerical code, rendering the device useless if it is stolen. This is a very good feature to have for sure.
The reddish brown animal with the white stripes and dots is an upland species known as the Bush Buck antelope. The males have horns, and the females, such as the one in the picture above, don't have horns. The home territories of the upland dwelling Bush Buck and the swamp dwelling Sitatunga do overlap along the fringes of the swamp forest, though the two species do not inter-breed.
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The design of trail cameras improves significantly with each new model released, so already my old Covert Black 60s are behind the curve in terms of performance, battery life and image quality.
There are so many new trail-cam makes and models out there that the hardest part about getting one would be deciding which one has the most to offer, and is most attractively priced.
There are so many new trail-cam makes and models out there that the hardest part about getting one would be deciding which one has the most to offer, and is most attractively priced.
vapeorbong
Member
i have a TON of expierence with hunting trail cameras.
The lowest cost Wildgame innovations ?ND4?nv4? about $60 works just as good if not better than almost any expensive camera i or my partners have used for hunting and wildlife photos. They all need battery swaps about 1.5-2 months avg. schedule; unless the tiny solar panel kit for some brands. (we get 100-400 pics per month -batterys will last fine 30 days easy) Friends have accused me of playing games with their cameras when they malfunction/blur images and mine are always fine b/c they are so reliable. They use 2-300+ bushnell, Reconyx, moultrie, etc...
They all have IR flash and do b/w nights and full color days, these cheap ones even have video options as well
The more expensive models are not worth the money...if it were my money i would take the low end over high end cameras on my expierence
i have yet to have one fail me in almost 6 years of digital WG innovations leaving them outdoors from July 4th - December 1st every year - - They get rained/snowed/frozen/august sun and occasional black bear closeup swipes with no failures yet other than a few scratches. the cold here in fall probably drains batteries quicker than if you are in warmer regions also.
The lowest cost Wildgame innovations ?ND4?nv4? about $60 works just as good if not better than almost any expensive camera i or my partners have used for hunting and wildlife photos. They all need battery swaps about 1.5-2 months avg. schedule; unless the tiny solar panel kit for some brands. (we get 100-400 pics per month -batterys will last fine 30 days easy) Friends have accused me of playing games with their cameras when they malfunction/blur images and mine are always fine b/c they are so reliable. They use 2-300+ bushnell, Reconyx, moultrie, etc...
They all have IR flash and do b/w nights and full color days, these cheap ones even have video options as well
The more expensive models are not worth the money...if it were my money i would take the low end over high end cameras on my expierence
i have yet to have one fail me in almost 6 years of digital WG innovations leaving them outdoors from July 4th - December 1st every year - - They get rained/snowed/frozen/august sun and occasional black bear closeup swipes with no failures yet other than a few scratches. the cold here in fall probably drains batteries quicker than if you are in warmer regions also.
Top_shelf_farms
Active member
Just ordered the browning dark ops trail cam... found it for 89$ usually 120-160$ it has great reviews
Great minds think alike. I was just looking at the new crop of Browning trail cams.
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/browning-strike-force-hd-trail-camera?a=1860004
The resolution on these cameras is orders of magnitude sharper than my old Covert Black 60s, plus the Browings are so much smaller and compact in comparison to even last year's models. I don't really need one, but, I gotta have one, NOW ha ha.
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/browning-strike-force-hd-trail-camera?a=1860004
The resolution on these cameras is orders of magnitude sharper than my old Covert Black 60s, plus the Browings are so much smaller and compact in comparison to even last year's models. I don't really need one, but, I gotta have one, NOW ha ha.
B
BAKED_BEANZ
why aren't you guys buying the ones that send pics to your phone , going to your camera to check if someones been there isn't the go or even smart if its the wrong so type of visitor .
if someones at my shit , i want to know cause i,m getting there as soon as i can with a big surprise for them
there worth every penny, i realise they do need phone coverage . only downfall .
i have 3 spare ones sitting in my cupboard just as back up . lol but i,m security freak.
if someones at my shit , i want to know cause i,m getting there as soon as i can with a big surprise for them
there worth every penny, i realise they do need phone coverage . only downfall .
i have 3 spare ones sitting in my cupboard just as back up . lol but i,m security freak.
For real-time grow-spot intruder alerts, one of those phone-enabled trail cams would be hard to beat for sure, BakedBeans.
The only potential downside to phone-linked cameras that I can think of would be if the cameras fell into the hands of anyone motivated and skilled enough to hack the camera password in order to identify the phone user's GPS coordinates.
Provided that face-mask and gloves protocol is strictly observed, users of old-school trail cams, that have no phone link, do have the option of simply denying ownership of any trail cams found near weed plots, if questioned in the worst case scenario of a compromised garden.
That tactical denial of camera ownership would be a hard sell if one's cell phone number "just happened" to be connected to said trail cam.
The only potential downside to phone-linked cameras that I can think of would be if the cameras fell into the hands of anyone motivated and skilled enough to hack the camera password in order to identify the phone user's GPS coordinates.
Provided that face-mask and gloves protocol is strictly observed, users of old-school trail cams, that have no phone link, do have the option of simply denying ownership of any trail cams found near weed plots, if questioned in the worst case scenario of a compromised garden.
That tactical denial of camera ownership would be a hard sell if one's cell phone number "just happened" to be connected to said trail cam.
B
BAKED_BEANZ
well if your legal your good , but if not you need a burner phone and sim card . i mentioned this on page 1 . there a good tool for sure . rarely has mine not activated when it should .
I forgot about the burner phones. Been out here in the sticks too long ha ha.
Picked up a cheap cam and playing with it a bit. Comes factory default with a 1:00 min delay between photos. I changed it to 30 seconds. Would love to hear how you experienced trail cam users set your camera up.
Do you just go with factory presets?
DO you use video very often?
How about that "burst" or "multi-shot" function where get the option to pick 2,3 ,4 etc shots at once?
I read always point camera lens north so you dont get sun glare in all your daytime shots.
I read the camera should be mounted with a detection angle of 45 degrees to the target vs 90 degrees ie straight on.
So if your were standing perpendicular to the path/trail you expect the animal to walk by the camera should be mounted with the lens pointing at 3:00 or 9:00( 45 deg) vs 6:00 (90 deg). This gives you a longer target viewing time.
Do you just go with factory presets?
DO you use video very often?
How about that "burst" or "multi-shot" function where get the option to pick 2,3 ,4 etc shots at once?
I read always point camera lens north so you dont get sun glare in all your daytime shots.
I read the camera should be mounted with a detection angle of 45 degrees to the target vs 90 degrees ie straight on.
So if your were standing perpendicular to the path/trail you expect the animal to walk by the camera should be mounted with the lens pointing at 3:00 or 9:00( 45 deg) vs 6:00 (90 deg). This gives you a longer target viewing time.
Videos drain battery power faster than still shots. A three-shot burst of still shots will be a good setting, with a very short pause of say 5 seconds to catch several images before the target moves past the camera.
After trying out a few different settings, you will arrive at the one that works best. When viewing your images, there will be many false triggers, so you will need to closely watch to ensure you don't delete images that do have a critter or human in view, as you erase all the empty pictures.
After trying out a few different settings, you will arrive at the one that works best. When viewing your images, there will be many false triggers, so you will need to closely watch to ensure you don't delete images that do have a critter or human in view, as you erase all the empty pictures.
