Trail cams; What kind and how

[Hoopi]

Hi Everyone: I have been thinking about getting an entry level trail cam.

1) What kind do you this in this lower price range (about 100 to 150) batteries and card included.

2) How do you use it for best effect. In winter to see who made it past hunting season? (do you use bait in this circumstance?) In fall to pattern movement?

Thanks for your advice

Hoopi

[bigbuck]

I like to set them up around July and keep them out until March. This way you get an idea of what deer made it through hunting season. I don't use bait, I hunt private land so sometimes we get cattle on our cams so bait in front of them wouldn't help our cause lol.

As far as type of cam we use bushnell trophy cams and moultries although both are out of the price range you stated you can get the moultries on sale for $130 from time to time at bass pro and cabelas. I know some other guys have Gluck luck with the cheaper cams on here.

[Hoopi]

Thanks for the information, that helps

Hoopi

[KegRiver]

I use Browning Strike Force, $150.00 price range. Good cameras.
I leave mine out year round.

I've never used bait for photography of any sort.

I set my camera's along trails, out of the line of vision. Helps reduce camera theft. I have actually never had a camera stolen or messed with by anything other then one bear, one time. That was my fault, I put the camera where it would be right in his face when it went off.
Any place that funnels animal movement should do fine. I've set them at the openings of multi-plate culverts and got some cool captures that way.
Setting along a small ice covered creek could prove interesting.
Some cutlines might have hot spots worth monitoring and even cow trails or human foot paths could provide good opportunities.

Never ever waste money on a Stealth Cam. Most of them are pure garbage.
I have two that eat batteries whole sale. My research tells me this is a common problem with this brand.

I am not aware of any issues with any other brands. I do like what I see from several. I have one Moutrie, they are good cameras. I like Spypoint's photos, very crisp and clear.
Most manufacturers make at least one model in the $150.00 price range.
The lower priced models don't usually provide the best picture quality but plenty good enough for monitoring wildlife movement.

It helps that I have my own camera mounts. The straps the manufacturer supplies limit where you can put your camera and most do not blend well with any environment and so they stand out and that leads to camera theft.

I have an add in AO this month if you want to look at alternatives to the straps.

One last thing. My mounts do not work on Wildgame Innovation cameras or on Uway cameras. Too bad too, they make good cameras.

[ceedub]

I currently run 16 cameras. Mine are out all year "except" in hunting season. I've tried them all, I run mostly Spypoints and Cuddebacks but have tried most brands. If your looking for lower cost units and most "bang for you buck" I would suggest look at the Wild Game Innovations or Moultrie models, I've found them to take decent pics and are pretty reliable in the cold weather. Like Keg said, stay away from Stealth, I have a box of them here and they aren't worth the batteries it takes to run them.

-Craig

[Ultimate Predator]

I run mostly cuddybacks i like full flash models not a fan of IR

[6mm rem]

I've gone to Browning trail cams. I am blown away by the battery life and quite reasonably priced . I just picked up a few on sale 40% off at WSS.

[DRhunter]

I am running 15 cams, typically from May or early June up until January. I have Moultrie, wildgame innovations, Uway and spypoint. Most of my cams are spypoint as I hae found that they are the best bang for your buck. You can get a really great camera, with incredible battery life for between $125-150. If you look at most game camera reviews, Spypoint is usually the top bang for buck.

Enjoy, but be warned, it is pretty addictive way to spend time out in the field!

DR

[antler1]

I picked up two this fall to replace two 5 year old Simmons that cratered about the same time.
Great pictures, pretty good trigger speed and the battery life is amazing. They came right through the cold snap just fine. All others petered out.

[Sooner]

They Uway i bought seems to have good battery life, good pics and you can view/delete them right on the screen. 3 yrs old and still going good.

[boonie]

Cuddeback

[buckmasterjr]

Try and find the discontinued Simmons model 119421C. Best trail camera for the money imo. Paid $110 each. I would rather have 5 of these than have one Reconyx.

Depending on the situation we run cameras year round. Deer will be in different areas at different times of the year so camera placement will change in most cases. We don't use bait as this does not tell you where the deer naturally travel.

I have also tried Spypoint, Stealth, Ltl Acorn and Bushnell. All have strengths and weaknesses but Stealth would not be my first choice especially the lower end models. Spypoint has great battery life but slow trigger speed. Bushnell works well but out of your price range (Simmons is made by Bushnell btw). Ltl Acorn takes really good pictures but they have a cheap and poor design and break easily. Also I find they miss a lot of pictures.

[Hoopi]

I appreciate the feedback so far.

Hoopi

[TUFFBUFF]

I've gone to Browning trail cams. I am blown away by the battery life and quite reasonably priced . I just picked up a few on sale 40% off at WSS.

Where are you from? I bought one on a as well, in 4days batteries were at 25% which to me is not good at all. Camera seems decent easy to operate and good enough pics though. Was -17 at night and -10 in the day, left out for 10 days and batteries were dead, shut itself off when below -23 or so and came back on and reset itself. Will see what it wants to do in warmer weather.

Moultie for me, no issues batteries good and works to -35ish.

[6mm rem]

Where are you from? I bought one on a as well, in 4days batteries were at 25% which to me is not good at all. Camera seems decent easy to operate and good enough pics though. Was -17 at night and -10 in the day, left out for 10 days and batteries were dead, shut itself off when below -23 or so and came back on and reset itself. Will see what it wants to do in warmer weather.



Moultie for me, no issues batteries good and works to -35ish.



I'm from central AB . What batteries are you running? Did you try new batteries to rule that out? I had one out all last winter on my drive for security it didn't skip a beat. Who knows maybe you got a dud.


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