Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Trail Cam

I missed this the first time around, but I have used Moultrie, Cuddeback, Primos, Reconyx, Covert, Buckeye cam and a bunch of others. The best one probably has been the Reconyx or the Buckeye cam, but they are pretty pricy.

For reasonably priced cam, I have settled on Covert's and probably have 7 or 8 of them out right now. I have been using the MP6 and they have been perfect for the last three years or so. I also use them almost exclusively on video.

Also to add to the deer running away from the sound or light from the camera...I started placing mine in the air and angling them down onto the deer. It seems they don't notice the camera at all that way.

Here's a common reaction to a camera set head high.



Here's my adjusted setup after I got tired of them busting on my setups. It's surprising how much more a 20 second video shows you than a standard picture.



I guess you have to click on the pic and watch the video from my Photobucket page.

I've changed my cameras to the high position/angled shot as well. It does reduce the effectiveness of the camera due to the reduced cone of the motion detector but I think you're right, it definitely spooks the deer less.

Huntmaster, what camera did you use to take that video?

Those were with the Covert MP6. They have a video, still and time lapse setting. They are not that wide angle on the time lapse, but the other settings work great so far.

I love the video settings, it's all I am using at my house. If I had more time, I would run every camera on a scrape right now on video.

Wow!! that is awesome dude!! You can plainly see that taking the extra time and effort to put your cameras up higher can pay off!! Very cool! thanks for sharing! What are you using to angle the camera downward?

RC

Scott,

I have the new pro models that use AAA batteries 4 or 8 at a time. 8 last longer. I get over 8 weeks on batteries (current batteries are going on 4 weeks and still over 65%). I have the cameras setup for a picture every 2 seconds and from dawn to 10AM and 2PM to dust. The Pro uses SD cards and I use 32G cards and get about 10 to 12 days of storage. I check them more often than that and plan my hunting around them.

My deer right now are seaming to favor acorns (got busted three times last night from down wind deer) but they are using clover, brassics, and the cut corn. Thinking of night to head to a good white oak area that is loaded with acorns.

I use my four wheeler at night to drive up to the tree, then I stand on the rack to set and change the cards. That way I never leave any scent on the ground other than the four wheeler which doesn't bother them at all. So the effort isn't that much, once you get used to what angle is required to get decent pics.

Covert makes a bracket that screws into the tree and is adjustable to all kinds of angles. It is very small and has a bolt that is the same size as a tripod bolt. It also fits other cameras that have the bolt hole on the bottom.

The best $5 I've spent when it comes to cameras.

Thanks for the info huntmaster!!

RC

Do all (or most) gamecams have the tripod insert in the bottom or just that one?

That's a tough question since there are so many cameras out on the market. I would say MOST probably DON'T have the insert in the bottom, but look before you buy one as several brands do have them.

You could also rig up a plate that would allow you to mount a camera to it and then screw the plate into the bracket pretty easy if you have other cameras already that don't have the adapter hole in the bottom.

Here's a day time video also shot with the Coverts. The quality has been reduced some with the way I saved it, but I figured you guys might like to see this one.

Once again, click on the photo to view it on my photobucket page.

HOLY ROCKIN CHAIR RACK BATMAN!@!!#$!@#!

That is the buck of a lifetime right there!

I'm all over this buck right now...

I have five clips of him during daylight hours on my farm in the past 10 days and I also saw him twice when he didn't walk in front of a camera the past two days.

To say that I'm pulling out all of the stops right now to kill him before he moves off, would be an understatement.

Man good luck HM that is sweet! After one like that you might as well just hunt for the meat!! Gonna be real hard to ever beat that one!!

RC

Uhh...yeah I believe if I had a buck like that patterned I'd be calling in sick...every...day.

Not every day, just every morning right now... With the West-Northwest winds we are getting, I can't get to him in his bedding area, so I have to catch him in the am on his way back.

Now if we start getting some south winds...

Huntmaster, the next picture of him I hope to see your hands around the antlers. Good luck! That's a great deer.

X2 - That guy is a stud and needs to have permanent space reserved on a trophy wall!!

Hes got a messed up rack. The left side is bigger with an extra tine or the right side didn't grow as well this year.

He is a nice and thick animal.

Cheers Don.

The cheap plastic mounting bracket for the Cuddeback trail cam broke. Spent an hour making a new one from square-stock metal. The plastic belt clip had already broken on the original strap and been replaced with a ratchet strap. Too bad some manufactures skimp on the cheap parts of their products. Its good to go now.

The first thing I throw away is the strap that comes with the trail cams and go right to a ratchet strap.

And what a let down on the Freak I caught on film...

I showed a couple hunting buddies the videos and we were talking about this buck over the weekend. The next day, one of them texts me a trail cam pic taken a month ago of the buck asking if he looks familiar??? Yeah, like he needed to ask me that...

So I just ask who and where did he get the pic from? He then proceeds to tell me that his buddies dad had the deer escape from his deer farming operation when a tree fell down on the fence. The trail cam pic was from the day after he escaped and they were trying to get him back inside the pen. He actually had several deer escape and all but this one came back to the pen shortly after.

Now get this...his operation is over 10 miles away from me!! So this buck escaped a deer pen, traveled 10 miles and crossed a major river to finally make his home on my place for a couple weeks!!

Now in Michigan, if the deer has been out of the pen for more than 48 hours, you can legally shoot him if you have a legal license. The guy that owned the buck has also said that I can go ahead and shoot him if he presents a shot. I have now reviewed the film a little closer and you can actually tell it has ear tags, but I never would've known...

I'm not going to make a concerted effort to kill him now that I know "the rest of the story", but if I'm hunting and he strolls by, I'll take him considering he is now free range and has been for over a month.

Someone in the neighborhood is gonna get a surprise when they shoot this buck and they find out he has "earrings"...

BTW, he hasn't been on my cameras for the past 5 days now and I have hunted four of those days prior to finding out the rest of the story.

Oh man that sucks! And even if you do kill him it won't be the same. That big old buck doesn't know any better. Just not the same as killing one that's been out there for 5 years on it's own. I wonder if he saw you if he would even take off?? He may not even be afraid of humans.

RC

Huntmaster this reminded me of another story along the same lines. Years ago a local farmer about 10 miles or so away from me had an ostrich farm. A few had got out as well and most rounded up with horses. We were picking stones out of bean field right next to our corn field when out of the corn came this ostrich.

I am on the tractor and this thing looked me right in the eye then turned on the guys on the ground. That thing went nuts going after these guys. The guys took off into the corn field like rats with this ostrich after them. From on top of the tractor I laughed my A$$ off watching this all happening. I could see the corn moving left right back forth from up top.

After they lost this thing in the corn the guys came back and we all were like WTF.... did that just happened. Where the hell did this thing come from?

So we told a few people about this and later we found out that there was some that escaped form a ostrich farm. This one was a big male that never did get caught in the first month or so.

Funnest thing I have ever seen in my life.

Cheers Don.

You just can't make a story like that up. That is hilarious. I wonder why the ostrich was so peeved. This is why you always need a camera with you. That would have been a priceless video.