Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Trail cam pics

Got these guys on the trail camera before I left. Not too bad. Buddy went up and got the SD cards last week and snail mailed them to me. Should be here tomorrow. Said there was thousands of pics. Can't wait to see what we got!!

Wow! looks like he's fattening up for the rut- looks real healthy.

I can't wait man. That camera is about 200 yards from the cabin. Sure would be nice to get one down that close for a change! lol

I'd like to see hard horn pictures. I imagine they will be on the cards that you are getting in the mail now.

Dang, I like to see elk pics. But, the downside is that I know damn well that I'm too old to play that game. Those pics are tough on me.

Nice photos.

We dont have elk, but we have a great overabundance of white-tails and black bear. My cameras have recently been showing lots of fawns, moms, and 4-6 point white-tails. The bucks arecin prime velvet right now.

I butcher and prepare a lot of antlerless white tail that I give to the indigent elderly in our area. I can skin, quarter, butcher and grind the remainder, plus vacuum seal one in about six hours.

A critter the size of one of those elks would spoil before I got it skinned and quartered. Like Dave D, I'm getting more senior every day, and have become half-fast at doing these things.

Ken

You pretty much got to have a partner Elk hunting or at least I do. If you are by yourself, you better either be ready to settle for a cow or have some friends that will come help if you get a big bull. It is pretty cold up where we are in September so you do have some more time to work. It will be 15-20 degrees in the mornings. You do still have to get them opened up and cooling off asap. Just the overall mass of the animal makes the cooling process much longer than a deer, but as long as you get them open, quartered up and hang the quarters in the shade you have quite a bit of time.


You guys just need to find some young bucks to hunt with!! A colorado Elk hunt on public land can be done pretty cheap and it's a hell of a good time!!

It's not the price but my age and the steepness of those durn hills. I've stopped kidding myself.

But when i see the pics I start thinking of one more hunt. Then I get back to the real world.

Dave, Dito here also. I made an Elk hunt about 3 yr ago with my grandson in NM. We climbed hills (mts) every day for a week doing a blk powder hunt. Climb to the top and they would be at the bottom. Hunt the bottom and they would be at the top. There is a reason the big Bulls are Big, It's because they are smart too.

Tracy

PS, I'm to old for that carp any more, I'm smarter too.

Nice Elk!

I need to get a cam. What would be a decent one? I plan on mounting it on/in my shed out back, so it don't have to look like a tree.

Trail cams are a crap shoot. With the exception of Reconyx($$$$) I have been disappointed with most of them. I think that the Cuddebaks are a little more dependable than most. The Moultrie A5 is junk.

I recently bought 2 Browning Dark Ops. They have no night time flash. The daytime pics are great. However, I did a walk test at night. From 15 ft I didn't recognize myself.

Reconyx ($$$) u get what u pay for like most everything in life. I have several brand name ones that are junk and no longer work. I like the Reconyx

Tracy

Some good reading for you JKB here at this link. I too would love to mount one but get lost in the research of all the models. I have option for direct power rather than batteries but I hear batteries last a long time. I'm within range of wifi so would be interested in a wifi capable model as well. Theft would be less of a concern for me.

prior trail cam thread

I hear ya for sure fellas! We walk out the door at 10,000' so it's no joke. It does keep me motivated to stay in shape tho. Tracy I have not wisen'd up yet cause we still chase them all over the mountain! haha

Tracy, I have a trespasser/poacher/thief that shows up on my place. I don't live there. So far only 1 TC has been taken. I would be scared to put out a Reconyx.

I found out 1 thing about batteries. Ray-O-Vac advertised that they were as good as Duracell. So I figured to just buy Duracell. The package says that they are good for or at least last for 10 years. I buy them in the 48 pack. I had some around that I had bought about a year before and put them in some cams. After sitting that year, they lasted about 2 weeks when I used them in my cams.

JKB I'd agree 100% with these guys on Reconyx being the best. I have had mine get chewed on by bears so not totally comfortable leaving a camera like that up there yet. I will say I have been thouroghly impressed with these coverts in every aspect. My hunting partner has 10 of them on a few hundred acres in Iowa. He had one crap out on him after 1.5 years, sent it back to them and they sent him a brand new one!!! Can't beat that in my book! Lithium batteries last a loooooong time in them.

two words.

Bear Box.

They'll have a hard time chewing up the camera that way.

I've found that trigger time is VERY important. Less than 1/2 second is best, and also if the camera is "asleep", how long it takes to "wake op" and take a picture is important too.

I have a Cuddieback Capture that the nighttime picture taking portion of it died. I called them and they said since it's out of warranty, send it back with $100 and they'll fix it.

Like other companies, they had their good years and bad years. My next one will be a Reconyx.

I had a Stealth Cam go bad under warranty. Sent it back, the replacement didn't work, sent that one back, the next one didn't work either. They sent me a newer model and I have never put it out. The thing that aggravated me was that every time I sent it back, I was put at the end of the list, so every camera took over a month to get back.

Yeah bear boxes are on the list....... my never ending, ever growing list! Lol

I got 4 of the coverts. If I recall, 3 of them equaled one reconyx!! Couldn't justify that for my first year of cameras up there. I wanted to try to cover some ground.

I've gone through about 7 moultries and cheap models (<$60 each) and they never seam to last more than one season and some not that long. I now have a couple of bushnells (one was $150 and the other $100 at Sams). The trigger times are more like 1 second so I see a few blank pics but for the price I'm happy with both in terms of the quality of the pics and the fact that I've had them over 2 years each and both are still working.

I stopped at a few places the other day to see what they had in stock. All they had were the ones all you guy's mentioned not to get. I'll see what the guy's at the shop install for security cameras. That might be a better option for me.

Check out this site. TONS of info, reviews and tests on cameras. Pretty awesome stuff.

http://www.trailcampro.com/

Here is another fairly reliable cam forum and reviews - don't believe they sell at all.
It will give you the specifics of actual tests with pictures
http://www.chasingame.com

DD1,
Had the same thing happen to me last year on both accounts. I had 2 cameras disappear last hunting season, so I pulled the 3rd one. Sucks when people trespass on your property and steal your stuff....I think my thieves are local...I'm too remote back there for anything else. I need to put out an old empty camera case and put a stealth camera on the empty camera...then, leave 'em a little note inside. And, I concur with you on the Ray-O-Vac junk...the 6 volt batteries will discharge sitting behind the seat of my pick up....even with caps on them. I go Dura-cell only....

If you can, mount the camera up high pointed down. Its harder to spot and steal. Fortunately, my trespassing problems ended over 20 years ago.

RAH,
...that's what I'm going to have to do. I hate the idea of having to climb every time that I have to pull and view a video card...but, if that's what I gotta do then......so be it. I gotta move the climber this coming weekend anyway...it'll be a good time to set it out.