Trail Camera - Cold?

[deerminator]

How many of you leave them out when it nice an chilly like this? Any adverse effects from doing so other than the short battery life? I wouldn't think it would harm the electronics. I've never noticed this before on any cameras I've owned and I've left some out all year. Just wondering what people think.

[nonteepical]

i leave mine out till the end of december. the only thing i notice is more missed pictures and hind quarter pictures, slower trigger speed with the cold temps. the electronics are fine.

[matchset]

true. cold kills batteries, but not electrical systems.

[sticknstring]

I'll run mine for awhile yet. It does get expensive buying batteries during the cold months but the cameras function fine. I usually just leave one or two out to get an inventory of what deer made it through the season.

[B. Amish]

my bushnell trophy cam (2009 model) does not work worth a spit when the temp is below about 30 degrees. put in fresh batteries and it doesn't matter.

my first camera was a leaf river and that thing took pictures when the temp hit -30.

[deerminator]

Thanks for the replies. I never thought about it until I dropped $250 ($200 with rebate) on a cuddeback IR about a month ago. I usually buy the $100 and under models. The camera works well and batteries been going strong for me for the past four weeks. I did buy top notch energizers at the time, though. Not sure if that is what the difference is because I've heard horrible things about them eating batteries in cold weather.

[hockeybc69]

B Amish, you should call Bushnell. Thats not right. They have a 2 year warranty.

I have a pair of 2009 models that I put out in October of 2009. They have never left the woods since that day. I put in the original set of batteries, replaced those this summer, and I am still on set number 2. And they do need to be changed this weekend as they were both down on one bar for the last several weeks.

Cams are on 10 second video mode. I have untold amounts of videos. Easily a couple thousand on each.

Simply incredible.

Oh and the batteries I have in there now are just the cheapo Rayovacs. Not lithiums or any higher dollar brands.

[Powder]

B Amish, you should call Bushnell. Thats not right. They have a 2 year warranty.

I have a pair of 2009 models that I put out in October of 2009. They have never left the woods since that day. I put in the original set of batteries, replaced those this summer, and I am still on set number 2. And they do need to be changed this weekend as they were both down on one bar for the last several weeks.

Cams are on 10 second video mode. I have untold amounts of videos. Easily a couple thousand on each.

Simply incredible.

Oh and the batteries I have in there now are just the cheapo Rayovacs. Not lithiums or any higher dollar brands.

Are those the AA's?

[Nathansdad]

I know this in not practicle for everyone but I have a Moltrie camera 100' from my house and the batteries will not operate the flash if it is below +20 degrees so I ran extension cord to it wan wrapped the camera with a heat tape, works great now!

I had an older Stealth Cam that was wired to an auxilliary 12v vexilar type battery and that worked well down to -20 below. I'm putting together a similar set up (though not factory like Stealth Cam's)on my Moltrie cameras now, hope to get the same results.

I like to keep my cameras up all winter. It's amazing how many bucks you never see from August through November that show up in late winter. Plus you can see what survived hunting season and you can monitor when they drop their horns.

[hockeybc69]

Powder,

Yes, 8 AA batteries in them.

I just changed them out today. One camera died with the last pic on Nov 23. Sadly I had that camera on a buck decoy for fun. And the decoy was in pieces..... So between Nov 23 and Nov 27, a buck beat its butt good and I didnt get any video!!!!!!

[Powder]

Powder,

Yes, 8 AA batteries in them.

Thanks for the reply. I've been thinking about getting one of those but I've been concerned with the battery life of the AA's when gets cold.

[Effie07]

Moultrie trail cam works great in cold weather for still pictures and IR at night. Flash at night and/or setting camera to video will kill your batteries. I have had two camera's out since Oct 22nd, one camera has always been on still(3 shot per motion trip & IR), the other was on video for 10 days and the rest of the time set the same as the other. Battery life as of two days ago was 78% and 69%. My camera's use 6 C-cell batteries.

[Musky Buck]

My moultree is still on batteries from Sept. 1st to now and I plan on leaving it out until April, checked it yesterday while muzzleloading and if the batteries die it would be a first, what's with all this batteries croaking etc ? My cam still read 79% battery life yesterday. I may have made one of the luckiest purchases of my life. However, my cam has only taken roughly 300 photos this year. My camera took 600+ photos in the cold last winter none were nothing, all were deer, works great even in the below zero's. Anyway, I'm starting to wonder if we sabotage our hunting area(s) some by disturbing it to check these darn things, not talking does and fawns, talking bucks especially mature ones and of course we want to know what's on it close to opening dates, but with everyone doing this we are stinking up the woods enough that the deer know especially in touchy areas like bedding or near bedding and if the wind is wrong etc plus the trails we take are the ones they use so nocturnal they go.