trail cam question

[james_walleye]

Another trail cam question for you guys. In the past i've always put the cams on the edge of the woods facing out and have never had an issue with "false triggers". I put a stand up last saturday thats in a small clearing just inside the woods. Its amazing all the trails that come together where my stand is so i put a camera there. Now im wondering if all this wind we've had might aid in giving a bunch of "empty" pictures. I cleared out everything about 8 yards in front of my camera but its probably 10 yards to the nearest undergrowth and whatnot that might affect my camera. My question is if you put a camera into a situation like this is there anyway to get around this potential problem?

[vister]

mount it to a fence post or a stout tree. small trees blow in the wind giving false triggers. as do a few blades of tall grass whirling around in front of the camera

[james_walleye]

its on a stout tree im not worried about that. its the tree branches and underbrush 10 yards away that im worried about. and i cleared away the underbrush and grass in front of the camera. Maybe i'll be ok?

[timberghost]

Also remember the sun will cause this. For some reason our moultries will trigger a pic in direct sun light. We just give a little down ward angle , problem solved.

[james_walleye]

Does the downward angle help cut out the problems with branches and such also?

[Eskimoman]

10yards should be enough to stop false triggers

[slimngrizzly]

Well in my past experience with numerous trail cams, the answer to your question is yes and no......

There are things you can do to minimize this problem but probably not avoid it.

1) As your doing, clear the brush and grass immediatly in front of your camera,

2)as best as you can, always aim your camera north as often times the sun is what causes false triggers,

3) keep your camera in the woods. The wind isnt as bad there, plus your flash (if you have one) will reflect off the leaves therefore intensifying it and increasing its range and effectiveness!

4) Forget trees, use a camera stand, its the single one thing that has made dealing with my cameras way easier, more versitile, and provided me with way better pictures.

5) Lastly, the quality of your motion sensor has more to do with it than anything. A cheaper camera has a cheaper sensor.... therefore to much motion is probably going to trigger it. Most more expensive cameras are made with higher quality "heat in motion sensors" which means not only does the object in front of the camera have to be moving, it also needs body heat (the sun will still fool these).

I hope thats helped you with some of your questions and concerns. I would strongly recommend buying or making a stand for your camera! You will not regret it! I could post some pictures of my set-ups if youd be interested in seeing the design.

[james_walleye]

See i called stealthcam today to get a power cord sent to me and i asked them about false triggers, whether a branch waving in front of the camera might set it off. Even with the heat sensor it can still be set off because the sun actually warms up say a tree branch to a point where it is giving the same effect as "body heat". I'll have to wait until saturday i guess and see if my concerns have become reality. The camera is 10 yards in the woods facing into a small clearing thats deeper into the woods and its on the north side of a big valley so maybe these south winds havent affected the area as much either. Thanks for the input and thanks to anyone else who might have some input.

[slimngrizzly]

Ya... I have false triggers all the time with the Moultries. NEVER with the Cuddebacks..... what do you do? Delete them.

Be glad you dont have a film camera! Good luck.

[archerystud]

I rarely get ANY triggers with my Cuddeback!!!

My last check I had 462 images with only about 5 "false" triggers. The rest had some form of an animal somewhere on the pic.

[sticknstring]

I get a few false triggers with my cuddy's as well... I think birds will trigger a few as well. There's a bit of a learning curve but it doesn't take long to start getting good pics. You're on the right track.