Trail Camera

[Brade4]

When do most of you put out your trail cameras? Or do you leave them out for the winter?

[leech~~]

BKS, thats a big Q's. It depends on what you want to see and time of year, Deer, Bear, Turkeys, Cat's big and little, Big foot, or your neighbor sneaking wood off your pile! Are you close to check on it once in a while, do you have your own land? Etc. I usually put mine out when I set up my Bow hunting stand to see whats in the area in the fall.

[Brade4]

Yeah, deer. I have my own land I hunt on and am able to check it whenever I want.

[DoubleLunger]

This time of year and until its consistantly above 60* your batteries will drain fast. So i would wait unless you have a solar charger hooked up. I usually start putting them out in May with the new salt licks. Lot of fun to watch the racks progress.

[buckhunter21]

I usually leave mine out as much as I can. The only time i bring it in is when it gets below 0 because it gets to be tough on the camera when its that cold. I like to get as many pictures as i can to see how healthy the deer and how many deer are around. You dont get any pictures when your camera is sitting in the house.

[leech~~]

BKS, that would be cool to have your own land. What I would have like to do if I had any land would be to start a photo book, or down load file, of all the Deer on the land by season! You could start now if there is any snow left and put the camera on known trails and start cataloging the deer you see for a few weeks. Then wait a month or so when they start growing horns and then keep finding what trails they are using, which will change as the food around the area does. Also you could get or make a map of your land and start to mark when and where you are seeing them and what deer you are seeing where at what times of the year! But if you hunt with friends or relatives on your land? Just show them the pic's but not your map of where your seeing the good deer, or you may find them on your stand opening morning! Good luck and have fun! Leech~~

[DoubleLunger]

So true about the pics, but with no horns on the heads i don't really care. Also like to give them a couple months with no human scent or intrusion.

[Archerysniper]

Start a mineiral/salt site right now and just keep it replenised then hang your camera on it late june early july when the bucks start showing their true potential mine are out right now scouting for turkeys wich I will be hunting in 15 days.

[Musky Buck]

Still a few with horns on the heads in my area, not many left. My T-Cam from Sept. 9th - March 7th still have 60 % battery life and it took about 700 pictures this year. Mine will be back out about Aug. 1st, when the bucks racks are close to done growing.

[DoubleLunger]

I have lick stations that have been there for years. Just put new blocks and C'mere Deer on them. Have one that they dig down 12+ inches in the dirt.

[leech~~]

Doub, is this in your hunting area our outback in Bloomington?

[DoubleLunger]

Cambridge/Braham area.

[BLACKJACK]

I have lick stations that have been there for years. Just put new blocks and C'mere Deer on them. Have one that they dig down 12+ inches in the dirt.

I stockpile a few bags of shelled corn and once a week when I check my cameras and swap out my cards I dump some corn over the salt block, not much, maybe a gallon. Guaranteed to get every deer in the area to stop by. Then I stop by Sept 1 so that there are no baiting concerns for bowhunting.

I was just thinking this weekend about starting a post about 'when do people start putting their cameras out'. Great minds think alike!

[Musky Buck]

I use a field edge until ground scrapes appear, then right on the scrape, then winter on a spring of water in my swamp. No man produced attractants for me, not needed.

[Brade4]

I don't want to start a whole big riot. One answer will do but what is the rule on baiting like BLACJACK said with corn and a salt block? Is that legal?

[LOTWSvirgin]

Salt block is legal

[vister]

corn is legal too. just not 10 days before and during the hunting season. I have had my cameras out since last may. One of them doesn't work very well during the winter. But the other one, has had the same 6 d-cell batteries in it since i took it out in may. down to 30% battery life now, and it has taken almost 4000 pictures during that time. I was amazed to see it had mid 60's percentage for battery life after that lovely cold month of january! But, it still took pics during the cold, snowy months this winter.

[Here-Kitty-Kitty]

As far as Iknow and have been told by other hunters NO. I could be wrong tho.

[ate1cropy]

Vister- What camera are you using that has bettery life of that long? I use a cudde no flash and i get maybe two weeks when its really cold? also what brand of batteries? Im looking for a new camera for up at the cabin where I can only get up there every couple months...

[splakeshaker]

This time of year and until its consistantly above 60* your batteries will drain fast. So i would wait unless you have a solar charger hooked up. I usually start putting them out in May with the new salt licks. Lot of fun to watch the racks progress.

Exactly. I have had mine out for about the last month and there are drained!! Temperature has everything to do with it. I'll get them out in the middle of may and start my scouting.

[Musky Buck]

My batteries are still in the 55% range from September 9th, maybe Vister and I have the same one, maybe not. I have the camo-Moultree 4.0 infrared, I think it went for $229.00. After reading hundreds of customer reviews, it seemed to be the least problematic of the bunch so I went with it and it has been a good one thus far even in below zero weather, I'm guessing I got about a thousand pictures from it and very few false alarms.

[vister]

You're right MB, our cameras are almost the same. I have the camo Moultrie Outfitter 5.0. Infrared of course. As that is where you save on your battery life. color by day, black and white by night. takes amazing night pics. Was only 229.99 at cabelas. May seem spendy to some, but well worth it.

batteries are Duracell ProCell, which more or less only come from a hospital.

[lungdeflator]

I bought rechargable batteries for my cams this past summer. the charger and batteries are both energizer. the charger was 20$ and 4 C batteries were 23$. This will save you so much on batteries. D size are also available and fit in the same charger. I havent bought batteries since May 2008. The wildviews

go through batteries quicker then the moultries.

[Meat-Run]

I was just waiting for some one to mention something about battery life. To answer the origanal posters question I leave mine out all year long and just keep tabs on whats out there. One of the best cameras on the market has to be the Moultrie I40 for battery life. I purchased one in August of 08 and replaced the batteries once since August and that was back in October because I started with used batterys. So since October 08 to present and all through the winter months as of Monday 4/20/09 I'm still at 70% of life left and take well over 1,000-1,500 high resolution pictures. I would love to do a testimonial on the quality and battery life of these units. Oh, and if you shop for a new one August is a good time and give the gang a call at your "family outfitters" in Walker a call....$179 on sale!!!!

mr

[Musky Buck]

Right on Vister, I put new energizers in Sept. 9th and now I put those same batteries in my radio for the musky boat. 1 set of batteries per year has been great, I'm glad I read product reviews because that was the selling point for me because many relatives complain their's are dead or need replacing every couple of months. Father in law said go cuddeback and he seems to replace batteries fairly often, maybe I just lucked out with the cam I have. Now he asks me what kind of T-Cam do you have again, I have a few day/night pics posted on my land for sale in the real estate thread if anyone wants to look at what the photo's looked like. Wish Moultree was sending me a few $clams for my rave reviews.