Game attraction to camera

[Griztrax]

Recently set out my first remote camera and set it to collect video rather than photos. The camera saw no action for the first week but on day 7, a black bear found the camera and spent about 30 seconds sniffing/licking/pawing the camera before growing bored and wandering off. After a week, was it the human sent on the camera that attracted the bear? It came in at 1:00pm on an 85 degree day - little odd. How could that bear have possibly found that camera and been that interested in it, if not for the smell? Is he so aware of his environment that he noticed something out of the ordinary? Gotta believe that isn't the case. The camera was not mounted on a scratching post that is regularly used by bears. It was mounted just a couple feet off the ground. Anyone else had a bear or other wildlife take an interest in your camera and mess with it? Probably lucky he didn't bite into it or really try to tear it off the tree. Animal behavior - forever a mystery .

On a related note, I did a horrible job setting up the camera - hopefully corrected my rookie mistake and have it set to get better results in the weeks to come.

 

[npaden]

Bears like to mess with cameras. You should be thankful that it didn't try to eat it. Something about the plastic? Elk and deer will mess with them as well. You will get a bunch of pictures of deer or elk noses, eyes, etc. very close up.

 

[Nameless Range]

Most of the pictures I ever get on a camera are of deer, elk, and other critters nosing and sniffing and pounding the camera. Often times they will spin it thousands of degrees around a tree and pound it into the earth till all the pictures I am getting are of hooves. I think it has got to be smell. One thing I wondered this weekend, as I went and replaced a camera that a bear had ripped apart last month, was how I always pack my cameras into the hills in my backpack, which is probably salty as hell from my sweat. I wonder if that figures into it?

 

[bowhuntmontana]

My experience with cameras is similar to the above. Animals find them or notice them rather quickly and are very curious. The lick them, spin them around, knock them down, etc. I haven't had it happen, but I have also heard that bears like to chew on them. Sometimes we have had better luck mounting our cameras higher and pointing down just so the critters can't mess with them so much.

 

[rustneversleeps]

My cameras are always @#)(#-eyed when I go to pull the cards. I need to invest in some of those bear proof boxes

 

[406LIFE]

Bears are one of the reasons I don't buy expensive cams. Lost one last year to a bear who thought it tasted good. Pics that came back were kind of like a horror flick.

I've had better success placing them higher and angling down.

 

[belshawelk]

 

[Griztrax]

Great pictures guys - sweet mountain lion pic! Looks about like the bear video I got. I like the idea of mounting higher and angling down - maybe give that a try if my new setup isn't working. I am fortunate the camera survived its first encounter with a bear - hoping there isn't a second.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Yup, those darned animals have keen senses. It's almost like their lives depend on it!

 

[AggieCowboy]

I've got plenty of pics of animals checking them out and close up pics of antlers. I've noticed though that after a few days the close up pics seem to stop. I'm not sure if it's because every curious animal has already sniffed it, or if my scent fades off of it.

 

[midwesterncrosshair]

Hummingbirds even got the spidey senses

Boomerusaf You ever find out what was on that bucks face?

 

[Bluejeep]

I've had the same experiences as everyone else.

I think it might be part smell, but also because we place them right at eye level for the animals, and they notice something is wrong.

Imagine you walking down your hallway everyday, everything thing in it's place, just as it always is. And then one day, you get a funny smell and see a beach ball taped to a wall.

You're gonna check it out

 

[ccc23454]

Young bull

 

[Deleted member 38069]

View attachment 110845View attachment 110846
Hummingbirds even got the spidey senses

Boomerusaf You ever find out what was on that bucks face?

I'm assuming it was just burrs. I have other pictures of him without it on his face.

 

[thusby]

Bears can't leave those things alone. Every time I check my deer stand the camera is crooked on the tree and I know who did it.

 

[Caleb_The_Carnivore]

I have coyotes mess with mine quite often. I had one years ago that was positioned in a dugout spot of a creek bank. The coyote took it out and then proceeded to take a crap on it:

 

[Caleb_The_Carnivore]

Also get lots of black bears messing with camera find them always messed with it seems like.

 

[thusby]

That would be a wall hanger bear for sure.

 

[Griztrax]

So I moved the camera and got much better results. Had a cow elk find the camera and lick it and rub on it . Had 95 videos mostly of elk but got 9 species which is pretty cool. Elk, Black Bear, Mule Deer, White-tailed Deer, Coyote, Squirrel, Raven, Red-tailed hawk, and an unknown bird. Left the camera out for another couple weeks. Would love to leave it out once archery season starts but feel like the woods will be full of people and might be found and stolen.

 

[Brad NSW]

Little kitty just before it knocked the camera over. No trees in the high desert so I put em on rocks, off trails.