Proposed Trail Cam Ban

I am OK with trail cams, but in my opinion, it crosses the line when the pics are sent remotely, at time of taking the photo, to the cam owners phone, computer, etc.
Definitely a personal decision regarding how much technology is too much, and at what point fair chase is impacted. But on this topic, thats where I draw the line.
 
I don't really see it as a wholesale trail cam ban.

Like ERSS I'm also against the remote sending of pictures from the camera for the same reasons. Diving deeper, though, I'm not really sure how I feel about the prohibition on use of
recording images used as an aid to take a big game animal during the same day or following day the camera was visited in the field.
Click to expand...

I have a couple of trail cameras and I really enjoy seeing what wanders by them. That said, I've found the utility of them for hunting purposes to be quite limited; animals that happen by in the summer and early fall don't ever seem to be in the vicinity when the season's open.
 
Yeah I was talking to a buddy about trail cams. He told me to wait till this was figured out. He said his feeling was the banning of those remote sending units. I had no clue those were even made! Ha ha!

I've been reading about how animals move like you mentioned smarandr, but I've also seen guys throw out huge salt/mineral blocks to keep the elk close on YouTube videos. Not in Idaho though, pretty sure Utah.

I like the idea of trail cams and what they can do for someone. But I do enjoy getting around though, even though I've been told it's to much walking.
 
ERSS said:
I am OK with trail cams, but in my opinion, it crosses the line when the pics are sent remotely, at time of taking the photo, to the cam owners phone, computer, etc.
Definitely a personal decision regarding how much technology is too much, and at what point fair chase is impacted. But on this topic, thats where I draw the line.
Click to expand...

I agree with this with regards to trail cameras. I like checking mine, but have no use or need for one to send me real time updates.

I also do like the proposal aimed at two way communication. My guess is that one is aimed at (or came about due to instances of) having spotters posted all around relaying to a hunter which seems to be getting all too common with some guides as well as hard to draw controlled hunts.
 
Personally, I don't like trail cams on public land. At what point is leaving your stuff in the forest ok? Similar to people putting up tree stands and feeling like they are claiming a spot. I hate walking by a treestand or game camera and not knowing whether the guy that put it up is going to be back later that day or not until next year. "Leave no trace" is a wilderness ethic that I would like to see applied to all public hunting ground.
 
Some real unethical jackasses out there who are always pushing the envelope in the use and overuse of trail cams. I set a few, 3 or 4 as a fun hobby just to see what the heck walks by in June and July. Like all technology some will take things to the extreme and I have no doubt serious limitations in their use are probably coming, and it's probably a good idea.
 
TheTone said:
I also do like the proposal aimed at two way communication. My guess is that one is aimed at (or came about due to instances of) having spotters posted all around relaying to a hunter which seems to be getting all too common with some guides as well as hard to draw controlled hunts.
Click to expand...

How do you expect those guys to be successful if they can't party hunt and use radios to pin point an animals location as the tag holder moves in on them? :cool:
 
TheTone said:
I agree with this with regards to trail cameras. I like checking mine, but have no use or need for one to send me real time updates.

I also do like the proposal aimed at two way communication. My guess is that one is aimed at (or came about due to instances of) having spotters posted all around relaying to a hunter which seems to be getting all too common with some guides as well as hard to draw controlled hunts.
Click to expand...

When I read what you wrote in the second part of your reply I got upset. That's straight up cheating, I don't care how you look at it. I hope that part passes!
 
Need to address drone scouting too. When technology takes away from fair chase, we all lose.
 
Thanks for posting this. I'm thankful to be able to submit my thoughts on the matter.

Trail cams are a great hobby and one that should be able to exist without causing any problems. From day 1 I have had issues with cams that transmit pictures immediately for obvious reasons related to fair chase hunting. I guess if the industry cares about the future of hunting they could stamp cams that transmit images or they could quit producing them but as long as $$$$ is involved that is a pipe dream.

Banning two way communication in regards to hunting in this day an age is an impossible thing and laws that can't be enforced are bad laws IMO. I don't condone it but the reality is it will exist.
 
I see no reason to ban trail cameras. They certainly are an interesting tool. I have two that I put out and I really enjoy just seeing what is out there. I've never used any that transmit pictures, mine are pretty basic. I really don't see a problem with it in general use, but I can certainly see the possibility of abuse if someone is literally blanketing an area with cameras and receiving updates directly while they're hunting. I honestly have a lot of fun using my cameras for a variety of stuff, just a few months ago I found a big hole in the ground with some small animal parts scattered around...I put a camera on it and discovered it was a red fox den with two young pups. It was neat watching them. My buddy once put a camera on a dead deer he found in the woods and it was really cool watching the various scavengers taking apart the carcass. He had virtually every animal that you could imagine, hawks, fox, coyotes, raccoons, opossums, crows, etc...

The two way communication is an issue. I know here in PA you're allowed to use radios and whatnot for general communication, but not for driving or alerting someone else to game movements. As others have said that's hard to enforce especially when it comes to cell phone communications. Certainly LEO's could monitor radio communications to an extent and could possibly review phone records if they were really onto something, but I think they would have a hard time figuring out what was said during a phone conversation.
 
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Joe Hulburt said:
Banning two way communication in regards to hunting in this day an age is an impossible thing and laws that can't be enforced are bad laws IMO. I don't condone it but the reality is it will exist.
Click to expand...
Much of Idaho is out of cell range and enforcing, or at least limiting, radio communication is possible.
 
You will notice the first and the loudest to speak out on this trail cam ban are the commercialized hunters looking to make money or some other sort of gain off wildlife. Those guys that run a website or instagram page or are sponsored by some company like Stealthcam. They will put out 35 trail cameras and leave them up all winter. As is pretty common these days the Utah model of wildlife exploitation has caused what once was a good sensible advancement in technology to be taken way too far in the name of profit or gain.

For that reason I say ban em.
 
HONEYBADGER said:
You will notice the first and the loudest to speak out on this trail cam ban are the commercialized hunters looking to make money or some other sort of gain off wildlife. Those guys that run a website or instagram page or are sponsored by some company like Stealthcam. They will put out 35 trail cameras and leave them up all winter. As is pretty common these days the Utah model of wildlife exploitation has caused what once was a good sensible advancement in technology to be taken way too far in the name of profit or gain.

For that reason I say ban em.
Click to expand...
So, in regards to people running call it 30 plus which I agree is a ridiculous amount of cameras why couldn't we alter it to you can only run x amount of cameras instead of slapping a whole ban on it? Bear baiting is where I get the most profit out of my trail cams as I try and shoot boars and attempt to identify a potential boar before I go sit a bait just my opinion
 
Use of trail cameras has gotten out of control. They should be banned on public land or at the very least require the owner to pull them 30 days before the start of any big game hunting season.
 
IMO, fair chase means not using cameras at all. I'm ok with cameras, but using them is not fair chase.
 
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