reliable trail camera?

smarandr · Jun 30, 2014

Baerman said:
put the setting to shoot once with a 30 second delay.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but a 30 second delay will get you a whole lot of pictures of nothing. I don't recall what the delay on my cameras are, but it's pretty short and I get a lot of hind end pictures.

Baerman · Jun 30, 2014

smarandr said:
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but a 30 second delay will get you a whole lot of pictures of nothing. I don't recall what the delay on my cameras are, but it's pretty short and I get a lot of hind end pictures.

The 30 second delay is supposed to wait 30 seconds between taking pictures. It should pick up a shot as soon as the animal enters the picture. That was my biggest concern though. I am worried that it will get a picture of the head or nose but no antlers. I'm going to get an 8 gb card and do a three shot sequence next time.

Any other settings that work well?

idahofishnhunt · Jun 30, 2014

Did you set it to not do videos then?

MtnWest · Jun 30, 2014

You should be good to go with a 30 sec delay. At times I'll go shorter but if there are any cattle in the area and they mill around I'll get 1k's of slow elk pictures instead of fast ones to click through. Same thing if you get a branch or grass triggering it on a windy day.

Glad you put them north to reduce the sun messing with it and 30ft is what I found with this camera as it would trip at 10 paces every time but spotty past that. Good thing is it has a pretty wide sensor. I think battery life is solid on these, way better than my only other AA camera which is a few year old Wildgame Inno. Look forward to seeing some of your pics off it.

Smarandr- are you using a time lapse camera?

smarandr · Jun 30, 2014

Baerman said:
The 30 second delay is supposed to wait 30 seconds between taking pictures. It should pick up a shot as soon as the animal enters the picture. That was my biggest concern though. I am worried that it will get a picture of the head or nose but no antlers. I'm going to get an 8 gb card and do a three shot sequence next time.

Any other settings that work well?

Gotcha.

Yes, the three shot sequence is a great feature. Then if you upload the sequence to Google photos it will create a .gif that will animate the movement.

Also, if there are going to be cattle in the area get a copy of the operating agreement for the allotment so you can get a general idea where the cattle will be. That way you can avoid getting a card full of bovine.

smarandr · Jun 30, 2014

MtnWest said:
Smarandr- are you using a time lapse camera?

No, I've got a couple and I usually set them pretty close to each other; one to take still shots and one to take video clips.

Here's some of those .gifs I was talking about: https://plus.google.com/114104504084205473966/posts/EU4qVv945FL

Baerman · Jun 30, 2014

Thats pretty cool!

noharleyyet · Jul 1, 2014

smarandr said:
No, I've got a couple and I usually set them pretty close to each other; one to take still shots and one to take video clips.

Here's some of those .gifs I was talking about: https://plus.google.com/114104504084205473966/posts/EU4qVv945FL

That is handy....as is the 'smart' derivation of your screenname.

Baerman · Jul 1, 2014

idfishnhunt said:
Did you set it to not do videos then?

I did not set it to shoot video for fear of memory requirement over the six weeks I planned to let it sit.

Frenchy · Jul 1, 2014

I've had really good luck with my Primos Truth 35. Good quality pics, and great Battery Life. I've also had the Leupold cams, and while they are loaded with features, they are also a pain in the ass and very easy to screw up. My next purchase was the Primos Truth45 Ultra. Not sure if it was the camera or the spot i set it, but it didn't capture much for pictures. Will try it again this year in a better location to test it out.

I think all cameras are subject to getting the blades of grass and branches blowing in the wind. Just takes a little more finesse when placing the camera to reduce the number of environmental triggers. The Truth 35 does still get lots of empty pics, but they are easy to delete.

LCH · Jul 3, 2014

BrowningBLR said:
I have 3 of these... worked great the past couple years.

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/8-STC-P12

I just picked up 2 of these on Ebay, shipped, for $80. While I like the idea of the higher end cameras, I'm not about to dump that kind of money in one to have it stolen.

Baerman · Jul 3, 2014

LCH said:
I just picked up 2 of these on Ebay, shipped, for $80. While I like the idea of the higher end cameras, I'm not about to dump that kind of money in one to have it stolen.

LCH - These cameras have a notch in the back for a 1/4" cable in addition to the nylon strap that they provide to secure to a tree. I went to the local hardware store and bought a 4' length of 3/16" cable and some cable ties to secure it to the tree. unless someone takes a wrench up on the mountain, mine should be still on the tree when I go back up.

I also bought locks for the door so people can't open the face and take the card.

noharleyyet · Jul 3, 2014

I also bought locks for the door so people can't open the face and take the card.

It's hard to believe people do that kid of sorry stuff....

Baerman · Jul 28, 2014

I ended up checking my trail cams over the weekend. will post some pics later this week but was very happy with the quality of pictures they took. As others had mentioned, the pictures at night were not great but you could tell if it was a bull or cow. After a month, the batteries still said full on the lcd screen. One camera had about 220 pictures and the other had about 315 pictures. For $50 each, I would highly recommend the stealth cam 6 mp version that is on a cheaper than dirt web link in this forum. I'll try to post some pics tomorrow for you guys to see the quality.

MtnWest · Jul 28, 2014

Glad they picked up some critters for ya. Look forward to seeing them. I don't have any out and I feel neked.

ida homer · Jul 28, 2014

Thanks for the report, looking forward to the pics. That seems like great battery life for a great price.

Baerman · Jul 29, 2014

Stealth Cam P12 6 MP

Below are a few of the pictures for you to see pictures with varying light. The quality is good enough to serve the purpose of scouting and the battery life appears to be very good. I put some cheap batteries in both of my cams and both showed full battery life. Completely a bone headed move not to set the camera date and time on my part!