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Trail cams and public lands.

Boomah21

Boomah21

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2017
Messages
1,170
ive heard the reasons from both guys that use them and then those that don’t, I can great points with both.

Those that do use them on public lands I would like to know a few things.

How long do you typically keep them out?
Do you do anything to prevent them from being stolen?
Do you focus on particular locations?(scrapes, food source, trails, bedding, thick cover etc
How many do you typically end up having stolen?
How many are climbing high up trees to use them?
 
I put one out this past September and left it all season. I put it high in a tree (as high as I could reach) right where the slope of a bluff met the river bottom. Since it was on the slope it was probably 10 feet above the flat ground. Had it facing a corner post to see which way the deer were going. Had 2 guys stop and get their picture taken and they never knew it was there.

Before that I took 1 screw in step with me to get a couple extra feet up.

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When I did run cams on public I put them up high using a climbing sticks or even a climber to get them up out of reach. I always bought the cheapest model camera I could find. I like to pick them up at yard sales or eBay cheaper the better.
I think if people see a $20 camera there like whatever but if you put a $400 camera it might be worth the effort for them to get.
I never had one stolen.


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I have had more stolen off of private then public. I personally would like a cellular trail cam to run on some public I hunt but can’t get to often but it’s hard to leave something that expensive sitting in the woods. I ran some of the $40 Tasco trail cams from walmart this past season. They took decent pictures. The only downside I found with them is they apparently have a narrow beam on the vertical plane to trigger the camera. When climbing to hang the camera at a downward angle you don’t get many pictures.
 
We have Been lucky at the hunt club. Knock on wood. I do not know of any cameras being stolen. Lost, i.e. forgotten where a camera has been placed by someone happens every so often.
 
Boomah21 said:
ive heard the reasons from both guys that use them and then those that don’t, I can great points with both.

Those that do use them on public lands I would like to know a few things.
Click to expand...
How long do you typically keep them out? I will leave them out for months to a year depending on where they are.
Do you do anything to prevent them from being stolen? All of my cameras are locked to the tree. For the past 4 years they are all locked in bear boxes.
Do you focus on particular locations?(scrapes, food source, trails, bedding, thick cover etc) I will put them over scrapes and trail intersections in thick cover
How many do you typically end up having stolen? I have never had any stolen, but I have had bears destroy a few. The last one was even in a bear box. It broke the python cable and the camera sat on the ground too long since I left that one out for a while.
How many are climbing high up trees to use them? I haven't done this to date, but I'm considering it.

Trail cameras are just for fun for me. I don't use them to pattern bucks. I like to put them out in new areas that I may hunt that season but more importantly I like to put them out in new areas that I want to evaluate for the future.
 
Had 3 stolen off of public land my Cuddieback was in a lock box with a python lock through it they took the Box and everything the other Stealth Cam was in a lock box that I welded and made myself with quarter-inch steel and was lag bolted to the tree they got that one too . That was years ago and I didn't put out another camera untill this year. I put 4 out but they were placed about 12 feet up in trees. None were stolen . They were 3 Browning cameras and 1 Forest cam.
 
I've put one's I got from ****'s for 44$ out on low pressure public land all year long. I bring steps with me and put them about 9' high.
This will be the first year I put them out in high pressured public lands. I will do the same just better camo. I am going to put my new cell cams out too this year, I plan on setting them up in places people won't go...yikes I know.
 
Most times I try to put them up 10', especially on the heavily hunted public here in MI I hunt.

I always use at least a cable lock. In retrospect, I wish I would have bought 10 cable locks from Amazon all keyed the same--managing multiple keys for different locks is PITA.

Got these from public land in OH and feel fortunate to not have had the cam damaged or stolen as it wasn't up high (it was cabled). This is probably 1/2 mile from nearest parking spot. Did not hunt gun season in OH but did return for late season archery so I guess this cam was out there almost 2 months.



 
Thanks for all the feedback so far!

Now to just find a decent deal on 10 or so cameras
 
Walmart has tasco trail cams for $25. My buddy suggested using a label maker to put on the cam " make sure you get all of the cameras...."
 
Browning has a sale on some of their cameras Go to there web page . I love their cameras. Great pictures and videos and they are small.
 
Just set my cell cam out on public land. I camo’d it up using goop and bark.
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Lets hope for the best.


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I’m thinking about getting a small stealth cam and putting in in a spot that I scouted. A few weeks ago. Thanks for giving the tips about putting up high. Didn’t think of that
 
I try not to spend more than $50.00 on the ones I use.
The public lands that I use them on is 8 hours (two states) away.
I scout for bedding areas in late January. Go back 1st weekend in May to Turkey hunt mornings and set cameras mid day. Go back end of august pull cards. Helps me decide which area to focus my hunt on. Usually that will be one 4 day weekend each year. At the end of the hunt, I drive to each piece and pull all cameras to gather intel. for the next year.
I use lithium batteries and 16gb cards. Place them one climbing stick high, blending them in best I can with bailing twine and a wooden wedge behind them to angle them down. Never had any stolen, yet. My locations have been any type of funnels I can find around 100 yards or so of any bedding areas that I found previously. I was fortunate enough to find rub lines the last 2 years on two different pieces that helped pick the spots.
 
Funny story........ well not really.
One of my cameras I pulled had over 1400 pictures, I was pumped! picture 1 was a miss picture, picture 2 was a buck, picture 3 was the back half of a deer. Then, on the fourth day the camera was up.... picture 4 was the face of an animal I think was an opossum or raccoon not sure. Picture 5 was what I think was the underside of the same animal, and the next 1400 plus pictures were of the tree tops swaying in the wind and either the card filled up or the batteries went after a little over a month or so.
 
100rollie said:
Funny story........ well not really.
One of my cameras I pulled had over 1400 pictures, I was pumped! picture 1 was a miss picture, picture 2 was a buck, picture 3 was the back half of a deer. Then, on the fourth day the camera was up.... picture 4 was the face of an animal I think was an opossum or raccoon not sure. Picture 5 was what I think was the underside of the same animal, and the next 1400 plus pictures were of the tree tops swaying in the wind and either the card filled up or the batteries went after a little over a month or so.
Click to expand...
That's not good. Do you have any recommendations at that price range? I always have issues at that price. Seems like I need to spend at least 70 (on sale), usually over 90 to get a good camera that performs reliability for 5 years.

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BassBoysLLP said:
That's not good. Do you have any recommendations at that price range? I always have issues at that price. Seems like I need to spend at least 70 (on sale), usually over 90 to get a good camera that performs reliability for 5 years.

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Click to expand...
I picked up a bunch of primos cameras on sale this winter for $60 with a $30 mail in rebate. They take good pictures and the battery life seems great, but I think they are scaring deer. I get lots of deer sequences where the last picture is tail up and running

The big buck I caught on film last year won't go near it. I only see him in the bushes on the very limit of what the camera will pick up.

Anyone else experience this? I thought hanging it higher may help. Currently I have it about 2 feet of the ground and facing down a straight section of game trail. I usually get more than one picture of each deer that way.



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I suspect the camera is making noise or they are reacting to a visible IR flash. Hang em high.

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