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Video or Still pics?

dirtroadhound

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2019
Messages
47
New to camera scouting, well not new but it has been 20 years, and just bought 4 Wildlife Innovations cheapies for public land right by the house. Two questions:

Do you set your cams for still pics or video or a combo of both?

I used a climbing stick and placed them up high so it would take work to steal them but does anyone use anything other then the baby bungees to lock/secure them? Looking for ideas to lock them.

Thanks
 
Last year was my first year using video mode instead of pic mode. I will never go back. The intel provided by a video is priceless.

I use python locks to secure mine. Haven’t lost one yet, knock on wood.
 
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I do a little of both. I run pics on tight trails and video on wider ones or open areas. I too use a stick and hang em high but I have bark and stuff glued to mine and put em on thicker trees to help hide them. I don't have to worry about theft as much as I hunt private areas where a trespasser would stick out like, well, a trespasser. Still possible though. The other reason I hang em high is the durn cows and horses get curious and come knock em off the trees.
 
I’ve played with video some this year. It gives a lot more info but My cams don’t take video or pictures at night when on video mode.
 
I’ve played with video some this year. It gives a lot more info but My cams don’t take video or pictures at night when on video mode.
Not sure if mine do either. Guess I will find out. In one spot I put two cameras, one on pics and one on video. This was kind of test run in the woods. Close to house and I can check them on my mountain bike. I will say though, I found some terrific buck sign better than I have seen all year on my lease. We will see. Thanks for the responses.
 
I really like hybrid mode, takes a pic then 5 sec video right after
 
Ya hybrid mode is my favorite. You can move all the pics to a separate directory then page through them quickly, only review video when you find an interesting pic. Useful if you get some crazy wind action triggering your cams a lot.
 
I tend to watch all the videos sometimes a deer enters the view late and the pic didnt show a deer
 
X 2 on the python locks and I am a video guy, only issue is it takes longer to go through your cards but its worth it.
 
What cameras have this hybrid mode you speak of?

I use exodus cameras. I have found them to be the best in my opinion. I’ve tried many and these are not cheap but I think they are worth the money.


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I usually set mine about 5 feet up, and have a cable lock on the more visible locations like along main elk or deer trails. I've noticed I had good luck with elk at this elevation as it doesn't seem to bother them much. Deer and bear are more cautious, I think I may try going a few feet higher and angling it down. bears and elk both will sniff at it but I've yet to have deer do that. I have a few pictures of deer where all I have is one deer antler.
I do all still pictures and have 4 different cameras various brands. The hybrid mode sounds like it may be better
How high are most of you setting your cameras?
 
Everything is a trade off.
Vids miss a lot less subjects than a still pic. The vid might catch something a single still pic may miss.
But vids use a lot more card space and also take more time to review. Some cameras don't put a time stamp on videos. I have a couple old Bushnell cams that time stamp pics but not vids.
I guess it depends on what you are setting the camera on. I have a high deer population. If I set my cams to vids over my mock scrape, I would burn up a 32 gig card in no time. This scrape can get over 400 pics per week. No way I could review that many videos.
 
New to camera scouting, well not new but it has been 20 years, and just bought 4 Wildlife Innovations cheapies for public land right by the house. Two questions:

Do you set your cams for still pics or video or a combo of both?

I used a climbing stick and placed them up high so it would take work to steal them but does anyone use anything other then the baby bungees to lock/secure them? Looking for ideas to lock them.

Thanks
My Exodus cameras will take a picture first then a video in the hybrid mode I really like that. I use a small srcew in camera holder that goes into the tree and screws in the bottom of the camera. If you search YouTube for trail camera srcew in hangers there's a video on how to make them instead of buying them.
 
I’m all in on video. The movement and general disposition of that deer when moving through can be so informative. If you are into the idea of “ visualization” of a goal it is also huge. The only downside I’ve seen is storage of clips and having space. Do folks send their videos to the cloud?
 
It depends on what sign I am putting the camera on, If its on a trail I will put it in pic mode. If it is on a scrape I will put video mode so I can see the entrance of the buck, the exit of the buck, and if he is more relaxed or on alert. Another thing I found out last year was it really helps narrow down on the rutting activity. I had videos of bucks dogging doe's and I could hear grunts and bleats in my videos so that was really awesome.
 
I use still pic only for several reasons. I don't check my cams for months at time and it would take too long to view all the videos from a card pull vs scrolling through all the stills. The others are battery life and filling up sd cards. As others have mentioned, video can give you better intel though.
 
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