Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire I'm gonna buy a trail camera or two....

....To put out at our place in Idaho.

Two reasons; One to see what critters are moving around whilst we're not there, and also to see if we have any folks in there who aren't supposed to be.

Most of the pictures will be of white tails as they are numerous, but we also have bear, cougars, and a few elk in the neighborhood, I expect to see them all on the pictures, cuz we've found tracks of all close to the house. One cam will be positioned to watch the only road coming in, and the other to watch the front of the house. Might get a third to watch the meadow off to the opposite side of the house. These may go a month or two in between visits, so they'll need some storage.

I know basically nothing about these trail cams so any info will be appreciated. I don't need the "best" thing out there, just something that will take decent stills or video.

Too much election fallout to help a fella out with some trail cam advise?

Or should I bounce it to another forum?

Hide them well, had one disappear on a field access road on our place. Probably poachers spotted it on the way out

Hey mule shoe. I’ve only used a few cameras, my favorites have been browning. Two models, a few of the full size and A few of the smaller models, can’t remember which models at the moment. They’ve been exceptional for me.

I've had several different brands and have been treated best by Browning trail cams.

Thanks. I did look at a couple different Browning Cams at Bass Pro today.

I second the Brownings, Reconyx, not sure of this spelling, is a more expensive option but are my favorite due to volume of photos per set of batteries.

Browning trail cams are very nice and easy to setup. I’d use lithium batteries especially if it will be a few months between visits. A 32GB card will hold about 10000 pictures usually.
You can buy or make lock boxes very easily if your worried about theft of them.
You can DIY boxes by using an electrical breaker box of appropriate size. They usually have a tab for a lock also.

I bought 3 Moultries almost 10 years ago, far from top of the line but they work fine. I've had them out for 5-6 months set to just still pictures not video without running out of batteries. These take I think its 8 AAs.

The Brownings are good cameras....small also. I will second using lithium batteries, especially if they will be out in subfreezing temps. I run a mix of Bushnell, Browning and few older Moultries that are still working fine.

Scheels has the Browning Dark Ops Extreme and Strike Force Extreme on sale right now.

I have the Strike Force and happy with how they work. Seem to have really good battery life.

If you have cell service at location , Moultries and spy point have them at 100-120 dollars . The images are plenty clear to see deer and people , They also have a card so if something on your phone picks your interest and you want a better picture you can download the card and view .
The cell cams give you real time pictures which may prove handy .
They are pretty simple to set up also , I am not a computer geek so simple is a factor for me .
Kenneth

I know a guy who bought 20 acres and put game cameras up. But they kept getting stolen. Finally a game camera was not stolen and got a picture of the thief. Seeing details of the ATV in the pic, my friend figured out the guy's name and address. He contacted detectives in Spokane WA. But the picture was not proof, and my friend never got his trail cameras back, nor the satisfaction the crook being prosecuted. He did get some interesting pics. He had moose. I have never seen moose in Eastern WA.

If you have cell phone service I went with Spypoint Link-Micro got them for $90 shipped each first 30 days free unlimited after that 100 pictures free....use 3 for surveillance around a wilderness house I get pictures in less than 1 minutes with 3 bar signal....even with deer, bears, raccoons, stray cat do I get close to 100 pictures a month....batteries last 10 months to 40% when I change them it below freezing for 6 of those months alkaline AA from Sam's Club...
Have one in the wood shed in the rafters looking down the driveway signal was blocked by the house and metal roof bought a booster antenna with a 10 cable put it on a pole to improve the signal got it on EBay $18 shipped went from 1 bar to 3....
Last year receive a picture alert truck pulled up the driveway in front of the barn guy got out and check if the door was locked then walk to the house side door....called the sheriff was lucky they were just a couple miles away and caught the guy sent the pictures to the officer he showed them to the guy....his story was he was looking for the owner to ask permission to hunt after driving by 2 No Trespassing signs and opening a gate....he got a trespassing ticket judge gave him a $200 fine....

We use the least expensive Tasco's we can buy. With Duracell's an S-D card and ready to mount total is well under 40.00 , and they take great pictures for what we need. I have had batteries last a year or better, and have thousands of photo's on some cameras. They are not top of the line, but very acceptable for our needs.

We have a Scheels over in west O about 50 miles away, might take a drive over there today.

Is it worth worrying about 20MP, 18MP, or 16MP?

No cell service. Sometimes if you stand in an 8sq/ft area over by the river you might get something, but not much.

A definitive thread is needed to show which camera and flash is the least detectable by humans.

I have asked multiple times and get a mixed bag of answers...

These guys do probably the most comprehensive review of trail cameras I have seen.

https://www.trailcampro.com/collections/trail-camera-reviews

I think....that Browning Dark Ops Extreme is supposed to be undetectable to the human eye.

Browning or Moultrie


Spypoint is garbage!