....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!

The Pamida in Deadwood used to be a cool store for this type of stuff

Haven't had much luck with the ones I've bought

$50 from Amazon...Apeman...Victure...Campark.......

Many many wind pics..even set correctly...time/date won't stay set

Ya get what ya pay for right ?

Currently looking for better one for my self

Muleshoe, My Browning Dark Ops HD X Pro goes out on at tripod every night in the back yard. That flash is undetectable to the deer at less than 6 feet. I've had it on video lately because the night time exposure is long enough to blur the fine detail. I had 109 videos of deer in the yard last night, so I'm going to set the time delay between videos a little longer. I can freeze frame the video on my computer and take a picture of that with my camera phone if I want a still picture. Works great and recommended.

One more thing if you leave it out during the day. I'm not sure how you can prevent getting a picture of every leaf that blows by. I had 1003 windy branch pictures and I won't try that again.

one of my fav pics

i bought a moultrie a5 and it lasted about 3 months of winter. won't get another of those. i am waiting for black friday sales and going to pick up a couple of cheapies and give it a try again.

Just ordered 2 of the Browning Dark Ops Extremes.

$109 ea @ scheels online

Free delivery

I think I'm gonna do the same.

Pick up a touch-tone phone and color television set while you’re out shopping.

They are fantastic.

What color do they make television sets in?

We got a black one with some newfangled remote. Lots of buttons. Took me two weeks before realizing how those two batteries went in.

Anyone using the Cuddeback/Cuddelink system? For out of state property, seems like it may be cool to have the pics emailed to you. Bit of money though. Just curious if any experience with those.

reviews

https://www.gearhungry.com/best-trail-camera-review/

Look close too.....

Full size card or the Micro card ?

The Micro card is a PIA with cold fingers

www.trailcampro.com

THIS,I have 5 brownings great bang for $$ spent .

No, it's not worth worrying over. Even if you get a 20 MP It won't be true 20 MP's. They are interpolated, which adds pixels to the image without actually making it better. When you try and enlarge the pic it will appear digitized and will be blurry.

As an outfitter I exclusively have ran alot to Brownings for years. Never had a problem, great cameras.

I have four new camera I need to put out, I’m lazy, haven’t done it yet

If you have cell service, get the ones that will send alerts/pics to your phone. That way you'll know who's on your land even if they take your camera. There are some really nice ones out there for around $99/ea

Agreed. I set mine for half the advertised MP

Guys I work with all have ones that shoot the pictures right to their cell phone. One guy was standing next to me doing his paperwork. His phone went off and hes like "Ah the giant buck is in my yard again" Shows me his phone and theres a huge buck standing by a barn. i was like when was that. He told me right now.

Muleshoe if you go with those Brownings you'll be happy I'm sure. As far as how detailed an image I wouldn't worry about that a lot anything out there now will be pretty damn good. Here's 10 year old technology and only middle of the road back then for instance..

That’s makes a good, clear picture Salty


Direction you position your cams and sunlight ‘overwash’ makes a difference too

Huge! Never point a camera south. Trial and error taught me if at all possible point it straight north like this one. Even on a dark overcast day in the rainforest what little light there is will be on the subject like above, instead of causing glare and the subjects looking not much more than shadows if its pointed at the sun. Sometimes it pays to read the directions.

I'll add another tid bit for ya Muleshoe. Camera theft. I've never lost one but its not just by good luck. You know that webbing strap that the cameras come with so you can cinch them up to a tree? Ya, don't use that. Anyone paying any attention can see that strap on the tree from any direction sticks out like a sore thumb. And then there's that shiny black plastic carbuncle hooked to it. Fail.

I had two timber cruisers show up at the above spot surprised the hell out of me I thought I was well and goodly in the middle of no where. But they were laying the area out to be logged in the future. Dude passed no more than 10 feet from my camera I won't post their pics but clearly neither of them saw it. I just took a rag dipped in flat brown paint and blotched all over the camera to break up the outline, then a little green. The back of the cam was factory drilled and tapped for a quarter inch bolt so I bolted a small chunk of hardwood slightly larger than the camera to the back of the camera for a mounting bracket. Camo'd that sucker up too and brought my little impact driver with me and drove a couple 4 inch deck screws through the hardwood in to the tree. Even draped a little whitches hair moss over it to look all natural. Get creative and make it blend in its not hard to do.

Thanks for the tips there Salty. Hadn't given that much thought.

We've got a couple Brownings that have been excellent. Easy to use, too.

I have a buddy who lives in Alaska and owns a property in Kansas. He runs those Cuddebacks on his Kansas property and the pictures are sent to his phone, I think twice a day. He has been pretty happy with them and from what I saw they do a nice job. He explained to me how they work and how he has them set up, he didn't mention any negatives or problems, which I am sure he would have. He seemed legitimately happy with them.

We have been using the SPYPOINT micros... work pretty well with one or 2 exceptions however dealing with CS out of Canada has been a challenge.

People you talk to are not in Canada more like India....I had a little problem up dating the firmware on a new camera must have been on the shelve for a while....couldn't understand talking to the guy from India had him email a Youtube video to use my Mac it we easy.....

Put my new Browning Dark Ops extreme cameras out in the yard last night.

Most notable pics were of the stunningly handsome and studly guy coming to get the SD cards this morning.

Had one camera pointed behind my garage and it got only me

The other was in an apple tree near the west end of the yard. Best pic was of me, but at 2:55 AM I got what is probably a deers rear end. Will have to adjust camera angle down somehow. Maybe a wedge.

All of these set at 8 megapixel

You can get packages of bicycle brake cable and run them through the loops in the back of the camera for better security. Mash a lead sinker around the cable with a hammer and a grommet cup to lock it on.
If they have wire cutters the can still get it. But it will make it harder for th a casual grab...

After a few years of still shots, we set our cameras to shoot 10 second videos. We think the end product is more dramatic. It also helps if you capture people to see them from different angles.







I wish this one had been a couple of feet farther away from the camera.



Apologies to those who have seen some of these before.

Is that a Moultrie M80 by chance? I bought a few of those about 10 years ago and they were by far the best camera for the money I've ever owned. Some got stolen and the few I still have are just now starting to die.