Method for checking trail cam photos

[Bean Counter]

2 of the 3 areas I hung my cams seem active for sure. Not sure about the third place. I'm wondering if hanging out at the site of the camera is a major    with all the farting, breathing, snotting, defacating, salivating, burping, and everything else we do that will put scent all over the place. As a cheap bass turd I'd rather not buy a set of cards so I'm thinking I'll tote my laptop into the woods, see what kind of images I have, and determine whether I want to keep the camera in that location then and there and/or adjust its position if necessary...

[Greenhorn]

I have always packed my laptop and downloaded them and then put the camera back.  I enjoy the instant feedback and just sitting there looking at the pictures in the woods.

[huntnnw]

I always take a Ipad or small laptop to download...ive learned my lesson the hardway. Swap cards hike out 5 miles and let it sit to only come back to a card failure..didnt recognize it or etc. I havent had a issues in years now. Having multiple brands of cams and SD cards some cams dont like some.

[jasnt]

If the cam is in a new location then I bring my laptop but if it's producing than I just swap cards and go.

[Bean Counter]

If the cam is in a new location then I bring my laptop but if it's producing than I just swap cards and go.

K. I think this is what I'm going to have to do. My first run at placing cams. IDK how well I placed these even though i followed all the usual "rules" (3 feet off the ground, salt 10 yards out, north facing, etc).

[bobcat]

I bring my laptop occasionally but I'd rather not carry it if I don't have to. I have also used an iPad. But if I have no intention of possibly pulling the camera, I normally just swap out cards. Heck, I don't think I've ever paid more than $5 for an sd card.

Actually, when I most often do bring the laptop is when I am setting up a camera in a location for the first time, and that is so I can be sure I get the placement exactly how I want it.

[woodman]

As a general rule I just trade out cards. My cameras are a little higher than what you say you put yours at. Also I don't worry about pointing North nearly as much as pointing in a desired direction such as an animal trail.

I am sure that many will disagree with me about scent, but I never worry about it. I check my cameras a lot and always have animals on them. My last check after 3 days had elk, deer, bear and even a coyote on one of my cameras. I just have found sweet spots for my cameras over the years and they are very productive. I post a few videos and pictures on this site, but I assure you that they are a tiny fraction of what I get.

[danderson]

I usually remove the SD card slip in in my camera and see what I have, fast forward through the thing, if I don't have anything
exciting I put the card back in, my problem is picture management, I have thousands of pictures of what I would call keepers.

[olsy]

I bring an iPad with a SD Card reader

[jackelope]

http://www.frys.com/product/8018674?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

$6.99

I take a sharpie and put a number on my camera and a number on the sd card I use in the camera. IE Camera #1 uses sd cards #1. That way there's no chance of what huntnnw mentioned about some cameras liking some cards. I like to have all my pictures so I swap out cards. My buddys who have lots of cameras have the little clear plastic Plano or whatever tackle boxes for their cards. Each card is numbered to each camera. They get into it deep. I'm doing the same thing just on a smaller scale. If I had an iPad I'd probably take that with a card reader, but loading all those pictures onto the ipad takes up a ton of gb's and takes a while the one time I did it.
If I know my point and shoot camera won't automatically reformat my sd cards, I might use them to take a look at the pics but I  keep as many pics as possible.
My vote is to swap out cards. At $7 each, it's really cheap relative to all the gas money, camera money, tag money, hunting gear, etc.

[jasnt]

I usually remove the SD card slip in in my camera and see what I have, fast forward through the thing, if I don't have anything
exciting I put the card back in, my problem is picture management, I have thousands of pictures of what I would call keepers.

Same here. I put the keepers in its own folder. I only delete pics once a year. I do this cause I use the pics for paterning and such so I keep them on record till the new season

[Martinhunter]

I take my little digital kodak camera with me to check the trail cam, insert the trail cam card into the kodak to see what I got and if theres things on it that I want to get a better look at thenI always have a extra card to throw in the cam and take the card with the pics home with me. If I dont have anything interesting then I either put the card back in and quickly leave or pull the camera and set up on a new trail.

[Johnb317]

My hunting partner picked up a panda camera, we added a large external antenna and with sim chip it sends out emails with the pictures     High tech. 

[luckyman]

I have a small memory card case full of memory cards. I make my rounds changing battery's and cards.
 If the camera hasn't had many photos over a month or two I move it, sometimes not to far. When I get back I load all the cards on a laptop hooked to a 32" TV where I can get a close look. I delete most and save the good stuff under 2013 2014 etc.  I often find something good in pictures I thought were false triggers after a close look.
Most of my cameras are 5 to 6 feet up and slight angle down. I Rarely use bait.