Serious Trail Cam Questions

[EatAlltheAnimals]

To start, I have gone back through just about every question and faq post through 2017 and read the sticky at the top of this section. Still I have just a few questions that I’m hoping some Hunt WA experts can help me answer...

I’m looking to get one or a few game cams this year in order to help me scout for and understand elk. This will be my first year elk hunting and I want to give myself as many advantages as possible. I plan on using the cam on video mode as it will provide me more information than just pic mode.

I have a few options on Amazon in mind, and am looking to go with a $100 or under setup.

In your experience:

1. Is there any real difference between a .5 second and a .3 second trigger on these? Can’t that just be normalized with a wider angle lens or moving the camera up and back?

2. Related to 1 above, is there a minimum lens angle you recommend? 120-degree seems to be the standard now, but let me know if otherwise.

3. I see the biggest issues with night shots and night video. Has anyone noticed a correlation between number of LEDs and quality of the nighttime shot? That makes sense to me, but maybe I’m looking at this the wrong way.

4. I’ve seen a “time-lapse” mode on some of these. Does anyone use that? Seems like an outdated idea.

5. Last question - how long do your batteries last when on video mode. I know that varies based on on number of triggers and temp and other factors, but on average, assuming a 32gb card and 8 batteries in, will I have to change batteries every month, two, more?

Thanks in advance. This forum is super knowledgeable and very helpful and I can’t wait to be enlightened on this topic.



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[NOCK NOCK]

1 & 2,  Overthinking it. Put cam up high, 10'+ to help avoid theft. Angle down to get the view/coverage you want.

3, More IR lights will help, so will more quality cams.

4, Mostly for field use. Video is the way to go IMO, but eats up batteries quicker.

5, Average use; once a month change out. Heavy use(salt) and lots of critters; every 2 weeks for change out of batts and card.  32g card will hold aprox 1200 videos of 20 seconds, at that point batteries will be dead, I use Kirkland batts.

[Dan-o]

My opinion:
*   More cameras = better
*    Here's a really good deal for 3 packs of trail cams:
   https://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,234987.0.html
*   Curious why you think you'll learn more in video mode.   What do you expect to "learn" from the video that will help you hunt?   Video mode can be fun but it does eat batteries.
*   trail cams are just plain fun.   :-)

*   I don't think  much more deeply than that about trial cams.

Have fun,

[Crunchy]

I think all you want to know is the times they come through, direction they come from and go to. 

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Battery issues went away when ultimate lithium batteries came out.

[3nails]

 I'd rather have 1 high quality cam than 10 "under a hundred" cams. I've probably purchased 30 cams over the last 5 years and only 8 still work. All of those were over $150. Nothing worse than putting in all the time and effort to place them only to come back in a month or two to find a dud. Don't go cheap! For what it's worth, I do leave mine out all year on the wetside.

[Dan-o]

I'd rather have 1 high quality cam than 10 "under a hundred" cams. I've probably purchased 30 cams over the last 5 years and only 8 still work. All of those were over $150. Nothing worse than putting in all the time and effort to place them only to come back in a month or two to find a dud. Don't go cheap! For what it's worth, I do leave mine out all year on the wetside.

I would argue with you but I make it a point never to argue with people who kill masher Blacktails.

[huntnnw]

I will never by cams over a $100. I have cams that still work flawlessly that are 4 years old. I had some expensive cams years ago and watch them crap out after a year or 2 or these so called great cams not function properly in temps 25 and under. Some of my best cams are $50

[bornhunter]

I will never by cams over a $100. I have cams that still work flawlessly that are 4 years old. I had some expensive cams years ago and watch them crap out after a year or 2 or these so called great cams not function properly in temps 25 and under. Some of my best cams are $50

?
What brand do you recommend

[3nails]

I will never by cams over a $100. I have cams that still work flawlessly that are 4 years old. I had some expensive cams years ago and watch them crap out after a year or 2 or these so called great cams not function properly in temps 25 and under. Some of my best cams are $50

That does bring up a valid point as to which side of the state the cams would be used on. I can see getting away with cheaper ones on the dry side where only cold is an issue. The constant wet over here destroys the cheapos.

[smithkl42]

I've spent over $130 on several cameras, only to be disappointed in the quality. I've gone back to the $59 cheapo Chinese knockoff cams off of Amazon. Their picture quality seems to only a little worse than the more expensive ones, they seem to last just as well, don't use any more battery, have more features and are more configurable. You can put twice as many out for the same price, and you don't care nearly so much if one gets stolen.

I've had a better experience with this than with any of the better-known name brand cameras that I've tried. The oldest versions of these I've got out there are on their second season on the wet side, and I haven't had any fail on me yet.

https://www.amazon.com/Version%E3%80%91-APEMAN-Hunting-Upgrading-Protected/dp/B07DNSRB6Q/ref=pd_sbs_200_8?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07DNSRB6Q&pd_rd_r=e64b1201-22c2-11e9-8739-9941e184f583&pd_rd_w=1e1DN&pd_rd_wg=IAqWu&pf_rd_p=588939de-d3f8-42f1-a3d8-d556eae5797d&pf_rd_r=5PV8H2YZ39ESGJNX42SM&psc=1&refRID=5PV8H2YZ39ESGJNX42SM

[huntnnw]

I tested 3 cams on the same tree once all pointed in same direction, delay etc. It was staggering what cams were missing in single digit to teen's, but if you had just hung one cam and checked it after a week you woulda thought all was good there were pics every day. Only 1 cam of the 3 took a pic of a bear, some missed certain bucks and one took far more than the others.  I have had great success with wildgame innovations cams they to work better in extreme cold. I had a bushnell trophy cam set up and had a doe and 2 fawns come in and eat for about 30 min standing 5-15' from the cam. I got out of stand that night and checked the cam 0 pics of those deer, but pics of me walking up to it this is what started my suspicion of cams working in cold temps. I also had a high end moultrie set up on a deer bait that I could see from about 300 yards away and glassed a bear laying right in front of the cam eating. When the bear moved off I went in to check cam and had 1 bad pic was it! bear had been there 30 min or so and this was 80 deg weather and once again if that cam sat there for a week or more and you had just checked it all woulda seemed fine. Cams miss alot of stuff I have come to notice.

[smithkl42]

I have had great success with wildgame innovations cams they to work better in extreme cold.... this is what started my suspicion of cams working in cold temps.

I've definitely noticed that the cheap cameras whose quality I was lauding don't work well in cold weather. Not sure how expensive you have to go to get something that does (the $130 cameras I tried didn't seem to be any better), though if @huntnnw says that a wildgame innovations cam works well, I'd start there.

On the other hand, the wet side probably only has a couple weeks each year where the cold weather is really a problem.

[huntingfool7]

5, Average use; once a month change out. Heavy use(salt) and lots of critters; every 2 weeks for change out of batts and card.  32g card will hold aprox 1200 videos of 20 seconds, at that point batteries will be dead, I use Kirkland batts.

Use lithium batteries.  Mine get changed out about twice a year.

[luckyman]

I tested 3 cams on the same tree once all pointed in same direction, delay etc. It was staggering what cams were missing in single digit to teen's, but if you had just hung one cam and checked it after a week you woulda thought all was good there were pics every day. Only 1 cam of the 3 took a pic of a bear, some missed certain bucks and one took far more than the others.  I have had great success with wildgame innovations cams they to work better in extreme cold. I had a bushnell trophy cam set up and had a doe and 2 fawns come in and eat for about 30 min standing 5-15' from the cam. I got out of stand that night and checked the cam 0 pics of those deer, but pics of me walking up to it this is what started my suspicion of cams working in cold temps. I also had a high end moultrie set up on a deer bait that I could see from about 300 yards away and glassed a bear laying right in front of the cam eating. When the bear moved off I went in to check cam and had 1 bad pic was it! bear had been there 30 min or so and this was 80 deg weather and once again if that cam sat there for a week or more and you had just checked it all woulda seemed fine. Cams miss alot of stuff I have come to notice.

Trail cams don't trigger in hot weather worth a darn  but trigger very easily in cold. If you miss pictures in cold its the battery's fail in the cold. The way the camera triggers is by measuring heat in motion. If its 30 degrees out and 90 degrees walks by it reads it easily. if its 80 out and 90 walks by it does read it. July and August are dead months where I get very few day time pictures.