Stolen Cam ???

[NOCK NOCK]

Why is it that most every time on here you read of a “stolen” cam,  It’s always “way back in”/4+ miles from the road? And it’s always a hunter that did it(nobody else would be in this spot)

I run 8-15 a year and never had 1 stolen(yet) knock on wood. None of mine are that far in.  I do realize it will prolly happen eventually though.

1. There is Nowhere that others (hikers/non-hunters) won’t go
2. Cable locks are a must, critters can and WILL mess with the cams, including pack them off or chew them up to pieces.

[jrebel]

I had one stollen by a bear last week.  Chewed it up and spit it out.  Found it in pretty bad shape but it still worked.   Bungied it to another tree and will see what happens. 

I bet most cams that far in are taken by bears and not other people.  Just my thought.  If you are in bear country make sure it is super secured to the tree.  The factory straps won't cut it.  I use Paracord to wrap and tie them to trees. 

[Birdguy]

Bacon or pastries for breakfast the day you put them out does NOT help prevent the bears from taking them either! I always joke with my son after a good breakfast of bacon and French toast or pancakes it is time to go hang cams.  Some scent killer is a good bit of prevention whenever dealing with cams.

[CarbonHunter]

I always pull mine before shed season. Seems like a lot of cameras disappear in early spring.

[KopperBuck]

Pops just had one ripped off a tree and stomped into a crick during higher water. Water receded and he barely spotted it. Got pics of the guys too. So I guess they’re not always stolen... Idiots....

Private property and a ways from any public access points.


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[Timberstalker]

Pops just had one ripped off a tree and stomped into a crick during higher water. Water receded and he barely spotted it. Got pics of the guys too. So I guess they’re not always stolen... Idiots....

Private property and a ways from any public access points.


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Who does this?  Seriously?

[Skyvalhunter]

That's good to hear Nock Nock that you have been lucky and not had any stolen.

[Bango skank]

Pops just had one ripped off a tree and stomped into a crick during higher water. Water receded and he barely spotted it. Got pics of the guys too. So I guess they’re not always stolen... Idiots....

Private property and a ways from any public access points.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Who does this?  Seriously?

Trespassers.  What kind of behavior do you expect from guys that will knowingly trespass?

[Timberstalker]

It’s unbelievable.

[trophyhunt]

One of my favorite threads is the one where the guys got caught trying to steal a members camera, they even got convicted of it, sweet justice!  Someday I hope to catch the person in the corral pass area that like to steal cameras, and I bet he's on here and local.  I've probably bumped into him on the trail.   

[huntnnw]

I dont bother locking them. My buddy has metal lock boxes on his and has had guys smash them and even take a ax to them. I have had a couple stolen over the years and I got 1 back,because I was running multiple cams and caught on cam forest service doing a burn. Called office and they had it

[NOCK NOCK]

I just don't get it.   
There's a reason cams are made/sold with plastic bodies/web strap......Customers will have to buy more when lost/stolen/animal broken,etc.
We all know there are a lot of thieves in this world, so why put a cam out there unsecured when you know that.....and then complain when it comes up missing.  if you didn't take every precaution available?

I just had 3 cams out for a week, 2 watching the cat kills I found, 1 watching the other 2 cams since they were both VERY visible from a popular road(10'off the road). Maybe I'm just lucky, Quite a few folks saw the 2 cams, luckily none took them, yet guys hanging theirs 4 miles in are getting them stolen right and left.

Cable locks can be removed without a key, but its not easy. I've had to get one of mine off after breaking a key off in it (not gonna say how I did it) then at home tried a bolt cutter on the remains, both took work.

I have had sooooo many elk and bears lick/paw/pull/bite cams in boxes, some even managed to twist them off target, had those not been in metal box and cabled...….I may very well have been in the "stolen" category.

[trophyhunt]

Yup, those cable locks are a joke, I had a guy take mine off with an old elk bone.  My cameras are secured by tough boxes and lag bolts, otherwise I’d have had lost them, too bad for me they stayed out of the camera view.

[RockChuck]

One of my favorite threads is the one where the guys got caught trying to steal a members camera, they even got convicted of it, sweet justice!  Someday I hope to catch the person in the corral pass area that like to steal cameras, and I bet he's on here and local.  I've probably bumped into him on the trail.   

Do you by chance have a link to that thread? I think I remember reading the beginning of that and would like to read through it to the end 

@trophyhunt

👆🏻Did I do that right??

[trophyhunt]

One of my favorite threads is the one where the guys got caught trying to steal a members camera, they even got convicted of it, sweet justice!  Someday I hope to catch the person in the corral pass area that like to steal cameras, and I bet he's on here and local.  I've probably bumped into him on the trail.   

Do you by chance have a link to that thread? I think I remember reading the beginning of that and would like to read through it to the end 

@trophyhunt

👆🏻Did I do that right??

i think it’s #trophyhunt, but I get it wrong most the time.  I’m not good at finding old threads but I’ll try. Mods are much better!  #jackelope or @jackelope 

[RockChuck]

lol thank you %trophyhunt

[trophyhunt]

 

[kodiak10]

I have heard that a good way too is to bring tree steps and put them high up so that someone else will have to bring screw in tree steps to reach them. Anyone employ this method? Thinking of getting some cams this year and really don't want them to get stolen.

[BreezyBear]

This is what's left of my "secured" Bushnell aggressor metal bear box   Please no lecture on how it was "secured"    Apparently there are only 6 spot welds that hold those together, tough enough for bears, but not for scumbags, this one was only 3/4 of a mile from a road, my bad

[jamesfromseattle]

I have heard that a good way too is to bring tree steps and put them high up so that someone else will have to bring screw in tree steps to reach them. Anyone employ this method? Thinking of getting some cams this year and really don't want them to get stolen.

That's a good idea.  I have been bringing a ladder for my close-to-the road cameras.  Had a handful stolen recently on clearly posted private land (plus an attempted cabin break in).  I recently put an obvious camera strung between tress with para-cord.  Left the ladder on the side of the cabin in place that you'd go to look for a ladder and then scattered a handful of cameras hidden places around the property meant to find the guy getting the ladder.  He might find a couple of the cameras but won't find them all.  I'll leave out the details in case the thief is on the forum and recognizes the setup.  I will vaguely say, however, I took it pretty far.  If he comes back, I will get footage of him.  Yes, it is absolutely a petty and expensive battle I am fighting, but I'm going to win.

[KFhunter]

I use one section of a lone wolf climbing sticks, they come in a 4 pack but for camera work I only use one stick and put my camera 10-12 feet up the tree then aim it down to my salt to inventory the area. 

bears pretty much leave them alone, dunno if the scent is high enough up they don't mess or it's just not worth climbing up to check it out.  I don't see them looking at the camera so I kinda think they don't know its there.  Cubs on the other hand love to climb trees so they'll re-aim them for you occasionally.


playful cub messin around finds my camera 12 feet up a tree

[smithkl42]

I used to hang them on screw-in stands, but I had too many instances of this:

Still haven't bothered investing in bear boxes. I buy cheap cameras, and check them once a month or so, so it's not like I've got a lot to lose.

Only camera I've ever lost for good was in Stillwater - hung it too close to a place where lots of folks were likely to wander. Most of my cameras, I've never seen a single person on, despite being relatively close to populated areas.

[kodiak10]

That is a bit of a bummer as I bet you lost some good shots of other critters. Pretty cool to watch though! I had no idea that a coug would take so much offense with a camera 

[Bango skank]

Pretty cool to watch though! I had no idea that a coug would take so much offense with a camera 

  ive had a million lions on cam but not a single one has ever messed with my cameras.  Bears on the other hand, theyll climb 12 feet up just to flip the camera over.

[NOCK NOCK]

That's a sweet cat video.    Captures like that are why all my cams are on video mode.

[Dan-o]

I don't bother with lock boxes or cables.

I've had 3 stolen in the last 4 years.

I run cheap cameras.

What I do now is try to really camoflage them.
I mean, I literally glue twigs, leaves, etc on them, camo the straps and all.

Then I just hope folks dont steal them......

[Duckhunter14]

That is a sweet cougar video! I've only had two taken and I run a bunch of cameras. I also try to get them up high and on trees that are too small for bears to climb. For some reason bears love to mess with cameras. Ive also had elk and deer head butt them, lick them, rub on them. Ive hung cameras too close to wallows and had them covered in mud. Had beef cattle rub on them and spin them around the tree. Had cats climb up the tree and look directly into the lens. Its definitely a learning process. But it really does irritate a guy when they get one taken. I don't run cables and locks and lock boxes. If someone wants it they're going to get it off. As the pictures above show. On another thread I blamed fellow hunters for taking a cam I recently went to retrieve. Which caused some grumbling, which I understand. I don't know for certain it was a hunter. It was unfair of me to make an assumption and I hope I was wrong and it was just some anti hunter. But it wasn't an animal. There's a special place in hell for thieves. Especially when I have to hike my ass into a hell hole and back 8 miles roundtrip, for nothing. 

[h2ofowlr]

I had (2) stolen by bears.  Only found 1 and it was chewed up pretty good.  Unfortunately one of it's teeth took out the lens.  The one I found showed the bear coming up to it, both over it and being ripped off and hauled away.  Found it down a trail about 50 feet away.  The other one must have been packed off further.

[JWEBB]

Totally agree with you! It just sucks that we even have to worry about it.  I had my first cam stolen in 17 and it sucked. It was about 2 miles from the closest road. Yea, I didn’t lock it like I should have but it’s completely pathetic some low life would take it. And this was during modern east rifle elk.(I was scouting for my quality buck tag) It was obviously a hunter who took it. No non hunter in their right mind would be where my cam was taken. And for the record I know it could be a non hunter that took it but that’s a slim chance. Way too many scumbags out there. Buy your own dang cam!  People work very hard to place cams. The cost isn’t even the most serious part. It’s the work to place them and check them often 

[smithkl42]

That is a bit of a bummer as I bet you lost some good shots of other critters. Pretty cool to watch though! I had no idea that a coug would take so much offense with a camera 

Yeah, I had a good two months worth of waving, upside-down ferns. But it was cool enough to be able to show my friends that I didn't mind *that* much...

[beauhunter]

There is a new way to secure your cams way up in the tree with out leaving the ground. Pm me and I can hook you up.

[BreezyBear]

Spy High