Stolen Cam ???

[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...