Trail Cameras: A useful tool

An integral part of my scouting, especially a new property, is to employ trail cameras. I know some hunters use these so they can get pictures of the various bucks on their property, then assign them a moniker such "Ol' Wonky Tine" and add the deer to their "hitlist" (a despicable practice that I will address another time). I use them to help pattern the deer on my property, I like to know when they are moving, what directions they are moving, and what areas of a property they are using the most.

My family recently acquired 40 acres (we found it on www.whitetailproperties.com) just south of Des Moines, IA and so I deployed three cameras and have been checking them every couple of weeks. This has helped learn a lot more about the deer on our property than I ever would have learned by glassing, some of the areas that I thought would have a high volume of traffic have been relatively quite, other areas have been booming.

I am not going to spend too much time trying to convince you that one brand is better than the other, I personally have not used the more expensive brands so I cannot speak to the quality of the images. I currently use a couple of Wildgame Innovations as well as a Covert. The models that I own run any where from about $100 to $125, which I think is fairly reasonable.

A semi-washed out picture of a unique buck

I have noticed that the Wildgame Innovations cameras that I use the Micro Red 6, and Flash 6  tend to get a number of images that are washed out, it seems that the angle of the sun can play a role in the quality of the pictures. The cords that come with these cameras are two smaller bungee style cords that really handcuff you in regards to what you can attach it to. I would guess that the cords are about one foot long and sometimes this means if there are no smaller trees or a fence post around, I have to find a different location. The menu is fairly simple to use and allows for changing the picture frequency,  quality, delay and camera sensitivity among other things. I have not had much need to change the settings, the defaults are fine for most of my needs. All in all I am happy with the performance of the cameras, they are a good starter camera.

The smaller one on the left seems
to have already lost his velvet

The Covert is new to my collection, I picked up the MP6, I selected this model mostly again for the price point. It comes with a single adjustable strap that is much more accommodating although sometimes difficult to get to the right size it does not help that I put the strap on backwards and have yet to correct that mistake. The menu is a little clunky, but offers many of the same features as the others. I did find that the camera was overly sensitive, picking up the movement of a lot of grass and branches being blown around by the wind. I have changed from the default of High to Low in hopes of reducing the number of garbage pictures that I get. I think the quality of the pictures is pretty good, and I have not had any washed out pictures as of yet. In the future I will probably look into buying more of their cameras.

When it comes to these cameras, without doubt, regardless of brand, I have increased my success in the deer woods because I know when and where the deer are likely to be. I will keep my cameras out through out the season and I will continue to monitor the patterns of the deer on my property. As the weather cools and the food sources change the movements of the deer will change and these cameras will help me stay one step ahead.

I hope to provide some more post detailing my experience with various products, the ones that I think are garbage as well as the ones that I feel have significantly increased my success in the field. If you have any thoughts you would like to share feel free, I would love to hear about other hunters experiences using trail cameras.