Trail Cam Placement on Public Ground

[Kessler10]

Any thoughts on this? Best to place just inside timber outside of a meadow to try and catch them coming in and out of meadow. Or maybe go into timber a bit more and gain some altitude and place around highly used gametrail?

[adamds22]

It is all going to depend on what area you are putting them in, state to state differs, unit to unit differs and even in units it will differ a lot. My recommendation would be that you try to find game trails, wallows, anything where you see elk activity and start there. From there you can move your cameras based on what you see to get a better picture of what you are looking to capture.

Last year was the first year I had any cameras out, I put mine on the edge of a meadow overlooking some water. I definitely got a lot of pictures of elk, deer, moose but I don't think I set myself up to see the bigger picture. This year I put my cameras in more wooded areas outside of the same meadow that I had it in last year, my hope this year is to see more of where the elk are coming from, if they are bedded down in the area or if they are moving through this area. Thats just my .02.

[Gypsumreaper]

Agreed it's best to have them in an area you can decently check or plan to hunt. Don't wanna leave one for a month and come back just to see 900 photos of a branch that would move with the wind. I like to set my cameras to where I want to hunt a trail leading from a suspected feed area to bed or water to bed just so that I have an idea of where I may be able to ambush. Wallows are also good as you can see what's been using them as well as how often. Use them as a scouting tool for when ur not there. It's a "person" on constant watch for you recording everything date, time, temp. I like to scout from afar a few days before i place cameras then move in mid day to an area I see animals coming in and out. Also not all the elk are gonna feed in that meadow, if they can find forage and cover in the timber they aren't gonna wanna expose themselves. I've found a lot of times that I've set cameras to close in the trees to the meadow and another deeper and had many cows and young bulls on the meadow camera and the bigger boys deeper in the trees.


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[CurlyTail]

Game Trails, water holes, wallows, saddle crossings, areas where travel corridors cross

I put a Plotwatcher on a low saddle between two prime valleys and observed that Elk would cross the saddle on average every other day. This gave me the confidence I needed to sit this saddle for an extended period of time and allowed me to shoot my first ever Bull Elk with a muzzleloader.

I never could have been that patient without having knowledge of the travel patterns.

[Ryan Conkle]

I have always placed mine overlooking a wallow/water source and have been pleased with the results' and the pictures' that I have received.

[Swede]

I agree with Ryan on this. You could also place one near a well used trail. Just be sure you have great trigger speed or face it so oncoming game is facing the cam for enough time so you don't just get a picture of their rear or nothing at all.

[Lefty]

]Water tanks in the desert or trails in the mts.I tried to be sneaky . but elk and bears have been a bigger problem
I got lots of pics of people who knew my camera was set up in the desert. One fellow popped my SD card when he set up to hunt ( Im OK with that)
Ive gotten pics of Fish and Game hats.

As far as in the mts on public ground. I try to camouflage the camera, Set it up 7-8 feet. break up the outline a bit with branches.

I dont try to hide my camera at bear bait location, people expect a trailcam.

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