Trail Cameras

[itsnlkthing]

I'm looking to pick up a couple of trail cams. I see some good reviews on the Moultrie M880 ($120), the Moultrie A5 ($60) and the Primos 35 ($80). Any thoughts and experience would be appreciated.

[Lefty]

I like my Bushnell good pic $100 on Amazon

[stringunner]

I have 7 of the Primos 35 cams. I purchased 5 this past summer and tried them out for 4-5 months. Great cams and pretty reasonably priced at around $80 on amazon. I purchased two more in December. When I took the cams down most were still reading 75% battery life and I got hundreds of pictures off of each of them during those months. I also have 3 of the HuntenOutdoor Cams, I really like them because they are around $60 but I have to change the batteries out often thus the reason I am changing over to the Primos cams.

[Mikeha33]

I have 3 Cuddeback's, and I love them. One did mess up two years ago, and I sent it back to them, and their customer service was outstanding, and I had a new camera back to me in less than 3 weeks. They're a little more expensive, ($200), but they take great pics and video, day and night.

[Swede]

Stringunner, I guess if the Primos cameras work in your area, I could get them to work in mine. How far will the sensor pick up movement and how responsive is the trigger? I have several cameras that the sensor will only reach out 25 feet. I would like to add one more that will reach 75+ feet. I guess the trigger is not real important around a water hole. My cheapos trigger on the same day the critter is picked up on the sensor, if the animal does not come in too close to midnight.

[stringunner]

Swede: I was getting great photos out to 60+ feet during the daylight and 30-40 feet at night with the primos cams. And as for the trigger speed...I have found it tends to vary based on the camera. 1-2 of my primos cams trigger slower than the rest. I have to work this out this year and mark them so I can remember from year to year and place them in spots where a fast trigger speed is not as important. When testing them at home this past month (my wife hates this by the way, trail cameras placed in every window sill around the house) I have found most are fast or fast enough for how I use them, snapping the photo within 2-3 seconds of stepping in front of the camera. I think they would work great for you in your area and I might even be able to share a few examples of pictures at a spot or two you may or may not know about. I also may be able to come up with a bear box you can put it in, my dad makes those boxes you seen my cameras in this year.

And for those wondering why I have them up all around the house right now, aside from testing the trigger speeds, I am testing different brands of batteries to see which ones last the longest, take the most pictures and do better in colder temperatures as I place them outside on a rotational basis. I have found batteries that work great and some that don't. Right now the panasonic digital are working the best. I know, I know, I'm bored...

[cnelk]

I have a couple of Stealth Cams. They work good enough for me.
I put them out in June and the batteries lasted until September.
I use Interstate AA batteries.

[Elkonthebrain]

M880's are the best bang for your buck in my opinion.

[itsnlkthing]

Thanks for the input everyone. How many cameras do most of you run? I'm guessing that a few are better than 1 but what makes reasonable sense?

[fm]

I have two stealth cam skout-7 s and a old moultrie. Both models take good pics.The flash on the stealths is a little week . The stealth cams use 8 aa batteries but last the whole summer. I had one out till the end of December and it took pics when it was -20 outside.

[stringunner]

I run too many cameras, will have 10 out this year. But mine are out for around 4-5 months and we have been hunting tree stands so having a few more to do the scouting for us has been nice. They do take a ton of time with this many, I spend a great deal of time the week before season and during season checking them, moving them around and such. I have grown to enjoy the trail cam thing as it has nearly grown into a stand alone hobby. We hunt an area with a great road system so very few of my cameras are more than a mile hike. I also take the entire month plus most of the week prior off so I have more time than most I think to be out in the woods.

I think the number of cameras you need/want greatly depends on your hunting style. If I was covering great amounts of territory on foot and hunted by running and gunning I wouldn't have but maybe two-three, figuring out how you plan to use them to your advantage during the season is probably the biggest question in deciding how many you want/need.

[Swede]

itsnlkthing: This too is another "it depends" question. If you are solo hunting I would like to have about four cameras. That gives you some alternatives if you are not seeing much where you set your first camera. Sometimes it is difficult to tell if you have cows, or bulls that pass by. Did several elk stop by, or is one hanging around where your camera is? If you have one camera and set it out where you saw recent sign, will the elk be back soon? These things are important. One camera tells you what is happening at one place.
If you hunt with friends then and you all have cameras, maybe it is ok to cut back when you are in good hunting country. If you have several hunters in your party, then you can have some flexibility if you all have at least two cameras. Like I started to say, it all depends. Of coarse, maybe you are not talking elk, but I think the same basic idea would hold for deer or pigs or whatever. It goes without saying I suppose, but I will say it anyway. If all you can afford is one camera; buy one camera.

[ishy]

Just added a bushnell to our mix of moultrie and wildgame innovations. Bushnell seems considerably better for batteries so far, all are cheaper models and take decent pics.

[wawhitey]

for my money right now the best cam you can get is the browning spec ops. but stay away from the range ops and recon force cams. for some reason their pic quality is junk, and the range ops i bought has a hard time realizing that its daylight. but the high end one seems great in every way. can be had at wal-mart.com for $147. has black flash and a lot of room to customize your options as far as delays and video (with audio) and such. best thing about it in my opinion is the viewer shows you live time exactly what it sees for 30 secs when you turn it on, so you can easily adjust it to be aimed perfectly. this is huge for me as i put em up about 12 feet. saves me a lot of trouble and the risk of setting a cam for a couple months aimed wrong. a lot of people like the moultries, but ive noticed that any model ive looked at, that doesnt have white flash, has a minimum delay of 10 or 15 seconds, something like that, too long in my opinion. critter "A" walks by, then big buck walks by 9 seconds later and the moultrie wont take a pic of it. thats no good. and dont a lot of the cuddebacks still use c batteries? bushnell makes pretty solid cams, but all the features i like about the good bushnells, you can get on the spec ops for cheaper, and it does a better job in every way. ive got 12 cams right now, and as ive said, i think the $147 for the browning spec ops is the way to go right now. best bang for your buck. heres a review. http://www.trailcampro.com/browningspecopsreview.aspx

[Daved270]

I would go with the Primos 35.