Trail Cameras for Elk

[WapitiTalk1]

What are a few of the tips, tricks, and no no's for deploying trail cameras for wapiti?. Perhaps you've got a question. Here's the place to offer some advice or pose a question.

I'll start with a question. What size SD card is recommended for cameras that are set up long periods of time between 'checks', say 30-45 days ?

[cnelk]

RJ
Your question depends on the size of pictures you want and the settings on the camera.
Most cameras will tell you how many pics you will get according to resolution and burst setting.

I try to stay mid-range for resolution and a 3 pic burst, set for a 30 second time out.

With my settings a 2G SD card is plenty

For those wanting to movie clips, a lager SD card will be needed

[cnelk]

Here it shows how I placed a trail cam pointing at/down a trail.
You wont miss many animals with this setup - even with a slow trigger / shutter

But also notice the pine branch in the pics. That one took a lot of 'nothing pics'

[fm]

I don't live in elk country but do live with lots of bears and do know that if you don't keep your cams up high they will sometimes make a real mess of them. I think the glow make them curious and they want to know what makes them tic.

[Lefty]

My trail cam pics are at work
A few things. Like in bear country get your camera up high.

I placed my camera on a watering hole with my first trail cam I got 4700 pics from 10:30 AM to 4:30 PM the first day, killed the battries, 8 D size
lots of chucker, Hungarian partridge, rabbits and tons of morning doves one coyote and a pickup
Make sure you place your cameras where the elk cant get to it. I placed that nasty thick prickly tumble weed around my camera this year I still got plenty of noses and briskets and eyeballs

Keep your camera facing north if possible also point it up or down a trail not facing across the trail

[Lefty]

Here it shows how I placed a trail cam pointing at/down a trail.You wont miss many animals with this setup - even with a slow trigger / shutter But also notice the pine branch in the pics. That one took a lot of 'nothing pics'
]

I had an elk bump my camera this year. nearly 4000 pics of a weed swaying back and forth
Make sure your area is clear of anything that moves close up that will trigger your camera

[Navesgane]

Do you guys have to worry about theft like they do on the southeast in whitetail country?
I don't have any cameras but plan on getting a few and setting them up on the public lands I elk hunt but not sure ini need to conceal/secure them as good as I can. When I lived in the SE folks made steel frames and chained/cabled them to the largest trees they could find to deter theft.

[cnelk]

Do you guys have to worry about theft like they do on the southeast in whitetail country?

Its not something I worry about too much.
The country is so vast, I typically have to use my GPS to find them each time

I dont buy the spendy ones just in case I cant find them again, or someone else does

[JJ Overkill]

hey brad what cameras do you use? I saw the stealth cam on the bottom of the pic but what model?

[cnelk]

I use the 8MP Infrared U840IR1S models

I dont think they make them anymore, but they can be found on Ebay or Amazon

[WapitiTalk1]

Good stuff gentlemen.

Do most folks set up elk trail cams for predominately tree stand hunts or is there a place for these cool tools for other types of elk hunting? Hope we keep this thread going.

[Willie makit]

Do you guys know if they are unlawful in certain states on public land? Right now Im looking at Colorado this year and if things work out right make a trip up there a month prior to season opener and thought about putting one or two cameras out then.

[Moose-head]

You have to reset the date when you change batteries.
check the lens cover for smudges and wipe them off before you leave.
cheap batteries from the dollar store are worthless.
leave them out in the woods to do their thing in spite of the fact that you want to check them every other day.
an extra SD card is nice because you can pull one and reload and/or relocate the camera.
you will get quite a few 'blanks' so don't be too bummed when most of your pictures don't have anything.

[cnelk]

I dont place a camera specifically for tree stand use.
Yes, I place one over a wallow that has a tree stand, but I like to see what elk are using it and what time.

I put one on the edge of a meadow last year, no trails or wallows, just elky looking.
I got some great pics of bulls, what time they meander thru the opening and what direction they traveled.

When season rolls around, I like to pull my cameras. Im too busy hunting to wonder about cameras by that time.

I think the best time to have cameras in place in the month of August.

[Mofarmboy]

Check out the moultrie d55irxt it's a great little infrared camera. I usually get about 3months out of 6c batteries. You can find em for about 70$ on eBay.

[irishevox]

nice pics

[wawhitey]

i wish i still had the pics, accidentally deleted them, but... there was one of last year before last cal;fs that survived from a small population of elk ive been watching for the last few years, and i put up a cam with a bear box, but forgot to padlock it. the young cow was curious and i got pics of her ripping the face off my bear box, flipping it around with her mouth, and stomping the crap out of it. then she grabbed the end of my python lock and spun the cam 90 degrees on the tree so that i got thousands of images of sunlight through tree limbs. nowadays i dont use locks or cables or anything, i just strap a section of tree stand ladder to a tree and place my cams about 12 feet up. no more problems. sorry if this doesnt make sense just got off the boat a little buzzed now.

[WapitiTalk1]

Any problems with rain or just condensation affecting camera electronics?

[BarW]

Do you have problems with them messing with the " no flash cams " that only emit red light when they flash? I use trail cams extensively for whitetails and hogs and they never mess with them. All my cams are no flash.
My plan is to set out some cams in July in my area and come back to check them in mid August and just change the cards and relocate them if no activity. So is there a certain elevation I should focus my efforts for different times of the year? I plan to hunt last two weeks of September. I'm very experienced with cams for whitetails but never use them for elk.

[cnelk]

Any problems with rain or just condensation affecting camera electronics?

RJ
Last year I put out a camera in mid-June. I wanted to test a few things such as battery life, rain, night pics, etc.
My cameras use AA batteries as thats what my GPS and 2 way radio use, so I carry AA batteries

Battery life:
I did not use the best AA batteries. I used just average Duracell.
They lasted all summer. Wouldnt you know it, they died during archery season!
So Im sure the better ones would have lasted longer, or I could have replaced them in August when I checked the camera.

Rain / Moisture
Even with all the moisture last year I never had an issue with moisture or condensation

I have read that many have had problems with bears messing with their cameras. I however did not. And I had a lot of bear activity
within a few yards of my camera.

[WapitiTalk1]

Good info. Thanks cnelk. That black bear is on a mission

[elkmtngear]

Stupid Bears!!



I had to buy steel bear boxes because they were trying to eat my cameras almost every time I put them out.

Here's a pic we got at a wallow we found during our archery hunt...about two hours after we set up the camera and walked out of there:



Note to self: Forget the recon and just sit the wallow!

[Mikeha33]

Camofire.com has StelthCam unit X cams on sale today for $89.00. I'm personnally not a stealthcam guy, but that is a pretty good price!

[Lefty]

I hunt public land. This year I had guys mess with my camera, they were always deleting pictures. Not just pics of themselves either, I had a 3 day stretch after I had checked where a bull had been coming in during daylight hours, no pics.
I saw another camera on a trail someone had opened the camera and left it open.


also had a few guys smile and wave at the camera,.. I wont be hunting that area next year

[farmboy]

I had one issue with a new camera and new card. I was trying the camera out and the pictures were all different, some blank some okay some half and half. called the manufacturer did what they said to try, still no good. took the camera back, got a different model same brand, had the same problem, come to find out it was the new SD card. Got another new card and no problem.