Trail cameras?

So after harvesting my first deer, seeing 2 monster bucks and having 450 acres still untouched i think i need to venture a bit. So this spring i am going to do some scouting and hang about 5-10 more stands while hanging trail cameras and after seeing the prices i think i may only buy a couple. So my question is what would you recommend and where should i hang them? Do i hang them by my stands? By the trails that lead to the Stands? Do i want one that takes video? I will get a pic of the land up on Wednesday so you gays/gals could help me out a bit more but for now what should i get and place where?

Thanks much
Derrick

Derrick, with 450 acres+, I would go for quantity of cams and not quality. I would look at the ones in the $99 range, Moultrie makes some good ones. Get them on the top of your christmas wish list and let everybody know you want them I would start on known trails, see whats using the trails…. keep moving them until you find where the big boys hang out Most of all “HAVE FUN”

Moultrie Deal

I am a big computer nerd and have been spending probably way to much time looking at what to get for my first trail cam. I am going to go for infrared flash vs. the white flash. That being said – I plan on purchasing a Spy-Point.

Link Here

Those Moultrie D40’s are certainly nice cams – but like I said i’m opting for no white flash.

I concur with Big G on Moultrie. There’s a Moultrie Game Management system website that with certain cameras (and a monthly subscription fee to a website) your pictures can be automatically uploaded to a website each night and the camera will delete the pictures that are uploaded and be ready for capturing again the next day. Then your camera doesn’t fill up, it runs until the batteries run out (and I believe they sell solar panels that will repower the camera during the day also). Only thing to be careful of, is if your cameras are put in a place that will have connectivity to upload to Moultrie’s website. I believe it uses cellular phone technology to connect, but I could be wrong on that.

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Derrick, with 450 acres+, I would go for quantity of cams and not quality. I would look at the ones in the $99 range, Moultrie makes some good ones. Get them on the top of your christmas wish list and let everybody know you want them I would start on known trails, see whats using the trails…. keep moving them until you find where the big boys hang out Most of all “HAVE FUN”

Moultrie Deal

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I have to respectfully disagree with big G. I’ve beeen using cameras in the woods, since they were first out. I’ve spent more money on cam’s then most here have on beer ! I’ll give you a few reasons.

Battery life. Certain cameras get a lot better battery life than others. Doesn’t matter if you have 20 cameras out, if the batteries are dead. But if you have out 3 that will take 3-10,0000 pics with a set of batteries, you are better off.

Go with an IR camera, skip the flash. Literally I have 10 of thousands of pics over the last 15 years. MATURE deer are skittish. Very seldom do you get wild big woods bucks on the same camera, multiple times. The will start avoiding those areas. Not all but most.

That said the Moultrie IR cameras take fair pics, have great battery life, and are fairly reliable. I set mine to run a 5 second video, then snap a pic. When on Scrapes I up the video time, they are fun to watch at a scrape or waterhole type situation.

Scoutguard and Reconyx are a couple more good brands to go with. They are addicting once you get them figured out. If you still decide to go the flash route, let me know. I have a $700 Camtrakker digital with strobe flash, that I would let go REALLY cheap. Amazing picture quality with that flash, and camera quality.

Good luck and enjoy.

I am a firm beleiver that scouting with trail cams in farm country with very small pockets of cover does more harm than good. I scout late in the winter and in the early spring when the fall sign is still fairly readable. I have found the best thing you can do to impove your hunts(besides food plots)is to stay out! I hunt almost 2000 acres broke up into smaller farms(150 acres to 400)and it seems like every farm has a spot where the deer traffic is funneled down, it the spring the big community scrapes or sign post rubs at this location should still be visable. It is at these areas that I will hang my cams in the summer and leave them for well over a month at a time. Also areas like tree rows or fence lines are great too often the travel is at night and often its not where you will be hunting so it will not spook deer when you check it but it will give you an idea who is moving through your area. As for cams I use Moultries at dont look back at the 100’s wasted on others! Risk of theives and need for multiple cams is why I dont spend more than 100$ on a cam.