Has anybody tried a trail camera software to keep track and analyze the photos coming in? I’ve been looking at both HuntForce and Deerlab, and trying to figure out a distinguishable difference? The prices aren’t much different, not enough to really sway my vote.
It would be pretty cool to have some of the information it can produce on hand.
I tested Primos freebie version a couple years back, but the reality is for the few thousand pics I look through each camera pull, it’s not that hard to manually delete what I don’t want to keep.
http://www.primos.com/products/software-apps/at-a-glance-software/
Currently, I am running Windows 7 so I set my thumbnails to extra large. Then I use typical windows shift and control keys to delete the mass of unwanted photos.
Tell what you are hoping this software will do for you. I may need to investigate further.
Huntforce Software not only catalogs your images. It creates DEER PROFILES so you can keep every deer separated. It then analyzes the photos date and time stamps, and then bounces that off of that days temp and wind direction and speed. It spits out information based on when that deer likes to be in that area based on time of day, wind, moon phase, pressure and temp.
Then it breaks everything down into percentages so you know what wind and weather and wind to hunt certain stands.
Also if you know your time stamp is off, you can change the date and or time on all of your pictures after you have taken them. So you dont have a picture of MRBIG with 3-24-11 date on it. been there.
Its pretty neat once you have 500+ or so images on there. And the basic model to get you started is free. nothing to loose. Just might give you a pattern that you overlooked.
AND………. you can enter in all of your different properties with gps.
Really its only good if you run multiple cameras. I have 8 cameras, so it helps me analyze things that I dont catch. Great for multiple properties.
Thumb Drive, I go through and delete all pics I don’t want to keep and then set up folders in that thumb drive and save them broken down into a folder for the date I pulled the card and then which camera they came off (I only have 4). I could note the location on the folder too, but seeing as we only have 130 acres, I pretty much know where each camera was, and if looking back some years I can tell where by the picture. Total cost of whatever a 8 gig thumb drive is.
I normally just create folders for each piece of land, but this year running 10-15 is going to be a little bit more work! To have all of those percentages calculated with weather would be a pretty amazing asset. So far I’m leaning towards huntforce!
Interesting post.
I don’t have enough cams that it’s really something I thought seriously about using. However…
Things are going to get really interesting soon. I just bought the new Bushnell Trophy Cam HD with GPS. I’m sure there are other cams out there that stamp the GPS coordinates.
So fast forward a few years to when every camera has this. You’re going to be able to “track” individual deer over the course of a day. First he shows up at the mineral lick at 07:00, then he’s seen on the trail to the food plot at 07.15. Then he’s at the water hole at 08.20…
Wow. Collect data off of a dozen cams for a period of 3-4 months and it’s going to be pretty interesting to see what kind of patterns you can establish. All mapped out, of course. Granted you can do that “by hand” now, but it’s going to get a whole lot easier with software.
Grouse
Grouse,
It’s really amazing how all of this technology will change the way people hunt. At first I think wow it could actually be too easy, instantly I back pedal…who am I kidding, you still have to shoot them!
The times they are a changin’
Grouse,
It’s really amazing how all of this technology will change the way people hunt. At first I think wow it could actually be too easy, instantly I back pedal…who am I kidding, you still have to shoot them!
The times they are a changin’
Well, I think on first thought it might seem like technology making it “too easy”, but like fishing, just because the sonar is showing fish…
Also, you might be able to plot probabilities of where a buck might be at a given time, but “might be” is a long ways from “will be”. Especially for us firearms guys that are surrounded by ten trillion Weekend Warriors whose idea of scent control is to mask their own scent with gasoline fumes, cheap beer, and Marlborough smoke.
All the patterns go out the window on the first day of firearms and then the game becomes trying to figure out what is Mr. Big’s NEW “stayin’ alive” pattern. And of course, most of it will be at night…
Grouse
goin to have to check this out
Yeah, once firearms season hits, I abandon all previous intel. Hopefully for bow season it will pay off.
Speaking of Technology….
I remember when trail cams first came out.. they were the size of a house and required all kinds of external battery sources, and or solar panel to operate for more than a week. And they were no good for us NORTHERNERS when the temperature dropped. And then when the digital came out they sat on the shelves with a sticker price of 350-500 or more. Now the industry has exploded, which is great news for all of US guys. Virtually every hunting company has there fingers in the Trail Camera cookie jar. The amount of companies with cameras available, is baffling. More competition…. cheaper the price. You can now purchase GREAT cameras for 150 dollars, and they are the size of some cell phones, 20 megapixle and 1080i resolution video and sound on some models as well. Its just crazy to me how fast this industry exploded. Look at Cuddyback and Moultrie.. used to be one of the highest end cameras out there as far as price models starting at $300- $600. Now all of their cameras are sub $200 dollars.
I now have an valid excuse to my wife when we pass by a camera for a great price. “at that price how can i pass that up?, honey, you know you used to let me buy these for $500 a piece” haha
Ya, it’s amazing what has transpired in a few short years. It truly is a sport amongst itself.
Has anybody tried a trail camera software to keep track and analyze the photos coming in? I’ve been looking at both HuntForce and Deerlab, and trying to figure out a distinguishable difference? The prices aren’t much different, not enough to really sway my vote.
It would be pretty cool to have some of the information it can produce on hand.
A little late to this thread but I’m a co-founder of DeerLab’s Trail Camera Software. Obviously I’m biased but I’ll try to answer some of the major differences because there are a few.
DeerLab’s stats are based off of specific hour segments where HuntForce goes off morning, afternoon, evening and night. I’m not sure when their times starts or stops. In addition I don’t know if they take time zones into consideration but I know we do.
DeerLab has a photo viewer that allows you to quickly view large photos using your mouse or keyboard. HF does not have this and you have to scroll through thumbnails.
DeerLab’s buck profiles provide easy-to-read pie charts on when and where a particular buck is moving. You can view stats from multiple cameras or drill down to specific cameras and even filter activity by date ranges. HF provides percentages.
HuntForce looks great but many have said our interface is a lot easier and faster to use. This really comes down to personal preference.
DeerLab allows you to create multiple tags for each photo (HF doesn’t have tagging) so you can filter photos however you want. For example, if you want to see all your bucks in one group off of one or all your cameras you can.
DeerLab allows you to filter photos by all the weather data (HF doesn’t). For example you can say show me all the bucks during a full moon with wind coming out of the North between 30 and 60 degrees.
DeerLab allows you to mass tag, edit and delete photos – HF doesn’t.
Photos deleted in DeerLab don’t count against you where in HF they do
DeerLab is mobile-friendly – HF isn’t
Both provide satellite maps (HF recently started using the same mapping and weather service as us).
HF received a half million in venture capital were DeerLab is self-funded by me and my partner. While we launched 3 months before them they definitely are known by more due to their paid sponsorships with some large TV personalities and shows. I wish we had their budget but their are pros on the other side as well.
All that said both can really help you get more out of your trial camera photos. I would recommend trying both to see which one you like the best.
This week we are launching a new feature we’re really excited about (I really wish I could tell you but I have to wait) that none of the trail services or trail cam manufacturers have. If you sign up for a free trial now you’ll be able to use it in the next few days.
Hope this helps. If you have any questions please chat with us when visiting our website or call me at (904) 638-8880. Thanks!
Welcome to IDO Jon!!
Thanks Kooty!
With trail cam season starting I wanted to provide an update to my Oct. 2014 response. DeerLab has made a number of changes that I think you might be interested in.
Automated Photo Groupings
We have completely changed how we report data and now take into account photo groupings. No work on your side is needed. This dramatically changes report accuracy, especially if you use trail cameras over food plots or mineral stations, or feeders. This alone makes a big difference when comparing services.
Heat Maps for Your Profiled Bucks (or other animals)
As of today heat maps are now available so you can visually see buck movement patterns in reference to trail cameras. All the data can be filtered on the fly by date.
Albums for Your Trail Camera Photos
This feature allows you to create public websites of your photos. You just select the tags you want to show and a website is automatically created for you to share. Albums have a lot of the same features a private account has except we don’t allow visitors to view maps or camera locations.
We have made a number of other updates and have a lot more coming. Hope this helps.
Following up from my previous comments…
DeerLab just added wind direction and wind speed reports for buck profiles.
In short these reports are automatically created using your closest local weather station and the time stamps from your trail cam photos. This can help you see if a particular buck moves differently depending on wind direction and wind speed.
You can also filter the results by time frame, view an aggregate from all trail cameras, or narrow down to a specific camera.
wind-2.gif
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