Trail Camera / Use
Equipment
I think it depends on how they are utilized, same with drones. Both can and do provide a clear advantage to scouting and harvesting game.
Agreed. As far as getting to be too much? It’s already there IMO.
An outfitter had 400 cameras in the AZ unit I hunted. Boots on the ground appears to be a thing of the past.
I agree with Missouri, it's according to how you use them. I run a bunch of cameras on 4 different places, and I can't say they've helped me kill a deer yet. I'm mostly using them just to see what's there, get pics of fawns, growing bucks, etc. They are also useful to see what made it through the season. You can do all that with minimum intrusion.
Aside from that, I don't care to "scout" right before deer season when it's 90* with the woods full of skeeters that can stand flat footed and fornicate a turkey. And before anyone says that I'm supposed to scout in the spring, I can tell you that I don't need to. I've hunted my places for years, I know where the deer travel, where the bucks scrape, where they rub, etc. I also know that most of the bucks I feed all summer won't be there after velvet shed. I very seldom check cameras during the season, maybe once a month. That's hardly taking it "too far".
Don't boots on the ground send game to other ground and don't trail cameras do the same?
Bahta book, Bahta boom.
I'd give up trail cameras if they stopped pushing crossbows for non handicap in archery season. But damn I look forward to checking an SD card. Feels like Christmas.
drycreek, my “too far” comment was not all inclusive concerning trail cams. In some instances, such as real time video feeds and the example WB gave, they have gone too far, IMO.
Heck, I’ve used a trailcam for darn near a dozen years. I always set one up over a wallow I found many moons ago, just to see what shows up. I’m like Dyjack, I can’t wait to see what critters came by. It’s like fishing in a lake with a variety of species. You never know what you got till it’s sunning itself!
Instant text and email pictures are already gaining in popularity. They will be the norm where service is available.
Missouribreaks, not in AZ, they were just outlawed within a quarter mile of water.
Terry
I think for the most part trail cameras fool the moderately good hunter into a bad hunter. He “thinks” he has an idea of what’s happening due to cameras meanwhile he actually doesn’t.
I have one cell camera, keep it on my hog trap, because I don't want a trap full of dead, rotting hogs. They stink enough when they're alive ! If I had a cell camera on a hunting site, and tried to kill a deer using it, I'd feel like I was shopping for a t-bone.
Charlie, if you run those cards every other day, they probably would change the normal deer movements, but mine typically are run once a month to six weeks. I very seldom check them more often than that, and when I do check them I slide through in my golf cart and I'm gone as soon as I swap cards. They see me on my tractor much more than that. If I check them during the season, it's after I've hunted for the morning, and only if there's a camera close to where I'm hunting.
I use them to inventory bears from year to year. My work schedule isn’t flexible and my hunting camp is 250 miles away, so they don’t dictate when I hunt. It’s just nice to see which bears return from year to year, if any new kids showed up on the block, etc.
Like many tools, they can be as excessive as the user makes them.
