For sale: 6x reveal x and 5x SPYPOINT “c
Contributors to this thread:Massachusetts
From: Arrownoob
16-Jan-23
I’m selling 6x reveal x by tactacam. Retail was $120 each I’m selling all of em for $480 on f book Wednesday. 5x “cell link” by SPYPOINT for $100, must buy 5. Memory card adaptor has a piece of hockey tape on it so it will stay put. I’ll need to go collect one before final pickup. Take your existing card cam and turn it into a cell cam. 100 free photos per month. Micro SD not included or 5 for $25. Software updated they work great. 1st dibs for bowsiters, going live on Wednesday on Facebook. Make me an offer for the whole lot? Taken in each winter. Great battery life out of all of them. Alkaline is perfect on the cell links (“twice daily”) and lithiums lasted me 18 months for the tactacams. 2 reveal X are camo painted, one has my name on it so I’ll paint over it for you. Will camo all of them upon request. Straps included. If you hunt out of state or deep far back from parking there is no better way to keep an eye on the woods. You Need these to feel complete.
From: spike78
16-Jan-23
Why you selling Noob?
From: Arrownoob
16-Jan-23
I have a long rambling answer for this, as I do for most things. The short version is I’m freeing up some space in my noggin. As a noob these cameras taught me a lot but I’m going to be more focused on “the moment” next year. I have an obsessive personality and having these things lighting up with big bucks constantly was a distraction to other parts of my life. Next year I’m going to kill ‘em from the couch and wait to strike. Maybe 2024 I’ll buy em all back lol. I don’t know if any of that makes sense- I just like hunting. I have a good feeling what it takes to shoot monster bucks and at my age, experience level, and what I want to do, I don’t think that’s me. I’m not giving up and I intent to continue to be successful rowing bucks but I want more element of surprise, more challenge, and less mental baggage.
From: Rut-N-Strut
16-Jan-23
I to have a love hate relationship with cameras but I personally think you’d be making a mistake selling them. They are a tool that most of the best hunters on the planet use these days. You don’t have to put them out if you don’t want to but you may change your mind like you said.
From: Arrownoob
16-Jan-23
Rut- valid opinion for sure. I don’t have the time and energy to become the best hunter in the world so I might as well lighten up and have fun.
From: MA-PAdeerslayer
16-Jan-23
That’s where we differ noob.. am I ever gonna be the best hunter in the world? Nope. But I have so much fun in the woods finding these dumb animals we’re all obsessed with and making it all come together. Sometimes I wish I was luckier but when it all comes together with sign and camera work it feels oh so sweet
From: spike78
16-Jan-23
I love getting pictures it’s like Christmas however I pulled a Berkshire cam a couple weeks ago that was not getting much pics anymore. So I go to grab my cam and right behind it was deer tracks. I also found a bunch of deer tracks to the right of it and more further to the right. The biggest downfall of cameras is they don’t tell the whole story and can be a hindrance more then a help. I’ve had numerous times where there were tracks everywhere but in front of the camera. Sometimes I think going with your gut and just good woodsmanship beats a cam any day. I also notice every deer that comes by notices my cams.
From: Arrownoob
16-Jan-23
I started hunting a few years ago for a new challenge. Everyone has a different goal and a different style. For me the in-person interaction is the most important. I’ll never be “that guy” who finds the big buck, patterns him on a specific wind and barometer. Hoping to find someone who wants to try them out- they did help me a lot I just want to try something different in the future.
From: Deerdawg
17-Jan-23
Noob, I get it, obsession. I fear it will change the game of Hunting as I have grown to know it. Being married to spypoint cameras would change that. I am not sure i want at this point in the game. My sons use them and send me pics, and i must admit you can get hooked on them real quick. You definitely get more information from pics at the moment they are taken. Helps pattern a shooter a lot faster. Bucks are cruising through doe areas and won't be there to long . So if you don't get in there within a window of time he'll be gone. Others stay nocturnal. i guess i like the element of chance, surprise, fair play as i know it. Good Luck selling cameras
From: Mhg825
17-Jan-23
Noob for a new guy you do way better than most, including myself. Cameras help but aren't the end all.you read sign and set up accordingly that is most important.
From: Arrownoob
17-Jan-23
My kids are getting to high school age, we just bought a 2nd home in VT, my parents are getting older and I have a few new job opportunities I’m considering and working out the details. For every aspect of what’s going on I’m trimming the fat. Getting to what’s essential. For me it’s all about the physical presence of being in the woods and I’m spending time and money with cameras which I’m deeming in 2023 as non essential for me. I’ll be dumber, but more surprised. Ignorance is bliss. I bought these one and one and they were hard to find when I did so that became a hunt, too. I want to invest this time and money on something else. I’m not making a big statement just offering them for sale and answering the question “why”
From: Rut-N-Strut
17-Jan-23
Whatever makes you happy Noob. You do you. I mostly use them for inventory more than hunting and patterning. Not saying I’m a trophy hunter I just rather kill a mature deer. Cameras allow me to guage whether there are deer in the area worth hunting without blowing a place out constantly scouting. If all I’m getting are spikes, forkys or small basket racks, I’ll move onto the next spot.
From: Arrownoob
17-Jan-23
If you had 11 more cell cameras you could do a much better job finding mature deer.
From: Blood
17-Jan-23
Good luck with or without the cameras. I’m jumping in deep this next year. I have a couple cell cams I’ll be playing around with for the first time. I have too many friends killing big deer with the use of cameras. They simply wait till they get them on camera and go hunt them. No wasted time sitting cold stands.
From: Rut-N-Strut
17-Jan-23
I think 12 is the magic nimber
From: Arrownoob
17-Jan-23
Imagine if you had 11 cell cams in cold spots a big buck would eventually move into one of those areas.
From: Huntskifishcook
17-Jan-23
I know they have become extremely popular with their somewhat recent drop in price, but I'll be honest, I just don't get it. Having pictures sent to my phone telling me when to strike would give me zero satisfaction.
From: MA-PAdeerslayer
17-Jan-23
Joe but pics of a giant growing before your eyes as you plan your attack is the best part. Oddly, I’ve never killed a deer cuz of a camera. It never works that way. The giant my uncle killed two years ago we NEVER knew he was even in the area he was in. Ever. Never had a single picture of him where we killed him. All 1-1.5 miles away.
From: Proline
17-Jan-23
I never was into them…..until I moved up here to central NH. They are a big asset here trying to figure out new spots. Density here is nothing like zone 10 lol. I like running them on new stands or stands I’m not completely sold on. I’ve got a dozen with 10 being card cams. Just switch cards when I hit that stand and see what passed thru the week or two I didn’t go there. Game changer. I’ll admit a few stands I thought would be good turned out to be duds.
From: Huntskifishcook
17-Jan-23
Nick, that part does sound fun. Like Noob mentioned, it would be too distracting for me. And like deerdawg also mentioned, it's not the direction I want my hunting to go. I have no doubt that cell cams can be used as super effective tool, it just seems like we might be flirting with technology that might be too effective in some instances.
From: Deerdawg
18-Jan-23
Thats what ive been seeing too Blood. SpyPoints and Saddles . Be out in bush see spy cameras no stands. Its stealth like. Sneak in right next to you and not know . My sons will be running some cell cameras too so ill be watchin how it changes hunting. If you know when he is there that changes the game.
From: Tekoa
18-Jan-23
Over the years I have decided that cameras are more technology than I want in my hunt. I go to the woods partly to escape the modern world and do something as old as time. That is a personal choice and not a ding against those who do use them. I used to run them all the time. But since I stopped using them a few years ago I am shooting and seeing more deer. Granted that is mostly due to how I hunt, still hunting, mobile calling and snow tracking. In the big woods they are great at telling you where deer were last week. Not very good at telling you where they will be tomorrow. For a dedicated stand hunter it might be totally the opposite. Although I hate having my picture taken while hunting, in regards to overall harvest I still do not see cell cams as a game changer. As a hunter you selected the location to put your camera based on your hunting skill. You would probably hunt it anyways. There are always exceptions but not many people have the ability to drop everything and be at their camera site within even 30 minutes of a buck appearing. Even if you did he still won't be there when you arrive......Tekoa
From: Arrownoob
18-Jan-23
Well looks like they all sold let’s see
From: Arrownoob
18-Jan-23
Well I sold the tactacams- that didn’t take long. My battery bill and subscription bill is going down. I still have some card cams and not giving up on cameras as a tool to learn an area. I wasn’t using them right- I think it would be better to put 6 in one area and shift them every few weeks. I had them in 6 different spots just sitting for a whole season. In the end- the cameras have giving me a better general understanding for deee movements in a few spots. That intel is good background but it’s actually been bumping deer that I find to be way more effective for me to find beds and bucks. I had 2 close calls on one big and one decent buck both from bumping deer (one while hunting squirrels). One deer I crawled right next to him it was a 1 hour creep in it was the best hunt I’ve had so far. He busted me from 80-100 yards but I felt like I really hunted him. The archery buck I shot was from scouting over 3-4 years. The muzzleloader buck I got was just walking as fast and quiet as possible directly into the wind. If you’ve never used cameras I would say you definitely should. But I just made 2 seasons all about cell cams and the deer I got weren’t “cell cam” deer. I’m in zone 10 so if you find a pocket of deer they are pretty concentrated. I can’t imagine hunting New Hampshire.
From: MA-PAdeerslayer
18-Jan-23
Don’t even have to go that far. Come out here to central/western mass. I’ll show ya some woods and small deer numbers. Big deer tho.
From: hickstick
19-Jan-23
I started playing with cell cams in the early 2000s when I was doing food plots...and back then they were actual 35mm film that you had to develop. I still have negative books somewhere with some huge deer on them. Now THAT was a PIA. They all took C cells, so the weight, the development cost, the crapping out moving parts after a season or two. .really sucked.
But I actually learned a lot about deer with them. With a young family I didn't have excess time to spend in the woods....they helped me pattern deer.
Most I ever ran was 4 though. In '19 & '20 I had every trail and field entry covered. Cell cams were new to me in '21and didn't really up the game much as the cell signal at the farm is spotty. I now have one as a security cam on my lake house.
From: ARLOW
20-Jan-23
Thats funny Hick, I started building cams back around 2000. There were forums on Jesse's hunting page dot com and Hagshouse dot com with communityc of homebrew cam builders who we all helped each other out. We used Cannon OWL 35 mm cams, an infrared PIR from Radio Shack as the sensor. Hacked them together, stuffed them into a waterproof electrical box with cutouts for the flash, the lense and and powered it with one of those big 6v batteries. I did make a few digitals with sony S40 cvams and pelican boxes for enclosures too. At that point it was more cost effective to make your own cams. Now with cams like the Tacticam it is just better to buy commercial ones.