PEAX Equipment

Disappointing trail cam

C

Clawsar

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Joined
Jun 27, 2016
Messages
205
Location
Kalispell MT
I thought I had found a nice hidey hole near town and put up a trail cam on July 23 over a game trail. I just picked it up yesterday and had one doe, a couple riding horses, and a guy on a mountain bike. For sitting out a month I was pretty bummed. At least no one took the camera and I know not to bother there until snow falls.

Do any of you trail cam users check after 1 week or some shorter time just to make sure something is happening?
 
It all depends on how far from the road I have a camera up and if there is any food put out in the summer time. I would look at mine every 2 or 3 weeks usually, one I have on a gated road 6 miles in I put it out in May and will be back to it in Oct. The most important part I found was making sure you have good batteries and the camera is taking pictures before you leave, nothing like coming back a couple miles to camera to find it not set correctly ugh haha.

Goat
 
I check after first week or two. Then I put it off till just before the season opener.
Repeat trips will just scent up the area and alert the old monarchs you are on to them.
If I don't have good pictures the first week or so , I relocate the camera.
For whitetail this has worked for me for years. No experience with muleys or elk.
 
My dad just moved one of our cameras and picked up the card after a couple of days..3000 pictures....doesn't seem like the deer ever leave
 
I use mine for elk. I check them every couple weeks. There's usually a few hundred pics. Unfortunately, due to fires this year I can't check them. I put them out and 2 days later the area was shut down due to a fire several miles away. This is my 4th year using them and they've never gone 24 hrs without taking a pic of elk. Lots of bears and a few deer too.
 
Thanks for the responses. It sounds like I should have checked earlier to see if it was worth it or not first. Good advice all around for next season I guess

Thanks
 
I check after a week on some close to home and over an attractant tho
 
I have one set up over a small pond in the Oregon cascades. I usually place it in mid-summer and pull it during elk season. Every year it's the same thing...a few deer, several bear, owls but no elk...until early September then a few cows show up followed in a few days by more elk and eventually a mix of bulls, cows, and calves.
 
I get a lot of pic when the elk are just milling in the area of the camera , sometimes strong wing also get pictures of branches, grass , etc. But just because I get pic of elk before the season doesn't mean they will be there during the season.
 
My only purpose for using them is just to see what the heck is out there, and sometimes it's amazing what or who you gets pics of. To me they're just a lot of fun and when my hunting days are over they may become my new hobby. Sometimes I get good pics and other times it's pretty dissapointing though I've learned over time which locations tend to be good and which ones are marginal.
 
I've left cameras up for 4 or 5 months and I also used to check them everyday. What i've learned is that I get two different spikes in the activity of mature animals. The first in about 70-75 hours to about 6 days. The second usually occurs between 15 and 18 days so I plan I checking cams every 19 - 20 days. If you figure a cam is up 20 days, those 6 "spike" days account for 30% of the time but (for me) the mature animal movement within those days is around 80%. Can't tell you why but its remarkably consistent in the summer.
 
Good strong "fresh" sign I will set a camera and not come back for a month. When I am prospecting w/ attractant no more than 2 weeks max if I am just looking for what kind of numbers are in the area.
 
Before the season starts, I check them once a week. After the season starts, I'll check them at least every third day. I need to know the moment a buck shows up during daylight. It's been my experience that a buck will follow the same pattern for about 3 days and then resets. So, it's been vital that I get the most recent information.

Checking cameras once a month or something like that would be a waste for me for hunting purposes. For inventory purposes, it's fine.
 
I'll check mine whenever the hell work will allow me to and I've also heard that if you are worried about spreading scent, hang a small article of your clothing in a tree so if those animals are frequent visitors they get used to your scent, I've heard that it works for bear baits anyways. Also I'll leave my cameras up all fall and winter because that area is inaccessible unless by snow machine. It's pretty interesting what you'll catch on camera once all the humans have left the area and the animals are free to do whatever they want
 
Great guys, thanks! Next spring I'll be checking more often for sure. I mostly use them to see if any animals are around or if it's a more common hiking area than expected.
 
Sometimes I leave them out for day, weeks or months. Really depends on how deep they are in an area. The longest I have left one was a couple of years (other people would change the batteries for me). Sometimes I would get great pictures and sometimes not. If I was getting consistent pictures I leave them longer. But I've never had a hard and fast rule. What I do try to do is locate good habitat for what I am trying to get pictures of. Then I try to find what should be a well used game trail, with obvious signs of the animal I want pictures of such as tree rubs, droppings, etc.

It sounds like you actually got some good intel on the area you were looking at. What appeared on face value to be a great spot really was not. You found out that there is more non-hunting activity in the area and its probably way to close to recreational areas and trails. Even though its more fun to capture images of that elusive trophy you still got good data. Try moving the camera in deeper and farther from any known activity.
 
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