Tips and Tricks for better trail cam photos

Discuss the science of figuring out our prey through good detective work.
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JRM6868
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Re: Tips and Tricks for better trail cam photos

Unread postby JRM6868 » Sat Mar 10, 2012 6:36 am

As a rule of thumb I always face my cams NE and NW it reduces the false triggers being opposite the sun. If your cam has a slower trigger aim it diagonally up or down the trail. That way the sensor has time to pick up the animal and trigger to help alleviate the but pictures. I often set mine up on food sources and start tracking deer down from there if I can figure out where he's coming from I can move the cam that way to catch his entrance trail. From there I can usually figure out the bedding.Once I figure out the bedding I move onto another area to find other entrance and exit routes. I base my cam setup on what the surrounding terrain tells me I can do. If on a hill I might have the cam a foot off the ground and vice versa. Getting a cam too high in a tree can cause you to lose more pics than you realize because the sensor is made to pick up up and down second and more side to side first based off the fresnal lense design. When you elevate it too high looking down unless your right over the trail it looses sensitivity.


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Re: Tips and Tricks for better trail cam photos

Unread postby bbahunter » Mon Jun 04, 2012 12:56 pm

JRM6868 wrote:As a rule of thumb I always face my cams NE and NW it reduces the false triggers being opposite the sun. If your cam has a slower trigger aim it diagonally up or down the trail. That way the sensor has time to pick up the animal and trigger to help alleviate the but pictures. I often set mine up on food sources and start tracking deer down from there if I can figure out where he's coming from I can move the cam that way to catch his entrance trail. From there I can usually figure out the bedding.Once I figure out the bedding I move onto another area to find other entrance and exit routes. I base my cam setup on what the surrounding terrain tells me I can do. If on a hill I might have the cam a foot off the ground and vice versa. Getting a cam too high in a tree can cause you to lose more pics than you realize because the sensor is made to pick up up and down second and more side to side first based off the fresnal lense design. When you elevate it too high looking down unless your right over the trail it looses sensitivity.


Excellent advice :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Tips and Tricks for better trail cam photos

Unread postby gutone4me » Mon Jun 04, 2012 2:31 pm

I too face mine N NE or NW for the most part unless I have no other choice. I monitor my food plots, water holes, creek crossings,and of course my Monster Raxx mineral sites which are getting HAMMERED ! After the move to KY in late June I am going to need all the help I can get scouting !
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Re: Tips and Tricks for better trail cam photos

Unread postby Stanley » Mon Jun 04, 2012 3:56 pm

If at all possible keep the camera itself in the shade under the canopy of trees. This way you don't have to worry about facing the camera in a specific direction to keep from getting sun triggered pictures. In my honest opinion you should run cameras 24/7 you can learn a lot about where a buck is at any time of day and what direction he is coming from in the dark hours. If yo have no pictures of a buck that is traveling in the area you are not using the cameras potential to help you out. Yes the flash may scare some bucks but it doesn't scare all bucks. Lighting is something they live with all of their lives, they can't dodge that.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: Tips and Tricks for better trail cam photos

Unread postby gutone4me » Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:08 pm

One of my favorite places to monitor is scrapes or mock scrapes. Scrape videos are really cool. If you find the right licking branch you can follow the bucks year round.
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Re: Tips and Tricks for better trail cam photos

Unread postby Monster Raxx » Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:55 pm

For the most part I face my cameras North as well, but I will mess around and face them East and West occasionally. I know I will have some bad pics and false triggers but you can get some incredible pics sometimes with the sun rising or setting. I run a number of cameras and battery life is really important to me. I usually only put out my DLC Covert cameras because they run on 8 AA batteries and they last forever. I also like placing the camera up high especially on scrapes, it makes for great pictures. When I want to know every buck that is in the area before the season, I use Monster Raxx Trophy Minerals at my mineral sites. At the end of the season when I want to know what bucks survived and during velvet when I want to know what bucks to go after I will put out 100 pounds of corn and a 8 ounce bottle of Monster Raxx Whitetail Magnet, I get 10 times more pics than regular corn and way more daylight pics. Try to think of different ways to get unique pics that not many others are getting.

Here is a pic where I wanted to get some of the sunrise.
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Here are a couple of pics where I put the camera in a pond and faced it where the deer were coming in.
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I also spray Whitetail Magnet right on the soy beans in July and August.
Image
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Re: Tips and Tricks for better trail cam photos

Unread postby dreaming bucks » Tue Jun 05, 2012 7:24 am

Wrinkleneck wrote:I really only use my cameras at a feeding source now. This way I can get a good look at what is hanging in my area without leaving my scent all over the woods. Really no tricks for food source other than I like the infrared cameras best.


X2.... I am keeping mine out of the woods.... too much damage leaving my scent checking them in the woods.

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