Brian1986 wrote:I do not think it's ethical to check another person's trail camera pictures. To me it's like copying another classmate's homework. You might get the grade but it wasn't something you earned. And it's disrespectful to your classmate who put in the time to come up with the answers. Is checking someone else's camera the worst thing in the world? No. But it takes away from your accomplishment if you get a buck based on it. To me hunting is a personal challenge. I'm measuring my woodsmanship skills against that of a mature buck. I don't want to cheapen it by taking short cuts.
Not only will i not check someone's camera but I'll usually walk by it and wave to let the owner know I've been through. Last season I had a trail camera set up on very remote scrape 2.7 miles back in forest land. A fella from out of state came in and hunted last week of October. He could've easily checked my camera for pictures. Instead he setup his own camera on the scrape and then collected it when he went home. Turns out a 160-170" ten pointer walked through that scrape, and was going to be on both cameras. He could've stolen my card and I would never have known about it. But he didn't. I have a lot of respect for him.
So you personally would rather me set a camera next to yours and come and check it and put more pressure in that area than check your card? Obviously i am completely the wrong person for advice but i personally would rather you check my cam and never come back.
I think this is why it is less of a big deal to me. I am doing to them what I would rather them do to me. Ideally i would rather them never even find my cam but not always the case.
Less pressure. As far as taking shortcuts and outsmarting a buck....all of us who use cameras are taking a bit of a short cut.