[IMG][url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=246326&c=500&z=1"] [/url][/IMG]

I got a trail cam three days ago and am finding it very entertaining. This is the best picture so far.

Plinker

I've thought about moving into the "high tech" world of trail cams. Would you mind sharing which one you got and perhaps where?

I've got the Cuddeback Digital. How do I post a pic?

Bobby

Test

The first pic was taken with a Cuddeback, as was this picture. I put the camera out in September 2004, and by middle of December, I had gotten about 1500 pictures. Only changed batteries once, even though they showed still good, but wanted to make sure. I've been extremely happy with this camera.

Bobby

Nice pictures, Muzzleblast! Sure would like to get a buck like that, picture or otherwise.

My camera is a Leaf River, ordered it from Cabelas. Haven't really had it long enough to recommend it....last night i got no pictures because the flash didn't go off. I might have inadvertently turned it off. So, i turned it off then turned it back on and put my hand over the unit to block the light and it flashed. So it better work tonight.

Hobie, here is a site for you:
http://www.jesseshunting.com/site/iframe.html?href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jesseshunting.com%2Freviewpost%2Findex.php

Has trail cam reviews.... I also like to check out the "homemade/home improvement" Those guys come up with some great ideas for homemade deer stands and feeders. They even make their own trailcams, but that's way beyond my abilities.

Hey, anyone else has some trail cam photos, lets see em!


Plinker

Nice pics!

Plinker, that is a real nice yearling, he'll be a really nice deer in a few more years.

I got some I can scan of some yearling bucks from my property last August. I never saw them for hunting season, would not have shot them anyway.

Muzzle...

I contemplated getting that Cuddyback but see your photos are real pixelated and have reservations now since the camera costs $400.

Might be that way because I sent it to my cell phone and then copied it from there. I usually print the good ones and they come out as good if not better than some 35mm pics. What I really like is that I take my hand held HP ipaq with me, pop the CF card out of the Cuddeback and into the handheld and look at what is there.

Can you post some photos right from the card then to see if there is a difference?

Ann, what do you mean "yearling?" I thought it was pretty massive, and it's an 8 point. I have several pictures of smaller spikes...those are the ones i thought were yearlings and a younger one than that would be a button buck. I don't have much experience at aging them, though, and our deer aren't nearly as big as they are in colder states like yours. Most of the dumb rednecks around here won't shoot does, so the one in the picture is a rarity for this area.

What does "pixelated" mean?

Plinker

Plinker
Which Leaf River Camera did you get?

That is the one I am looking to purchase (the entry level digital)

Anyone else out there have that camera?

I want digital but don't want to jump to the big bucks ($.$$) mode either.

TC, I think LeafRiver only makes two digitals. One has a viewing screen and is 400.00. The other doesn't have the viewing screen and is 300.00. I got the one without the viewing screen because i read you can't see the viewing screen out in the field anyway. Both models allow you to use compact flash cards instead of the camera's built in memory. That way you just buy two cards (i got the 128 mb cards for about 28.00 each). With two cards, all you have to do is switch cards out. Put empty card in. Bring full card home and view the pictures immediately with a card reader. I'm not savvy enough to know about the picture quality, but i like what i see. The other thing is the batteries. This model requires 4 D batteries for the camera and 3 C batteries for the motion detector. Supposed to last a good long while.

Good luck.

Plinker

[IMG][url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=246579&c=500&z=1"] [/url][/IMG]

For Ann...The one on the left, i thought that was a yearling, actually more, probably be two years old in April. The one on the right, would be a button buck about 9 months old.

Hey they look like i do in the morning....wheres that hair brush?????

Plinker

Yearling: a deer between its first birthday but not past its second. Fawn, a deer between birth and its first birthday.

Your buck has very little mass and his eye guards are very small. Muzzle's bucks are much older, mature, look at the mass of their antlers. Many yearling deer sport 8 point racks. Points have nothing to do with age, period. Your deer may have been an early fawn born to an older, expereinced doe who had the best feed tied up for her and her offspring. Your spike buck is probably from a young doe who birthed later in the spring and being low in the pecking order, had less quality feed available to her while she was gestating. Deer are very territorial, does particularly.

In digital photos pixels relate to quality, amount of data, and low pixes are poorer quality photos. Pixelated photos, like the ones posted, show blurred detail.

I have a game cam I bought for $70 somewhere, it works fine but it is a film cam and development is quite pricey for the low quality shots it takes. I much prefer digital anyway. I really don't want hard copies of game cam photos, I utilize it to see what animals are frequenting the property.

Coincidentally, when hunting season commenced, I never saw the yearling 6 pointers I saw all summer growing up. More than likely something bigger and older pushed them off. Could have actually been their momma as well. I've never photographed a mature buck with my cams. There are too many hunters in my area.

A rose, by any other name would smell as sweet....

Whatever it is....i like it. I'm thinking for him to get so fat and sleek, his mamma must own a little SS feed store stock.

The LeafRiver can be set to 4 Mp, or it can be adjusted down to get more pictures on the card. It's on the default setting, which is probably only 2.1 mp. I'll adjust it up tomorrow and see how it does.

Plinker

Plinker,

Although many here will probably disagree+, I would not put your new camera at a stand sight you intend to hunt.

Here we don't have huge populations of deer but, the hunting pressure is strong on the deer we do have so, they are very spooky and rarely come out into large open areas. That being said we tried cameras at feeders and found that at first they took tons of pictures but, after a couple of weeks the deer would not even eat the feed any more and the cameras were taking very few pics. We came to the conclusion that the flash must scare the heck out of them hence no returns. We tried this at many feeder locations w/ the same results so, we decided the cameras were stressing the animals too much.

I do think they are a great tool to place on heavily traveled deer trails in the areas close to were you hunt just to see what kind of animals you have.

Now, I've hunted in alot of areas where the deer populations were very high and those hunters said that their cameras didn't have much effect on the deer. The big game ranches use them alot to show their clients what kind of deer they have but, that's also place where you go and see dozens of deer every time you sit in a stand.

I don't know what the poulation is in your area, I just thought I'd tell you about our experience w/ these modern tools.

Good Luck!

Reloader

Reloader, what part of Louisiana you from? I grew up in West Monroe......

Reloader,

I have the trail cam near the feeder, but i'm not going to hunt them there. But they might be getting a little camera shy already. The first night there was 30 some pictures, then it decreased to 16-17. I thought maybe they had learned to approach the feeder so as not to set off the motion detector.

Ann, i was doing some reading about aging deer, and it sounded like you know what you're talking about. That's either as big as they survive to around here, or the mature ones keep hidden.

Plinker

I brightened up Muzzleblasts pix to make them easier to see the two bucks



I wonder what that buck on the right is saying

Hey CaptJack, I appreciate that. For the life of me I could not figure out to make it clear on the page.

Bobby

Muzzleblast,

I was born and raised in West Monroe myself. I've lived in WM, Sterlington, Calhoun, and currently Minden.

How long have you been in DFW? I go there often on business.

Small World.

Reloader

Graduated in 78 from WMHS. Had two brothers and a sister that went to Calhoun and graduated there in 80-82. I worked at WMPD in 1984 for about 6 months but had to come back to Texas because money was terrible there. Moved to Texas with USAF in 79, pretty much been here since then, except for short stint at PD.

Bobby Beasley

Bobby,

PM sent.

Reloader

"We came to the conclusion that the flash must scare the heck out of them hence no returns."

I agree with the "scare the heck out of them." Had a trail cam out last year (2003) and was sitting in a tower blind at the intersection of 5 senderos (roads). Had an 8-pt come walking toward me past the camera. When the flash went off, the deer "went off" as well. Biggest problem I've had is keeping the waving branches of trees and brush from setting off the camera--lots of pictures of limbs.

As a matter of fact the flash has nothing to do with scaring off deer. It is the noise of the camera advancing the film. I have looked into this in depth and have found that most guys start getting more pictures of returning deer on the same camera set up when they switched from a 35mm camera to a digital.

I have gotten 3 photos of a 140" buck last season in the same spot in a weeks time and the season before I got multiple photos of 3 bucks all over 125" in the same setups within a 2 week period. All of those photos were film cameras and they never scared the buck in the least. I believe that it also has alot to do with the type of human intrusion they are used to. All my photos are on working farms here in Southern Michigan where non-threatening human intrusion takes place all year long except for hunting season. one other thing that Im sure plays a part in this is the fact that Ive been setting up these cameras on these farms for about 5 years now so Im sure they are somewhat used to the cameras and have discovered over time that these things that smell funny, sound funny and flash are not a threat.