Digital trail cams

[Shakky]

I'm using two trail cameras one store bought and the other a home brew. The home brew takes better pictures as I used the Canon Owl PF. The PF stands for power flash and it works great for low light pictures. Most likely the same camera Terry is using. Both my cameras work fine in -30C weather. The store bought trail camera is a "Game-Vu-35" Lebaron did sell them but I can't find it on their site now. Like I said it works fine but the night pictures could be better. It will tell you the date or the time and can be set up to a 30 minute delay. It comes with a gel-cell battery and a charger for it. The power source is the key! Standard batteries can't take the cold. The only reason I go with 35 mm cameras is becuase I have mine set up during the winter. I would take a hard look at making a home brew digital. You could keep your costs down reducing your risk.

[GaryL]

I use the Stealth Cam 35MM, cost around 50.00US.. Takes good pictures and have never taken a shot of a racoon or bushy tail as yet. I have it set at 3 1/2 ft up and so far only deer have set it off other then myself.

The battery’s seem to last a long time and use's 8 AA's. I get mine developed at the 1 Hr. Drug Mart cheaper then doing your self..However I like the idea of digital for reasons mentioned in a post above, and would only print out the one's I would want to show off...a lot cheaper then unwanted shot's..

But then again I do think as posted also, what about the one that gets swiped... So one has to think about what one can afford to maybe lose...and is it worth taken a chance... If'n you are going to lose sleep over the digital it is not worth the money..go 35MM, if you can except the loss then go digital.. Reckon I will be losing some sleep as I am going digital by deer season 2005..

[Shakky]

http://jesseshuntingpage.com/site/brian ... l-mod.html
Check out this site. Maybe you can make one yourself. You can find the camera's on E-bay most of the time.

[GREY OWL]

Speaking of trail cameras, the farmers that rented our land last year owns quite a bit of prime deer country. Both father and son had given some hunters permission to hunt on their land. One day they were
opening a gate onto their land. The father heard some clicking, he looked around then finally spotted what looked like a plastic box strapped to a tree. As he's telling me the story, he's getting madder and madder. He says he ripped the camera box off the tree, reported it to the Game wardens and keep the camera for awhile.
When the hunters came back for it, he ripped a strip off them. " I gave you permission to hunt on my land, NOT invade my privacy on my own property". That was it for those hombres.

I don't have a trail camera yet, but they'd make good guard dogs for your property.

The minute I have troubles with tresspassers, I'll post a sign, " Smile your on candid camera ", gets them every time.
I'd likely have two cameras, one watching the game trail, and one watching the first one in case someone steals it.

Grey Owl

[LoneWolf]

deleted

LW

[terry-1]

I second that, Me and small camera parts do not mix. Plus I have to many hobbies already I doubt I could afford to started building alot of trail cameras too.

[Shakky]

Lonewolf, awhile ago I saw the "Game Vu-35" at Trombly's in Orillia. Don't know if they still sell it but they did.
I'm thinking of making a digital home brew but would want it to work in November. I may take a chance.

[Armadias]

Hey LW;
with all the trophy bucks you get
you don't need electronics to help you.

[LoneWolf]

deleted

LW

[Kenton]

i have two of the 35mm cameras for a couple of years and i love the pics they take, however i have spent more money on film, batteries, and processing than a digital would cost me. I have only ever had them on land that is posted, but i still get the occassional random tresspasser, and have had film stolen twice. Just some thoughts.

[Armadias]

I hear you Lw
hope you at least you get good pictures of him.
I have a smaller buck that Ive been chasing for two season's now.
He's still winning at this point in time.

[Bogdog]

Gidday

I bought a Stealth Cam a couple years ago and, for the money, I didn't find it too bad. A couple problems I found with it was, if the camera faced west you got a lot of pictures with nothing in them. Must have something to do with facing the sun in the afternoon. Another problem was the sensor range was a fair bit wider than the camera angle. Once again, pictures with nothing in them. I fixed this to a certain degree by putting "blinders" on either side of the sensor. I also found that the range of the flash was a lot less than the sensor range. (Resulted in lots of shots of eye reflections) After I went to 400 or 800 film I didn't find this to be such a problem. Camera also doesn't like the cold too much...batteries lose their power in the winter...gonna try to fix this by riggin' up a tractor battery with a solar pannel attached to the camera...
It wasn't so much the human animals stealing the camera as the bear that followed my tracks back in the bush and ripped the whole darn thing off the tree, tore open the back, and left the pieces out in the rain. Nothin' that a half roll of camo duct tape can't fix tho. Only now the date/time thing won't work...haven't figured out how to fix that yet. But, for the money, they're not a bad unit.

Have a good winter.

Bogdog

[brayhaven]

Ran across this site that seems to have idiot proof kits. What do you guys think of this? http://www.pixcontroller.com/Build-D360L/BuildD360L.htm
Greg

[GaryL]

Have not had time to read it all but sure looks like a good thingy. Thanks fer the link..

[wildwindom]

If your cam is like mine it tells you not to set where it will catch sunset or sunrise it will make it go off!!