I left whippersnapper territory in the mirror a few decades ago. Some my age might not think much of the relatively new cellular game cameras. You know, the ones that take pictures and send them to your phone or computer within a minute or less.
I bought my first last year and my second this year. I love these things. I had a drawer full of the older style cameras that you had to fetch cards from. Frankly, I don't like to approach stands unless I'm going hunting. Checking cards was too invasive for my tastes.
I'm pleasantly surprised how easy these cell cameras are to set up (Reveal and Reveal X). They don't catch everything, but I would never have known I have bobcats on my farm without those pictures. To me it reminds me of a virtual trapline. My phone went off while I am typing this, a doe is looking towards my ground blind, about 800 yards from my kitchen table. I know, but it is windy and rainy and I choose not to hunt those conditions most of the time.
My wife, who has only a passing interest in my hunting plans, gear, and exploits (she's numb to these after 43.5 years), thinks I should keep my subscriptions open even after I stop hunting for the year. She knows what a kick I get out of deer and other critters "calling" me. However, I will suspend the subscription in two weeks when the KY season concludes.
I know a person could put up a series of such cameras and most live track the movement of deer. Certain patterns might be discerned that could prod a person to get to a stand that is down the line from the one that just sent the picture. I wouldn't condone that as I would consider it misuse (probably illegal use of electronics for the taking of game).
On days I choose not to hunt, if I get no pictures on that areas camera I don't feel so "guilty" for not hunting. Of course the opposite is true when I am sent a picture that confirms I should have got my butt out!
It just occurred to me. How cool would it be for a guy like me in KY to have a cellular camera put up in bighorn sheep country? Hmmmm... OMG...imagine the phone dinging when there is a bighorn ram looking at my camera?
Hey Roy that sounds really neat!! I've had a few regular ones out and had a mountain lion in a pic., this is in Minnesota also bobcat, never knew they were around. Showed it to a conservation officer, he was impressed!
Was thinking I would try one like yours. Is it hard to get everything set up and how much $ , what brand, I'm not very smart, old dog you might say.
I'm using Tactacam Reveal and Reveal X. They are $120 at Cabelas. You can get solar powered for $179. I've found that one set of batteries lasts me from late August through now. A monthly subscription of $12-13/ camera is required with no limit on pic numbers. Less expensive monthly costs are available but with pic number limits.
I set mine up from kitchen table. I tested and put em out. I tried Spypoint Cameras also but setup and I didn't get along.
I have wanted to try cell cameras; I think I will buy one of the solar models you mentioned.
Please note they are cattier specific. I have AT
Y. They also have Verizon models. Same prices.
What's the difference in the Reveal and the Reveal X?
Newer model slightly better camera. Solar option.
A little different shape.
I can't tell any difference in the two, I have one of each. I just received notification last night that my double A batteries (8) are at 80%. It has been out since August. I'll shut them both down before mid-January. I'll reopen them in July or early August.
We all have our own "thing". Heck I don't even carry a cell phone. :banghead:
Now come on, Roy..
It didn't happen without some pictures:)
:thumbsup: :wavey:
I really enjoy my cell cameras as well! Especially at school where just to check some of my cameras is a 45 minute drive which is unfortunately in most cases time that I don't have due to class schedules and what not. It's super exciting to get a picture and now that right at that very moment whatever it is that triggered the camera is standing in my spot.
I also found them super useful for bear hunting this fall since I never had to touch the camera to check it. This in turn kept the bait smell off the camera and prevented the bears from trying to eat my camera (although they did break the antenna off).
I've kinda kicked the tires on doing the cell cam thing. My brother has some that he really likes, and it is nice to see activity in real time. I may get some in the future, but for now I've got 9 of the standard card reader types that I still use. It is still kind of fun for me to pull the card on each camera and not know what I'm going to see.
Before you soak a lot of money into cellular cameras be sure to check the laws of the state that you plan to use it in. Transmitting cameras are illegal here in Montana. Don't remember exactly how many years back, 4 or 5 maybe, they finally made it legal to use non-transmitting cameras during any open big game season. Before that we could have them out from16 June through 14 August because there was a big game season open somewhere in the state the rest of the year.
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I have heard really good things about the Reveal cameras. I hear the picture quality is outstanding. What I use and and really like are the Cuddeback Cuddlelink cameras. The Cuddelink cameras make a proprietary wireless connection between the game cameras. One camera is setup as the home camera, and the rest of the cameras link back to the home camera. I am running 7 of these on my property now. The home camera is out back pointing to a feeder I run year round behind my house. Basically, when the remote cameras take a picture they transmit a reduced size picture to the home camera. The only camera I have to check is the home camera and I will see the pics from all 7 cameras by checking that home camera. I never have to go the remote cameras except to change batteries.
Now having said all that, the home camera could be a cell camera as well. In this case you could have 1 subscription that would cover all of your cameras. But I don't mind checking that home camera because the deer are used to people being in that area since it is my backyard. I just choose to not go that route so I don't have to worry about a subscription. Now the scaled down image from the remote cameras have a much lower resolution, but they are good enough for you to identify different bucks and know what you got. You can always go and pull the card if you want the higher resolution of an image but my concern, is knowing what is there without leaving my scent all over each time.
I did a couple videos on how these cameras work to explain it a little better.
https://youtu.be/Jul0RxI3Usc
https://youtu.be/eMkn7G81tg0
Roy,
Whoops, I forgot that "didn't happen" rule.
Here are a couple photos from my ground blind as I'm reading and writing this morning. I passed this forky up at 12 yards about 2 weeks ago.
You can see that he was joined by additional deer. I'm waiting on a bit of snow which is coming today and I'm going to get out at least one more time before the season closes at the end of the day on January 17.
Very nice....
:thumbsup:
I also have got a reveal camera and I really like it, I set it up this season in a bedding area I didn't want to be traipsing into every few weeks
Very Happy with my Reveal camera
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Those are some very clear sharp pictures...
Quote from: Bow Bender on January 05, 2022, 03:46:06 PM
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Allowing radio tracking collars on hunting dogs (which I do not have a problem with) while not allowing cellular trail cameras does not seem real consistent logic.
Here's one when one of my grandsons "found" my camera!
In Iowa it is illegal to use radio or cell phones to tell other hunters about deer travel. One of our game wardens considers transmitting cameras to be the same violation and would like to see them not in use during hunting seasons.
On private land I don't see how anyone has a say. Public well . . .
Friends who have them like them but often it seems they get discouraged at lack of the deer movement or that of a certain deer and don't go.
Me, I'd rather go and hope this is the sit I'll be surprised.
I really like my Reveal!! Looking back, I wish i would have also bought an AT&T version along with the Verizon.
Roy, I've only got the one Reveal, but I plan on subscribing year-round. Sometime after season, I'll move it up to our side yard so I can keep an eye on the driveway while I'm not at home.
I remember almost 20 years ago when my dad and I thought we were hot stuff because we got 35 mm trail cams...waiting for that roll of film to finish and then taking it to get developed was a highlight for sure! :biglaugh:
Yea , I remember quite a few years back a fellow I worked with had one of the film roll cameras. He took the film in to Walmart I think he's said and when he went to pick them up they were all pictures of cows. Well the policy was if you didn't like the photos you didn't have to pay for them ,,,so he handed them back and said he didn't want them. Not very honest on his part , but funny.
I've got really mixed feelings on game cameras in general . I do use a couple regular cameras but think I may quit using them. Just a personal thing. There's a YouTube channel where guys hunt Atlanta suburbs and rely heavily on cell cameras, so much so they sit in the truck and wait on a pic to see where the target buck is so they can get ahead of it. They kill some monsters .... I saw where Boone and Crockett has disallowed the use of a cell camera and a kill within a day or so, not sure how that's enforceable . I did great before messing with cameras, I just want to get back to basics. But I can sure see how it would be fun to see what's going on in the woods when your not there
I could see how these instantaneous pictures could tempt someone to do something most of us wouldn't support.
My biggest kick is getting pictures while I'm busy at the house, in the car, grocery, etc. While running around the house this morning my one remaining on-line camera "dinged" my phone about 12 times in less than an hour. A doe and fawn are within recurve of my blind. I hear the ding and I wonder; buck, doe, raccoon, opossum, bobcat, dog (rare), person (more rare - although a non-hunting neighbor rode his ATV by my blind last week), or a much hated coyote.
I suspended one subscription yesterday and I'll suspend the other this weekend as our season winds down.
I will say, I've been surprised to learn of some of the movements between stands. My son and I have favorite blinds that are at least 600 yards apart (crow flying). We get some of the same deer on our cameras, but not on the same day. I can't report that my cameras have picked up any large bucks that I haven't seen with the naked eye, but a lot of smaller ones (next year) have shown up that I've never seen.
I see where AZ and UT may have recently declared game cameras illegal? I have written, proposed, and defended to pass many hunting regulations during my career. I have also killed some proposals and replaced some regulations. I am especially offended by regulations targeting a very few violators at the expense of the majority of hunters, the honest ones. Having to case a bow while traveling to and from one's stand is one such law that is meant to be a hurdle for a poacher but impacts (however slightly) all hunters.
If my cameras were outlawed, it wouldn't be a big bummer for me, I'm new at it and I will live on. However, I see such a move designed to target a very few undesirables while impacting so many honest people. Law enforcement (some) are very sophisticated these days. They can use online data (check-in, FB, etc.) to prosecute. They could possibly also use time stamps on cameras, check-in data and the old standby, "word of mouth" to put the hurt on some poachers.
I've never been a huge trail cam guy, mostly for fear of them getting stolen. Ugly, but a reality. Up until this past season, I have primarily hunted public land, where it seemed there was no ground untouched.....and nothing was sacred. I would use a camera early in the year here or there. I personally had never had one stolen, but I call that pure luck. Anyway, I recently moved and now have land that I am the steward of, allowing my approach to things to be a bit different and I have more options. Unless someone is trespassing, I should have no issues with cameras or any other gear (stands) being messed with. This season concludes my first season using a few Tactacam Reveal X's and I gotta tell ya, it has really given me some insight as to what is going on on the new property and how the animals move through with the surrounding farms as well. I used them from early spring to mid August before I pulled them to sort of test my theories of how there where moving and how I could set up. I did not shoot a deer on this piece this season, despite lots of time in the stands and even though I had many pictures or some really nice bucks. A farmer select cut a good deal of oaks on a portion of the abutting property (red and white!) and I think it changed things a bit for me. I do love not having to going into certain areas to mess with the cameras, other than a battery change......which I have not had to do yet.....they seem to be very good on batteries. I think if you are going to use a camera period, this is the no brainer way to go. And I can say the enjoyment my little guys get out of looking at the pictures of what they have crawling around in their back yard, makes them worth every penny. Like anything I suppose, it's all in how it is used. A trail cam has never helped put meat on my table ....... I put the camera there in the first place because I know its a place they come through, by observing sign putting miles on the boots. These animals are not coming into a feeder or mineral site or the like and a deer is gonna do what a deer is gonna do and as evident by the time stamps on the pics, there is often little method to the madness it seems ...... at least the part of the country I hunt. We have deer and some really nice bucks but I wouldn't call it target rich. Even all days sits, there's far from any guarantee of seeing anything, except a grey squirrel ......no shortage of them. Maybe it validates any set up ideas I come up with. I'm sure they can be abuse and misused. Not this guy. I've got lots of deer, black bear, coyote, bobcat, fox, coon, fisher, turkey, even moose. And when I walk through the woods with my kids which we do routinely, I can show them the track of a coyote or bear that left it there just 12 or so hours before if I want to, and they have the face to go with the track......it's pretty cool.