Bought a TrailCam, its in the field now

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

So the other day I finally bought a trailcam. My dad's had one for over a year now and its actually very interesting to see whats out and about (amusingly his last picture was a mexican on a motorcycle... the camera is on private property where no-one should be... hahaha)

Anyway with the bowhunt for elk coming up in a few weeks I decided to try it... never have for elk before. Archery elk is either sex so I figure anything within 40 yards is fair game. That said, on this private property there are a couple seeps / springs and with my dads cam on 1, I decided to get one and stick it on the other popular area to pattern them.

Well I did some research and found a great website with comparison's between cameras (www.chasingame.com) and decided on the StealthCam WD2 as its the best in its price range. I played with it in the backyard for a few days, learning it and seeing how it worked. To be honest I wasnt immediately "blown away" by it. It seemed to not sense all that great and the picture quality seems a bit poor... so I'm wondering if I got a bum camera or this is just how they work. I have 30 days to return it if i dont like it so we'll give it some field testing over the next 2 weeks and see how it preforms.

I stuck it right over a pretty torn up spring with tons of muddy elk tracks... I'm fairly excited to go get it this weekend and see how it preformed.

-DallanC

george20042007

Your first instinct says you are not that happy with it, so, take it back. In the past when I made a purchase & for some reason it didn't live up to expectations, it would eat at me. When I didn't take it back in time I was miserable. If the gut says take it back for something better, do it. Deal

Keep it coming...

popgun

As a matter of fact I came home with a game cam this weekend and it is in the back yard at the moment overlooking our racoon feeding station for a test.
I went for the Moultrie GameSpy200 that I got at the Fall Classic Sale at BassPro. It is a 3.1 MP unit and it prints out more information than the usual game cameras. I includes date, time, temperature, moon phase, and location ID on the bottom of the photo. I will post a photo after the racoons come in tonight. I'm looking for some not so expensive 512 MB SD memory cards to add to the built in memory (16 MB). If I get two SD cards I can change out cards when I check the camera and bring home the card with the photos to smoke over on the computer. I also got a solar cell charger to keep the battery charge up in the field without changing batteries all the time. That is the plan anyhow and we shall see how that works too.

Dimitri · Super Member Joined: Nov 25, 2005 Posts: 5946

Popgun,

In General SD Cards are pretty cheap Smile

25$ for 512MB
www.bestbuy.com/site/o...6453205679

Or for 75$ if you dont want to check the camara all the time there are 1GB models Shocked

www.bestbuy.com/site/o...2302606316

I got myself a Lexar 512Mb for my PDA which hasnt had a problem so far Smile

Cheap I think. And there are bigger ones. Up to 2GB's

Dimitri

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

I just bought 2 512MB cards new for $9 each from Newegg.com. They have several brands for around that price. Extremely cheap.

Popgun, goto this link and read up on the potential issues with the Moultrie units:

www.chasingame.com/for...add7bb1031

Now to be fair, my dads had one for over a year now and its worked like a champ! Hilarious pictures at times. But some of the recient ones have a bad software patch that need some factory "lovin" to get working top notch. From people with'em they love'em once they get workin right.

I'm itching to check my camera right now... but I cant get down there until this weekend. *IF* it doesnt work like I hope I'll exchange it for a Bushnell 119200 Trail Sentry 2.1 MP.

Good info on all of these cams at www.chasingame.com/

-DallanC

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

george20042007 wrote:

Your first instinct says you are not that happy with it, so, take it back. In the past when I made a purchase & for some reason it didn't live up to expectations, it would eat at me. When I didn't take it back in time I was miserable. If the gut says take it back for something better, do it. Deal

Keep it coming...

Well true, but I'm shooting for acceptable performance for the price. The above website listed the one I bought as their top pick for the price range. It has lots of good features but a few that are simply average. I dont expect a $100 cam to compete with a $900.

The only thing I dislike about my cam atm, is it seems picture quality is a bit off... a tad fuzzy and the colors a bit flat. Does that really mater when trying to pattern a critter? The prettiest picture capability in the world doesnt mean squat if the sensing is bad or battery life is bad.

Thats what I'm juggling... cost vs sensitivity vs flash range vs picture quality.

Cabelas has a no questions asked 30 day return policy so I'm giving the one I got a in field test... if I'm happy with the results I'll keep it otherwise I'll try the next brand. But I'm reserving judgement until I see what the preformance actually ends up being.

-DallanC

george20042007

Well DallanC, I'll be waiting to see what you do. I've been wanting to get one, but, have no idea as to which one, so, what you find out will help. As for picture quality, it's my understanding that how sharp the image is depends on it's fixed focal point. Most, I'm told, are average when it comes to detail since they are intended to simply help gather movement info.
Keep it coming...

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

George, goto www.chasingame.com and read the reviews... see what you like. I went with their recommendation in the "under $200" range... there is another camera I am concidering as well. I'll go get my card out of my cam Saturday and we'll see how it worked out. I'm kindof excited to see what happens.

-DallanC

george20042007

Thanks for the info DallanC, I added the site to my favorites, looks like an interesting place to be. Still will want to see your input after you retrieve yours on Saturday.
Keep it coming...

popgun

All those negative vibes......burrrrr!
We shall see if the Moultrie Game Spy 200 works or is a dud. I do know that two friends have them, latest 200 and they are getting great game movement photos. It was 103 here today and I have no intention of setting up a camera in this heat. It looks like the previous problems with the Moultrie are the night pictures. I probably wont turn the flash on with this unit because I want to see what is moving in the daylight. I will be putting it over a mineral lick that has been out since spring so I should get some early and late photos. Aww heck, I will turn the flash on because my firends are getting good photos at their feeders. Might as well try it and see if it works.

Photos from two Moultrie Game Spy 200 cameras that belong to friends.

yotebuster · Member Joined: Oct 16, 2005 Posts: 216 Location: Georgia

Chris, Looks like I need to drive over there and help you out with some pigs! Those boys are chowing down on your feed trough.
I agree with you about this weather. These 100 plus heat indexes are killers. Nice pics! Keep 'em coming
Yotebuster Very Happy

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

Now those picts look good... except for the occasional "saucer eyes" some people complain about. But overall the coloring and sharpness looks nice! I've spent alot of time looking over sample picts people have gotten with the cam I bought and to be honest I dont like them.

I'll stop off at cabelas on my way down to check my cam and if they have the replacement cam I might try in stock, I might bring mine home and exchange it this afternoon.

But, the WD2 picts might be good enough... wont know until I see'em.

-DallanC

popgun

I find it strange that so many owners of trail cams complain about the saucer eyes. Confused

Most game animals have reflective eyes and even photos of humans give red eye. If it were not for those reflective eyes I would hit many deer on the road at night. I think it is a non issue for a game camera.
Deer Cams and Trail Cams have only one purpose. That is, to see what is going up and down the trails or visiting feeding stations. In the case of deer we are interested in the rack of course and as you can see from the above photos you can plainly see the points on the racks. Note that even the hogs have reflective eyes.

Yotebuster,
These photos were taken on a 200 acre plot in Hancock County north of Sparta that is owned by a friend. He has asked that I come over and help with the hog problem and hunt the coyotes. This is the first year that hogs have shown up on his property and you can see they have moved in on the feeders and hogging out. It's getting expensive for him to feed the deer and the hogs too. Now if these darn temperatures would break we could be eating bar-b-q. It was 89 at 7am friday, 100 at noon, 103 at 3pm. Now add the heat index to those temps. Yuck!

Dallen,
The Picasa2 program you suggested works great. Very Happy

I took one of the above photos of deer and edited it using Picasa2 to 'Sharpen" the photo. It works wonders on the game came photos especially when counting points. Pull one of the above photos and work on it in Picasa2.

Dimitri · Super Member Joined: Nov 25, 2005 Posts: 5946

popgun wrote:

I find it strange that so many owners of trail cams complain about the saucer eyes. Confused

Most game animals have reflective eyes and even photos of humans give red eye.

I dont understand why people want prefect quality pictures ether. Arnt they just to track game ?? Confused

For me once I get a trail cam I'm considering Moultrie Game Spy 200 seems to have good image quality for a 200$ Camara Smile

Dimitri

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

Dimitri wrote:

I dont understand why people want prefect quality pictures ether. Arnt they just to track game ?? Confused

But if picture quality is so poor you cant make out say, antler detail then it doest matter.

Another issue is trigger time. Most cameras are in a 3-5 second trigger time which works out ok for those people who put cameras on feeders where the animal will stay a while but in places where feeding doesnt work (ie: my state) you can get alot of picts with nothing in it as the critter has already walked past the camera by the time the camera goes off.

Side note: I got my pictures this weekend from my StealthCam WD2. It took 168 pictures over the week. I am putting picts online and will post a review of it in a short time... I will give a hint and say I returned the camera and bought a Bushnell 119200 in its place. The bushnell is in the field and I'll have picts from it to compare next week.

Oh yea... and I have to give HUGE KUDO's to cabelas for their return policies! Their salement say right up front, "go give this cam a try... if you dont like it bring it back in 30 days and exchange it for another, no questions asked!". I took back the WD2 and said I wanted to try a different cam and the lady was all smiles saying "No problem! Go get whatever you want" Smile

-DallanC