Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 431: Foundations - A Trail Camera Overview

Transcript

Ep. 431: Foundations - A Trail Camera Overview · Wired To Hunt Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, and now your host,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Tony Peterson. Hey, folks, welcome to the Wire to Hunt
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Foundations podcast, which is brought to you by First Light.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: This week's show is all about understanding the technology behind
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: trail cameras so that you can take your digital scouting
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: to a higher level. After last week's excursions into the
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: summertime white tail jungle, it's time for a little retail
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: therapy at your local sporting goods store so you can
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: stock up on some trail cameras. While we almost all
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: use these digital scouters to some extent, a lot of
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: us don't really understand all that modern trail cameras really offered.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: I had an AHA moment, not really that long ago,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: include me into the fact that I don't treat trail
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: camera us like real cameras, and I should and I
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: think you should too, because you'll get better pictures, better videos,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: and better overall intel if you do that, and that's
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: a good thing in the deer woods. My friends. Hey, everybody,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: welcome to the Wire to Hunt Foundations podcast. I'm your host,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Tony Peterson. I hope after last week you rubbed some
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: calamine lotion on your mosquito bites and you've spent enough
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: time rooting around in your various body crevices to know
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: whether you found all the ticks that hopped on when
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: you were out there burning some boot leather last week.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: I promised you that things would get more fun, and
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: this week they will. This episode is all about trail
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: cameras themselves. In the next couple of episodes, I'll get
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: pretty far into the trail camera weeds, with strategies and
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: where to place them, how long to leave them out,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: and why you'd opt for a traditional model versus a
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: cellular option. But for now, it's time to think about
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: trail cameras and what you should buy to maximize your
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: scouting efforts. The good news on this front is that
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: you no longer have to go broke to get a
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: quality model, because this is one category that has just
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: absolutely exploded in recent years. There are dozens of trail
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: camera companies, and like most new hunting technology, these things
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: started out mostly in a small market of super serious
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: white tail bow hunters, but as more options became available,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: they've moved into the general firearm world and have absolutely
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: overtaken all other scouting methods for deer hunters from Canada
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: on down to the shores of the Gulf. That in
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: and of itself isn't bad for the average weekend warrior
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: who just wants to see what bucks are in the woods.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: For the die hard hunter, trail cameras can be an
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: amazing tool to having the kit, provided that they don't
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: convince you that you no longer need to actually scout.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: And if this hits a little bit too close to home,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: don't fret. We've all been there. I went through a
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: phase in my life, particularly when I had two babies
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: at home and I was hunting a lot of small,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: twenty acre type of properties, where I convinced myself that
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: two seven digital scouters were just good enough. The problem
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: I found after a couple of seasons was that I
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: could still kill deer regularly on traveling public land hunts,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: but I was getting my ass absolutely whooped during home
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: game hunts where I should have had the most advantage
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: because I was using trail cameras. Now it doesn't bother
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: me to get beat by the deer, because I've been
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: beat by the deer nearly every time I've ever hunted them.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: I don't get mad when I lose an argument with
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: my wife either. What actually bothered me during that time
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: of my life where I was leaning too hard on
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: cameras was that I wasn't hunting as much because I
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: wasn't getting encouraging pictures. It kept me from going out
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: and sitting in observation stands or doing a little in
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: season scouting to figure out where the fresh sign was.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Not only was I waiting for the deer to come
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: to my spots, I was waiting for them to walk
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: past my cameras in those spots. That's a losing proposition.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: I've since then realized the error of my ways and
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: have altered my strategy, which, as I already said, will
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: get covered plenty in the next couple of shows. But
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: before them, I think it's probably a good idea to
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: break down camera choice and accessories. Now have you ever
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: just looked at an advertisement for a trail camera? Of
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: course you have. You've seen plenty of marketing speak and
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: some flashy numbers thrown around, not unlike Bow companies touting
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Ibo aerospeeds that might sound impressive but probably really don't
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: mean much. To you and your individual drawway, draw length,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: aero choice, or hunting style. When it comes to trail cameras,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: do those numbers mean anything to you? Should they? Maybe?
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Take the megapixels advertised with a camera. For example, you
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: can find reasonably priced options that boast twenty to even
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: thirty megapixels, which simply boils down to image clarity. The
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: more pixels they cram in their higher resolution and the
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: photos will be to hire the resolution, the more you
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: can zoom in and see clear details versus just a
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: buck looking blob of grainy bullshit. Higher megapixels might matter,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: or if your cams are typically set on a mineral
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: site or some other deer positioning attractant might not be
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: a big deal. You might be thinking, so what is
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: the ideal megapixel number? That's a great question and one
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: you should direct message Mark Kenyon about because I don't know.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: I don't think anyone in the world would see a
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: difference in trail camera recon between a camera that is
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: built with twenty megapixels versus thirty. You'll definitely see image
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: quality degradation if you can find a camera with a
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: really low number of megapixels. But in reality, the latest
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: models that aren't total clunkers are going to deliver crisp
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: enough picks for the average deer hunter's use. You'll see
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: the same thing happen when it comes to video quality.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Many models offer four K quality video clips. Now, this,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: my friends, is bananas and also pretty awesome. If you
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: run video, and you absolutely should in certain situations like
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: during the rut or while monitoring an October community scrape,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: then higher quality clips are always better, especially for nighttime captures.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: There's a catch here, though, with this quality imagery and
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: videos that you're going to get if you go this route,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: you should really consider your SD card choice as well.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: The Cheapo's that they sell next to the trail cameras
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: that Cabela's probably aren't a great choice. You're now dealing
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: with a real camera that actually needs a quality SD card,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: So headed the electronics store over to tar j and
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: buy a card that not only offers the amount of
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: gigs you need for the storage, but also a decent
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: right speed. And what this means is that some cards
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: can write up to like a hundred megabytes of data
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: per second. If you're capturing one or two minute clips
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: of four K video amped up right speed is real important,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: and there's good news here too. Just like with the cameras,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: quality s D card options are cheaper than they've ever been,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: but it's still important to shop for a decent one
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: that won't fill up in three days or bogged down
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: when it's supposed to be capturing amazing footage of a
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: buck rubbing his forehead all over a licking branch. Trail
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: cameras often have a maximum size SD card they can handle,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: which is what I usually go for these days. That's
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: often something like a thirty two gig model, but in
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: a not too distant future it will likely be sixty
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: four or even And to take it a step further,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: especially if you might run it in video mode, look
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: for a class ten s D cards in the appropriate
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: storage size. These feature a minimum data right speed that
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: will serve all your trail camera needs. Another camera consideration
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: will involve flash. Most newer models offer nighttime flash that
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: will be either infrared or a no glow option. If
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: you're a camera shopping and you see one that doesn't
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: offer this, it might have a white flash, just like
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: a wedding photographer setup. I've had a few of those
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: doozies in my day, and it might as well have
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: been out in the woods yelling at the deer as
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: they walk by, while making threatening movements in their direction
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: and occasionally throwing mountain lions at them. White flash is
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: no boy, no, my friends, especially if you hunt pressure deer. Fortunately,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: the market has called out most of those options, which
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: is a trend I hope we see through to the
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: very end. When it comes to infrared versus no glow options,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: which are also called black flash, sometimes you'll see that
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: more cameras offer infrared than anything. This red light flash
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: is visible to the deer at least on the camera
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: will light up, and that is a consideration, especially if
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: you're hunting spooky deer or plan to hang your cameras
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: at eye level. This is why I tend to lean
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: on the no glow options, although they might cost a
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: little bit more. I'd rather spend up and have the
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: deer oblivious. But there are plenty of hunters out there
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: who put infrared flash cameras to good use and have
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: absolutely no problems with them. There are other features that
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: may or may not matter to you on cameras. Time
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: lapse is one of them. It's a useful tool for
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: monitor during food plots. Burst mode is another, and this
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: is something I use almost always if I've got my
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: cameras set solely for capturing images and not video. Burst mode,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: which tends to offer anywhere from like two to maybe
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: nine images per triggering event, is a great way to
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: capture all of the bucks in a bachelor group that
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: might pass by, not just the leader, or to capture
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: a dough in November and then the buck that chases
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: after her a few seconds later. If you've got the
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: space on your memory card, there's no reason not to
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: let your camera shoot away other than it's a little
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: more of a pain to go through the photos when
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: you check your camera. It's also a good idea to
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: pay attention to recovery time of your camera. Sub one
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: second times are standard, but most cameras allow you to
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: choose if you want a longer break between triggering events. Again,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: with enough storage available on your SD card, you probably
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: want as little downtime as possible on your camera, so
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: choose wisely, and in regard to specific situations like rut
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: time recon. You might very well notice that you're camera
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: often captures decent pictures of deer noses and butts. This
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: is almost as frustrating as hanging a camera and then
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: forgetting to actually turn it on, only to return a
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: month later to find that you've basically hung an expensive
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: paper weight in the woods. I've done this roughly three
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: thousand times in my life, and every single time it's
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: made me appreciate the fact that the government lets me
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: drive a car and use scissors without supervision. Some cameras
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: offer just one trigger speed, which is whatever they build in.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: Others let you choose and you can cater them to
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: different situations. If you're capturing running bucks, the quicker the better.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: If you're monitoring a food source or a mineral site,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: you might not need a lightning fast trigger, and you might,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: in this case just get the very bow of the
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: deer with no hope of seeing the stern again. There's
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: good news here, because you've got a pile of options,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: and most of them are pretty reasonably priced. I say
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: that with a whole bunch of terror, however, because every
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: time I write about products or talk about them and
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: I say something like that, some random person out there
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: in anonymous tough guy land will say something like, yeah,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: I bet those erroos are worth it. For the guy
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: who makes your kind of money, or or I'm sure
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: it's nice to have all those free bows and not
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: have to pay for them. Listen, folks, prices price, but
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: value is subjective. When it comes to trail cameras. The
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: most common question out there is what's the best camera
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: I can buy for X amount of money. No one
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: can answer that question for you, because no one knows.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: The better question is what do you really want out
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: of a camera and which models deliver that. If there
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: are five on the list, are any in your price range?
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: If not, pretend it's the last day of the season,
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: your freezer is empty, and then there is a fat
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: forky walking in lower those standards. Bro, If one or
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: more of the cameras does fall into your budget, you've
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: got options. I'd say you could probably look up some
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: reviews on your perspective models, but also that it sure
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: seems like quality out there has leveled up drastically in
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: the last five years. It wasn't that long ago when
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: if you bought a cheap camera you might as well
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: just hit yourself in the head with it before throwing
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: it in the garbage. That way, you might learn your lesson,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: and it would have ended up there anyway. If you
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: haven't noticed, one of the things I'm doing is a
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: writer's trick we call weasel words. I'm being really sneaking
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: and telling you what to buy without committing to tell
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: you what to buy. So I'll say this. Brand wise,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: you're on your own. There are a lot of good
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: trail camera brands out there. Price wise, the sweet spot
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: for a solid camera that isn't a cellular option seems
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: to be about a hundred to two hundred bucks right now.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: And if you do drop a Benjamin or two on
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: a camera, think about it like it is in fact
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: a camera. As someone who routinely hauls expensive camera geting
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: into the woods and on the water, I've learned a
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: lot of lessons about how to handle technology in the field.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: For example, if you think you should just throw your
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: expensive DSLR camera in the backpack without it being in
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: a case because you're only going out for a morning
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: December muzzle order hunt on the farm just down the road,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: don't set your pack down too hard on the cold
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: front steps to run back in and grab the coffee monke.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: You forgot. Trail cameras are built for the woods, but
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: they are also worth taking care of. You're already going
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: to leave them out in the field for weeks, months,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: or maybe years at a time, try to keep them
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: stored in a dry, warmish place when they're not in duty.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: When you do actually hang them in the woods, consider
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: what you would do to get an actual picture in
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: that spot at all times of the day. If it's
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: facing toward where the sun rises or sets, you might
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: be in trouble either in the morning or the evening
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: as the sun blazes away on the horizon. If your
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: camera sports a test mode option or features a built
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: in LCD screen for viewing, use them to make sure
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: you're set up is spot on. To take this a
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: step further, I also like to use an adjustable mount
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: and hang my cameras above my head, angling them down.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: This keeps them from getting stolen sometimes, and it provides
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: a better look at bucks as they pass a deer's
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: eye level. Camera hang only works if the deer has
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: their head about level with their back as they walk through.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Oftentimes they stop and pick their head up, or they
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: put their nose to the ground to sniff away. I'd
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: rather capture the entirety of the deer every time versus
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: hoping I get lucky when they pass through. This is,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: of course dependent on the setting. It's also easy to
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: think about camera angle in the same way we consider
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: shot angle with cameras set up on food picture of
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: the camera taking a broadside shot of deer travel, just
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: like you'd want to with a bow in your hand.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: For a trail or a travel route, you might want
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: to point your camera down the trail for a quartering
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: two or quartering away shot to get a better look
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: at the passers by. Camera angle and mounting considerations are
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: important for another reason too. Some deer just seem to
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: be wise to cameras, or at the very least not
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: big fans of them. In northern Wisconsin where I hunt,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: the deer have a very low tolerance for trail cameras.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: They spook from them often. And I'm only speculating here,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: but I think it's tied to the fact that baiting
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: is legal in the county I hunt. I think those
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: deer are so across them to danger around corn piles
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: that they associate anything else that's usually around those corn piles,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: like cameras, which are always there with danger. Now I
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: know there are plenty of bucks that get shot up
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: there while munching away on the Golden secret and having
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: their picture taken. But I also know the prevalence of
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: images I get with dear spooking that aren't anywhere near
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: abait pile is really really high. Pay attention to the
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: images you're getting, and adjust your cameras accordingly. That is,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: if you're putting cameras out. Yet some people like to
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: wait until later in the summer, reasoning that bucks will
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: be closer to a killable pattern. Then that's up to
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: the individual and probably not a terrible strategy, even if
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: it isn't as much fun as getting out now and
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: setting up some cameras. And on that note, I think
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: the best way to dive into this type of scouting
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: correctly is to circle back to your East scouting and
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: your boots on the ground efforts and start planning out
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: camera spots around that earlier work. Look at your way
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: points there in the places you can't watch or clearly
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: figure out by walking in and looking for sign start there,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: or in the places you've already looked at that have
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: tickled your curiosity but you're not really sure if they're
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: going to be worth some stand time in the fall.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Those are the places worth starting with cameras, and that
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: can happen any day now, because if you get it right,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: you'll have weeks or months of good intel building up.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: And if you get it wrong, you've got time to
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: reset your camera strategy, which in the next episode is
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: about to get a hell of a lot more detailed.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: I'm also going to go down the cellular camera rabbit
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: hole to make the case for and against them. So
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: if you're interested in taking your scouting game even further
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: and really maximizing your trail camera advantage, you're gonna want
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: to listen next week. That's it for this week, my
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: white tail obsessed brothers and sisters, be sure to tune
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: in next week for more deer hunting wisdom. I'm Tony
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Peterson and this has been the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: As always, thank you so much for listening, and we
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: will see you right here next week