caorach
Well-Known Member
I posted the following on a trail camera forum to see if they have any ideas, I'm still learning so it is certainly something I'm doing wrong or simply that I've picked a bad spot but even so I thought to post here as well to see if anyone has any ideas or suggestions:
As you may know if you've read my previous posts I'm brand new at this trail cam thing and I put my Bushnell 437C out for its first real scouting trip on 3rd July and retrieved the card from it today, the 23rd July. I placed it looking at a well used deer trail and today saw some evidence of use a little further along as there were fresh slots in a muddy area where the deer have to jump over a little stream. The deer are sika and are mostly nocturnal so I would expect most activity at night.
Unfortunately on looking at the card there are no photos of deer. Over the 20 days the camera had triggered 11 times, it is set to take a 3 shot burst. The majority were caused by my positioning the camera and doing a walk past when I left it and also when I picked it up.
Now, bear with me as this is a bit long winded but here is the photo of my walk past the day I left the camera. This looks like pretty acceptable performance to me with a fast trigger time:
During the time the camera was in position it triggered a few times but there is nothing at all in the photos except on one occasion. The photo below was taken this morning a few hours before I picked the camera up and I'm pretty sure that is a bird's wing in the lower left of the image:
Just to prove the point here is the next image from the 3 shot burst, with the wing gone:
Now, up to this point I'm willing to accept that the camera seems to be working and it may just happen to be that nothing has walked past it in nearly 3 weeks. It didn't take a single photo, empty or otherwise, after dark which I think really quite remarkable. However when I went to pick the camera up today I did a walk past in both directions along the deer track as seen in the first photo above. The camera triggered once and took one 3 shot burst but I am not in any of the frames. Here is the first picture it shot:
I'm certain it was me who triggered it with my walk pasts due to the time but why am I not in the images and why did it only trigger once when I did a walk past in both directions with sufficient time inbetween for it to rearm?
Does anyone know if these cameras "go to sleep" and have longer trigger times if they are not activated in some time? The problem with that theory is the bird's wing in the photos taken only a few hours before I walked past as I think it indicates a pretty fast trigger time on a small object.
All help gratefully received.
I've moved the camera to another deer trail, set it up at about a 45 degree angle to the trail and might get the chance to check it again later in the week. I'm not totally confident of deer activity at this time of year in the new location so my expectations aren't as high as for the first location but I am somewhat concerned that I can walk back and forth in front of it and not trigger it, or trigger it too late to catch me in frame.
As you may know if you've read my previous posts I'm brand new at this trail cam thing and I put my Bushnell 437C out for its first real scouting trip on 3rd July and retrieved the card from it today, the 23rd July. I placed it looking at a well used deer trail and today saw some evidence of use a little further along as there were fresh slots in a muddy area where the deer have to jump over a little stream. The deer are sika and are mostly nocturnal so I would expect most activity at night.
Unfortunately on looking at the card there are no photos of deer. Over the 20 days the camera had triggered 11 times, it is set to take a 3 shot burst. The majority were caused by my positioning the camera and doing a walk past when I left it and also when I picked it up.
Now, bear with me as this is a bit long winded but here is the photo of my walk past the day I left the camera. This looks like pretty acceptable performance to me with a fast trigger time:
During the time the camera was in position it triggered a few times but there is nothing at all in the photos except on one occasion. The photo below was taken this morning a few hours before I picked the camera up and I'm pretty sure that is a bird's wing in the lower left of the image:
Just to prove the point here is the next image from the 3 shot burst, with the wing gone:
Now, up to this point I'm willing to accept that the camera seems to be working and it may just happen to be that nothing has walked past it in nearly 3 weeks. It didn't take a single photo, empty or otherwise, after dark which I think really quite remarkable. However when I went to pick the camera up today I did a walk past in both directions along the deer track as seen in the first photo above. The camera triggered once and took one 3 shot burst but I am not in any of the frames. Here is the first picture it shot:
I'm certain it was me who triggered it with my walk pasts due to the time but why am I not in the images and why did it only trigger once when I did a walk past in both directions with sufficient time inbetween for it to rearm?
Does anyone know if these cameras "go to sleep" and have longer trigger times if they are not activated in some time? The problem with that theory is the bird's wing in the photos taken only a few hours before I walked past as I think it indicates a pretty fast trigger time on a small object.
All help gratefully received.
I've moved the camera to another deer trail, set it up at about a 45 degree angle to the trail and might get the chance to check it again later in the week. I'm not totally confident of deer activity at this time of year in the new location so my expectations aren't as high as for the first location but I am somewhat concerned that I can walk back and forth in front of it and not trigger it, or trigger it too late to catch me in frame.