Trail Camera Time?
So I’m thinking we need a few Trail Cameras to help us sleep at night. Maybe catch a few crooks or have a chance to catch them.
The price seems to have come down and I found a new model on Amazon for $60. This Trail camera is better than my Tasco and has a night vision flash. I also got a 2 gig SD card so it should last months. http://www.amazon.com/Trail-Night-Vision-Black
The biggest question is my mind is now where to hide it. Obviously I’m hunting humans not deer so I can’t just strap it to a tree. I also would like to get some vehicle license plates for the cops to see and some face shots to use as wanted posters :).
I don’t’ want to hide it in the cabin or the shed since they may break in and take it.
So anyone have any ideas where or how I can hide this thing?
I have an off-grid place on the other side of the lake from you (WS1BL2). I have employed trail cameras and learned a lot of other off grid lessons the hard (or expensive) way. Drop me a line at my e-mail address and I’ll gladly share some tips. Sorry for your loss last year.
I’m sure you already have this all sorted out now. We recently had a streak of vandalism in my neighborhood and instead of spotting game with my Moultrie game cameras, I’m thinking about covering some of the perimeters of the house.. so going through something similar as you.
For security, I’m thinking about camlockboxes on the house structure itself.. so if the person(s) want to remove it they’ll need to physically attack the house.. much bigger than small time vandalism. I’m also thinking of motion sensor lights as well in the area, since the red light from the IR flash will be seen, thinking of blinding them with standard flood light so they might not notice the cam taking their photos.
Let me know what you ended up with.. brand/model. I’m only using Moultrie since I already have a few.
Thanks!
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Sorry to read of your problem. I have a similar situation and am worried too.
Note that the IR (InfraRed) illuminator LEDS are quite visible at night. They show up ads a dull red. As such it is good to think of a camera location where a person will not be looking, out of line-of-sight. If it is in a very dark area the LEDs show up pretty well, saying “hey you loser, want a game camera too?” In complete blackness, it will be very difficult to conceal an IR enhanced game camera. In the daytime it’s not a problem.
replace the strap with metal and camouflage it
http://sheltonwashington.blogspot.com/2010/04/prowler.html that’s how I caught a wannabee bike thief. It was a moultrie cam. He saw the cam in the night shot but he kept coming back. This was in the city with my entire family at home.
..hey, I don’t like to actually advertise where I am located..there are some things that could give away where I am but I don;t like to spell it out. Its for many reasons but one of the main reasons is that I wanted to go off the grid in more ways then just electricity…but, I am about 1/2 hour away from a city under 500000 with 3 acres of land and the nearest neighbor who lives in thier house is around 1/2km away. Just read the other comments and I really hope that it is not somebody who is reading your posts..that would royally suck. The trail cameras are really easy to hide in my opinion..people seldom notice things they are not looking for..and without a flash or noise people don’t notice. The only time someone noticed mine was when we were sitting 6 ft away from one of mine drinking beer and then it was getting dark and someone said ‘what is that little red light that keeps flashing?’..when friends from the city come over I show them the locations so they can be sure to pee somewhere other than in front of a camera.
Thanks for the tips and posting your site. Looks like some fun projects. What state are you in? I just got the Tasco 5MP in the mail today and it’s cool because it’s tiny, easier to hide. I’m not really impressed with the night pics so far. We’ll see what day time looks like. Night videos look good but the lights stay on for 15 seconds.
I was bummed when i read in the instructions that it’s actually 2.1 MP that “software” extrapolates up to 5MP. It’s miss leading. The trigger time is very quick though. Quicker that much more expensive cameras.
So I mentioned the break-in to my wife. She wisely suggested the possibility that your burglar might be a blog reader. She follows the blog of a lady that runs estate sales locally and has stopped running sale previews due to an increase in pre-sale break-ins.
It might be good to factor the possibility into your planning and defense strategy. Blogging is wonderful and I’d hate to see robberies curtail anyone’s blogging but some things should probably be more carefully guarded.
As far as security ideas, one would be to store tools etc in an enclosed trailer and keep it locked and closer to home. Although ‘home’ can sometimes be more susceptible to break-ins than remote cabins. A small steel shipping container might also help prevent theft but it would scream ‘sometime god is inside me’. I like the trail camera idea a lot and camouflaging it would be challenging but not impossible.
Good luck!
Hey, just noticed that the newer versions of tasco have IR. nice. Anyway, here is that link to the blog post I just created if you want to take a look to get an idea.
http://eagergridlessbeaver.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/scoutguard-trail-protection/
Also, at night liscence plates do not show up due to the relective coatings…just so you know. Also, if you do get 2 put 1 indoors or pointed at whatever they will be targeting but not looking. Keep the hiding place low and not around any bushes that could blow and trigger the motion sensor.
hey,
try the scoutguard..on ebay. The price is higher but its infrared instead of flash at night. I tried 2-3 models before I settled on the scoutguard..night and day difference. The range is 25-30 feet. For placement I put the cameras somewhere where I know they will not be looking..like where the house or whatever first comes into view..the intruder will be scouting for people home and if you put the camera in the opposite direction from where they will be looking they will not see it. I was paranoid someone would see one of mine but after 6 months of shots of people nobody noticed..at all. Also, if you are worried about it being seen the biggest reason someone would see would be due to the red lights going on and off to give it enough light to take a picture that you can see..with the scoutguard it can be set on any timer you like..since I am usually home at night I put one of my 2 cameras on 24 hours a day and the other only during the day. I am also putting up my username to my blog this time..its a work in progress..I kept notes on paper and am SLOWLY adding them to the blog. Sites like yours and many others have really been a great source of information so I wanted to start adding some posts to help others in the future..its a work in progess but I will put up some shots taken with eht scoutguard so you can see the image quality. the scoutguard is also fairly small compared to other models so its easier to conceal.
Check out
http://hunting-washington.com/index.htm
Lots of trail cam experts there.