Here is some info a friend of mine got from the guys at trailcampro.com about cameras in winter. He was having problems with his cameras not working all the time. These were with the Scout Guard cameras, but I'm sure it follows with most cameras. Hope this helps a little.
As I had suspected, it was the cold. He (trailcampro) said that Alkaline batteries no longer function on days where the high/low goes below 30°F/20°F. He has had tests in the past where they leave a camera out all year, and in the spring you could plot the photos taken again temperatures and see that this rule holds true. Said that as the camera warms back up on warmer days, the batteries have enough juice to set things back in motion. So you could go months without photos in cold temps, and then start getting pictures showing up again.
One camera had brand new Energizer batteries, the other had a mix of Rayovac batteries (all good charge, but different shelf life dates). He said that given a different charge level between the cameras, he could see getting one camera warming up one day and taking a photo, and the other camera warming up enough on the next day to take a photo.
The blurry video on the big buck (which was never questioned really) is attributed to frost and/or condensation.
Solution – Lithium batteries. They are rated to -40°F and will never fail the camera – which is rated to -5°F (the weak link is the IR Lens Pivot). His second choice would be rechargeable nickel-methyl-hydride(SP???) batteries, which are good. Lithium is by far the optimal choice, though an expensive one at that.