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Asked and answered

Fishbonker

Fishbonker

Life Member
I’m sure this has been asked and answered on here before but I’m gonna ask again, can deer see the IR light from game cams? What spectrum of light can they see? What is the wave length of the IR for game cams? Do all the different manufactures use the same IR wave length?

Thanks
 
I don't know if they see it but I have numerous instances of bucks working scrapes in front of my IR and they do not seem to react very much too it. I have at least 6 sequences of bucks in front of scrapes over 1-2 minute periods.
 
not sure if they see it or not, but all the deer seem to hear my shutter on the cheaper cams. I can hear them go off, so I'm sure the deer can as well.
 
nannyslayer said:
not sure if they see it or not, but all the deer seem to hear my shutter on the cheaper cams. I can hear them go off, so I'm sure the deer can as well.
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I have a primos truth cam and can hear it's shutter go off also.. the deer are looking at it all the time in pics, but it hasn't seemed to alarm them much.. my cams without the shutter noise dont seem to be looking at the cam near as much, so I wouldn't say the IR bothers them
 
Thanks for the replies. Something makes them look at the camera. If they hear the shutter and then look at the camera I think the photo would still be of the deer looking away. Light travels faster than sound and if they are moving their head when they hear the sound I'd think all the photos would be quite blurry. I just wonder if there isn't some sort of sound the camera makes when it is energizing the flash that they hear and then look at the camera.

There are a lot of factors such as distance from the camera, back ground noise, distractions such as working a scrape.

The reason I'm asking the question about wave length is pretty simple. I'm thinking of getting an IR light that would come on at dusk and off at dawn to supplement the IR flash on the camera but the wave length of the IR camera and the IR light would have to be the same. If deer can see the IR then it wouldn't be such a good idea but I'm tired of the tunnel effect from the IR. Who knows what is at the edge of the photo that I can't see because the flash FOV isn't the same as the camera FOV.

I did some looking today and an IR array that can provide illumination up to 250 feet is 70 bucks and runs on 12 VDC. The unit is weather proof and had an auto switch from on at dusk off at daylight. Shouldn't be much of a power draw. I was thinkin about a 12 VDC car/truck/boat battery and maybe even a solar charger. I wonder if a guy could run the cam and the IR array off the same battery? Be kinda big and cumbersome but talk about set it out in the spring and not check it again till late summer. Course some ground could fill up the SD card in no time.

So, any clues on the IR wave length of game cams? All the same or different?

Thanks
 
If they hear the shutter and then look at the camera I think the photo would still be of the deer looking away.
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Yes, you are most definitely correct.

I will say that this was one of the first times that I've actually had a buck look at the IR Bushnell and turn and run away. When I get my cards from home I'll upload and post it for you Bonker.... They do look at it funny sometimes....

Otherwise, my Bushnell trophy cam has done fine for the past couple years...
 
I'm no expert and am only speculating, but I bet they can see the lights, but not the color red.... its a contrast of light against dark and I'm sure that stands out... That's my assumption.
 
Gladiator said:
...I've actually had a buck look at the IR Bushnell and turn and run away.
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Which begs the question, what spectrum of light can the deer see, what spectrum of IR light is the trail camera? If they are all the same all the deer should react the same. If the IR wave length of the cams are different perhaps some are in the range that the deer can see and some are not.

Damn. I think I just launched the trail cam industries newest add campaign.
 
If it would work with that 250ft IR without spooking them, that would be awesome to have over a food plot, especially with cams that have the 'field scan' mode.. I have a half acre food plot 30 yds from the back of my house and that would be interesting to try and I wouldn't be worried about spooking them either. Of course, they're already not worried about the lights from my house and whatnot, so I don't know if that would be a conflict of interest or not.
 
I have lots of does and bucks looking right in the cam, so I agree they can see the change.
Does not see to bother them, I also have pics of coons and coyotes looking directly into the cam.

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I'm not really sure if they can see it or not. I know they don't like to hear anything. I think most of the time they will smell something. This first buck always pegs the camera if he's walking towards it. Now if he's walking away from it he never notices it. And the second buck well you'd think if they could see the glow he'd notice something. Got several vids of him getting up and then laying back down. And the 3rd vid is of the same buck at point blank range and he doesn't seem to notice a thing.

I'm glad they don't see like an IR camera does because I setup two cams 50yds apart facing eachother and when a deer would walk by they'd both take pics. But if timed right where one camera would see the others IR flash it looked like a normal camera flash. It lit up the whole area.







Here's the pic of two IR cams. Just thought it was neat.
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I think the reaction depends on the deer but they can see or hear something. I have a bushnell cam and I've had lots of deer just stare at it as if they see something and they are cautious. Sometime they come closer and sniff it. Last week for the first time in 2 years, I had a small 100" buck (in video mode) and about 1 second into the video he's standing alert then BOLTS away as if the boogeyman just jumped out at him.

I would think it's the shutter or something because when I walk to hunt in the mornings, I have a light I wear on my hat that has the red light and I've walked up on does at 10 yds and froze and I can just see their "red" eyes staring back at me moving up and down trying to figure out what I am and they weren't spooked. We just have a 10 minute staring contest and they usually just walk away. I dunno if that's different light than what's on the cameras but for whatever it's worth...
 
My truthcam and my wildgame innovation cams all have supplemental colored leds that flash when a picture is taken and when heat or motion is detected.....I noticed deer looking at them and thought maybe this was the problem...once I took black electrical tape and covered those I had a lot less pictures of deer looking at the camera.....just my experience
 
Here is a sequence of pics of a buck that I think was spooked by the IR or something about this cam from this past summer. This was with a Primos Truth Cam 35. I have a ton of pictures of deer with this cam and this is the only deer that seemed to be spooked by it. I have TONS of pictures of deer looking right at the cam and coming right up to it and sniffing it and are very curious.

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That was also my first time successfully uploading pics and posting pics!!!! Thanks Iowabowtech for the tutorial. It's about time I broke down and figured it out.
 
I have several of the Reconyx HC600 cams and they always seem to be looking at the camera after the first picture in the pitch black of night. I would say they can at least see something from it. I sure can't hear it cycle loud enough to alert a deer.
 
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