Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

AZ bans trail cams

Should trail cams be banned in Iowa?

  • Yes, on public land

  • Yes, on private land

  • Yes, on all land public and private land

  • Yes but only cams that can provide live feeds because of the fair chase issues

  • No this is the dumbest idea I've ever heard

  • Not banned in Iowa but let other states ban them if they so choose

Results are only viewable after voting.
I seen that! I has to do with fair chase in their words. This has hot topic written all over it.
 
I am kind of in the middle here...I do use trail cams, but in a deliberately limited way...because of personal feelings about fair chase. I REALLY like to be able to know whether or not a particular buck is alive, or not, and/or active on our property. BUT...we do not check nearly as often while in season and sometimes not at all during the hunting season. I have not pursued a "live" cam where pics are sent to my email, etc. BUT...I did have a neighbor sending pics to me last year, from his nearby property, so I did kind of have a "live" aspect going.

I like knowing about bucks and tracking them through the years, but I have never used the cams for up to the minute, I will change where I was planning on hunting based upon fresh pics. Probably a little conflicted, or even weird, I guess.

It is my personal opinion that I could zero in tightly on a given buck using live cams and then "structure" my hunt(s) to such an extent that I could nail Mr. Big pretty much every year on my farm. Only I don't really do it that way. I like some element of surprise and suspense too. And while I still will shoot the darn things...I don't get too worked up if I don't. (Years ago I would turn myself inside out to get a nice buck and be 3/4 miserable in the process of doing it. :)) I guess it all depends...
 
Daver said:
I am kind of in the middle here...I do use trail cams, but in a deliberately limited way...because of personal feelings about fair chase. I REALLY like to be able to know whether or not a particular buck is alive, or not, and/or active on our property. BUT...we do not check nearly as often while in season and sometimes not at all during the hunting season. I have not pursued a "live" cam where pics are sent to my email, etc. BUT...I did have a neighbor sending pics to me last year, from his nearby property, so I did kind of have a "live" aspect going.

I like knowing about bucks and tracking them through the years, but I have never used the cams for up to the minute, I will change where I was planning on hunting based upon fresh pics. Probably a little conflicted, or even weird, I guess.

It is my personal opinion that I could zero in tightly on a given buck using live cams and then "structure" my hunt(s) to such an extent that I could nail Mr. Big pretty much every year on my farm. Only I don't really do it that way. I like some element of surprise and suspense too. And while I still will shoot the darn things...I don't get too worked up if I don't. (Years ago I would turn myself inside out to get a nice buck and be 3/4 miserable in the process of doing it. :)) I guess it all depends...
Click to expand...
Good post. Thanks for posting your thought process too.
 
I don't have any of the cell cams, which I think could get close to providing an unfair advantage in certain situations. Even then, I'm not sure.

I like to see what's out there as far as inventory, pick a couple of bucks that I'd fling an arrow at if they happened by. But I'm not at the point of chasing after ONE specific buck, trying to pattern him. I don't have access to enough ground to pull that off in my opinion.

Last year's buck came off a property I didn't have cameras on prior to season.

Security cameras looking for trespassers is what I'm doing. ;) Got 3 new ones I need to get out.
 
After thinking on it, and doing a little googling, I can see why it happened. AZ is 60+% public land. Many water holes can have anywhere from 5-15 cams on them, guys are checking cams when they know other guys are hunting the area and disturbing their hunt, using a cell cam to instantly see when a bull or buck is in the area and then 4 wheelering into the area to whack it. Lotta people trying to take advantage of cams and the info they provide.

Private land a guy should be able to do what he wants. That being said I personally think cell cams are not cool when used in the manner of "get a pic and then move in 30 min later to get a kill"
 
muddy said:
After thinking on it, and doing a little googling, I can see why it happened. AZ is 60+% public land. Many water holes can have anywhere from 5-15 cams on them, guys are checking cams when they know other guys are hunting the area and disturbing their hunt, using a cell cam to instantly see when a bull or buck is in the area and then 4 wheelering into the area to whack it. Lotta people trying to take advantage of cams and the info they provide.
Click to expand...
My last archery hunt to New Mexico, guys on 4 wheelers were blasting up and down forest service roads, stopping to bugle here and there. The bull elk were silent. Gee, I wonder why? Might need to ban 4 wheelers on public as well?
 
My thoughts are similar to some above. I enjoy trail cams to see what bucks are around as well as to see the other crazy wildlife pics that we sometimes get. That said, when cell cams are used to go in after a buck shortly after getting a pic, that seems to push the fair-chase line (for me).
 
Some good points made here. I made the decision to go to cell Cams this year because of trespass and poaching problems last year. So far it’s working, I got a pic of a trespasser and can read a license plate of a vehicle couple days before neighbors house got broke into. The two things may be unrelated but now we have a lead the authorities can follow up on. I have been thinking about the fair chase aspect, due to poaching problems I have to continue to live feed my pics during hunting season. So if I get a pic of a hit list buck and then do I make a hunt decision based on that pic ? IDK? How much of an advantage does that give me? Is it an unfair advantage? How much of an advantage is it? Do u pretend u never saw the pic? Do u make an instant move to a new hunt plan to Target said buck? If you wait 24 hours is that still an unfair advantage? These are things I’ve spent time thinking about. Getting the trespass situation under control is #1 for me this year.
 
I’m not sure how AZ can enforce this? What if they are used for security on private land?

I can see the public land issue, but many use cell cams to get notifications of trespassing.
 
I don't think cell cams should be allowed in season, especially on public land. Heard a story about a guy in a stand, got a pic of a buck 100 yards away on his phone and was able to immediately rattle that buck in. That seems over the line to me. I think as tech continues to advance we will have to have more regs that limit the tech. More and more I would rather have limits that benefit the animal rather than the hunter. Have watched population decline for too long to not have it that way. I get the poacher issue, which I think there probably is room to have some balance on private grounds vs. Public. Just my thoughts.
 
I wouldn't mind them banned on public land. And definitely cell cams should be banned. You should be able to do whatever you want on private land, as long as the owner is the one doing it. Technology is getting out of control . As the years go by, less and less woodsmanship is needed and it's kind of sad. I used to like the surprise of reading sign and seeing what shows up ...
 
Just a possible semi-related thought...it is my understanding that in at least some areas of Alaska that you cannot pursue an animal spotted from a plane until a day or so later. Not cell camera related, but a reg put in place once it was recognized that there was a decided advantage to the hunter when they could spot big game via plane. Several thoughtful replies here, good stuff guys.
 
My buddy and I have had many talks on the ethics of cell cameras.
I read on Spacebook I believe that this fella was home for the day with no intentions of bowhunting. Later he received a photo of a buck quickly gathered everything up jumped in the truck and after getting to the spot launched a Hail Mary shot and killed the buck and bragged on his accomplishment.

I’ve often wondered how many hunters are only as good their cellular cameras.
 
Surely more game is harvested since trail cams took off and it is an unfair advantage when considering fair chase. Unlike the old days when we had to scout with our eyes and read sign to figure out the best place to put a stand now some folks can scout from hundreds of miles away to plan their attack.

Do I use trail cameras, yes, and I enjoy the anticipation of what might show up but rarely have I ever taking a target buck that I caught on camera. The very few I did where taken nowhere close to where the cams where. But it is unfair from the deer's perspective.
 
I have to be honest, I am blown away by the responses on this. I am not a die-hard deer hunter and I don’t own land, so I don’t have as much in common as many of you do here. The thoughtfulness of the responses is really encouraging, wherever you fall on the trail cam issue. I stand corrected…
 
Last year was the first year I tried some cell cameras and personally I like them for how I hunt. I can't say I've been sitting at home and got a picture of a shooter and decided to go after him. I have one property I hunt that I can get to in about 10 minutes, the others are quite a bit further and have walks so I don't think I'd even be tempted. The biggest advantage for me is not having to go check cards in places that I don't want to disturb and saving time/money on not "having" to go check cameras.

For years and years we (my Dad, brother, and I) hunted with no trail cameras and it was pretty neat not having any idea what may show up while sitting in the stand after settling in for an all day hunt. I can see both sides of this discussion and honestly wouldn't care if they were allowed or banned.

As far as what Arizona did - I think I would be all for banning them if I lived/hunted there and there were actually that many cameras over water holes and people coming in to kill animals that they just got pictures of.
 
I agree with getting rid of cell cams. If a guy in a tree stand can get a picture sent to him, and now knows to get ready, or knows he needs to move to a stand down the hill crosses a line with me. I run a few cams, and check them every couple of weeks from July to January. I will switch cards out going to and from a stand, but I use a laptop at the house to check the cards.

I use them more for inventory than anything else. I enjoy following bucks from year to year. Plus my 6 and 8 year old's' favorite outdoor activity at this point in their lives is going out with me to check cams, and looking through all the pics when we get back.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom