Hardwood11
It is going to be a good fall!
You came across as stating they were illegal. They are not. Restricted use .
sep0667
Land of the Whitetail
Hmm. I'm not to thrilled about it. I love my few cell cams for the fact I dont have to make a long drive to check cards. The two privates I hunt are each about an hour drive one way. I dont have enough cams to really say having them is an advantage to make me quick go hunt anyway. Im not able to get off work at a moments notice anyway. If I lived right there or in the neighborhood I wouldnt be to worried to check cards on a regular basis, but since I am not the cell cams have been great.
I do see the opposite of my personal example though. Anyone who watches some of the youtube channels based out of iowa you can see mulitple kills (deer & turkey) from a variety of channels that no doubt happened because of the use of cell cams, and they are not shy to say it either or explain their tactic in using the cell cams. There are people that have access to multiple farms/properties and practically have a fleet of cells cams out there 20-40 cams. Get up early, check the cams or even be at home not even planning to hunt that day and get a pic and they base not just what property, but even exactly what stand they are going to head for. Example, this past fall Midwest Whitetail's mike reed had whatever that buck he was bowhunting pinpointed on cell cam on the peninsula on his farm early that morning, so he knew exactly what stand to go sit that morning (he did not kill the deer, but prime example there). Using them in these manners is a little unfair IMO and I think its a good rule for these cases.
Seems this would be awful tough to enforce though and lots of gray area with it. What are they going to do when people or shooting 200+ this fall, they going to research cell providers of the hunter and see if they are using them? This will shake things up.
I do see the opposite of my personal example though. Anyone who watches some of the youtube channels based out of iowa you can see mulitple kills (deer & turkey) from a variety of channels that no doubt happened because of the use of cell cams, and they are not shy to say it either or explain their tactic in using the cell cams. There are people that have access to multiple farms/properties and practically have a fleet of cells cams out there 20-40 cams. Get up early, check the cams or even be at home not even planning to hunt that day and get a pic and they base not just what property, but even exactly what stand they are going to head for. Example, this past fall Midwest Whitetail's mike reed had whatever that buck he was bowhunting pinpointed on cell cam on the peninsula on his farm early that morning, so he knew exactly what stand to go sit that morning (he did not kill the deer, but prime example there). Using them in these manners is a little unfair IMO and I think its a good rule for these cases.
Seems this would be awful tough to enforce though and lots of gray area with it. What are they going to do when people or shooting 200+ this fall, they going to research cell providers of the hunter and see if they are using them? This will shake things up.
This is why it never made sense to me why they were ever legal / allowed in the state to begin with.First line under “Use of CB, Mobile Transmitter, Cell Phone” makes them illegal to use on instant send.
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So, now let's look at them being allowed on private ground, but they can't send you pics while you're hunting. This kicks the door wide open for camera running hunters to be prosecuted. What an absolute quagmire.
Same scenario as the following:
I'm hunting private land in a state where sight pin black lights are illegal. I have a sight light mounted on my bow, but I don't use it, in order to comply with the law. I harvest a big buck, am quickly accused of illegally using a sight light, and my buck is taken from me. Hard times follow. (This is one of many similar scenarios.)
Either make them all out legal or illegal. This is BS legislation by our state IMO.
whitetail_obsession
Active Member
Without trail cameras how am I supposed to know which deer is mine? How can I prove to people I have a ton of history with a deer I shot?
All jokes aside I am a bit indifferent to this topic at this point. Sure, I love trail cameras and to me the biggest disadvantage for hunters is not being able to easily pattern a deer and also it will be much harder to target a certain caliber of deer by not knowing whats around the area. Putting my own interests aside I think this actually could be good for hunting. For one, I think there will be less people being possessive of a deer and thinking it's their deer. I also think it will be nice not having to run into cameras all over the place. There was one time I was scouting an area and I kid you not I ran into 4 different trail cameras within an 80 yard path. Everywhere I turned to avoid them I ended up on another camera and they were all cell cams and not surprisingly the guy who had these cameras came barging in about 10 minutes later to find out what I was doing in his spot. I think one of the main reasons the DNR did this that people aren't talking about is so they don't have to hear "someone messed with/stole my camera." Well now that it's illegal there will be no need for complaints. If you have a camera on public you are violating the law and if someone messes with it you have no reason to complain because it shouldn't have been there. I know technically you're allowed to leave non-cell cams out during the day only but lets be honest that nobody is doing this. The Exodus guys also talk about how to prove a cameras was left overnight without opening the camera and talk about the legality of it. As far as I know everything left on public is for public use (ex. treestands can be used by others) and I don't think the DNR would need a warrant to check to see if the camera was illegal.
Think about all the TV shows and articles we see/read. Almost all of them talk about having a history with a deer before harvesting it. Without this data hunting is made way harder and I for one embrace this challenge. Sure some 3/4 year olds will get shot but there will also be giants walking around nobody knows about unless they find sheds or physically lay eyes on them. Iowa is bucking the trend and not making hunting easier. If we're being honest trail cams are one of the most advantageous tools we can use to killing big bucks when used appropriately. I think in the long term this may increase the amount of big deer people are seeing in Iowa. Kids and new hunters won't have to hear that they killed someone's up and comer and then get shown pictures of the deer. People can shoot what makes them happy and trophy hunters will be challenged more.
To the comments about the people that won't follow the law. Yes there will always be those who break the law but again do we want to justify breaking the laws because others are? Should we tag deer illegally because we know other groups do it? Of course not. We may not like the new laws and yes it may make hunting harder but I say give it a chance and it might make hunting more fun and the excitement of not knowing that buck of a lifetime is on the other side of the ridge coming our way.
All jokes aside I am a bit indifferent to this topic at this point. Sure, I love trail cameras and to me the biggest disadvantage for hunters is not being able to easily pattern a deer and also it will be much harder to target a certain caliber of deer by not knowing whats around the area. Putting my own interests aside I think this actually could be good for hunting. For one, I think there will be less people being possessive of a deer and thinking it's their deer. I also think it will be nice not having to run into cameras all over the place. There was one time I was scouting an area and I kid you not I ran into 4 different trail cameras within an 80 yard path. Everywhere I turned to avoid them I ended up on another camera and they were all cell cams and not surprisingly the guy who had these cameras came barging in about 10 minutes later to find out what I was doing in his spot. I think one of the main reasons the DNR did this that people aren't talking about is so they don't have to hear "someone messed with/stole my camera." Well now that it's illegal there will be no need for complaints. If you have a camera on public you are violating the law and if someone messes with it you have no reason to complain because it shouldn't have been there. I know technically you're allowed to leave non-cell cams out during the day only but lets be honest that nobody is doing this. The Exodus guys also talk about how to prove a cameras was left overnight without opening the camera and talk about the legality of it. As far as I know everything left on public is for public use (ex. treestands can be used by others) and I don't think the DNR would need a warrant to check to see if the camera was illegal.
Think about all the TV shows and articles we see/read. Almost all of them talk about having a history with a deer before harvesting it. Without this data hunting is made way harder and I for one embrace this challenge. Sure some 3/4 year olds will get shot but there will also be giants walking around nobody knows about unless they find sheds or physically lay eyes on them. Iowa is bucking the trend and not making hunting easier. If we're being honest trail cams are one of the most advantageous tools we can use to killing big bucks when used appropriately. I think in the long term this may increase the amount of big deer people are seeing in Iowa. Kids and new hunters won't have to hear that they killed someone's up and comer and then get shown pictures of the deer. People can shoot what makes them happy and trophy hunters will be challenged more.
To the comments about the people that won't follow the law. Yes there will always be those who break the law but again do we want to justify breaking the laws because others are? Should we tag deer illegally because we know other groups do it? Of course not. We may not like the new laws and yes it may make hunting harder but I say give it a chance and it might make hunting more fun and the excitement of not knowing that buck of a lifetime is on the other side of the ridge coming our way.
hillrunner
PMA Member
I've always done the midnight and noon picture dump with my cell cams. The way this sounds, I could simply drop the noon batch and proceed as normal from there?
I think this will be extremely hard to enforce. A clean break from cell cams is the only way I see this as enforceable.
JNRBRONC
Well-Known Member
If B&C is for not allowing cell cams, doesn't P&Y oppose lighted nocks and sight pins? Are we going to have these two determine our laws?
What about going back to open sights on guns instead of allowing rifle scopes?
Should the electronics of RedDot sights have them banned?
Can't use electronic, wing motion decoys for ducks?
No more electronic calls for predators? Ban night vision scopes? But nobody seems upset when it comes to shooting predators, only worried about large antlered deer....
Hardwood11
It is going to be a good fall!
Good points Brad . I hope they are not banned completely. I’m not sure how they would treat a cell cam on an access gate or trail ?
Personally as a nonresident landowner I’d want to have 1-2 cameras on key entry points for trespassing and to monitor the farm. We do that in Minnesota as well, and I’ve caught 3 trespassers on camera over the years .
This is a major grey area the way they are conveying this. To me it is either ban there use completely during all open deer seasons or do not change anything.
As an aside, I hunt or help friends in AZ every year which has banned all cameras completely I do feel the resource is better for it.
As an aside, I hunt or help friends in AZ every year which has banned all cameras completely I do feel the resource is better for it.
Windlooker
Well-Known Member
I assume I can still run the Cuddelink system with no cell plan?? Cams are linked but require a physical check of the home cam.
i have one in my shed guarding my tractor. i had one in Illinois guarding a tractor and received a picture at 7:30 pm on December 30Th of thieves gettin ready to part out the tractor. i was able to get a neighbor over there to preempt the theft. I have a dozen and used 10 to watch for trespassers and thieves. cameras for deer hunting are a double edged sword. if you get pictures of a nice buck it gives you confidence to hunt but you may overhunt and mess it up. if you don't get any pictures you won't hunt even though you should. a bunch of bucks would never be hunted if they weren't first discovered via camera
sep0667
Land of the Whitetail
I will add some of my experience this past fall. Im sure you all have noticed the same thing. I had a cell cam within 20 yards of a stand, you can see the stand in the background of the photos. I was amazed how many deer i would see from the stand while hunting and even within range that never actually got in front of the camera to trigger a picture. It made me realize how much cams do miss and how many times I may go a day with none or just a couple pictures, but that is definitely not indicative to no deer movement.
Deer avoid cell cameras. Zero doubt. 100%.
I started putting them 10' in trees. Helped a ton. And never by a stand.
Ok I've talked to 20 people about cell camera rules. Many talked to DNR. Several got different answers on specific rules. Man I feel like they did a poor job rolling this out.
Rjack
Well-Known Member
Is it rolled out yet? I don't see the 24/25 regs from the DNR. Hopefully it is clear when that is published.
JNRBRONC
Well-Known Member
I have zero cell cams. We were thinking about them to enforce trespassing as I’m seeing it on SD card cams. I’m for cell for security, not big on it for hunting.
Using trailcams for security, we have arrest warrants out for two people. Tried to break and enter a property and I noticed a finger print on a broken window. CODIS had the perp from a felony in Utah. Not an extraditable crime but if they get pulled over in Iowa…
Kind of glad I didn’t have cell cams, as it appeared the guy had a pistol tucked in his waistband
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Using trailcams for security, we have arrest warrants out for two people. Tried to break and enter a property and I noticed a finger print on a broken window. CODIS had the perp from a felony in Utah. Not an extraditable crime but if they get pulled over in Iowa…
Kind of glad I didn’t have cell cams, as it appeared the guy had a pistol tucked in his waistband
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Have you seen same with the CuddeLink network?
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Snail3496
Well-Known Member
100% - The older K's & J's that "click" when the filter drops for the first black and white photo of the evening is taken. Have seen deer come unglued from that little noise and walk around that location from there on out. Still use them but definitely dont place near stands.
Nope. They don't seem to have the same negative reaction.
RinggoCy
Well-Known Member
Not surprising. I've always been a little bit conflicted with the ethics around them. And I have no judgement to everyone that uses them, at all. This has just been my own feeling on them and I could never really get fully on board personally so I stuck with the old school cameras and pulling cards.
Always felt that if a guy wanted to spend the money, he could grid his entire farm with cell cams and essentially have a live feed of deer as they moved through the farm. I know that's unrealistic for most but would that be fair chase? I'd say definitely not. So where is the line drawn? Real glad a I didn't buy a few in the last couple years now though.
Always felt that if a guy wanted to spend the money, he could grid his entire farm with cell cams and essentially have a live feed of deer as they moved through the farm. I know that's unrealistic for most but would that be fair chase? I'd say definitely not. So where is the line drawn? Real glad a I didn't buy a few in the last couple years now though.