Trail cams, right or wrong?

[gunrunr]

Rembrandt, I have been using trail cameras for nine years now, longer than most on this board. I have never patterned a big buck and been able to harvest him because of my camera. All they allow me to do is see the types of deer on my farms and help to better manage. Yes, sometimes I get a picture of a nice one but almost always at night and that has never aided in my harvesting him, only to let me know that a good one has been in the area at one time. If we start debating whether we should outlaw trailcams, don't you think we should also outlaw the following list as also giving us an unfair advantage that our forefathers didn't have when they hunted. I'd wager a guess you use several items on this list.

Gore-Tex, Thinsulate, SaddleCloth, Camouflage of any pattern (!), GPS, Scent-Loc, Stainless Steel, Carbon Composites, Hi-Tech Plastics, Cell Phones, and many, many more items. I think it is a changing world and you can either follow along or choose not to, but don't force everyone else to be held back.

 

[hags]

You sure on the 80 year thing?
Here's one that just turned 60......

 

[quackmaster]

My wife is a lawyer and she said its a silly argument and no judge in his right mind would hear it. She said if you wanna get real technical, if you carry a video camera and have someone filming you or take pics while hunting or something similiar, it could be construed as more of a violation under the current way the rule is written. Man she talks in big words!

 

[jharrell]

Well said Gunrunr. I too have never been able to pattern a buck using a camera and would also say that 90% of all bucks I have on film are in the middle of the night and I am lucky to get more than one picture of the same buck. It's just fun to see what is hanging around that you never see from the stand. Sure I have shot a couple of deer that were on film but I would have been in that stand regardless of the camera. I don't think I use any less skills because of the camera because I am using the same skills to set up the camera that I would use to hunt. You just don't strap them to any old tree and get a picture of a deer. You still have to be able to read the signs. I personally would have to say that the camera does nothing for my hunting as the two I have on film that I shot were a long way from where the pictures were taken. The camera is nothing more than another whitetail fanatics hobby.

 

[kbgibby]

Well said NW and others as well. I think the main difference here is the "real time" issue. Having a series of trail cams out to pattern a buck is vastly different than posting people (or video cameras) along a trail with radios to track the movements of a deer and notify the shooter of it's position. And that's basically what you've suggested could happen. It would seem to me that a video camera capable of transmitting real time signals to a computer would already be covered by the law which bars use of radios to transmit the location of game.
I don't personally own a trail cam but I may consider it down the road. For me, part of the mystique of hunting is NOT knowing what's coming down the trail. But I have no problems with others using them, particularly the vast majority of folks on this site who use them ethically and fairly.

Just my two cents. Good luck to all for the remaining seasons.

Threebeards

 

[KPM]

General: We had pics of the kids who stole our stands riding their 4 wheelers in to get them. When the Sheriff seen the pics he had no problem about going to the house to find them. Those kids had no idea that they was caught on film. Should of had a pic of their faces when they denied having them and out comes the evidence. Not only was the kids embarrased the parents was too telling us they would not ever do anything like that.They still had them on the cargo racks and easy to identify with our names engraved in them. We have not had a problem with them since then. So there is another purpose for them other than seeing what is in the timber when you are not there.

Trespassing thieves

 

[Pupster]

It all depends on how far you want to take it.

Here's a scenerio:
You pull into your field that you intend to hunt. It's early morning and it's dark. You cast your headlights right into a deer's eyes and you have a bow and arrows in your car. You have though, in previous evenings spotlighted these deer with no weapon in your possesion (perfectly legal and probably the most debateable)!

You have just commited several crimes according to current laws.

1)My automobile "aided" me by getting me to my area.

2) I in fact cast an artificial light into a field while in control of a weapon. And obviously it's my intent to take an animal. This is also the 3rd time this week it has happened, so I have developed a "pattern".

So how guilty am I?

I hope we can use some good judgement and common sense.

Hey, a good spirited debate never hurt anyone! Might learn something.

I know this is

But I just wanted to throw out an example.

Pupster

 

[firedog]

Are you kidding me? I'm proof that those things don't offer any advantage. I've been using one and I still haven't killed a monster whitetail. As a matter of fact.......I haven't harvested any deer according to where the camera was set up. Okay now I'm really upset with myself.

 

[teeroy]

this whole topic is dumb. they are a legal SCOUTING device. they do nothing to aid in the DIRECT harvesting of a deer. until they are listed in the regs as an illegal device (which will NEVER happen), then they are perfectly legal to use.

 

[Rembrandt]

Quote Gunrnr: "Rembrandt, I have been using trail cameras for nine years now, longer than most on this board. I have never patterned a big buck and been able to harvest him because of my camera."

Quote Headgear: "Well said Gunrunr. I too have never been able to pattern a buck using a camera"

Guys, I don't question what you say one bit...convince me that trail cams "didn't" have a role in getting the Lovstuen buck....

 

[jharrell]

Did I miss something or is this thread about "Trail cams, right or wrong?"?

Is your issue about trail cameras or the Lovstuens?
Quote-Rembrant: Please keep it confined to just this issue

I have read all the posts in the PMA and in this conference and you have made your point about the way the trail cameras were used. Fact is the Lovstuens did not break the law. No matter how much you disagree with it that is a fact. You are making a big issue of this and trying to support it with regulations because you don't like the way they harvested their buck. All I know about the Lovstuen buck is that it is a world record and according to your DNR they did not break the law, so good for them! What does that have to do with my trail cam? Absolutely nothing, which is my point! You are trying to force your opinion on us due to the way you feel about the Lovstuen buck. I use my camera as recreation. I only have one as do most. Your attempt to use regulations to support your feelings about the way cameras were used on the Lovstuen buck are not only way off but has nothing to do with the way I use my camera. Don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

 

[Rembrandt]

I took your original comment to say that since you hadn't patterned a deer perhaps it wasn't possible....I'm simply pointing out it is possible and has been done.

Would like to debate further but going to be traveling for a few weeks...maybe next year.

 

[jharrell]

No doubt in my mind that its possible if someone besides me is doing it.

I guess i'm still a bit thick headed though. Even if you do pattern a deer with a camera it doesn't make you get up and get out there. It doesn't hang your stand in the right spot for you taking into account the wind, cover and all the other things you have to think about. Most of all it doesn't make that deer show up and pull the trigger for you. And if patterning deer were illeagal, well I guess we would all have a tuffer time getting our torphys. See ya next year!

 

[scout]

Beam me up Scottie, I'm done here on Pluto.

 

[Shredder]

Off the trail cam subject for just a second. The info derived from a trail cam is no different than this site. If you opened the "Lessons Learned" Topic, and read anything, you possibly now have another advantage over a big buck in your area due to an oversite on your part (assuming you can apply the info to the field). The computers are not a direct tool in hunting but they relay information that can help you as a hunter. Does that mean now that computers could be perceived as giving a hunter an unfair advantage?

It can be veiwed however you want to view it. Will trail cams be scouting tools of mine, Heck yeah. Will they help me kill a big buck, NO, It will just let me know he is in the area. They are addicting scouting tools if you ask me. You just do not know what you will have on the next roll of film and most of the time, I can not get the same big buck to walk in front of the camera on a regular basis.........

 

[born2hunt]

Rembrant you are reading too much into this whole thing.Are you jealous of the
Lovstuen's buck being shot totally legal
by someone other than you? It seems like all this is about that deer being shot. Who the hell cares if they used
trailcams.Maybe you should invest in some too and join the rest of the modern day hunters who don't always have time too set in the woods 24/7.
I myself will use whatever is legal to give me a chance at a little bigger buck.The IDNR is alreaddy under funded
but lets give them something else to
look out for and spend money on(What are you doing Bob?
Oh just heading out on a call about guy taking trailcam pictures I'm gonna bust him good Bill.) Come on give me a break.Use your knowledge and passion for something really important like the importance of doe harvesting.Or what about the education of americas kids and involvement of them and the outdoors.