Please recommend a good game camera

[Old-Duckman]

Would be willing to spend between $100 to $200.

Thanks,

 

[Rancocas]

I have older Browning, model BTC-5HD that has served me well for over 5 years. There is no remote connections to it as some of the newer cameras have. I like it.

 

[Old-Duckman]

I have older Browning, model BTC-5HD that has served me well for over 5 years. There is no remote connections to it as some of the newer cameras have. I like it.

Looks like they still make it though "max" is added to the part number, $119 on Amazon.

Thanks for the reply. I thought that since game cameras are new school that BP aficionados might not use them but would prefer sitting in the woods with a sketch pad and pencil to record what walked by!

 

[Rancocas]

I thought that since game cameras are new school that BP aficionados might not use them but would prefer sitting in the woods with a sketch pad and pencil to record what walked by!

That too. ():~)
I still make "sand traps." I rake out a small section of a trail, removing all the debris and loosening up the soil so than any passing critter will leave it's tracks.

 

[FishDFly]

Sand trap tells when the deer passed, right?

 

[Rancocas]

Sand trap tells when the deer passed, right?

Not to the minute, but IF you are good at reading sign you can get a pretty good idea. Old school stuff. Study tracks, including your own. Note the weather and soil conditions and see how the tracks weather out and in what time span. It takes some time to learn.
One of the best ways to learn it is to study your own tracks. Set it up. Step in soft soil; dry, damp, muddy, whatever. Look at your track and see how sharp and clear it is. Come back a couple hours later and look at it again. Go back the next day. Go back in three days. Note how the edges of your track have dried out and crumbled. What has the weather been like? Is the track washed out. When was the last rain? The last frost? Did the wind blow in sand or leaves? etc.
Of course, there is a lot more to tracking then just looking at footprints.
I made my living back in the 1980's by tracking people across the Arizona deserts. I was a border patrolman. We made a lot of sand traps along the trails. People traveling at night usually didn't notice them.
Now, in this electronic age I don't know if they still do any tracking the old way.
I like my trail cameras so I can see a picture what passes, but I still like the old ways, too.

 

[chorizo]

I thought that since game cameras are new school that BP aficionados might not use them.....

Well, since it is hard to find any Indian Scouts to hire anymore, I have had to settle on game cameras.

 

[nhmoose]

Here in NH get the cheapest you can find. It will most likely get stolen anyway.

Seems to be the way it is.

 

[fleener]

I am running Spy Points this year and love them. They send me the pictures celluar. Plan is really cheap IMO, cost me 100 bucks a year and I have 6 cameras on the plan. I have not pulled any SD cards all year and also have not changed battery's since they were put out in March.

Originall bought 4 that were factory refurbished for $50 each. Then liked it so well that I bought two more at regular price.

Fleene

 

[deerstalkert]

i can tell you which one a coyote prefers.
have 2 wildgame innovations set up over a dead calf in the pasture. there is a black wolf sneaking about the neighborhood and hoped to pattern him.
last night a pair of coyotes were snacking and decided they wanted to take one of my camera's home for selfies i guess.
searched the 20 acre pasture and found the cam about 150 yards from setup.
i suspect he couldn't figure out how to make selfies and got peeved because he chewed the camera half to death. have a blurry pic of what appears to be coyote tonsils.
retrieved that camera and put it back to work. still functions despite the gumming it got.

 

[Brokennock]

I am running Spy Points this year and love them. They send me the pictures celluar. Plan is really cheap IMO, cost me 100 bucks a year and I have 6 cameras on the plan. I have not pulled any SD cards all year and also have not changed battery's since they were put out in March.

Originall bought 4 that were factory refurbished for $50 each. Then liked it so well that I bought two more at regular price.

Fleene

How is the picture quality of what is sent via cell signal?
Also, is there a memory card in the camera also so it can be pulled later, and if so, is the picture quality better off the card?

 

[Brokennock]

I have been pretty happy with my relatively cheap CamPark T45 cameras, I do like my mini version a little better. The most recent 2 just don't seem to have as good a pic quality as the 1st ones I bought. Also, I bought the tan/yellow camo model, I tried one of the green ones which is supposed to be the same cam but a different color and the battery life is awful in it. The tan/yellow cameras with lithium batteries last for months, the green one I am lucky to get a month out of.



I made up cable locks for them and try to place them in hidden spots or hard to get to spots. A couple of strap on treetops gets the camera high enough to be hard to reach without the steps and one of those rubber wedges used to hold a door open get it pointed down.



I have one "Stealthcam" that I got on sale from Midway,,,,,, Hate it. I'll never buy another.

 

[Bobby MacAlphin]

Have a slealth cam that's been working just fine for me for several years now , very good color photos in daylight and good clear pics at night !

 

[fleener]

The pictures sent to the phone are a good quality. If you want a particular picture in HD, you can request that be sent. You only get some many HD pictures a month. Dont remember how many as I do not request very many as the picture quality to my phone is fine.

I have never pulled my SD cards yet. I delete pictures from my phone for the ones I do not want. Not sure yet if they are deleted from the SD cards as well.

You control all the settings from your phone and it is quite easy. In high wind, it triggers more pictures. It is easy to throttle back the picture frequency.

Fleener

 

[jfaldo]

They send me the pictures cellular.

Make sure of the law where you are. These are not legal here.

 

[Brokennock]

I have never pulled my SD cards yet. I delete pictures from my phone for the ones I do not want. Not sure yet if they are deleted from the SD cards as well

Thank you.
Please let us know what you find when you pull the cards.

Where did you find them "factory refurbished?"

 

[Brokennock]

Have a slealth cam that's been working just fine for me for several years now , very good color photos in daylight and good clear pics at night !

I guess I should have been more specific.
The picture quality is okay. Not great, but usable. Maybe it is the particular model that Midway had on sale that isn't as good.

More specifically what I don't like it having to sacrifice one of my good "cobra lock" cable locks that I use for treestands, to lock it, and having to completely remove the cable from the tree and camera each time I pull the card. Also, my CamPark cams are far more programmable. ( I really like being able to get 2 or 3 still shots followed by a video that I can set the length of). The Stealthcam wrote up gave a distance that the sensors are supposed to be able to pick things up at that is quite a bit further than my other cams (the main reason I tried one when I found it on sale) but that distance turned out to be bogus.

Which model StealthCam do you have?

 

[fleener]

Spy Point had a sale earlier this year and I bought the factory refurbished ones at buy one get one free sale. Even at $120 or so for the first quality ones I think is a good deal.

Fleener

 

[Brokennock]

Spy Point had a sale earlier this year and I bought the factory refurbished ones at buy one get one free sale. Even at $120 or so for the first quality ones I think is a good deal.

Fleener

Thanks.
Good deal or not, I don't have $120/camera to spend, lol.

 

[Bobby MacAlphin]

I guess I should have been more specific.
The picture quality is okay. Not great, but usable. Maybe it is the particular model that Midway had on sale that isn't as good.

More specifically what I don't like it having to sacrifice one of my good "cobra lock" cable locks that I use for treestands, to lock it, and having to completely remove the cable from the tree and camera each time I pull the card. Also, my CamPark cams are far more programmable. ( I really like being able to get 2 or 3 still shots followed by a video that I can set the length of). The Stealthcam wrote up gave a distance that the sensors are supposed to be able to pick things up at that is quite a bit further than my other cams (the main reason I tried one when I found it on sale) but that distance turned out to be bogus.

Which model StealthCam do you have?

Got to go check it today I will see which one it is I can't remember right now , I know it will trigger from a right good distance