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trail cam prep

2K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  ronn 
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#1 ·
do you guys that run trail cameras prep them at all? i do a few things.

i wash the body of the camera with uv and scent eliminator detergent, inside and out being careful not to get the inside to wet. the straps mainly of nylon webbing i wash just like my hunting clothes in uv and scent eliminator. i always chain and lock my cameras to the tree so i also prep them as well. i paint the chains so their bright shine won't stand out in the woods. i wash the the chains as well, well after the paint has dried. then i hang it all outside on a tree for a while to weather and gain the natural scents of the outdoors. then i hang them in the deer woods.

even with doing all of this i've found that the woodland critters don't miss much. they will find the cameras. i've got pix of deer nosing my cameras. i have pix of deer looking at one camera being photoed by another. big bucks will quiet often see them hanging on the trees. fortunately i believe my prep on them doesn't give them the idea they are human or human related based on the deer's behavior after looking right at the camera. now the bear on the other hand seem to be a bit more curious about them. i've had bear push one or two around and one camera eaten by a bear.

for my coverts, i have gotten security boxes so the cameras are harder to steal and so the bear don't eat them. i haven't gotten them for my bushnells..... yet. i wash these bear boxes in the same way to eliminate human odor.

when hanging, checking, or moving the cameras, i try to keep my own scent to a minimum. i try to handle things in the area as little as possible. i spray my hands down with scent killer 99% or scent away before touching the cameras for any reason. latex gloves would work but they are a pain to put on and take off just to check cameras. when i finish changing the cards on the camera i spray them down with scent killer 99% being carful not to get anyon the lens, pir, or the day light sensor.

just the things i do to get the most out of my scouting and pix with trail cameras.
 
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#3 ·
i don't do much with mine. i leave cameras in the woods year round. just change cards and batteries.
yea i try to leave them out all year as well but they will shut down when it gets too cold, so not much point in having them out. i like to bring them home, clean them up, dry them out, and get them ready to go back out when the snow melts and temps rise. i had them shut down a couple times in early feb because of the low temps, about 5 below is about all they can handle, and the deer left to yard cause of all the snow so i pulled them a couple weeks ago.

its about time to snowshoe in and see if there are any tracks. after all the rain we've gotten, the snow depth should be down and with the warmer temps maybe the buds are starting. i know the sap was running.
 
#6 ·
I don't do anything to mine except put them out and leave them out. And the deer don't seem to mind any scent that I leave on them when I change memory cards and batteries as the picture shows.



Any scent on the camera obviously didn't bother this deer. And it is a buck. You can see the base of his antler next to his ear. I've gotten many pictures of deer very close to the camera. Not as close as this one but he couldn't get any closer.

I have both flash and IR cameras. The flash doesn't seem to bother them either.
 
#8 ·
I don't do anything to mine either but sd card and battery change and have never noticed issues of spooky from scent. But I have noticed deer respond to the flash of the led's and do spook if I put on video mode, that's why I do pics only. I think descenting a trail cam is a waste of time. Deer are gonna check it out anyways because of the clicks an flashes they make anyways and I believe if you leave it out side nature descents it all by it's self. After about n hour in the woods your sent will be so low on the cam deer or and other animal could care less
 
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