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Life without game cameras?

11K views 128 replies 56 participants last post by  Dish7 
#1 ·
#3 ·
Since I don’t live in arizona have at it. Still gotta be there at the right time but I can see how some people would be against them Especially people that don’t use them
 
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#5 · (Edited)
Used to guide out west. Most western states if you fly in you can’t hunt that same day as you can spot animals from the air. I’d have to say that elk, and mule deer are far more patternable then whitetail. Unless something pushes them out or they are migrating they are going to be in a small area day in and day out. Ive also heard out outfitters getting pics day in and day out of monster bulls, knowing where they are going to be and when, then contacting a client who is willing pay more for a crack at it.
Just like how in many western states you can’t use muzzle loaders that shoot sabots, don’t use loose powder, have a scope, and don’t use flint or a percussion cap.
 
#8 ·
Elk can be nomadic. Knowing their exact location at anytime is a huge advantage when hunting massive tracts of land. This is about banning the real time cell cameras that will tell you instantly that there is a bull on the other side of your lease.

Elk are much easier to kill than deer, ie you can pretty much move right in on them if you know where they are and you pay attention to the wind.

Many hunters feel, I guess myself included, that blanketing an area with real time cell cams and just waiting for the herd to go by a camera is pushing the boundaries of fair chase.
 
#9 ·
Wow! Are you kidding me?? Browning Trail Cameras and Energizer Batteries would have to file Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. I love trail cameras, not only for scouting deer, but for the many other wildlife photos I collect and share with others. I don't have any on cell plans so I am really not ever getting "instant" feedback on them but it can still be fairly "recent information". I think that is what may be considered "crossing the line" by some.

It will be interesting to see how this shakes out.
 
#14 ·
When you are an outfitter and can basically just sit in the lodge with your paying hunter watching a computer screen until you see an elk, jump in the side by side and drive within stalking distance, get out and have the hunter shoot it..... That to me is a bit different than checking your sd card on the evening before opener to see what’s been moving where.
 
#11 ·
I can tell you one thing about banning cams. I would make sure I’m gandfathered in. That’s that.


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LOL - Can DNR Drones spot scouting cameras while in flight?? :)

A ban would likely get about the same amount of enforcement as the baiting ban in the U.P. - Zero.
 
#13 ·
Cell cams have changed the way I hunt, not in the way that I go to a specific spot because I just got a picture but the way that I can see what's behind my house or 5 different pieces of stateland in Ohio.

I also use them to determine what is a shooter and what gets a pass. It's really tough to determine age or even antler size when a buck is walking through brush and my only opening is 2ft wide.

I cringed when I read the topic.
 
#17 ·
Cell cams have changed the way I hunt, not in the way that I go to a specific spot because I just got a picture but the way that I can see what's behind my house or 5 different pieces of stateland in Ohio.

I also use them to determine what is a shooter and what gets a pass. It's really tough to determine age or even antler size when a buck is walking through brush and my only opening is 2ft wide.

I cringed when I read the topic.
I don’t think you have much to worry about. This is mainly an elk hunting issue in western states. No way the industry will roll over and give up the whitetail states without a fight anyway.
 
#15 ·
I'd also like to say that every animal that lost it's life because a trail camera told the hunter where it was located, there is an animal that gets a pass because it wasn't big enough, old enough, or a homebody deer that has a chance to survive a few years
 
#20 ·
I think I enjoy mine more than hunting.Most of mine go up on fence lines.From March first till oct I only missed five day not checking them,I go out ar noon and only get off my four wheeler once to check three .only walk 20 yards.Came october missed 12 days because of shingles hurt to much bouncing on four wheeler.only went every 3 or 4 days.Last couple weeks I go everyday.Never found it to bother deers.
 
#24 ·
Mine are for security only and will continue to use them until I catch the person that has been trespassing and stealing my turnips, so far just deer. That gets me to think that maybe I should move my deer hunting toward my turnip field and hunt deer there while I'm waiting to catch the thieves. Never would have thought of that without cameras and my old buddy Mr. Obvious.
 
#27 ·
I quit using my cams this year. I may go back next year I may not.

I do believe that there is a slippery slope and a fine line between fair chase and not when it comes to the tech we have available today. Trail cams are starting to toe the line.
Not wanting to start an argument but if used as intended I don't see any issue. I have a couple cell cams they are set up in a spot that is 40 min from my home. I hunt mainly weekends and 5-7 days in November. If I had unlimited time where I could just sit around watching my phone and a ran to the closest stand after a pic was snapped. Perhaps it could be deemed as an advantage. But I work of a living and the cell cams send me pictures of deer once or twice a day as I set them up to do. They saves me huge amounts of time and gas money not running out to check cams. That is the advantage they have provided me nothing more.
 
#28 ·
I have heard of a couple people using their cell cameras to grab their guns to try and shoot a buck in their food plots (i.e. bait piles) rather it be in their back acreage or a hour away to their lease. I can see that cell cameras time is short, not to much of fair chase. Nothing wrong with game cameras, as discussed here a lot, there is a give and take with them. As for the industry fighting it, come on, who are they going to fight? The NRC does not even listen to who they are ruling over. What are they going to do, robo call all the members?
 
#35 ·
Geez I wish it was that easy. I have 4 mature bucks visiting my stands, and yet have I seen one of them in person.
If it was not for the camera I would of moved out of this location.
Lots of sign just hard to get day time movement this year. We had no acorns, and I will not hunt the dnr farm fields for they are overloaded with hunters.

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#33 ·
Funny thing I received the same article yesterday, said something to my brother who lives out west and hunts Arizona twice a year. As someone mentioned the montana rule has been in place for a few years already. My brother was explaining what was happening, basically most of the ground out there is public ground and certain tags for elk, Arizona strip mule deer hunts all take place on public ground. He said these outfitters are over the top, several outfitter will have several cameras on water hole for their clients. Basically in a nutshell, the outfitters are ruining for everyone else. He said not uncommon to see 10 cameras around one dried up water hole with dead batteries. He said they have been working on this for years.
 
#34 ·
When I bought my first cell camera, I set it on a dirt pile in the back yard on the edge of the woods. I had deer standing in front of it for a few minutes and then walk into the other section of woods before I ever got a picture. They aren't "real time".

Out west, where you can see a long distance, maybe?

The only upside I could see from not being able to run cameras is that I would go back to being super happy for a 4pt or a 6pt if I didn't know there was a number of nicer bucks cruising the area. Even does, I see some big fat girls and I get excited and wait for them instead of a decent one
 
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