Death Of A Cam

[Ourea]

We all get bears taking liberty with our trail cams....comes with the territory.
I am no different having endless "chewings" on my cams.
Most come out of the experience relatively unscathed...get the odd tooth puncture etc.

Well, not this time.
Bear went to town......managed to rip it right off the tree despite the cable lock and 1" ballistic nylon strapping.

I am extremely frustrated with the timing of this camera's demise.
I had it set up on an elk wallow.
I was extremely frustrated that this very large and well established wallow had yet to have a single bull use it this year. Usually around Aug 24 - 26th is money for bulls to start showing up.

As luck would have it, the wallow was decimated, fresh rubs, all the small brush and earth around the wallow was ripped up. And of course the camera's demise happened prior to the elk visit so no, what would probably have been, epic cam videos.

I have a few of my cams in lock boxes but having 16 cams currently deployed I am not keen on throwing down another $800 bucks on security. I should take the time to spike the trees in future to deter bear interaction. Bears sure love cams....chew toys to them. It's well known bears love to chew on anything that is petroleum based and plastics are just that so cams are not exempt.

Back in tomorrow to drop 2 fresh cams on the spot and do some bear proofing.
Buggers.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzfdsIsfuCU

[Ourea]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZvW5gxhIMg

[Ourea]

Sheered the backing of the cam right off.
Cam still appears to be functioning so I will get it back in the game once the lock box I just ordered arrives.

http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd428/browndog100/bear3_zps4h9ese8m.jpg (http://s1219.photobucket.com/user/browndog100/media/bear3_zps4h9ese8m.jpg.html)

[Glenny]

Maybe you were snacking on sumpen before you hungem.

[Bugle M In]

A friend of mine did I fly in some years ago.
Other hunters coming out said to just leave their reserve/extra gear under a large drum barrel, and not to worry it would be fine etc.
Well, a week later they come back out .... their gear was every where.
the bear chewed up the gas can, the food, and even the extra ammo!
The one thing the bear didn't want...was the "Onions"!!???
You might want to try that.....??...just saying.
The bear wanted nothing to do with them!

[caddisguy]

Been a bad year for us too... here's one that got some teeth marks:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euC4z8Ow_g8

[caddisguy]

Same cam, different bear... decides to re-postition the camera:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfXS9D7osmE

And this camera... well, I'm still hoping to find it one day... though I recall seeing some bear scat with some white chunks in it lol. It's been a bad year. Never even had a bear on the tcams last year.... just checked them the cams on Saturday and they are still hanging around. That's one reason I never spend more than $100 on a cam.

http://i1318.photobucket.com/albums/t644/vaporeyes/missingcam2_zps77w7ihue.jpg

http://i1318.photobucket.com/albums/t644/vaporeyes/missingcam1_zps7gkkb8lj.jpg

[Cyrus]

they hate the infrared flash...blackout flash cams have no issues. I have lost all together and another 3 have been chewed on and the lens to the flash busted up but still functional...part of the risk I guess.

[Sitkaspruce]

they hate the infrared flash...blackout flash cams have no issues. I have lost all together and another 3 have been chewed on and the lens to the flash busted up but still functional...part of the risk I guess.

It does not matter, they have hit mine, BF or IR, day or night. It is something they are curious about and like to chew on them. I have all my cams in metal lock boxes, lag bolted, cable locked and strapped to the trees. bears and elk play havoc with my cams, so they are now attached to the trees. The only ones I don't have are my Simmons as there is no lock box for them. Getting some made for them this winter, modified Bushnell boxes.

Good to hear the cam survived Ourea!!

Cheers

SS

[lwing]

Has anyone tried to place some kind of deterrent on their cams. Pepper? I've read bleach or maybe the onions? I've been looking at picking some cams up for next year. This is a little bit of a kick considering the price of some of the cams out there.
I lose a few gas and oil jugs at work every year. Maybe the spiking is a good idea.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Lost a couple cams to that black ba$tards as well.
I preach hanging them higher using treestand pegs but don't always heed my own advice.

[Jagermeister]

A friend of mine did I fly in some years ago.
Other hunters coming out said to just leave their reserve/extra gear under a large drum barrel, and not to worry it would be fine etc.
Well, a week later they come back out .... their gear was every where.
the bear chewed up the gas can, the food, and even the extra ammo!
The one thing the bear didn't want...was the "Onions"!!???
You might want to try that.....??...just saying.
The bear wanted nothing to do with them!

That certainly gives one "food for thought". Carry a large onion. Cut it in half and smear the onion all over the case. If they truly don't like onion we have a repellent. If not, we've just added a garnish flavor to the camera. Worth a try.