Trailcam check: winter valley bottom cams

[caddisguy]

We had to come back a day early so caddisgirl could get her broken foot tended to, so I had some time today to put together the footage from our last trailcam check. It took a quite a while, as one of the cams recorded 500 false positives and filled up the card early, which I still had to compulsively go through to check for critters... got it done though!!

Not much in the way of deer. Some bobcats, coyotes, a cougar and a few other critters.


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

[Scotty76]

Thanks for sharing .
lots of coyotes, last clip was cool.

[m5wilson]

Cool footage. What cameras are you using? Always set them to video mode? I just bought two last year but have no played with video yet.

[boxhitch]

always entertaining
Coug at 2:30 ?

[caddisguy]

always entertaining
Coug at 2:30 ?

It sure looks like it to me. I wish the timing on that video would have been a little better so it would have got a little more footage. I also wish that camera didn't pack it in nearly 2 months early.

Looking at the time stamp on the cougar video and the coyote before it, I half wonder if the cougar is after the coyote.

[Boner]

always entertaining
Coug at 2:30 ?
Definitely. Thanks for sharing Caddisguy!

[Elkaholic]

That is 100% a cougar head. Love the bobcat videos. I am assuming those people weren't yourself walking through?

[caddisguy]

Cool footage. What cameras are you using? Always set them to video mode? I just bought two last year but have no played with video yet.

Camera 1 is a Simmons Whitetail cam. I don't believe they make these cams anymore but they were excellent. I would often buy them in 2 packs for around $120. After 5 years most of them still run, but some are having problems with night mode as the LED's start getting dim or burn out. They only take 4 AA's and great battery life. Also very easy to configure.

Camera 2 is a Bushnell Trophy camera. Much more $$$ then I would normally pay, but work gifted it to me one one of my work anniversaries. Excellent video quality and sound. It recently appears to have started malfunctioning (after 3 years of full-time usage) as it starts recording every couple of minutes. Either the sensor somehow magically became 1000X more sensitive, or something else is going on. I believe there is an adjustment for sensitivity (auto, low high) which I will change to low next time I am out there IF it is still malfunctioning after I made some physical adjustments. 8 AA's and decent battery life. On average, it seems capable or recording 600-700 15-30s high resolution videos w/ sound and good night mode.

Camera 3 is a Browning camera, but I am not sure which model. Again, more than I would ever spend on a camera but my brother bought this one because his previous landlord was snooping around when he was not at home. He used it to catch him (a few times) but moved, then gave me the camera for Christmas. Seems to be a very good camera as well... video and sound. They seem fairly reliable. 6 AA's and seems to have good battery life.

I have a few other models kicking around. I think I have 2 or 3 StealthCam's. Video quality is quite poor, despite the 720p claim. As with all cameras, video resolution claims can be far fetched. Some just expand a 640x280 video to 1280x720 and then call it 720p LOL. Decent battery life on this one. I don't care much for the configuration interface.

I have actually never configured any of the cameras to take pictures. I really prefer videos as I love watching critters move around and videos give a lot more context. I can always pull still-frames from the videos if I want to post them up as a picture somewhere. Advantage of pictures might be more battery life, longer time before card fills up (haven't really hard much in the way of either of these happening unless I go 8-10 months without checking the cam) and just keeping it simple

[caddisguy]

That is 100% a cougar head. Love the bobcat videos. I am assuming those people weren't yourself walking through?

Thanks for the confirmation on that one. I was sure, but I wasn't sure :)

And that was us walking through... on last day of deer season if I recall LOL. I wouldn't post up vids of someone else without their permission, though not much of an issue as I have only ever had 1 person (mushroom picker) show up on cam and that was several years ago.

[Salty]

Great vid caddis enjoyed that. Sorry to hear about caddisgirl's foot :( hope it mends quickly and completely! This must be one of the earliest green ups for you? As I recall you've been snowed out of some of your areas until well, well in to spring the last few years.

[caddisguy]

Great vid caddis enjoyed that. Sorry to hear about caddisgirl's foot :( hope it mends quickly and completely! This must be one of the earliest green ups for you? As I recall you've been snowed out of some of your areas until well, well in to spring the last few years.

Thanks Salty! It's probably on the greener side of average. I have had a couple years where I was able to get my trailcams up in early March without any snow at all and I recall a few years of bear hunting where the hillsides were mostly green on opening day. This season feels 7-10 days ahead of last. I have been out the last two weekends. It's so nice to be back out. I think we were getting a little cabin fever. Even with her broken foot, she is telling me we're still on for this weekend... might even take Friday off :)

[Bugle M In]

Good stuff.
Thanks for posting it to share