Trail Cam Ban!?

[Chuck]

Has anyone been following the states that are starting to ban trail cams? Some just for the hunting season, others all together on all public land?

How can they claim it’s an invasion of the peoples privacy? If I lost trail cams in MA, I’m in trouble. What’s the difference of taking a pic of someone walking through a WMA?

Thoughts?

Kansas Bans Game Cameras on Public Lands - Bowhunter

The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks has recently banned the use of game cameras in public land settings, which includes KDWP and Walk-In Hunting Access properties.

www.bowhunter.com

Is a Trail Camera Ban Coming to a State Near You?

Some western states have made big changes around the use of wireless cameras. Could Eastern whitetail states be next?

www.realtree.com

 

[RememberBaker]

It’s funny, I love trail cams and use a bunch of them but I get totally creeped out when I notice someone else’s and the next time I go through I’d scale a cliff to avoid walking in front of it.

 

[longbow]

I find trail cameras to be enjoyable devices, they certainly give you a good idea of what kind of bucks are around to be hunted. That being said, I hunted for many years without any and still did fine.
What do you mean if you lost trail cameras you’d be in trouble?

 

[Chuck]

Just a quick Bio - I hunted central MA where I grew up for probably 15 years. The closest thing to a trail camera I used was the small digital clock in a box you tied sewing thread to and waited for something to cross the trail, pull the thread and stop the clock, lol. I was always hunting small parcels, cul-de-sacs, behind housing developments etc...

8 years ago, I moved to western MA with bigger parcels (my own property is 25 acres) and the deer never seem to have frequent home ranges. I always have them traveling through once a week or so in all the places I've been hunting. I started buying cell cams about 4 years ago and it at least gives me an idea if the deer are in the area. It's never a slam dunk but it also helps with motivation. I should note, I'm more of a bowhunter than gun, so I do a lot of sitting.

 

[NH Hunter]

I’d scale a cliff to avoid walking in front of it.

Same here. Although a few years back I was seconds away from playing a prank on a person who's camera I found and was certain I knew it was his.

Disclaimer.... my sense of humor is a bit jacked up. I'm a big fan of the "What in the actual F&^k am I seeing" kind of things.

I found a camera in a fairly remote spot where I knew for a fact one of my softball teammates hunted. I was going to stroll by with my britches around my knees with my ass hanging out. I had my coat off and just ready to undo my belt when the thought " what if this isn't his, and someone actually figures out it's ME that did this?" After thinking better of it , I walked around the camera and hunted on my way. A couple nights later at a get together , I run into my friend. I tell him that I thought I found his camera up around where I knew he was hunting. He tells me that he doesn't have a camera up in that area.

I'm glad I thought twice about it....... But if I never got pinned for it, that guy would've been having a WITAF moment!!!

 

[RememberBaker]

I’ve never really figured out how to use trail cams to my advantage but knowing what’s around makes it easier to keep going. I mostly look at them as a hobby apart from hunting. I’m moving away from regular cams and towards cell cams because I love getting picture notifications while I’m at work or looking at what’s shown up overnight while I’m having coffee in the morning. I have 7 cell cams and probably 20+ regular ones. I’d miss them if they were banned but it wouldn’t make much difference as far as hunting goes.

 

[mowbizz]

Same here. Although a few years back I was seconds away from playing a prank on a person who's camera I found and was certain I knew it was his.

Disclaimer.... my sense of humor is a bit jacked up. I'm a big fan of the "What in the actual F&^k am I seeing" kind of things.

I found a camera in a fairly remote spot where I knew for a fact one of my softball teammates hunted. I was going to stroll by with my britches around my knees with my ass hanging out. I had my coat off and just ready to undo my belt when the thought " what if this isn't his, and someone actually figures out it's ME that did this?" After thinking better of it , I walked around the camera and hunted on my way. A couple nights later at a get together , I run into my friend. I tell him that I thought I found his camera up around where I knew he was hunting. He tells me that he doesn't have a camera up in that area.

I'm glad I thought twice about it....... But if I never got pinned for it, that guy would've been having a WITAF moment!!!

Airing out “the taint” is never a bad thing!

 

[JJM6]

I have to agree that trail cam pics support motivation. I've had some good bucks on cam and never laid eyes on them but I know they are likely near. On the other side of the coin, I've been able to confirm some bedding sites with their help along with daylight travel routes. And then there is the sheer joy and suspense of reviewing the cards with my wife after a three week soak. Helps her understand my motivation for getting up so early on the weekends to hunt.

 

[longbow]

I think it is important not to come to concrete conclusions based on what you are getting on camera. A lot of times the biggest bucks only come thru once and you just have to be there.

 

[JJM6]

Hunt the does!

 

[338 Bear Hunter]

Trail cameras are an integral part of my hunting strategy. Granted, they're all on my own property, usually over bait.

For deer, I'll make use of information I glean from my cameras (which are mostly set up for bear hunting), but I find it far less informative than when hunting bears.

Last year, a large buck made very regular visits to a spot in front of my blind, at almost the exact same time (~7:30am). He didn't come every day, and I could never connect. Was it bad luck or did he spot me? I'll never know.

So why all the trail cam bans? Is this people truly concerned for their privacy in the woods, or is this more of a "Hit them wherever we can" strategy of the HSUS types?

 

[mowbizz]

Trail cameras are an integral part of my hunting strategy. Granted, they're all on my own property, usually over bait.

For deer, I'll make use of information I glean from my cameras (which are mostly set up for bear hunting), but I find it far less informative than when hunting bears.

Last year, a large buck made very regular visits to a spot in front of my blind, at almost the exact same time (~7:30am). He didn't come every day, and I could never connect. Was it bad luck or did he spot me? I'll never know.

So why all the trail cam bans? Is this people truly concerned for their privacy in the woods, or is this more of a "Hit them wherever we can" strategy of the HSUS types?

The big bucks KNOW you are there…same happens to me and I think the does are savvy too. Tactics change next season…

 

[Signpost]

I to love using trail cameras year round. Unfortunately it doesn’t help us when an article in the Maine Sportsman biggest bucks issue discusses how a hunter stayed longer bc his trail camera sent a photo to him as he was getting ready to leave. Therefore he stayed another half hour and got a buck of a lifetime. While we all realize this is extremely rare, I don’t think the general public does. It’s just nice knowing what’s in your woods.

 

[NH Mountains]

The thing that put me over the edge on trail cameras was a story I read about a guy who took a large NH buck around 2015. It was an urban kill in a very small wooded parcel that wasn’t his land. His story early on was he had trail cameras setup at every trail on that parcel and finally figured out the buck’s pattern. The article made it sound like that buck couldn’t take a shit or piss without him knowing it. There were several articles written about this buck but, they no longer mention much about the number of cameras he used to get the buck. They weren’t cellular. Everything he said he did was legal but, was over the top for me.

I still have two cameras on “scrapes” on my land that haven’t been touched by the owner since November. The scent dripper had to have been gone a long time ago. I have no idea who’s they are. It’s examples like these that I welcome trail cam law changes.

 

[RememberBaker]

There are ways to use cell cams to gain an unfair advantage, but personally I’d guess it’s fairly rare. In small areas you could have a cam on bait or a food plot and slip in when you knew game was there, but you’d need the right terrain. You could use them to get on a track and you’d know how far behind you are to start with.
Those are a couple things that come to mind but I don’t know how often it happens?

 

[NH Hunter]

When trail cams are brought up it’s only regarding deer. If you’re a guide with your 6 bear baits , or even an everyday Joe with your 2 you can certainly gain an “advantage” as which one to sit. The same can be said for deer bait piles. The means and areas in which I use them still allow me a marginal “advantage” to a scrape that is being hit just before or after legal hours. It will certainly influence what side of the mountain I hunt for a few days as opposed to “trying” a different area.

With this technological world we are living in , and some of the things we are seeing as a result of it I have no issue with biologist getting in front of this issue to maintain the conservation model they’ve put in place rather than lose days of hunting eventually because of “convenience “ of some while hunting. I only wish we would’ve done so with other more important issues that technology would and does have a massive effect on our society.

 

[338 Bear Hunter]

Here we go again. "Bait is an unfair advantage" - try to ban baiting. "Compound boiws are an unfair advantage", so people try to ban them. Now its "Trail cameras are an unfair advantage". People need to get over themselves. When does the technology clock "stop"?

I'll admit I understand why people don't care for the instantaneous cellular cameras, as it isn't too distant from the short-lived Internet Hunting. But a trail camera requiring manual intervention is simply a fancier offline scouting tool.

As we fight each other, the antis rally against us and chip away at hunting. We need to be smarter than that.

 

[NH Hunter]

As we fight each other, the antis rally against us and chip away at hunting. We need to be smarter than that.

Says the newbie with the posted land……..

I didn’t say baiting was an unfair advantage. Read it again and this time and give comprehension a chance. Do you determine what bait site you’ll sit based off camera photos/ videos?

Keep in mind….. we’re dealing with this bullshit because half wits leave cameras, tents and tree stands in areas where a little self awareness and thought process would go a long way. BUT instead we have hunters who are more concerned about killing something by all means necessary, and they’re too lazy or too proud of getting humbled up with failure of not filling tags.

 

[NH Hunter]

You still haven’t caught on that you chose a hobby where you’re a cog in the practice of conservation. It’s not just about YOU killing shit and filling tags.

 

[NH Hunter]

So why all the trail cam bans? Is this people truly concerned for their privacy in the woods, or is this more of a "Hit them wherever we can" strategy of the HSUS types?

No it’s actually the farmers , timberlands assoc.and the wildlife federation of NH is supporting it because they have been told it will lead to thousands of acres posted if something isn’t done. This “situation” became a reality simply be the acts of morons with hunting licenses thinking their entitled to do what they want so they could kill something.

Do I agree with it? No it sucks but I can certainly understand why they’ve had enough. It really sucks when you get punished by these laws but weren’t committing any of the acts that lead to them.