the intrepid trail cam

- a series by g. geddes

4th Instalment:

Cam set up and initial results

So here I was, a location selected and now I had to pick a specific spot to place the camera. Based on the shots I had taken of a few places on the site I could put the camera, I selected the north end of the pond and positioned it facing north. If you face east or west, the cameras will fire during the 30 minutes or so it takes for sunrise and sunset. This will give you white images, so everyone says to have them face north if at all possible...otherwise point them south. I located a tree with a trunk that split into two sections at about chest high. It faced along the shore of the pond to an area sheltered by low branches. It looked cozy and safe. Also as you continue north the bush forms a sort of tunnel that leads to my spot through the very thick brush. It looked like the game trail to the pond. With luck, I could be getting shots about 30 feet before they got to the water’s edge.

TC1 Camera View

One of the very first things I’ve learned to do is to go out and do a scouting trip before I actually bring the camera and gear out to install. This way I can check out the area and look out for a good spot as well as watch out for anything that will require me to bring anything special. For example if there are small brush and branches to clear away I need to remove them with a folding pruning saw so they don’t trip the camera when the wind blows. However if there is grass I’ll use a machete instead. I usually take more pictures on the scouting trip so I can use them to help me decide what to bring. Once I get out there ready to set things up, it goes very smoothly if I’ve already done a scouting trip to scope things out.

Another good idea is to make a checklist before heading out as it seems many people, including myself, always seem to forget something. So now, I write it down on a small waterproof hiker’s pad. The one thing apparently everyone does, that I have yet to do, touch wood, is forget to turn the camera on after they leave. Then again there is a first time for everything.

On my first trip out I went with the following stuff in a knapsack:

•Trail Camera

•Security box

•SD card

•Batteries tested at home in camera (a set of spare ones too)

•Folding pruning saw

•Cloth to clean lens

•Salt licks (2)

•Doe estrus scent lure

•Red fox urine masking scent

•Notepad

•Cable lock

•Digital camera

Back at home I had set all the camera options so it was basically ready to go. For my Bushnell Trophy Cam my settings looked like this:

•Mode = Camera ( vs video)

•Formatted card in the camera (Sandisk 2 GB)

•Image Size = 5 M Pixel

•Capture Number = 3 shots (vs 1)

•Trigger interval time = 30 seconds (0 sec to 60 minutes)

•PIR sensitivity = normal

•Timer = Off

Early on in my trail cam research I read an article on using trail cams by OSR’s own Jason Goldring on this site and he mentioned about the risk of vandals damaging or taking your camera. I looked into security boxes and settled on one by Camlockbox. There are several makes and models of boxes but the CLB’s are very sturdy, have a nice camo paint job and provide good insurance. I recommend Ed, who owns the company and is a good guy making a good product at a fair price.

I used the cable lock to secure the security box to the tree which was tricky without a bungee to hold it in place. On subsequent visits, every time I checked the camera I would lose my position by unlocking the cable and opening the box. A bungee would not help here as it would prevent opening the box, so I called Trailcampro where i bought the box and he recommended I screw the box to the tree using galvanized deck screws. Once I did this I stopped using the cable lock which has a way of drawing your eye to the tree when you see it against the bark. I still need to find a good way to camo these cables.

Mounted Security Box with Cable Lock

The next step was to aim the camera by trial and error moving the cable wrapped around the tree trunk as well as the box and camera without the front cover on. I would then walk in front of the camera to trigger it and look at the card to see if I was getting the area I wanted. This took two tries which I thought wasn’t bad for my first time out. I later bought a laser pointer to hold against a tree, point it at my target area and then mark the tree with a pencil. This works much better but you must do it at dusk so you can see the laser. Luckily I had practised how to get out of the bush from the TC1 cam site in the dark so this is not an issue.

Once the camera was positioned, I set out the salt lick lures in two places in the camera’s line of sight. Then I hung doe estrus scent lures in camo’d scent bombs from the trees near the salt licks. Near the camera I hung red fox urine as a masking scent. The next time I came back the camo tape had fallen off the bright orange scent bombs but nobody had been by to see them. If they had, I would have had a photo of them. I also sprayed the camera security box with the masking scent.

Finally I took some spruce boughs I had cut away to clear the view for the camera and stuck them in the crotch of the tree’s double trunk so they were hanging over the trail cam. Once I trimmed them back to remove any that would trip the camera in the wind, I was good to go. I left the site making sure to trigger the camera as I left so I can later confirm it was working when I left it.

TC1: The First Shot

I left the camera for a week, but based on the time stamp I got my very first shot early the next morning. Unfortunately, that 30 second delay between shots prevented me from getting anything else. As I recall I had read somewhere on the internet that this camera needs a 30 second delay to allow time for the shot to be written to the card. That turned out to be not only wrong but a big mistake. The same guy who suggested I screw the box to the tree also suggested I change that interval setting to 0 seconds. In my next instalment I will show what a difference 29 seconds makes.