Trail cameras are essential tools for many hunters, having evolved over the last three decades from mostly mechanical, film-based still cameras into mostly electronic, digital imaging devices. Modern trail cameras are more effective, easier to use, and have many more features than ever before – plus they’re often less expensive to buy and much less expensive to operate. SPYPOINT Trail Camera’s Trent Marsh takes us through some of the features and ways to use these devices.

<p">Tip 1: Why Invest in Trail Cameras?
Putting a trail camera in a potential hunting area can provide timely information about what is happening there, save time and money by reducing travel, verify behavior patterns of animals, and develop an inventory of the animal population (see Tip 4). As a bonus, digital images from trail cameras are easily shared on social media.

Tip 2: Film vs. Digital.
An early trail camera was essentially a conventional point-and-shoot 35mm film camera in a waterproof housing with a triggering device. After 36 exposures, the hunter had to reload the camera and have the film processed – at perhaps $10-15 per roll, sometimes with no images of deer in the batch. Digital trail cameras can shoot video as well as still images, record hundreds of images (depending on file size and quality setting), and even deliver the images to your phone or computer. The cost for many digital cameras is now less than the old film cameras (SPYPOINT’s cameras start at $149), with no continuing costs for film or processing.

Tip 3: Better, Smaller, Cheaper.
As with most things digital, early versions were good, but as the industry matures, the devices get smaller, cheaper, and have more features. SPYPOINT’s line includes models that run on batteries or solar power; can add local weather and GPS location data; do time-lapse images; shoot bursts, video, and record sound; accept an external power source; use invisible flash illumination to 80 feet; and record 20 megapixel images. Oh, and use cellular technology to automatically transmit the images to your phone, pad, or computer, on a schedule you determine (cost ranges from $0 to $15 per month, depending on package).

Tip 4: Population Inventory.
So what do you do with dozens to hundreds of images sent to you automatically? Using SPYPOINT’s free app, you can view your photos and use their BUCK TRACKER artificial intelligence image scanning software to focus on the images that have bucks. It will scan every image that comes in, and allow you to sort images with the touch of a button so you can skip the pictures of squirrels and wind-blown branches. You can keep track of deer in the area without leaving your home – no more spooking animals as you change batteries or swap out memory cards in the field. The technology can also recognize turkeys, hogs, coyotes, and moose, with other animals being added.

Tip 5: Don’t Get Too High.
Remember deer are not very tall – so if you’re positioning a trail camera at your chest height, it will be too high for optimal photos of deer. Find a spot on well-traveled paths, ideally where two or more trails meet, between feeding and bedding areas. If there is not a good tree or post in that location, there are movable posts made for that purpose (the Moultrie Universal Trail/Game Camera Stake is an excellent option).

Tip 6: Share Those Interesting Shots.
Trail cameras capture many images that range from interesting to phenomenal, and digital imaging makes it easy to share those slices of nature on social media. Let your friends see what’s out there!

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