Has anyone tried using a plot camera approach in open woods. basically set a camera timed to take a picture every minute or 5 minutes to see what deer on moving through a large wooded area vice on a specific trail? Have an area that seems to have random deer movement across it and thought this might help identify an ambush point or two. thanks
thanks, seems like it would be effective under the right circumstances and am surprised someone hasn't mentioned trying it. I've ordered a couple cameras that also take timed shots will post the results..\
Ive used time lapse on big fields to see when and where they enter and leave but never in a big woods. It might come in handy closer to season.
Tried the timed camera in open woods this year and worked well. had it set to take a picture every minute. showed deer weren't using the area during daylight so I hunted elsewhere. plan to get a second camera to cover another area next year.
I've used this on an older Moultrie and a Browning dark ops. Every year I have to figure out which of 3 runs the deer are using to come up from the creek. Distance from camera is 5, 35, and 65 yards. I set the camera up to take a time lapse +, with a picture taken every 5 seconds during daylight and motion activated at night. This gives you between 10,000-12,000 pictures per day with fewer as the daylight time shortens. Using moultrie's software, I start playback and increase speed to 8x. This takes about 12 minutes to review an entire day (depending on how fast your computer is). An external rechargeable battery is a must unless you own stock in energizer or duracell. Here is the main problem with both brands. When using time lapse, you don't get full resolution pictures. My older moultrie took 5mp pictures when on trail cam mode, in time lapse it takes 0.7mp. The better browning is 8mp vs. 1.2mp. Identifying a specific buck is tough at 15 yards. Distinguishing between a buck or doe is nearly impossible at 30+ yards. You also fill up a 32GB card in 3ish days if I remember right. I swap out my external battery each week. I didn't use this method this year due to a dead fall pushing all deer to the closest two runs. Before purchasing the Dark ops, I sent a support email to browning asking if they lowered the mp when shooting time lapse. They told me that it took full resolution... I wish that I could find a camera that did. Good luck! Inc
Incog, thanks for relaying your experiences. Hadn't noticed a change in resolution with the wildgame innovations camera I used but will go back and check. Also not sure if my camera goes down to 5 seconds but a shorter time than the minute I used would be helpful. will have to check those features when shopping for that next timed pictures camera
NP. It took me almost a month before I figured out why my pictures looked like crap. I thought the moultrie was failing. It wasn't until I was trying to compare a picture of a buck taken on time lapse vs one that was motion captured on dual screens. That was the ah-ha moment... Right clicked and looked at properties of both pictures and said a few choice words.
There is about 40 acres of high maples that was select cut a few years ago, during the summer, it would be impossible for me because the under brush grows thick. Now during the fall, it might show something, but even then visibility in areas gets blocked by trees as you get further from the camera. It would take me a ton of camera's to cover the 40 acres. I would concentrate and face cameras down the edges of the woods, rather than into. That way you identify where they are entering and leaving.
Fortunately where I hunt in New England is more open and doesn't have a lot of underbrush so I can cover large areas with one camera. But where I hunt in Florida can be pretty thick and would have to approach it as you suggest.
