Lockbox. I had a camera stolen off my place, put the rest in lock boxes and after a couple of months had a sufficient amount of pictures to present to the Sheriff. Problem solved, neighbor had a choice to make and he made the right one by returning the camera and taking the lessor charge of trespassing instead of the criminal charge of trespass.
The screw-in setup is illegal in the Wildlife Management Areas in Tennessee- "wire, nails, or other metal material." It would be a decent idea in private land but opens the tree to insects, etc. The idea of gluing bark to the camera is sheer genius! As for hang 'em high- for the camera or the thieves?
I've read a lot about this. Luckily my place is surrounded by private land for miles and so far a cable has worked...or no one is out to steal them as I've never had any trespassers on camera yet. The only camera damage I've had so far was from a bear this year. Camera still works, but can't be locked up with a cable now since the bear sheared the holes in the back right off. It seems the general consensus is to put your real working camera up high in a tree and angle it down at a bait camera. The non working camera is the center of the frame for the real camera and is placed in a lock box so it is presented as "normal". When a thief takes the bait camera they normally miss the one up higher and you're left with your good camera and pics of the thief. Interestingly enough, the best way to catch the thief is normally not the police (although sometimes they know them from priors), it is social media. Plaster their pic all over Facebook with something to the effect of, "Anyone know who this thief is that stole my camera?" and wait. Many say the thief contacts THEM within a couple of weeks to try to give the camera back and get the pic off of social media. So there you go...one of the few actual good things about social media lol.
I haven’t lost a camera since I started using $28 Walmart Tasco cameras. They do the job. I run them on my leases and use the cuddelink cameras on my personal land. At least with those I’ll have the picture sent to me of who took it. Hopefully someone in the neighborhood would recognize them if I didn’t. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I had 3 stolen last week from my property. It’s 8 miles down a private road with code locked gates to get in. They didn’t come in the front and we didn’t get them on any of the cameras that weren’t by feeders so no idea how or where they got in from. Hope I catch them though, gators will be well fed lol
I have a hard enough time finding my own cams sometimes, when I hide them well! Makes me sick when people come in and find a few at a time! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have been switching over to cameras that need a security code to operate. They may get your camera but all that will be useful to the thieves is a few batteries and a memory card.....and your attention that there's trespassers. Another option would be the Spy Point Tiny -W. Some models along this line have a separate wireless box that contains the SD card and can be hidden a few hundred feet away from the camera....good luck to the thieves on finding both.
Private land might not be a deterrent. A friend had three ladder stands stolen from a friend's farm. Trespassers don't care where they get their ill-gotten goods. Security code might be good but I worked with a fellow who said he could get my passwords, etc. in 15 minutes or less.
I would hope anyone smart enough to get passwords wouldn't need to steal trailcams. Trespassing thieves usually have the brains of a December dandelion.
just had mine stolen..! not sure whats worse, the neighboring native reserve whom the thieves came from as I have photos of them, or them knowing what deer are in there now..! guess we will find out, so heart breaking.. I couldn't care less about the camera, but its them finding my bait/stand and photos..! now what??? move, or keep hunting and hide the cams better?>
After having mine stolen I moved the replacements to the trails in know that are using so they are hidden. They are still close to the feeders but not at all obvious and they are high in the trees, I always take a lightweight foldable ladder with me so height isn’t an issue. Most of the troglodytes who steal cameras look for feeders and from there it’s easier to see the cameras (I’m guessing)
I think you gotta keep at it, being that they are from the neighboring reserve and aren't going anywhere regardless. Based on your previous photos it looks like your camera is in the open, so you could try and move it in the treeline and place it high. Set out a cheaper decoy camera too, that is more obvious.
I think anything out of normal reach would be good. Or set up a dummy and put a really camera on it and catch the thief Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
You are putting pics of +180” deer on an Internet forum for the last two years right? Are you using your real name here? You’ve indicated that you are in Canada and I think even mentioned fairly specifically the area you are hunting. Seems like I remember last year you even posted some aerial photos asking for advice about how to hunt a particular spot. Now I ask these questions and say these things not to be critical of you because you oughta be able to do all of those things and not have people tracking you down and stealing your stuff and swamping your hunting spot but man that just isn’t the world we live in any more. Maybe I’m remembering wrong... but if you are doing those things here or worse yet on social media you can get a lot of the bad kind of attention in a hurry. Now realistically it probably is just someone that stumbled across your setup and it wasn’t hidden very well and they took your camera. Heck they might not even be hunters if you are lucky. Regardless if you move your setup into some cover and off the beaten path you should be fine.
People are rude AF, makes me madder than a hornet trapped in a Coke can on a hot summer day when they steal a man's deer porn!!!!!
Unfortunately they took that radix I got with your promo code. I hadn’t even had it up a week and was looking forward to seeing the photo quality with the intention of buying more once I’d seen them. Assholes
