I'm curious how many folks put cams out on public land, and do they get messed with? I have been putting out at least two cams on public land for the last twenty two years. I've never had one stolen, yet. But, what I have experienced is, on rare occasions, them being messed with. A few years ago, I had some guy block the view of two of my cams with that were 50yrds apart, with brush. I thought it was odd. I was surprised he actually located both of them, because they were in an area where I've rarely seen another person. I'm just glad he didn't steal them, but I wondered why he didn't just take the SD cards out of them? These are not cell cams, so I would have had no way of knowing who took them. Just this past week, in a more frequently traveled area, I had somebody loosen the strap on a cam and pointed it down to the ground. Again, why didn't they just remove the SD card? What gets into people to do crap like this, I'll never know. I'm just happy they didn't steal it. I have taken my cams out for now, because there is a two day "special shotgun hunt" starting tomorrow, on this otherwise bow hunting only public land. I'll put them back in afterwards, to see what bucks made it through this hunt.
I don't hunt public so I don't have experience with that situation. However, I have had my cams messed with on the private ground I do hunt. Twice, on the same cam, I had the SD card stolen. My opinion is that the person was obviously trespassing and didn't want anyone to know they were there. This camera was in a place that was easily accessible by anyone. So what I did was get a security box for it and even though the camera is in the same place it has never been messed with again. The other scenario involved mushroom hunters. They would place a giant leaf over the front of my camera. I'm pretty sure it was the same person since it happened several years in a row. I don't understand messing with things that don't belong to you but I guess that's just the world we live in Sent from my SM-N975U1 using Tapatalk
I personally dont like them on any public land. Its public space and dont want my picture taken. Im sure there are many people that feel this way and sure there are people that take it out on your camera. Most likely another hunter that is pissed that someone found the same spot as him. Unfortunately nothing you can do about your cameras once you leave them. Most places have rules to protect the park from theft. So usually no one is aloud to leave anyting in the woods, sometimes its up to 24 hours. Alot of places i go, say no trail cameras allowed, but still run into them. I know most all maryland public is nothing left in the woods and believe PA is the same. So just a risk you take when you leave one out.
For the most part, you are allowed to use trail cams on State Game Lands in Pa. I did read that cell cams are not permitted. Don't know how accurate that is. It is a risk though.
I am running trail cams for the first time this season, only two both on public. One was stolen the weekend of Oct 24-26 during a muzzleloader permit hunt. I hunted that spot the Monday before and it was there. The other one was moved this past weekend to watch a pond and trail in a transition area just off a public land food plot. Hopefully, this one does not get messed with. In both cases, I put the cameras 8+ feet up the tree, angled down. Whomever stole that first camera, had to climb at least one stick up to get it
Sorry to hear you had one stolen, especially your first season using them. Seems like these "special hunts" attract some of the less than desirables.
It certainly attracts the lazy hunters . The camera that didn’t get stolen got a picture of a guy walking around in an orange Tshirt, blue jeans, and a plastic milk crates to sit on. All the big bucks in that area are still alive.maybe he killed a doe. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I got this video/pic a little over a week ago. I have several videos of this kid, his brother, and their father, who looked like he just stepped out of the movie Deliverance. There's good chance he'll graduate to stealing cams, instead of just acting like a jackass in front of them. Ahhh, public land.
I do it with minimal info gained, 9/10 it mind f’s me and I overthink everything. I wish every state would make cams illegal on public. I stopped using them in Ohio. I still see many deer and have more fun when I do see a buck.
I'm not a huge fan either. I've had them out the last 2 years just to gain intel. See if the spots are worth hunting. My use will drop bigtime this upcoming season. I prefer afternoon hunts and scouting my way in and using good scouting.
I prefer to scout my way in as well. The two I had out, were left out with intention sitting most of the season to gather intel for next season. The cam I had stolen was in the white oak grove I killed a buck in on Nov 9th last year. I put it in there in August specifically for figuring out when the deer started hitting those oaks when they started dropping. The other camera was monitoring a suspected early season buck bedding area/transition area into bedding. That cam was a success and has been moved to monitor what I hope will be a reliable late season feeding pattern.
I agree. That's the reason I use regular cams instead of cell cams. Cell cams do help a lot with not disrupting your hunting area going in to check them, but you lose the ability to actually see what fresh sign, (scrapes/rubs) has turned up in your area. I think that's especially important during the pre-rut/rut time frame.
I'm in PA as well and run about 13 cams on public land. Each one of them has a python lock on them and all but one has a security box also. The one camera I took a chance on two years back and did not lock...you guessed it, was stolen. Python locks can be easily cut but, its more of a deterrent to keep the honest hunters honest.
One trick to to use a different strapping mechanism thats harder to see. Anytime I have seen a camera, its always the strap I see first. The other is to elevate them 8-10ft. Just to get them out of the line of sight. Also helps with deer not noticing them. That said, I'm indifferent to them on public land. One hand, here in the mountains, its next to impossible to scout efficiently with anything else. Rarely do you have a situation where you can glass from afar. Terrain, thickness, etc. You just have to walk the land to find the sign and often you mess areas up doing it. So being able to go in once with some cams, find what you're looking for, hang a cam and get out of there is best. But I will say that with the popularity of public hunting these days, the sheer number of cams in the woods is getting crazy. You feel weird taking a leak in the woods anymore without having to wonder if someone has a pic of your wang that will end up on the internet next day. lol.
That young kid has a good chance of seeing a jail cell by the time he's 21, if not sooner. With his dad allowing that kind of thing, it makes it a realistic possibility.
