Here's a recap from my day: My huntin buddy and I went to check our trail cameras and replenish our bait stations this afternoon. When I got to my huntin spot and looked up at my trail cam, I noticed that it had been knocked out of position and was pointing at the ground, (I have it mounted on a swivel). I then noticed that one of the latches on the side of the camera was half opened. As I climbed up on my tree stand to look at the camera, I could tell that the motion detector had been damaged. 0Further discovery revealed this: A black bear had wrecked havoc on my trail cam. Why do bears hate trail cams soooooo bad?????? Some say that they don't like the IR lights but this happened during the day. The bear also came back and was on camera 2 more nights trying to mess with the camera. What's the deal with bears and trail cams????? When I got home, I went to ebay and ordered a security box. I've always tried to mount my cameras up high about 9-10 feet so someone walking by couldn't reach them or possibly wouldn't see them. I don't like the idea of mounting a camera low in a security box but I don't know what else to do. I had a different camera attacked several years back but no damage was done. Me and my huntin buddy were thinking that we could maybe mount our cameras high in a small tree that would be to small for a black bear to climb. What are your guys thoughts/experiences?????
Number one reason I buy cheaper cams. Bears are a norm here and they do like to trash them. They're curious animals and will investigate, knock down and chew on trail cams. One thing I've noticed over the years and its help save a cam or two. If possible in your hunting area, do not attach the cams to the tree with anything other than those cheap, flimsy little bungy cords. What I've found is that if a bear does decide to screw with your cam, they'll usually just nock it off the tree, punt it around a bit and then leave it alone. When I used to ratchet them fast to the tree and use cable locks, they'd pry and pry until they broke it and pulled it off the tree.
Bears don't like having their pictures taken. And there isn't a tree, big or small, a bear can't or won't climb.
They are just curious and want to play. Almost like a puppy. A guide I know stands on his atv and mounts cameras pointing down. They still attack them from time to time but much less. I use black flash cameras and make sure they do not makea clicking noise to draw attention. So far no casualties but I am sure it's only a matter of time as we are seeing more bear on camera. Good luck.
Its called they have a great sense of smell. Much better then that of a whitetail. Put a bear box on them cams and problem solved.
They're just curious and attracted to them by the smell, either plastic itself or the smell left on it by your hands... They'll investigate (and break) just about anything that does not belong in the woods... I've had a couple cameras broken by bears at my salt licks, but they never touch them at my bear baits, where the smell of food, bacon grease and rotting meat is much more interesting than the camera. The idea of the easy to break tie downs is probably the best solution.
They smell good, like dinner. They like 3D targets around here too. I only get cameras that have metal boxes. I do get some nice close ups though.
