Trail cams on public land: how is that ok?

[DouglasR]

So Friday night I was drinking some beers with my ex best friend and one of his new friends from his new wife who’s this relatively nice, but traditionally chubby, out of shape, has an apparent knee injury from high school football that keeps him from exercising whitetail hunter.
Definitely better and more dedicated to hunting than me.

Anyways, we start talking about hunting and he pulls out his phone
“Dude look at what woke me up last night”
He proceeds to show me pics of a toad slammer of a double drop tine public buck he’s been getting instant cellular photos of sent to his cellphone via cellular trail camera.

And it’s just like... wtf?
Like why can you just leave those out there.
How is that fair chase?
You can collect unlimited data without ever being afield.
And if I want to smoke a j and get an hj out there, I don’t want Dylan having instant photos of that without even being there.
Or me taking a dump.
If you see it live through a spotting scope that’s one thing.

But with 3 cellular cameras it’s like you’re doing all day sits in 3 different spots everyday.
How is that not cheating?

Just wondering if anyone else has similar or opposing viewpoints on the matter?

 

[seeth07]

I love having 10 cameras all linked to my home computer and being able to check them while on the couch of my house at anytime. Is it cool to get photos all the time? Yes. Does it actually help me arrow a monster? Absolutely not. 95% of whitetail movement, at least by me is in the dark. I'm gaining no advantage here.

 

[DouglasR]

I love having 10 cameras all linked to my home computer and being able to check them while on the couch of my house at anytime. Is it cool to get photos all the time? Yes. Does it actually help me arrow a monster? Absolutely not. 95% of whitetail movement, at least by me is in the dark. I'm gaining no advantage here.

So you don’t hunt the areas where you see the big bucks on the cameras?

 

[Flatbrimmer]

So you don’t hunt the areas where you see the big bucks on the cameras?

Of course you try! But 95% of time you don’t see them! I’ve been on both boats.. kinda.. i don’t have cellular cams, I believe you should have to go manually retrieve it….

put it this way, if you see a trail cam, show em your nuts and flip em the bird. Or lean some sticks in front of it…

 

[Schaaf]

Personally, I have no problem with trail cameras on public land but if I were king, I would outlaw the cellular cameras, especially on public.

 

[seeth07]

So you don’t hunt the areas where you see the big bucks on the cameras?

It impacts my decision very little. I have 17 stands set up on the 350ish acres i can hunt if which most is fields. For bow hunting, only 12 are really viable. First decision is wind. That will narrow it down to 2 or 3 options. Second decision is time of sit. Some are better at night vs morning due to where they are typically bedded. Third is frequency. I don't like sitting same spot more than twice a week. If at that point there are 2 options left, I'll likely go to the one that had a shooter most recently by it. It's rut now though, new bucks coming and my local bucks are rarely on camera anymore as they have chased does and are gone.

So really, even with all the land I can hunt, no, it doesn't change much other than having ease of access to all the cool photos

 

[DouglasR]

It impacts my decision very little. I have 17 stands set up on the 350ish acres i can hunt if which most is fields. For bow hunting, only 12 are really viable. First decision is wind. That will narrow it down to 2 or 3 options. Second decision is time of sit. Some are better at night vs morning due to where they are typically bedded. Third is frequency. I don't like sitting same spot more than twice a week. If at that point there are 2 options left, I'll likely go to the one that had a shooter most recently by it. It's rut now though, new bucks coming and my local bucks are rarely on camera anymore as they have chased does and are gone.

So really, even with all the land I can hunt, no, it doesn't change much other than having ease of access to all the cool photos

This is public or private?

 

[Straight Arrow]

I am opposed to any kind of plastic or electronics scattered on public land. IMO, it fits the definition of human litter.

 

[rogerthat]

Luckily cellular cameras are illegal in my home state, however I see them out on the public lands. I need to start turning them in to f&g and I think I will. I run a crap ton of traditional cameras on public lands. Anyone who says they don’t give you an advantage is full of crap. The hardest part for me is finding that big buck. Once I do, I hone in on trying to find the specific spot I need to be set up at. I still usually fail (big bucks don’t get big by being easy to kill) but anyone that says they get no advantage from them is not being honest.

 

[rogerthat]

I would support an outright ban even though it’s part of my current system and technique. I think I would still do fine just reading the buck sign.

 

[seeth07]

This is public or private?

It is private but I don't think that matters. It serves as a tool to gather an inventory of what might be there but doesn't really help you physically make it happen. I'd even argue at times it might hinder it a bit if you become too focused on the camera and what it is displaying rather than actually hunting.

 

[Straight Arrow]

too focused on the camera and what it is displaying rather than actually hunting.

I think there is a huge disconnect (pun) between the legacy of actual hunting and the modern hobby of digitizing.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

I am opposed to any kind of plastic or electronics scattered on public land. IMO, it fits the definition of human litter.

The amount of hunter trash on the east coast is wild, ~ 50 years of rusted tree stands chained up everywhere.

There’s one spot I hunt from time to time where I’ve started to drop pins for each stand, simply because it’s comical. I’m up to 25, of those I think ~3-4 are active/ safe to sit in.

 

[thusby]

I use mine to catch nefarious icefishermen searching for prostitutes.

 

[rogerthat]

I use mine to catch nefarious icefishermen searching for prostitutes.

One time we couldn’t figure out what was taking big bites out of our tomatoes. The culprit….a black lab

 

[DouglasR]

It impacts my decision very little. I have 17 stands set up on the 350ish acres i can hunt if which most is fields. For bow hunting, only 12 are really viable. First decision is wind. That will narrow it down to 2 or 3 options. Second decision is time of sit. Some are better at night vs morning due to where they are typically bedded. Third is frequency. I don't like sitting same spot more than twice a week. If at that point there are 2 options left, I'll likely go to the one that had a shooter most recently by it. It's rut now though, new bucks coming and my local bucks are rarely on camera anymore as they have chased does and are gone.

So really, even with all the land I can hunt, no, it doesn't change much other than having ease of access to all the cool photos

This is just a completely different thing.
And I’m not knocking what you’re doing, it’s just very different from what I’m doing.

 

[DouglasR]

It impacts my decision very little. I have 17 stands set up on the 350ish acres i can hunt if which most is fields. For bow hunting, only 12 are really viable. First decision is wind. That will narrow it down to 2 or 3 options. Second decision is time of sit. Some are better at night vs morning due to where they are typically bedded. Third is frequency. I don't like sitting same spot more than twice a week. If at that point there are 2 options left, I'll likely go to the one that had a shooter most recently by it. It's rut now though, new bucks coming and my local bucks are rarely on camera anymore as they have chased does and are gone.

So really, even with all the land I can hunt, no, it doesn't change much other than having ease of access to all the cool photos

If you have 10 cameras and 17 stands on 350 acres doesn’t that mean you pretty much have the whole place under surveillance?

 

[COEngineer]

Just wondering if anyone else has similar or opposing viewpoints on the matter?

I'm just wondering how this has not come to your attention sooner. Seriously, this has been an on-going debate for years, if not decades.

Just for the record, I think trail cams should be illegal on public land for all the reasons you mentioned. I don't think it is so much of a fair chase issue as it is a privacy, trash, claiming-a-spot issue.

 

[DouglasR]

I'm just wondering how this has not come to your attention sooner. Seriously, this has been an on-going debate for years, if not decades.

Just for the record, I think trail cams should be illegal on public land for all the reasons you mentioned. I don't think it is so much of a fair chase issue as it is a privacy, trash, claiming-a-spot issue.

Oh I’m sure this issue has been discussed on here before, it was just recently rehashed in my life so

 

[MTGomer]

I don’t think it’s okay to use cell cameras during hunting season, especially in the west on public land