Trail cams on public land: how is that ok?

[Kodiak06]

This is the picture posted earlier. I’m with you, I don’t mess with other peoples stuff but this one clearly looks like it is now in the ‘litter’ category (it doesn’t even have a seat anymore).


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I missed that page lol. We had a ladder stand that a tree took over and the legs were about 4ft off the ground

 

[BrentD]

Does your State give you permission to take them? if not, ya should leave them alone or at the base of the tree. If not, you're stealing cameras lol

Yup. They appreciate anyone that carries out litter.

 

[Kodiak06]

Yup. They appreciate anyone that carries out litter.

Cool if they let ya, pissy if it's theft

 

[BrentD]

Cool if they let ya, pissy if it's theft

They don't mind in the slightest when I carry out beer cans and Mt. Dew bottles that have been similarly abandoned. It's not theft in the slightest. It's civic duty.

 

[bulldawg10]

I still fail to see how a camera that takes a picture of a very small area, that you have already physically scouted, or the camera wouldn't be there, is somehow less "fair chase" than sitting on a hill with a spotting scope seeing animals that are two or three miles away then plotting them on your electronic cell phone that is accessing information from billions of dollars worth of satellites, scanning the area 24-7. Especially if you found that hill in the first place, by studying high resolution photos taken from outer space and viewed on your electronic phone or computer. Then when you get to where the animal you spotted three miles away is, you use your electronic range finder to give you an exact distance, so that you know how to adjust your scope.

I don't use either method, so I guess that makes me better than all of you

100% the outrage is just picking and choosing what upsets them. Great examples...Use OnX, Google maps, range finders, compounds bows, vehicles, but somehow cams are bad.

 

[OntarioHunter]

100% the outrage is just picking and choosing what upsets them. Great examples...Use OnX, Google maps, range finders, compounds bows, vehicles, but somehow cams are bad.

I don't own OnX, GPS, range finders, or compound bow (ugh!), and DO NOT drive a vehicle off road on public land. My WWII rifle doesn't have a suppressor and its scope is a $99 no frills 3x9 BDC. Never owned an ATV or snow machine and never will. I don't even drive into the fields with my decoys. Used to carry them on my back but since I turned 65 a few years back I figured I better get techy and find some other less hazardous way to move that load.

Edit: I see this is an old photo. After taking this pic I spread the axels on the cart to make it less tippy.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

100% the outrage is just picking and choosing what upsets them. Great examples...Use OnX, Google maps, range finders, compounds bows, vehicles, but somehow cams are bad.

Come on dude, not even close to the same thing

 

[Fremont15]

Don’t let the government get away with telling you that you can’t use trail cams on public land! Use your trail cams. It is hurting no one.

 

[dandredeshon]

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?

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[Hilljackoutlaw]

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[Falcon75]

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.

What state are they illegal in?

 

[rogerthat]

What state are they illegal in?

Montana

 

[Falcon75]

Montana

That is the 1st thing good I have heard on here about Montana game and fish.

 

[Beignet]

Methinks the cell cams are only illegal during an open hunting season in MT. So they’d be legal for about three months or so.

 

[Bambistew]

The argument that they don't help, is always funny to me... If they don't help you then why are people upset they can't use them?

 

[Deleted member 48080]

The argument that they don't help, is always funny to me... If they don't help you then why are people upset they can't use them?

I know tons of people that do it as a stand alone hobby, who are also hunters. Myself included.

All the cameras I had up this year targeted species I didn't have tags for.

 

[gouch]

The argument that they don't help, is always funny to me... If they don't help you then why are people upset they can't use them?

Because people like to put them out to get pictures of animals. Believe it or not many of us have many ways we like to enjoy nature that doesn't necessarily involve killing something.

Again, a trail cam covers several feet and if you're lucky it tells you where they were. A spotting scope covers several square miles and tells you where they are. Why are people against trail cams and not spotting scopes?

 

[COEngineer]

Because people like to put them out to get pictures of animals. Believe it or not many of us have many ways we like to enjoy nature that doesn't necessarily involve killing something.

Again, a trail cam covers several feet and if you're lucky it tells you where they were. A spotting scope covers several square miles and tells you where they are. Why are people against trail cams and not spotting scopes?

Maybe read the previous posts in this thread. Some of us don't like to repeat ourselves ad nauseam.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Why are people against trail cams and not spotting scopes?

The dissimilarity of those two creates an illogical question.
As pointed out above, in the over hundred posts there are some expressions of opposition to trail cams on public land and clearly written opinions as to why the opposition.
Read and learn.

 

[gouch]

The dissimilarity of those two creates an illogical question.
As pointed out above, in the over hundred posts there are some expressions of opposition to trail cams on public land and clearly written opinions as to why the opposition.
Read and learn.

My response was in the form of an answer to a direct question asked by Bambistew.

You may have noticed that I attempted to express my opinion while giving a polite, honest answer rather than accusing him of not reading previous posts that might have provided an adequate answer to the question.

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