A Problem I've Never Had Before

[Mike Belt]

I went to pull a card from a RecoynX camera today. (A lot of bucks but no shooters yet) This was one of the first times I've put my camera 8 feet up a tree. It was pointed down at a couple of mock scrapes in heavy, heavy cover. Once the rut and hunting pressure start I've seen some good bucks slipping through this area. Anyway, I mentioned heavy cover. It's really heavy cover inside of heavy cover. My problem is that all my day time pics (190 of them) were in monochrome. None of them were the pretty pics I'm accustomed to during full daylight from a RecoynX.

Could this be because inside of heavy cover pointed towards the ground I just wasn't getting any light to speak of or am I finally having problems with my camera? I'll know as soon as I shift it to another location but I figured maybe someone has experienced the same thing????

 

[BSK]

Sounds like pointing towards the ground fooled the light meter into thinking it was dawn or dusk all the time.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Yep....Pointing it down messed with the meter. If it is a black flash camera (especially Reconyx), I would never worry about them seeing it. If it was red glow, thats understandable. With Reconyx, and it is black flash, I honestly wouldn't worry about it. The majority will come to scrapes at night anyway and will not notice whatsoever. You say during daytime, but in several weeks, that is going to change, imo. If not and they are there in daytime, just go hunt it. But my bet is that will change

 

[Mike Belt]

All these pics were taken in the last week and 190 out of 205 were taken in the day (shooting light) and almost all pics were of bucks. This is the same area I've killed my last 2 bucks. It's so thick I spent a couple of hours stomping a path big enough to get back in there to hang the camera. With it being this thick it may explain why most pics were of bucks because they're moving during the daylight in that thick stuff. I also believe that the combination of being that thick and pointing it towards the ground fooled the meter because hanging the camera at normal height in the same location doesn't have that outcome.

JC...The place I hang this camera in relation to the scrapes (because of vegetation) is close. The deer don't see a flash but they see the camera. In the past in this location I've had pics of bucks reacting to just seeing the camera. That's why I went so high.