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Cameras 6 foot high

DMD

DMD

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I run red led cameras, and have always had negative reaction from deer. They often spook and run off in my pictures when they see the LED's. I even considered going back to flash cameras, but I love the extended battery life with the led cameras. I am too cheap to buy black flash cameras. Someone posted a link to a video seminar on trail cameras. I watched that and the guy stated that they had found putting cameras at least 6ft high and tilting them downward produced much less instances of deer spooking from the red leds. This year, I have tried that. I run 5 cameras. I put all of them at 6ft. At 6ft,I can still deer in the background at a long distance. I have looked through approximately 8000 pictures, so far no one instance of a deer being spooked. There are some pics of deer noticing the red glow, but after looking at if for a couple of seconds, they go back to normal activity. So far, I am very pleased with the results.
 
Good to hear you are having success with the elevated positioning. I too have placed cameras at elevated positions in the past, but not in the last few years. Another option you may want to consider is to cover the red IR array with camouflage tape or tinted film. I have not tried it YET, but I have been reading about the idea and I may just give it a whirl on my red glow IR cams this summer; mainly just to see how it impacts picture quality, how the deer react and what my overall impression is. Just a thought that you may want to consider. Links below talk more about it and it's application.

http://www.chasingame.com/index.php?id=264

http://ns.chasingame.com/forum/viewtopi ... &view=next

http://www.chasingame.com/forum/viewtop ... =9&t=24102
 
Good observation pastor. I have never personally placed cameras over about 4 feet. But what I have noticed, is that when up in a tree and shined my light down to get them to run off so I can get down, they just look at me. I pesonally believe they are used to seeing lights from above....it could be planes, lightning, the sun, whatever. By placing your cams (white flash or red glow) higher up, I think, could be great. As of right now, I have 2 red glow cams. I place them where I notoriously do NOT get pics of most of my big deer. I place my black flash cams where those locations are. If I can, I might try placing them higher up and see what is produced. Over salt licks, I think where this will work best, as they come in there quite frequently, and you need something that will not be alarming so they will continue to come in there. Salt licks and scrapes are locations I think placing cams up high will be a BIG factor. Over trails and other locations might not be as big of a factor, only because they will just be "passing through". If they spook for a minute or 2, then go about their business, I dont think its that big of a deal. But a location that they come to frequently, I think placing the cams higher up can show some better results.

It's all about the set up
 
It sounds like you are getting results that are similar to what I have experienced. I have 20 IR cams and they are all at least 8 to 10 ft high. I have a few that are 12 ft high due to specific circumstances. Very rarely a doe will notice the IR at night and will stare at it and get a little nervous. Let me emphasize that this happens very rarely - maybe once every 3-4 months. Bucks never seem to notice them. I am convinced that the advantages of mounting a cam up high far outweigh the disadvantages.
 
IF you can find a situation where a cam can be mounted high and still get triggers off in the background, you will love the results. However, finding those situations can be difficult. The main problem with a high mounting (and pointing the camera downwards) is losing the ability to get triggers from deer in the background. The "mount high and point downwards" system often produces a trigger area that is only a spot on the ground, and that can be problematic.
 
Here is the type pics I am getting putting my cameras six feet high:


PRMS0461.jpg
 
BSK said:
Hmmm, those deer are staring right at the camera.
Click to expand...

Yes. Absolutely the deer still notice it. Did not mean to insinuate they didn't. However, in the past, with cameras set at 3ft high - I would have had several pictures of deer spooking upon seeing the red glow. But, so far, every deer that has seen the red glow, continues to stay in the area and use the salt lick and corn I have out. These particular bucks in this picture continued to stay there for a long time, I have several hundred pictures of these bucks at each visit(I had my camera set accidently to take 5 pictures every 10 seconds when triggered - I had over 4000 pics in 5 days!) and they came back several different times. According to the man who gave the trail camera seminar, he stated when cameras were places 6ft or higher, the deer would still see the red glow, but would not be alarmed as they would be when placed lower. So far, in my small sample size, this seems to be holding true for me.
 
Andy S. said:
Good to hear you are having success with the elevated positioning. I too have placed cameras at elevated positions in the past, but not in the last few years. Another option you may want to consider is to cover the red IR array with camouflage tape or tinted film. I have not tried it YET, but I have been reading about the idea and I may just give it a whirl on my red glow IR cams this summer; mainly just to see how it impacts picture quality, how the deer react and what my overall impression is. Just a thought that you may want to consider. Links below talk more about it and it's application.
Click to expand...

Actually, the picture that I posted above is taken with a brand new Primos Ultra 35. It has the camo tinted film over the LED's. Let me tell you, for the money - that is one sweet camera so far!
 
Vermin93 said:
Here are a few videos that show how some deer and a coyote reacted when they noticed the red IR on my trail cameras that are mounted 8-10 feet high.

Doe sees infrared trail cam - 1

Coyote sees infrared trail cam


Doe sees infrared trail cam - 2

Doe sees infrared trail cam - 3
Click to expand...

Very nice. Seems like similar reaction that I have in my pics. On a side note, those are some of the fattest, healthiest looking does I have ever seen at this time of year. All my does are bone thin at this time of year.
 
pastor - all is not as it seems...

I had to search through my video archives to find a few videos of deer seeing the red IR light. The first 2 doe videos are from Dec last year and the 3rd doe video is from Aug last year.
 
Vermin93 said:
pastor - all is not as it seems...

I had to search through my video archives to find a few videos of deer seeing the red IR light. The first 2 doe videos are from Dec last year and the 3rd doe video is from Aug last year.
Click to expand...

I thought that might be the case. They were awful fat and sassy looking!
 

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