Do you cover your trail camera?

[Hammer]

I bought my first trail cam this week. My question is do you build some kinda of shelter for them? Or do you just strap it to the tree and leave it?

 

[cecil30-30]

I just leave em on the trees.You can get security lock boxes for them that bolt or cable to the tree.I figure if someone wants it,they will just come back with the tools to get it off the tree anyway.

 

[gil1]

Sometimes, you can get foggy pictures because the glass on your box gets some moisture on it. If your box is not 100% leak-free (and I mean air, too), this is just going to happen whether you cover your box or not. Most of the time, the sun or drier air will clear the foggy glass up pretty quickly, and your cam will be okay.

Too big of a leak will hurt your camera. For instance, I accidentally closed my cam with a stick between the front and back so it closed with a huge leak for moisture to get in. The resulting moisture from some big rains killed the cam.

Now, I just cover the cam so that raindrops won't temporarily obstruct good shots. I've noticed that I often get my best day shots of animals on rainy or snow days, when they wouldn't normally venture out on a sunny day except at night.

I get a Tupperware box from Target, cut the bottom in half, spray paint it brown or camo or whatever, and put the half over the top of the cam. This works most of the time. I'll attach a pic. later.

I sometimes like shots of animals from near ground level and affix the cam way low. A big rain storm will splatter mud from the ground onto the box glass, ruining your pics. In that case, I lay something on the ground under the cam to prevent splatter. A towel, a foot mat, an old scrap of carpet, whatever you have lying around.

 

[BowGuy84]

I'd like to see pics of that set up Gil...the cover deal.

 

[FIREMANJIM]

If you will put a teaspoon full of plain old white rice in the bottom of your camera case it will take care of the internal moisture from condensation!!! Everytime I change out the card or batteries I rake out the old rice and put a fresh teaspoon full in. Works great!! Remember when grandma would put a few grains of rice in the salt shaker to prevent clumping?? Same principle!!!

 

[gil1]

If you will put a teaspoon full of plain old white rice in the bottom of your camera case it will take care of the internal moisture from condensation!!! Everytime I change out the card or batteries I rake out the old rice and put a fresh teaspoon full in. Works great!! Remember when grandma would put a few grains of rice in the salt shaker to prevent clumping?? Same principle!!!

That's brilliant. I have used the little commercially sold packets that are supposed to soak up moisture, but rice is much cheaper.

 

[Football Hunter]

good ideas

 

[gil1]

I'd like to see pics of that set up Gil...the cover deal.

Okay, here are some pics. of lids I made that I believe are a little too short. That is to say, the lid doesn't quite protrude far enough out to prevent a sideways rain from hitting your camera. But you get the idea.

Your basic Tupperware bottom cut in half and spray painted. If you don't want to spend the money, a decent carry-out container works great. It might be important to mention that I set my cameras to flash (white flash) even in daylight. If you prefer non-flash pics., you might consider not spray painting the see-through lids so it doesn't block sunlight. I doubt it really matters.

So pretend the back wall is a tree, and here's the setup.

 

[BowGuy84]

gotcha...thanks man. And great tip on the rice. Im doing it. Guess I'll have a ziploc of rice to add to my tool box or better yet storage area of ATV

 

[BSK]

Nope, I don't cover my cameras.

 

[backstraps]

Thats a cool idea too! Rice and tupperware! I like it, both very useful and cheap!

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

leave mine,sometimes try to camo it better