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First Mock Scrape a Success..but done with IR Cams

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Engine2c

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Made my first mock scrape last Friday and stuck my cam on it set to video mode. Went by on the way to hunt this afternoon and pulled the card. I brought my laptop along and checked it when I got back to the truck. I was surprised to see that it worked the very first night. Had a couple small bucks and a few does. The mature 10 point I'm after was there this morning. I was thrilled to get a video of him.

There is a problem though... Every single deer that visited noticed the camera. Some of the does bolted immediately when the camera triggered. The bucks seemed more curious than anything but slowly eased away. Needless to say, after seeing this I immediately went back and pulled the camera. I'm guessing a combination of the trigger and IR spooked the deer. I'm surprised though as I have been running these cameras all year on picture mode and it hasn't spooked deer. Not even mature bucks as I have multiple pictures of each one that has been hanging around. Guess I will be making the switch to black flash now.
 
First, IR cams on picture mode rarely cause camera "spook" (deer jumping away from the camera). But IR cams on picture mode ABSOLUTELY are causing camera "avoidance," where deer are reluctant to walk near the camera after having seen the red-glow flash. IR cam users just don't realize how much camera avoidance their IR cams are causing until they switch to black-flash cams.

IR cams on video mode produce DRAMATIC camera spook, with many deer bolting away from the red light of the night-time illumination. Personally, I would never use an IR cam on video mode unless I had the camera mounted high and pointed it down.
 
I've been using a black flash on my salt luck and getting all sorts of night pics. Several new bucks from yearling to 3.5 and the big mature 9 pt I'm after. I just set it to video mode yesterday when I went to check the card.
 
I can say I've learned my lesson about IR cams now. It's too bad I did it the hard way and spooked deer. I will be making the switch to black flash now. Do you have any recommendations? Oh and I'm sold on mock scrapes now. Great way to see what's out there. I know it's near impossible to pattern a mature buck, but now I know he is making his rounds at the other end of the property too.
 
I use a primos truthcam blackout CR from Walmart. It's a bulky black camera for $80 which ain't a bad deal. Some people say primos cams are junk but so far mine has done ok. Recently replaced batteries and it was over 9,000 pics on one set of duracells.
 
It's very, very hard to make recommendations about camera brands. Every brand of camera has individual cameras that have problems. The thing to watch is what percent of users of that brand of camera report problems. Right now, the Covert black-flash cameras are coming in tops, with Moultrie in second place. I also like the Bushnell Trophycams, but they are currently not true black-flash (their flash is not as visible as most IR cams, but it is still visible).

Stay far away from Wildgame Innovations, Stealth, and Primos cams. A high percentage of users report problems with those brand cameras.
 
I've been looking at the Covert mp6 black flash I may try one of those out.

Here is the video of the 10 point. You can see right from the beginning he knows the camera is there and doesn't like it. I was thinking he was 4.5, but the more I watch this I'm second guessing myself and thinking maybe 3.5?

 
You'll find a lot of those deer will not react as negatively if you take it off video... Been there done that. Blast flash will help also!
 
BHC said:
You'll find a lot of those deer will not react as negatively if you take it off video... Been there done that. Blast flash will help also!
Click to expand...

Better yet, just use black-flash. Solves most problems (other than human scent at the camera, and deer seeing the camera box itself [which they will learn to ignore if it doesn't do anything visible]).
 

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