Set up a trail camera in my backyard

[jeepman3071]

I bought this trail camera and have it mounted right on the edge of the woods behind my shed. Here are just a few things I've gotten so far. Turns out I have a family of foxes living under the shed.

It takes good quality night pictures as well:

 

[ClutchDisc]

Nice backyard and nice quality pictures!!

 

[oilboy123]

Wow lots of diversity...... Bobcat as well.

Always amazed at the wildlife in different states. Thanks for posting. This is the type they use for hunting correct?

 

[Chris142]

ive got one at my gate. lots of rabbits,a few coyotes.trash truck.no big cats yet.

 

[earlyre]

dad had one set up last summer. lots of shots of us in the yard, and overnight, Feral cats. not even a 'coon or skunk.

 

[JHZR2]

Wow, neat pictures! How many pictures did you have total to go through to get those?

The quality seems great, what kind of a camera are you using? How does a trail camera differ from a security camera? Power source?

 

[daves87rs]

Cool!

 

[AdmdeVilleneuve]

Nice collection of wildlife. Most exotic thing in my neighborhood is a great horned owl that we hear around the nearby creek every few weeks. Now, that can be a loud owl if he is close by, and even then I can't see it. May need to get one of these cameras.

 

[kneesahn]

I can't imagine having those animals in my backyard.

 

[expat]

It's a Zoo out there ;-)

 

[Barkleymut]

thanks for sharing, my Mom lives in the sticks on the NC/VA border and one night I was going out to my car around 11 PM. There was a bobcat in the yard just looking at me, he eventually wandered off, but he didn't seem too concerned about me.

 

[BISCUT]

Very cool to see the bobcat! Haven't seen one of those in years. Nice image quality! What trail camera did you purchase?

 

[jeepman3071]

Thanks guys the camera is a Moultrie M80 GameSpy from Cabela's. It runs off 8 "AA" batteries. The batteries last a couple months, and it has a display that tells you the battery life and how many pictures it has taken. The camera has many different settings on it. I can adjust the delay for the motion sensor, how many pictures it takes at a time, and I can also take short videos. The videos I haven't tried yet and I imagine they eat up more battery and memory space. I haven't messed with it yet but I hope to try the video soon.

The camera has a strap mount that allows it to be mounted to a tree. I just have it mounted to a garden stake from our garden with zip ties. It uses an SD card to store the pictures and I just download them onto my computer. The motion sensor is somewhat sensitive as well. This particular time I had to go through about 1000 pictures because there was tall grass in front of the sensor that moved back and forth with the wind. I typically get 200-300 pictures with a majority of them being birds and squirrels.

Over the winter my mom feeds the birds, and we noticed the seed was emptying faster than normal. I set the camera up next to the feeder and this is what I found:

Those pictures are from the front yard. We live at the end of a culdesack in a fairly wooded area, so wildlife sightings are pretty common. I'm very happy with the picture quality.

 

[ClutchDisc]

Nice!!

 

[UncleS2]

Cool photos!

Are there any bargains in trail/game cameras? How about some good info sources that aren't just advertising for a particular brand name or business? Here we have raccoons, 'possums, foxes(saw one in broad daylight a few months ago), owls, occasionally deer, and now the wild hogs are back- the next door neighbor just set up a hog trap. Plus the squirrels & 'coons are destructive to the roof & eaves of the house.(I've pondered sitting on the roof at night with a flashlight & high powered pellet rifle, or .22 rimfire, or .410 shotgun). Would be nice to see what goes on after dark- especially something that ran on a motion sensor & not just a timer. Any suggestions appreciated.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: UncleS2
Are there any bargains in trail/game cameras? How about some good info sources that aren't just advertising for a particular brand name or business?

How about reading through Amazon reviews?

The one that OP owns actually has decent reviews, although it is a discontinued model, but still being sold. Unfortunately, you have to physically access the SD card to download images from it. I'd like to have one up on the tree, but I don't feel like having to climb up every time I want to pull the data. They do make ones that have wifi capability, but they are pricey and the reviews are somewhat mixed.

 

[UncleS2]

Good point- are there any that could output images thru, say, a nice long easy-access USB or HDMI cable? I may start looking for one of these, saw a Moultrie model for under $60 last night.

 

[jeepman3071]

The Moultrie M80 that I have doesn't require removal of the SD card in order to download the photos. In fact, I haven't touched the SD card since I put it in the camera when I bought it. The camera has a USB port on the side with a cable that attaches to my computer.

Honestly, I don't have experience with any other trail cameras besides this one, so I can't really offer any advice on them. This one I bought on sale at Cabelas using points from my Cabelas credit card. I bought it based on the reviews listed on the Cabelas website, so you may want to check those out.

 

[JDW]

Cool pics guys !!

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
The camera has a USB port on the side with a cable that attaches to my computer.

Right, that's what I meant - you have to physically be at the camera. There is no way to access data remotely or to get a live feed.