Trail cameras: tampering, stealing, and how to avoid it

TheCougar

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I'm curious about setting up cameras on public land. How have you guys fared setting them up in regards to people tampering or stealing them? Do you lose a lot of them? Does anyone have any tips to set them up in a way that avoids detection and/or douche bags who steal or break them? If you are reading this and have ever stolen a camera, punch yourself in the junk and then choke yourself until you black out. When you wake up, repeat.
 
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I put a cable and lock on mine. Sure you could cut it off with a bolt cutter but they are 7 miles in by foot so it would require some advance planning or a return trip. No issues in 5 years.


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elkyinzer

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Far and away the best tip is to hang them where no one else goes. 95% of the time I make sure mine are extremely unlikely to be encountered by anyone except myself. I don't leave any out during our rifle season. For Western guys that obviously means avoiding water tanks, I just don't think there is any way around that fact.

Your only other option is to camouflage it as best as possible. I've seen people glue leaves and sticks to the housing for 3D camo, but I never felt the need to go there. Get brackets and some climbing sticks and hang them way up in the trees.

Interesting you threw tampering in there. I know a guy that was targeting a specific monster buck on OH public land. He would go around to cameras he found and delete that buck's pictures. Not something I would do myself, but I kind of thought it was hilarious. Not really an ethical breach in my mind, I would classify that as gamesmanship.
 

UtahJimmy

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I'm curious about setting up cameras on public land. How have you guys fared setting them up in regards to people tampering or stealing them? Do you lose a lot of them? Does anyone have any tips to set them up in a way that avoids detection and/or douche bags who steal or break them? If you are reading this and have ever stolen a camera, punch yourself in the junk and then choke yourself until you black out. When you wake up, repeat.
Last year was my first go at the trail cam life, so my experience is limited.

I bought 2 and got python locks for them. I thought I put them deep enough but did get a few shots of humans. One guy messed with one but didn't destroy it.

This year I bought 3 more cheap ones, again with python locks. Hung them in early June and have only checked once, no humans. Hung my first 2 a week later 3.5 miles from any trail, and when I checked those 6 weeks later, one was stolen. I thought maybe it was a bear at first, but then realized the ahole was kind enough to put the strap back on the tree... backwards.

I've seen evidence of boxes beaten to a pulp to destroy cameras so I don't think those are any better but you end up spending more on security than the camera themselves. It's a shame that you can't trust others to leave things alone that don't belong to them, but I guess that comes with the territory of putting your property on public land.
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Aug 6, 2012
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I lag bolt the box to the tree and then cable lock that.
It seems to work so far and a nice side benefit is that cows, elk or bears can't turn or tilt it.
 
Joined
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Bothell, Wa
Never locked a camera, never lost a camera, and have never had another person's pic on a camera.

Same here with the exception I once had some bear hunters dancing and making funny faces. I also got a shed hunter with a nice haul once.

I try and get it as high as possible and try and keep any trimming of tree limbs to a minimum. As long as it looks as natural as possible I don't think they are very easy to see. I also don't think thieves often make it more than a 100 yards from their vehicle. Especially tweakers.
 

PNWTO

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 20, 2017
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124
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E. WA
I also don't think thieves often make it more than a 100 yards from their vehicle. Especially tweakers.

I think this is the biggest security item here, if you get your cams at least a 5-10 minute walk from any road I think that alleviates a big threat.
 

UtahJimmy

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SLC, UT
I think this is the biggest security item here, if you get your cams at least a 5-10 minute walk from any road I think that alleviates a big threat.
That's what shocked me the most about the one I got stolen, it's a solid 2 hour hike through some nasty blow down. Unless someone was on horseback, I couldn't imagine any reason to go back there.

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TheCougar

TheCougar

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Far and away the best tip is to hang them where no one else goes. 95% of the time I make sure mine are extremely unlikely to be encountered by anyone except myself. I don't leave any out during our rifle season. For Western guys that obviously means avoiding water tanks, I just don't think there is any way around that fact.

Your only other option is to camouflage it as best as possible. I've seen people glue leaves and sticks to the housing for 3D camo, but I never felt the need to go there. Get brackets and some climbing sticks and hang them way up in the trees.

Interesting you threw tampering in there. I know a guy that was targeting a specific monster buck on OH public land. He would go around to cameras he found and delete that buck's pictures. Not something I would do myself, but I kind of thought it was hilarious. Not really an ethical breach in my mind, I would classify that as gamesmanship.

I think that goes well beyond gamesmanship and is completely unethical. In the same way that I would never deliberately sabotage another hunter in the field, ruin their hunt, or mess with their gear. The golden rule applies. If I don't want it done to me, then I shouldn't do it to anyone else. I really pisses me off that we can't trust people out in the field. I've heard that outfitters and guides can be the worst criminals at this. I have experiences to relate, only what I have read about those folks and behavior in "their areas".
 
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Eagle

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Western Kentucky
Best advise is to get the camera above human eye level and angle it down to whatever area you want to monitor. Take a couple screw in steps with you to ensure you get it high enough. Basically, out of sight, out of mind, and even if a thief does happen to notice it, he's unlikely to have tree steps with him to allow him to climb high enough to remove it. A cable lock would be added insurance.
 

Felix40

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Jul 27, 2015
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New Mexico
I run a couple on national forest here at home for probably 4-5 months out of the year. Havent had any issues yet. I use one section of climbing sticks to get them around 10 ft up a tree. I havent gotten any pictures of other hunters yet but Im sure they have been nearby before judging from tracks and flagging Ive seen. Good thing about having them up high is that most people wont look up to see them let alone climb a tree to get one.

Im planning on sending a camera with a couple buddies who are hunting a new area in CO this year. My goal is for them to set it up during archery season while they are there then I can take it down in May when I go to visit and/or turkey hunt. That should give us a lot of intel. The camera may get ruined but hopefully it wont be stolen and the sd card will still be good.
 

OK_hunter

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Jan 10, 2017
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Alabama
I agree with getting the camera up high. If you can get it around 9-12 ft up most people will never notice them.
 

sneaky

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That's what shocked me the most about the one I got stolen, it's a solid 2 hour hike through some nasty blow down. Unless someone was on horseback, I couldn't imagine any reason to go back there.

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If it's in the Wasatch, forget it. People are EVERYWHERE.
 

530Chukar

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Out West
I buy the heavy duty steel cases from camlockbox.com, lag bolt the case to the tree, then cable lock the box and pad lock it. I forgot my keys once and found it way too easy to cut the cable just with my edc knife. None have been stolen, I do have pictures of NPS employees trying to rip off one of my cameras though.
 

swampokie

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oklahoma
I've lost close to ten cameras here in se ok. They won't steal em unless they see em. I have to put them up on Monday and take em down on Friday to have the best chance of
Them not being stolen. Never one clue of
Who took it except usually horse tracks. I never thought a horse would be interested in a camera! Fooled me
 
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I've fortunately only lost 1 cam to a thief, and one to a fire. I try to put them in places people won't always look. I've even climbed a tree and hung it facing down. Not efficient, but keeps people from stealing.
 
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