Trail cam pics of nothing

[HighUintas]

I set up two cameras for the first time this year. One camera, the Browning strike force extreme, took a lot of pictures of nothing. I have it set up facing south and made sure there were no branches or brush in the way that might trigger it. Could the sunny patches on the ground trigger it? Here's a couple of the pics of nothing. Or if the tree swayed from wind, would that do it? It was a 6-8" diameter Aspen .

 

[swehrman]

IMO, there is a lot of vegetation in those pictures that could trip a camera if the wind was blowing.

-- Scott

 

[Huntnnw]

thats hardly anything for vegetation to trigger a cam. If its taking lots of pics of nothing then those cams go in the garbage pile. I try and point all cams north to avoid sun washed out pics

 

[Whiskey_Fish]

I have fishing poles stiffer than 6-8” diameter aspens. Probably had some stiff winds. In some places the whole root mass will move with the tree.


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[HighUintas]

As long as it's not the sun spots! I'll have to get it put on a larger tree and try to clear any small branches that may be in the side of the detection cone.

I doubt it's just the camera. I've only heard good things about Browning cameras and this one had good reviews

 

[RoJo]

I have never seen a camera or setup that didn't produce at least a few photos of what seems to be nothing. There could be any numbers of reasons, from the tree that the camera is on swaying, branches, weeds, and whatnot moving in the wind, small animals moving around, birds and even insects flying by. I certainly would not throw the camera in the trash without proof it was taking lots of pics for no reason. I just do my best to minimize external factors and accept that in some cases I may be deleting hundreds of wind pics. I use 16 and 32 GB cards and even when it was a bad setup and I got thousands of "empty" photos I have only filled a card up once or twice. If the camera isn't sensitive you could miss some really great shots.

 

[RoJo]

You can actually tell looking at the edges of those two pics (in the OP) that the tree the camera is on is swaying.

 

[Ace531]

I'd be willing to bet that there's brush moving in front of the camera or perhaps small animals such as birds or squirrels. Do you know if the empty pics are happening during a certain time of day? One one camera I have that overlooks an open field facing southeast, during the spring, the sunlight will mess with the sensor or something and it will keep triggering pics till the sun moves and it'll give me a ton of empty pics. Just a thought.

 

[Jimss]

For some reason a couple of my Brownings were the same way. Some of the empty pics were swaying trees that they were tied to and sagebrush shoots swaying in front of the camera. I clipped a bunch of the small shoots and grass on my last outing so hopefully that solves the problem. One thing that I didn't notice until I looked at a gob of photos was the cameras were going off at the same time each day. I noticed that shadows were changing with the sun and that was likely triggering empty pics.

There looks like quite a few tree shadows in your photos. It may be tough finding locations without shadows but that may help?

I have a feeling Brownings may be a little more sensitive to slight movements. I haven't tried it yet but it may be worth changing the sensitivity so minor movements don't trigger photos?

 

[Mountain_Life]

Looks like good squirrel habitat...

 

[HighUintas]

Yea... There were alot around the same time of day. Also, with the sun spots and it being windy, if it gets the trees above swaying and moving those bright spots around I bet that could trigger it. And yes, I think there were plenty of squirrel stashes in that needle duff

I definitely got a couple of good ones though

 

[Cahunter805]

I agree with some of the above comments. Definitely the camera is moving from wind and there is plenty of vegetation that might move also. New cameras like the Brownings are pretty sensitive and can be triggered by the slightest wind or shadows or even birds as small as hummingbirds.
I would recommend trying to find a bigger tree or using a t post. Also I’d clear some of the vegetation and downed limbs to help limit things. I just had to move a camera due to wind/vegetation and used a t post brushed it in some also to hide it.
I also run all my cameras on low sensitivity and they still take pictures of birds flying by and squirrels.

 

[HighUintas]

I agree with some of the above comments. Definitely the camera is moving from wind and there is plenty of vegetation that might move also. New cameras like the Brownings are pretty sensitive and can be triggered by the slightest wind or shadows or even birds as small as hummingbirds.
I would recommend trying to find a bigger tree or using a t post. Also I’d clear some of the vegetation and downed limbs to help limit things. I just had to move a camera due to wind/vegetation and used a t post brushed it in some also to hide it.
I also run all my cameras on low sensitivity and they still take pictures of birds flying by and squirrels.

That's good to know. next time I go out to check it out I'll have to see if I can change the sensitivity setting. I don't remember seeing in the manual that you can change the sensitivity, other than the detection range.

 

[Macintosh]

Old post, but wondering if anyone has insight on this. I have a browning cell cam purchased in 2020. It has worked great, but this summer it started taking a zillion pictures of nothing. I am familiar with moving brush, branches, mice and red squirrels, and even patches of bright sun triggering…but
1) this is new, it just started happened
2) it happens at all hours of the day and night
3) in many of the videos that are consecutive, ie only seconds apart, there is nothing moving.

There is no sensitivity setting on the web app. Does anyone know if there is a sensitivity setting on the camera itself? Anything else to check? I hate to just toss the camera.

 

[Stalker69]

You can actually tell looking at the edges of those two pics (in the OP) that the tree the camera is on is swaying.

This is what I am thinking also. I know I’ve done that.