# Hunting / wildlife camera idea



## MurrayTX (Nov 4, 2011)

I stumbled across an idea when flipping through a friend's hunting gear magazine. The tech and cost of motion activated, water resistant, low light, wildlife cameras have greatly improved. Has anyone experimented with incorporating one into their haunt to catch victim reactions to share?


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## MurrayTX (Nov 4, 2011)

Oops... I meant to ask for anyone who has set us a reaction camera to post a few pics on this thread to show what is possible.


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## nixie (Sep 17, 2008)

hmmm, you have me thinking. Maybe these cameras would also work well for security?


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

Nix- I may be wrong, but most of the cameras I've seen on hunting shows take pics any time there is movement. If there is continual movement, they will take still shots every 15 seconds or so. You have to upload the pics from the camera to your 'puter- no live links.


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## MurrayTX (Nov 4, 2011)

A hunter friend said many of the cameras can take large memory card. A few may be able to do wi-fi. I often think of the confused look on a deer in those pics and think of a more humorous human version. 

As for security, the low light capable digital security camera system with DVR sold by Costco seems to be the way to go. I am lobbying my wife to let me get the 8 or 16 camera model. $500 seems small compared to lost or destroyed props. And just use all year. If they can be controlled for still photos on demand, they may remove my interest in hunter cameras.


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## MurrayTX (Nov 4, 2011)

*Security and wildlife camera experiences*

Did anyone experiment with capturing audience reactions with home security cameras or hunter/wildlife cameras? It seems that the technology is getting better and cheaper, offering some very feasible candid camera potential. The boxed home security cameras claim to take very decent low light and IR pics.

If you haven't used either, did you try to get audience reactions (with some success) with a standard digital camera?


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

I didn't use it for audience reactions, but I did catch a couple of teenagers bent on mischief with one. For my purposes, it worked great!


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## austenandrews (Aug 22, 2010)

We bought an IR security camera for that purpose (and for security in general). It's a wireless IP device on our home network. We mounted it on our evil candy machine puppet and were able to access it from both a laptop inside the puppet and the desktop PC in my office, which we used to record it. 

The IR worked great. It's got IR LEDs for pitch-black conditions and it blends in visible colors when available. Much more sophisticated than the old IR-only nightvision camcorders from the early 2000's. Plus we got one with remote panning and tilting, which was handy to adjust the framing on the fly. We got the whole evening on video. The haunt space was pretty small and I mounted it at the last minute, so we didn't always catch all the action, but I was quite happy with the camera performance and image quality.

We paid around $130 for it. We're going to point it at our front yard & driveway for security. We're pleased enough with the results that we're considering a second one for the side yard.


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## Lord Homicide (May 11, 2012)

I can look for some game cam pics I have taken at night and let you see what it looks like ifyou want me to


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## MurrayTX (Nov 4, 2011)

I would like that. I am okay with making a small investment in such cameras to get some good guest reactions. I can see those as highlight trophies to maybe compare year to year. And then there is the whole all year sense of security about at least capturing a burglar pic if I am unfortunate enough to ever have one.


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## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

A friend brought down four cameras and set them up the night of our party and on his departure the next day gifted them to us!!!!! We did capture some good footage but the location of the cameras wasn't ideal for one and tragic for two others. Plus it's an older unit so the download is exceedingly difficult and slow. I was holding out in the hope that there will be more footage to add so I haven't uploaded it as yet. But I can certainly see some great potential to put them to much better use next year given we'll have more time to experiment with location and the limitations of the unit.


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## austenandrews (Aug 22, 2010)

I'm definitely designing next year's layout with camera placement in mind.


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## Lord Homicide (May 11, 2012)

MurrayTX said:


> I would like that. I am okay with making a small investment in such cameras to get some good guest reactions. I can see those as highlight trophies to maybe compare year to year. And then there is the whole all year sense of security about at least capturing a burglar pic if I am unfortunate enough to ever have one.


Ok, I after thinking about it, I'm not sure if a game cam is best for you since it takes stills based on movement. More for security really but I'll still get a pic for you


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## austenandrews (Aug 22, 2010)

Lord Homicide said:


> Ok, I after thinking about it, I'm not sure if a game cam is best for you since it takes stills based on movement. More for security really but I'll still get a pic for you


I asked a coworker who hunts about this. He says they make game cams that take video and can be set on a timer as well as motion-activated. I gathered from the conversation, though, that for the money you'd spend on a nice game camera, you could buy an even nicer security camera. You're paying extra for durability against the elements, plus they're bigger and clunkier.


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## Lord Homicide (May 11, 2012)

^ probably true. Below are pics from one of my game cams. Gives you an idea how well you could identify intruders and the depth of the shot taken. I doubt these would fulfill the needs for capturing scared folks in your haunt.

Motion activated. These are strapped to trees completely in the open.

Game cam day shot









Game cam early morning shot









Game cam night shot - I think this one got wet which is why the picture is kind of blurred at the bottom.


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:Wow, the pictures are so clear! Very cool!


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## MurrayTX (Nov 4, 2011)

Thanks for the examples. I agree that a security sys setup would likely be better. Especially considering the delay. Hell, I may consider an inexpensive digital bid camera so I could maybe get sound. Might be best, if limited to the better lot rooms.


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## Daphne (Oct 18, 2006)

This is an old thread but what the heck. We were having some vandalizing in the neighborhood 2 years ago and my display is out for a month so I bought a game cam. It was a Moultrie from Bass Pro and a little over a hundred bucks. Where I had it last year sort of worked but was too short (I mounted it on my haunt fence so where I had to conceal it was less than waist height). You get about 60-70 feet coverage but I was able to use it to cover most of my good stuff. Pretty decent quality but you really need a little light to see in the dark. It is harder to see after 10 when my lights go off which is of course when the vandals would most likely show up but I pulled the SD card every couple days and it is interesting to see what and who comes by that you know nothing about! And it picks up speech too which is also interesting ha ha!

I'm looking for a better and higher location this year that still is within the range but I highly recommend getting one if you are concerned about loss.

I bought it specifically for this and am happy I did.


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## nativehaunt (Oct 2, 2013)

Flynn's Lick Spooky Hollow, a smaller community haunt close to me, has done this for a few years.

Here's a link to their album from last year, It's on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...356.1073741827.100001457056943&type=3&theater


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