pastorjim is right on the money with all aspects of his post.

I too didnt get into homebrew trail cameras because of cost. Just a certain self gradification from building something yourself, being able to fix it yourself and the quality of pictures you can get from something you built. Trail cameras are more to me that just figuring out a nice buck.

Sure its great to put the puzzle together but after hundreds of nice buck pictures and thousands of deer pictures, there were a lot of bucks that only gave that one photo oppertunity to never be seen again. For those incounters I always wished I had a better quality picture. Now I get the quality. If I get luck and get the buck I am after, I have a bunch of really nice pictures to go with it and a greater sense of accomplishment for me personally.