I have been thinking of buying one but can only afford the 35 mm variety (not a digital one). I see most (all?) of them have a flash setting. Doesn't a camera flash spook whatever game you are taking the picture of?

I can picture some nice buck walking along in total darkness and suddenly being strobed with a blinding flash of light. Not something they would just ignore is it?

This question has gone around a couple of times. Some animals don't seem to mind while others hightail it out of the aera. IMO there is no correct answer to this question.

Too bad they don't make them with night vision capability and an infrared flash. That would not spook anything.

I believe that game vu is the only infared on the market but pic quality was iffy if I remember corectly. I personally have never tried one. But I remember seeing post about them around this time last year. I did a search but try looking up game on the forum. I got 50 results all post not more then 2 weeks old and none were what I was looking for. Hopefully this will help some.

I have pictures of deer that stand around and model for the camera and I have others that turned inside out because of either the flash or the noise.....either way, I don't think they are going to avoid the area. The characteristic of a deer is more of a curious nature, they may bolt, stop...look back and go hmmmm....no big deal, wag the tail and move on.....as long as you keep the human scent down, no predator notions, they don't have a clue.

It's a good question, here is how i plan to handle it.

Right now my Camera is set-up in my hunting area. This is the area I plan to hunt near the opener Oct, 2 in ohio. I will move the camera this week to avoid any spooking it may cause. this will give my hunting area a cool down period. I won't go in or out of my prime area again until i'm hunting.

I will set my trail camera up in a completely different area and use it to scout activity in that area.