Well, my Bushnell Trailscout was out for 5 days this time and had taken 1,124 pictures before going dead in just 36 hours. 583 of those were flash pictures so the NiMH rechargeable batteries seemed to do pretty well compared to 1,488 pictures over 6 days with a set of Energizers with less than 50 of those using the flash.

The bad thing is that 1,400 of the last place that camera was set were false triggers. I assumed that it was a fence post that must have been moving with the wind.

This time I got 541 false triggers in one day and I can't see anything in the picture that would be triggering it.

Here is look at the image that the camera was false triggering:



It was facing to the north about 4' off the ground facing down at about a 15 degree angle. The false triggers started at 8:38 in the morning and continued on every few minutes until 4:42 pm.

Could it have been the sun shining on the corn causing it to trigger?

I'm starting to get concerned that something might be wrong with the camera.

Here is the fence post that I thought triggered the other 1,400 false triggers:



Any ideas?

Thanks, Nathan

P.S. - the Bushnell Trailscout is NOT a good bait camera. It would have gone dead in another day anyway because there were 583 pictures of racoons eating the corn over a two night period before the battery went dead. There isn't a delay option on the Trailscout so it was taking pictures every minute the racoons were there eating.

I was born and raised in West Texas. The wind is factored in to just about everything. I'd have to say you have a good camera, West Texas wind syndrome.

npaden you have me confused with your post. That first pic, is that an actual pic that you claim as a false trigger. Unless that is the post in the top right hand corner, I could not make out the post you are speaking of. If that is the post, and that is the actual pic from the camera, I doubt that it is the post causing the triggering of the camera as I think it would be just outside the detection range for the camera. But that is an easy test to see, just come up behind the post to see if you can trigger the pic by moving your hand while holding the post still (you said cam will take a pic every minute).

Also many things can cause a false picture. Normally a trail camera will require both a change in heat signature and detect motion for the camera to be triggered. The corn could be heated up enough to give you a change in heat signature, but some of the grass near there could be long enough to give the motion detection needed (if your camera is that sensitive, can you turn down the sensitivity). Also a slow triggering cam could have just missed the animal. Birds are also a large factor with corn on the ground. They could land, grab a kernel or two and leave before the camera triggers (blue jays are noted for this in my area).

Check the motion range of the cam in regards to the post, try to eliminate the tall grasses or other objects that can blow in the wind and see what happens.

Good Luck

The first picture is the last place I had the camera placed. There were 541 false triggers in one day. There is not a post in the picture. The 2nd picture is the first place that I put the camera. It had 1,400 false triggers over a 5 day period. I assumed that the post in the 2nd picture was what was causing the false triggers so that is why I moved it to the new location.

As far as birds causing the false triggers, there were 541 pictures in an 8 hour period. That's averaging more than 1 picture per minute. You would have thought that it would have caught a bird in at least 1 of the pictures, but there weren't any.

I would defenatly contact the maker of that cam t see what they have to say about it. One thing to always remember is that if your camera is not mounted solid and movement is premited (remember small trees can sway in the wind), this will also help achieve the unwanted faulse pics. That is one drawback of mounting the cams higher up (looking down) in that there is more of a chance of the tree swaying in the wind.

But honestly, I thought you might have had a problem, but mentioned what I did to try and help rule out the setup.

Good luck.

Thanks, I moved it to a different location, strapped on the trunk of a big tree looking down a trail. I'll wait and see what happens on the third attempt to decide whether to send the camera back or not. It was strapped to a windmill so maybe there was enough movement to make it go off.

I'm using rechargeable batteries and it's digital so all the extra pics aren't costing me anything, but I would like it to last a bit longer than 36 hours before running out of batteries. It looked like some deer might have found the corn but the camera was out of batteries long before that.

When one of my cameras starts doing something goofy I bring it in the house where I can control the environment and see exactly what it is doing. In the house there won't be anything blowing in the wind unless you point it at the curtains. Give it a try and see what it is doing.

I agree with Grumpy.Heat and Birds[:@] I've had same issue with my Leafriver 35mm w/sensitivity adjustment.I set up around alot of Marsh Grass and Frag areas.Darn stuff heats up during day and false triggers a roll of film(expensive). I've had this problem occur mostly in late spring when setting up in "cool temp" wooded area w/camera facing marsh.Big temp variation sets off false triggers.I simply turn camera away from heat source,trun down sensitivity.

Birds - My only clue on birds was catching a few faint blurs of bird(s) on occasion in corner of pic.

I found when you set corn out in open field setting its hard to control false flashes from birds without sensitivity adjustment.