Serious video trail cam users
 

Are you a serious video trail cam guy? How many do you have? Are they out all year or only before and during season? Describe your setup and how you maximize the potential to inventory deer. Why are the deer passing in front of your cams?

Bump. Looking for input.

I have had access of up to 40 trail cameras of various brands. Some of these were: 1)returned for repair, 2)returned and due to repair costs, the company offered a discount on an up grade. 3)several of the early versions which only took picture were sold when cameras came out that would take video. Video is my interest. I have one total black flash (not visible to the human eye) but another camera set up in the vicinity will detect it at night, showing it like a white flash. 4)some of my newer cameras have the audio function, which is nice if set up over baits where deer, bears, turkeys etc. come and either communicate, fight etc.
My cameras are all set up facing along a trail, approximately at the 3-4 foot level. All near by brush, grass etc. is trimmed and removed to prevent false triggers. I try to face my cameras in a northerly direction to prevent white outs or over exposure from the rising or setting sun. Later in the fall, the sun travels in a lower arc in the south, which is not acceptable as in early to mid summer where it travels overhead.
Facing the camera along the trail gives the camera a chance to wake up. Cameras go into a sleep mode to save power when no movement is detected.
When swapping out my SD cards, I randomly check the batteries using a digital meter. For me battery percentage is not accurate enough. I travel 45 and 55 miles one way to my sites, checking every 10 days to two weeks if time permits.
Depending on snow conditions and animal movement frequency, my cameras are usually set out around end of February-mid March to December-mid December.
At present I have 21 trail cameras with 14 set out in several areas.
Our animal population is extremely low due to having three longer than normal winters with colder temperatures and deep snow. This year there were areas with snow into early June, severe spring flooding and an enormous amount of rain this summer and now early fall. Many animals died during this type of winter, while others aborted the young due to lack of green grass etc. for nourishment before giving birth.
I hope this information is helpful. Good luck.

Holy Smokes!. his a serious number of trail cams.

I have about 30 cams running mostly primos running them july -march!!! that was good idea little arrow metering your batteries were do you find the batteries aren't any good ??? for me 40 %summer 50% winter or when I gets cold 60% on video!!!you need at least 5.0 for videos I have found the d batteries life are better than the c's & double AA's even in the lithium!!! I've tried a lot of them!!! primos are simple to use & cheap on the pocket good pic counts catches mice , & birds!!! I use video mode in the spring , they have showed me that there was 3 nine points bucks instead of one !!! think there triplets!!! thought I was getting just a lot of one buck blew me away !!!

Sometimes, one can find a faulty (low reading) battery fresh out of the package. Other times they will work for a while, then one just decides its time to quit. Using the digital meter I find it much more accurate than the meter with the sweep hand. I have found faulty batteries even showing a negative voltage. This has even shown up in rechargeables. A rechargeable in this state can be recharged, but it will take quite a bit longer than normal. When I use a charger, they will flash when charging, then come on with a solid light when charged. This does not mean that both batteries in the same section are fully charged. The charger will show this with the highest charged battery. I test all my batteries before installing in the charger and again approximately 1/2 hour after removing from the charger. My reason for testing before installing in the charger is to put a pair that has a closely matched reading in the same section of the charger. Testing the batteries after about a 1/2 hour after removal gives the battery voltage time to stabilize, resulting in a lower reading than fresh off the charger. I find this really shows up when charging a vehicle battery.
As for weather temperatures, any battery will not put out as good when the weather gets colder. This is where the Ultimate Lithium shine, due to there higher voltage reading (1.79 to 1.83 volt fresh out of the package). Copper Top Duracell are another good battery testing 1.60 volt. The rechargeables are useless in the newer cameras. When battery voltage drops to 1.30 to 1.38 range, the newer cameras start to malfunction or fail all together. This voltage is usually tops for most rechargeable batteries (2.2 volt on the package, but most can be bumped up to around 1.38 with a charger).
You mentioned finding the "D" batteries better. I agree with you there. The "D" has more storage capacity than "C" or "AA". As an example, your vehicle comes with say a 650 cold cranking amp battery. You change that out for a higher cold cranking amp battery (750 or 850) your vehicle has much more cranking power when starting in cold weather.