AZ, Trail Cam Restrictions, Technology

[Travis Hobbs]

Truth in this. Its tempting to do for elk here in Utah. It takes so ******* long to draw a tag that I could "sell" an elk that would die of old age before I draw a tag.

Yep, absolutely true.

 

[Pro953]

I have seen some of the language, but do not recall seeing if the ban was across the board or just on Public?

I would hope the premise for the ban is. This is public land, don’t leave your crap here. Not some argument that it gives a “unfair” advantage. Banning the use on private crosses a bit of a psychological line for me.

Cameras can increase your confidence and give you a inventory, but I would not argue they give you any great advantage.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Hoodie]

Cameras can increase your confidence and give you a inventory, but I would not argue they give you any great advantage.

I pretty much agree with this, particularly when it comes to deer. Iḿ at least sure they´re way more useful for whitetails than they are for muleys or blacktail anyway, which are what I hunt.

That said, if I think about what it would be like to get a text message of exactly where elk are in real-time during archery season, it´s hard not to think that would have an impact on my odds for success. Especially where I hunt.

Non-cellular cameras I agree wouldn´t make a huge difference. You still have to hike to them. But those text messages would sure save me alot of time bushwhacking to areas where elk were yesterday.

I say that having not used them, so like most gadgets I´m probably overestimating how much it would actually help.

 

[Carpenterant]

I use cameras in here in az from time to time, I am for the ban. I’d be for banning guides altogether though

 

[Coues123]

Being a guide over 60 who has hunted and ranched in Southeast AZ and southwest NM my whole life so I can see both sides of this. It's hard to get off a horse and pee now days without looking around for a camera. I have used them for Coues deer just to see antler size. I have some tanks with 5 or 6 cameras. I have a couple of keys from some outfitters and check what cows I missed after I move them. So hard to gripe completely. South of I-10 the Border Patrol has over a thousand of them for their job. They work great for real time intelligence and they don't have to respond to hunters, hikers and environmentalists. Those will stay.

 

[Comerade]

Being a guide over 60 who has hunted and ranched in Southeast AZ and southwest NM my whole life so I can see both sides of this. It's hard to get off a horse and pee now days without looking around for a camera. I have used them for Coues deer just to see antler size. I have some tanks with 5 or 6 cameras. I have a couple of keys from some outfitters and check what cows I missed after I move them. So hard to gripe completely. South of I-10 the Border Patrol has over a thousand of them for their job. They work great for real time intelligence and they don't have to respond to hunters, hikers and environmentalists. Those will stay.

We have alot in common but I feel these cameras , like drones cross a line. A camera to watch the cow herd or the Bighorn Rams on public land become a clear as mud issue. Cattleman need all the help they can get, imo.
But it doesn't negate the privacy concerns. I find it creepy .

 

[Coues123]

I'll back the creepy part 100%. Try to ride with your wife, daughters and daughter in laws. It's almost like someone putting a camera on someone else's camp.
I've never put one on a tank on my own property or lease. I know it but other public land yes.
I can back the ban of cameras and utv. If they would stay on the established road no problem. I won't get into lazy road hunters as a rancher. I'll use some language here and be banned from the site. I have no problem with hunting but stay on the road. If you retrieve your game by driving off road which is legal that track will be there for years and the next guy who isn't ethical will follow those tracks and then you have a trail that will ever go away. Sorry to rant

 

[Comerade]

I'll back the creepy part 100%. Try to ride with your wife, daughters and daughter in laws. It's almost like someone putting a camera on someone else's camp.
I've never put one on a tank on my own property or lease. I know it but other public land yes.
I can back the ban of cameras and utv. If they would stay on the established road no problem. I won't get into lazy road hunters as a rancher. I'll use some language here and be banned from the site. I have no problem with hunting but stay on the road. If you retrieve your game by driving off road which is legal that track will be there for years and the next guy who isn't ethical will follow those tracks and then you have a trail that will ever go away. Sorry to rant

Pretty dignified rant , imo.
Yeah, I won't allow a atv on my land either. It seems like their introduction in the 80's ushered in the motorsports crowd.
They can sure rip and tear.

 

[elkyinzer]

Personally I would like to see them banned on public land and cell cams banned entirely from 30 days out until end of season.

 

[eddyprice]

Interesting to read comments in this thread. I am a new hunter, had my 1st tag for the late AZ archery hunt, November 2019. I bought a trail camera to help locate active elk trails before the season. That was helpful though I didn't see any mature bulls on the spots where I placed it - I got lots of elk from a herd but only spikes & raghorns. I did see many other cameras on water sources both when taking horses & mules out over the summer, and hike scouting. I didn't place my camera at water since they were already staked out.

Here in AZ where water is scarce it does seem to border on an unfair advantage to pattern animals at water tanks. But so does hunting at man made water tanks!

Even though I have 2 cams I would be supportive of restrictions/ban on trail cam use for hunting.

I am currently trying to get photos of a mountain lion I heard calling a couple of weeks ago. No luck yet, I haven't found a scrape to place a cam on. I don't want to hunt her but would like to see her. I figure she saw me in the early dark as she was calling around 50 yards from where I was. She called long enough I got to pull out my phone to record her.

 

[BBob]

I have seen some of the language, but do not recall seeing if the ban was across the board or just on Public?

I would hope the premise for the ban is. This is public land, don’t leave your crap here. Not some argument that it gives a “unfair” advantage. Banning the use on private crosses a bit of a psychological line for me.

Cameras can increase your confidence and give you a inventory, but I would not argue they give you any great advantage.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't think they could ban a camera on private property. Full wording on what the proposal says:

New information on the potential Arizona trail camera ban

Additional information provided by Arizona

www.gohunt.com

 

[EastHumboldt]

We already have so many huge advantages. Hi powered rifles, huge brains, logic, the ability to carry water and food with us, the ability to talk and tell each other where to look, etc etc... I think binoculars, spotting scopes and long range rifles are all the tech needed and then some. I mean Jesus... have some mercy. Radios, game cams, and drones have no place. I was so glad to see them banned in NV.

 

[Tmcgarrigle]

In states like AZ, hunters use radios and trail cameras. The number of trail cameras you see in some areas are out of control. When some areas are rather dry and cameras are placed on every water source in an area, it really creates some controversy. Now some guys get awesome stuff on their cameras and they do it just for recreational purposes so I am wondering if they should figure out a way to target this more towards guides.

 

[AZmark]

I have 2 cams that are used occasionally, use them more to monitor my driveways/gates. I dont have a problem with the ban and in fact after giving it some thought am in favor of it. On public land I dont like to have anyone or anything watching me, cant even go pee without looking around to see if there are any cams. As far as recreational use as mentioned above, I'd be ok with that if each camera was tagged with a visible sign so you knew it was there. I think they would make good target practice.