IADNR bans cell cam "scouting" during hunting season

[Q_Sertorius]

Totally understand and agree with the sentiment. It just happens to work, collectively, for the hunters on public where I am.

That’s pretty standard for any situation where no one has a real claim to possession: people come to a tacit understanding. Which works well until an interloper comes in… hell hath no fury like a displaced hunter with no claim of right to hunt somewhere. The petty lengths to which people will go to try to get the newcomer to leave can be epically stupid.

My family always hunts a pass that is just on our side of the property line from the National forest. We’ve had people come up from the National forest side to try to “claim” that spot try all sorts of things. Putting up stands on our land. Sitting just off our land twenty feet from where we are already set up. Or tromping back and forth along the property line. Or going down the hill 50 yards, just out of sight, and firing a shot every few minutes.

In the early 1990s, my family bought a farm that had been neglected for a decade while the absentee owners went through a divorce. The stink raised by all the poachers who had claimed little corners of it as their own hunting spot could probably be smelled from 30,000 feet. For the first two years, we had to hunt there twice a day every day and threw off poachers every time we went out. The animosity generated by this change played a big role in a horrible lawsuit in which my family got involved. Some realtime cameras might have been pretty useful in that situation.

I definitely don’t like it when people try to claim a public resource as their own.


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[dtchhuntr]

That’s pretty standard for any situation where no one has a real claim to possession: people come to a tacit understanding. Which works well until an interloper comes in… hell hath no fury like a displaced hunter with no claim of right to hunt somewhere. The petty lengths to which people will go to try to get the newcomer to leave can be epically stupid.

My family always hunts a pass that is just on our side of the property line from the National forest. We’ve had people come up from the National forest side to try to “claim” that spot try all sorts of things. Putting up stands on our land. Sitting just off our land twenty feet from where we are already set up. Or tromping back and forth along the property line. Or going down the hill 50 yards, just out of sight, and firing a shot every few minutes.

In the early 1990s, my family bought a farm that had been neglected for a decade while the absentee owners went through a divorce. The stink raised by all the poachers who had claimed little corners of it as their own hunting spot could probably be smelled from 30,000 feet. For the first two years, we had to hunt there twice a day every day and threw off poachers every time we went out. The animosity generated by this change played a big role in a horrible lawsuit in which my family got involved. Some realtime cameras might have been pretty useful in that situation.

I definitely don’t like it when people try to claim a public resource as their own.


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Yep, I don't disagree at all. I was thinking of it through a very small microcosm of how its been operating the last 10 years in one little hunting spot, definitely not advocating claiming spots. And if someone was in my normal area,tip of the cap and I'll move to one of my other marked locations.

 

[Dking]

https://iowawhitetail.com/community/threads/iowa-cell-camera-rules.64462/

I’m good with it. Too much information.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

IADNR issued the following today.

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/IACIO/bulletins/3a42e61

 

[N2TRKYS]

Sure is alot of folks worrying about how other people hunt. If they aren’t killing over the limit or trespassing, don’t worry about it.

But, by all means, ask for more government overreach.

 

[deerhunt1988]

IADNR issued the following today.

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/IACIO/bulletins/3a42e61

Looks like the crybabies got their way. Not surprised. I knew the hunting industry would get involved due to the cell cam stuff. The industry is a powerful force when it comes to battling proposals they don't agree with.

 

[Westernwannabe]

I can see a benefit on public land. Keep the playing field level for everyone. Private I don’t think we need to control who’s using what for cameras.

At the end of the day, technology, social media and influencers have irrevocably changed the world. You can choose to bitch and moan about it but it’s not changing. With this has also come a huge push towards bigger deer. It’s easier now than ever to find a bigger buck. Guys are more competitive and want bigger ones, hence less smaller deer getting shot.

I’ve run cell cams for 5 years. Main takeaway I found is they actually caused me to hunt way less. Took me until the 5th year with them to harvest a big buck. Did the cell cams help, sure. Are they the reason I got him, maybe a small percentage of it. I had to get lucky and have him come through the right spot at the right time, hunt the stand on a perfect wind(almost wrong but just right enough), get into the stand, and on and on. Guys like to show you a picture of a deer under a stand and say they would have killed it had they been hunting that day. We all know that’s simply not true. To think getting cell cam pics means you can just go walk up to a deer and harvest it is foolish.

 

[Elkangle]

It’s easier now than ever to find a bigger buck. Guys are more competitive and want bigger ones, hence less smaller deer getting shot.

Which in turn leaves way more opportunities for kids or less experienced hunters who would be tickled pink to kill smaller bucks... and I think that's awesome

 

[Westernwannabe]

Which in turn leaves way more opportunities for kids or less experienced hunters who would be tickled pink to kill smaller bucks... and I think that's awesome

That is a really good point. There are so many properties and areas with ridiculous numbers of deer. More and more properties that hardly get hunted by one or two trophy hunters.

Access to private is harder than ever. For that reason, I can see an argument for no cell cams on public. I know a lot of hardcore big buck guys with plenty of primo, private access are still running cameras on public. Always looking for that big one, wherever it is. If they can’t run cell cams in there it may increase some opportunities for the guys that need that public as their only option.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

I hate the entire idea of private cameras on public land.


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[Elkangle]

That is a really good point. There are so many properties and areas with ridiculous numbers of deer. More and more properties that hardly get hunted by one or two trophy hunters.

And just to be redundant for future viewers, that property with ridiculous numbers of deer spills over on to adjacent properties that has less deer

 

[CJ19]

There needs to be a ban on game cameras on federal land period. The ban should function similiar to other leaving litter type bans. People do not need to have a game camera on every waterhole in the american west to hunt. Its littering and disgusting. On par with walking out in the forest and finding an old beer can.

I Want to say 14 day limit then needs to be moved 5 miles similiar to camping....that would be better than nothing and would allow people to use cell cams as security devices for their camps etc.

 

[Crowmangler]

Reviving this thread after watching the Seek video about the 212" Ohio buck.
I'm aware I'll probably get dragged for being an old stick in the mud cause of the "muh technology" guys.
Happy for him & I know he puts a lot of time & effort into it but these cell cams have gotten out of control IMO. It's about like having a predator drone following animals around 24/7.
Kinda wish every state would outlaw them once the season starts.
Rant over

 

[TactaCamWard]

Reviving this thread after watching the Seek video about the 212" Ohio buck.
I'm aware I'll probably get dragged for being an old stick in the mud cause of the "muh technology" guys.
Happy for him & I know he puts a lot of time & effort into it but these cell cams have gotten out of control IMO. It's about like having a predator drone following animals around 24/7.
Kinda wish every state would outlaw them once the season starts.
Rant over

It’s nearing the end of the season where I am and honestly I’ve been thinking about this a lot. When I first started hunting I didn’t have a single camera anywhere. I looked for fresh rubs and scrapes and used a climber or hung a stand where I hoped a monster would show.
I can definitely say I enjoyed hunting more when I didn’t run the trail cams I run now. Yes it is awesome seeing what’s out there and witnessing up-comers but I’ve noticed that my excitement has almost been taken over by me EXPECTING to see what I’ve seen on the camera.
To me the excitement of hunting is the thrill of the unknown. I’m not sure if I’ll run them next season.
Not saying I care if anyone does or does not run them. Just my random 2 cents for what it’s worth

 

[HuntHarder]

It's been amazing in Az not seeing trail cameras at every waterhole. I know it has absolutely made targeting certain deer in our premiere units, much, much harder. Outfitters here used to post pictures of their hundreds of new cameras they were putting out. Wasn't uncommon in our premier units to see 10-30 cameras on one tank.
When i hunt with my buddies in ND, they basically know of, or their neighbors know of, most of the bucks we will be after. There has been days where we get a cell phone picture and everyone hustles to try and kill that deer before he leaves. Not my style and not really fair chase imo..

Your land or not, game and fish controls the game animals and methods of take allowed.

 

[ozyclint]

Email I received from the Iowa dnr this morning:



1) No trail or cell cameras of any type are allowed to be left unattended on public lands.
2) Cell cameras cannot be used anywhere (public or private) while actively hunting.

This makes trail cams, for all practical reasons, illegal on public lands.
They exist to be left unattended.

So legal use of a trail cam on public land means setting the camera then sitting beside the camera waiting for it to take pics of game as they walk by? ....and you can't hunt the animal when it comes by because you can't actively hunt while you're attending the camera.

 

[AlphaK9]

As an Iowa guy that is lucky enough to hunt close to home- I am indifferent on this. I see both sides and will be interested to see how it goes. For me- the drive and excitement to go throw on the ghillie off a deer trail or climb a tree is the unknown of what is to come. Like Christmas morning for a little kid. Everyone would love to kill a monster, having one show up when you were just in the right place at the right time makes it more special in my opinion.

However- for security purposes and even keeping tabs on things real time there is no way to beat these things. I don't have any, I enjoy the boots on the ground scouting but if that's not feasible for someone due to physical limitations or distance from the hunting location- knock yourself out. Public ground is public- if it's left behind... it might grow legs!

 

[wyosam]

I think if you want to put them on public ground, they become public domain. Location shows up on an easily accessible map for the world to see, along with pictures of whatever is coming by that location. See, everyone wins.


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[dtrkyman]

I am all for it, after hunting public in a different state than Iowa last season and the insane amount of pressure I couldn't imagine trail cams being legal there, there would be thousands of them!

 

[TimeOnTarget]

I’ll admit, I’ve killed a Couple or more really nice deer based on pictures. (Cellular and regular cams) knew which stand to head to that evening as the pictures gave me a pretty good idea as to where he was bedded.(I was right). I’ve also had the thought to quit using cams all together as it take the excitement of the “unknowns” and “what if” out of the hunt to some extent. I found myself this year not even going hunting cause I didn’t have pictures of a good buck.

I can see both sides to the argument for sure.