Trail cams being outlawed, thoughts?

[Sapcut]

Shooting animals, not hunting animals, with their nose buried in bait has waaaaay more ethical issues than cameras, IMO. Hunters....I mean shooters don't actually hunt any more. Compromise and caving to easy is everywhere you look on this planet. Pretty darn sad.

 

[*zap*]

I never cared for cameras....but I do not live in either of those states. Wish they would outlaw them all....

Sapcut, I agree with you 100%.

 

[Traveler]

I wouldn’t support a total ban, but some restrictions make sense. No cell cameras during a season and shortly before is a good example.

 

[midwestkilla]

I wouldn’t support a total ban, but some restrictions make sense. No cell cameras during a season and shortly before is a good example.

that is how Utah made the restrictions, July 31 - December 31


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[Broomd]

I am perfectly fine having them be outlawed on public land.

So am I.
Real-time game surveillance during hunting season shouldn't be legal lmho...

 

[Cowbell]

I can go on and on about this topic, but there's a few obvious reasons I am against them (I type this as I am watching a live feed of deer eat in my hog trap).
1) cameras should have never been allowed on public land. You can't even take a piss without having to double check your surroundings. It's really a privacy issue above a hunting one. Similar to drones.
2) I believe cameras are a big help to many guides on public land. I seriously have a problem with taxpayers being allowed to profit off a taxpayer owned resource at the expense of other taxpayers enjoying nonprofit recreational opportunities. So anything to level the playing field, I am fine with.
3) cell cameras give hunters in my area a chance to hunt multiple feeders at one time. As if feeders weren't enough of an advantage....

 

[midwestkilla]

I can go on and on about this topic, but there's a few obvious reasons I am against them (I type this as I am watching a live feed of deer eat in my hog trap).
1) cameras should have never been allowed on public land. You can't even take a piss without having to double check your surroundings. It's really a privacy issue above a hunting one. Similar to drones.
2) I believe cameras are a big help to many guides on public land. I seriously have a problem with taxpayers being allowed to profit off a taxpayer owned resource at the expense of other taxpayers enjoying nonprofit recreational opportunities. So anything to level the playing field, I am fine with.
3) cell cameras give hunters in my area a chance to hunt multiple feeders at one time. As if feeders weren't enough of an advantage....

I completely agree with you, i’d just hate to see hunting rights be stripped in the future with smaller things such as this being the beginning. If you get moved back an inch eventually you’ll look forward a mile to your starting point without realizing you ever moved backwards.


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[EastHumboldt]

We already have ATVs, side-by-side’s, Binoculars, high powered rifle’s, high powered scopes for those rifles, Horses, tents, camouflage, High powered spotting scopes. The list goes on. I think we have enough technological advantages without being able to spy on them constantly.And know their every move. I have always been dead set against game cameras.

 

[Ross]

Been using them for coming on 20 yrs….no cell service in the areas I place them and in that time have gotten less than 10 people on them as it is a hump to get in…our areas are so timbered it aids just to see what really is out there…these days I use them as much for shed hunting and a cool photo or two….always looking for ways to stay motivated to best myself up and cam checks is a good way for me to do that…I can see limitations possibly but not banning them…if you saw my google earth with 15 cams that I move through the year it is a chore to keep track of them and in fact found one this yr I did not mark well enough that I put out 5 yrs ago….still works

 

[amassi]

I'd be fine if they were outlawed as well as the practice of selling coordinates for target animals et el. Make fair chase fair again

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[OMB]

Cellular technology for trail cameras changed the discussion for hunting and their regulation.

I know of a 220"+ whitetail this year that got killed in my area where the guy was having lunch during gun season, got a cell cam alert which told him which wood lot the buck was in, and had him killed an hour later. I don't fault him because it's not illegal, but I'm not sure I consider that fair chase anymore.

There's also a big distinction between running cameras on private land for whitetails in the midwest and having 30-40 cameras set up on every water source on the Arizona Strip. Not sure outright bans make sense there, but there certainly be regulations on when they're used to as not to disrupt the animal trying to get a drink.

 

[Cowbell]

I know of a 220"+ whitetail this year that got killed in my area where the guy was having lunch during gun season, got a cell cam alert which told him which wood lot the buck was in, and had him killed an hour later. I don't fault him because it's not illegal, but I'm not sure I consider that fair chase anymore.

There's also a big distinction between running cameras on private land for whitetails in the midwest and having 30-40 cameras set up on every water source on the Arizona Strip. Not sure outright bans make sense there, but there certainly be regulations on when they're used to as not to disrupt the animal trying to get a drink.

This is dead on

 

[CorbLand]

I would be ok with a complete ban but I can take that or leave it. I do think seasons are a good compromise.


I am the worlds worst hunter, especially deer, but if someone can look me in the face and without a hint of lying tell me that trail cameras do not provide an ungodly amount of information, I would be forced to relinquish my spot.

 

[CorbLand]

I know of a 220"+ whitetail this year that got killed in my area where the guy was having lunch during gun season, got a cell cam alert which told him which wood lot the buck was in, and had him killed an hour later. I don't fault him because it's not illegal, but I'm not sure I consider that fair chase anymore.

There's also a big distinction between running cameras on private land for whitetails in the midwest and having 30-40 cameras set up on every water source on the Arizona Strip. Not sure outright bans make sense there, but there certainly be regulations on when they're used to as not to disrupt the animal trying to get a drink.

This happened in Utah this year. A guy was sitting in church, got a picture and the bull was dead a couple hours later.

 

[Cowbell]

I completely agree with you, i’d just hate to see hunting rights be stripped in the future with smaller things such as this being the beginning. If you get moved back an inch eventually you’ll look forward a mile to your starting point without realizing you ever moved backwards.


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I see it more as a protection of our rights. We can be our own worst enemies at times. No different than limiting drone usage, road hunting, hunting after flying, etc. Sometimes it's good to limit ourselves before non hunters do it for us. I deal with the same issues in ranching....

 

[svivian]

The other issue are the guys who “scout” for non residents for a fee. They use the pics they get from trail cams to show their clients what they are after. The better the pics the better the price.

 

[HighUintas]

I put up trail cams for the first time in my life, on public ground, just a couple years ago. I love the pictures. It's super cool to see what's going on there when they're just doing they're thing, especially during hunting season. They haven't actually helped my hunting all that much.

But, I'm all for banning them. *** But seasons are ok, maybe? The never ending onslaught of technological BS that creeps its way into hunting is maddening. I think it puts more in stress on animals due to people going into those areas more often, to check cameras. Also, you need every wiz bang gadget to help you harvest meat and get mad if it's not allowed? Take your smokeless powder filled muzzleloader and shove it.

 

[dieselchessy]

The tech creep in hunting is as annoying as point creep.
I’d be for an all out ban of cell cams. I can’t fathom how real time pics and video sent to your cell phone from multiple cameras could ever be considered fair chase.
I could also probably be swayed toward a ban on all trail cams.

 

[OMB]

The tech creep in hunting is as annoying as point creep.
I’d be for an all out ban of cell cams. I can’t fathom how real time pics and video sent to your cell phone from multiple cameras could ever be considered fair chase.
I could also probably be swayed toward a ban on all trail cams.

I've run trail cams in two upper midwest states for probably 20 years at this point, I remember the first cameras being on 35mm film and the animal had to cross a visible laser to set the camera off. Today my dad and I are running around 25 cams on our two family farms, and it's honestly been a nice hanging out experience to strategize where we're going to put them out in July and going out and checking them once a month when I'm home. We've got all kinds of cool stuff, from setting on a coyote den during the spring and seeing what mom brings back for food, to getting bobcats in places where they're not supposed to exist.

We inventory our bucks on each farm every year, send them out to family who also hunt the same properties as conversation and talk about our management strategy, and it really helps to monitor trespassing. We don't name our deer, which usually makes it harder when it's "no, I didn't see the crab clawed 10, i saw the crab clawed 9 with the fork and short beams." I feel pretty ethical in how we handle trail cameras.

That being said, I'm tempted to run cell cameras just to monitor the farms when I live 180 miles away and my dad is technologically challenged. We were out cruising timber recently and when I got back in service, somebody that had permission on our big farm had forwarded me a picture of me walking past his cell camera. I really like the idea for monitoring an area but the potential for abuse of the resource is too great in most cases on public land. Public land trail camera use is going to regulated every where at some point, so we best start figuring out what that looks like for guys that do it.

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

I don’t use them at all other than at my bear bait sites, and for that I find a cell cam infinitely valuable. I can keep track of when they come and go (or show up at all) and get a good idea of when it’s time to re-bait. Also, I can get an idea if there’s a shootable bear. The best part is I don’t disturb the area at all by going and checking an SD card.