anybody have experience with using gps chips inside your game cam to track them after theft? I heard a speaker once say he used those but have not been able to find anything on the web.
Any other great ideas on theft prevention? Looking to buy my first cam for this year.
Thanks in advance
I know a few guys that used climbers and put theirs 12 ft up and point them down. They don't get the "up close and personal" pictures, but at least they still get to see what kind of deer they have around and they still have a camera left. It works suprisingly well.
Anybody use the python cables? I beleive they are made of kevlar, which you cant cut. I have been considering them.
Yes, the python cables are good.
Budddy Lost a nice reconx all was left at tree was the cut python cable. I use these but are not sure thing
yes u can cut kevlar, all of the cables are going ot keep an honest person away, thats it.
I use the python cables on all mine. I also build my own cams. The cables can be cut. But somebody is going to work on getting it off the tree. I also do a liquid nail camo on them cause it blends in better than the commercial camo. Dont set them up where others can find them. What I mean is put them back in the bushes off the trail a little.
QuoteOriginally posted by frassettor:
I know a few guys that used climbers and put theirs 12 ft up and point them down. They don't get the "up close and personal" pictures, but at least they still get to see what kind of deer they have around and they still have a camera left. It works suprisingly well.
I like this idea. I never thought of that. As for the cables. My friend talked to the company for one and they said if you have 2 sets off cables and you only have one set of bolt cutters it will only cut one cable. When you try to cut the other cable the bolt cutters are to dull.
And I tried setting my camera in some brush. But I check mine once a week. And it's full of just the bushes waving from the wind. I'm trying to come up with a box you would have to break the camera to get off the tree. All steel, It may weigh a ton but you can't steal it.
I hate hunters that steal. If I see a trail camera. I stop and wave at it and give 2 thumbs up. :thumbsup:
I haven't lost a camera, but have had several treestands stolen with bolt cutters. This is one of the reasons my wife and I bought our own land and haven't had a problem (yet). It's hard to fathom why some people stoop so low as to steal your stuff.
Bernie Bjorklund
NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin
QuoteI hate hunters that steal. If I see a trail camera. I stop and wave at it and give 2 thumbs up. :thumbsup: [/QB]
They aren't hunters who steal, they are thieves that hunt...
We use a couple of cuddebacks at work to curb vandalism. Those are housed in their bear safe, we have pics of people messing with them but they have never been stolen.
QuoteOriginally posted by captainkirk:
QuoteI hate hunters that steal. If I see a trail camera. I stop and wave at it and give 2 thumbs up. :thumbsup: [/b]
They aren't hunters who steal, they are thieves that hunt... [/QB]
Sorry, I worded that wrong. Thank you for correcting me.
QuoteOriginally posted by Dave Earley:
anybody have experience with using gps chips inside your game cam to track them after theft? I heard a speaker once say he used those but have not been able to find anything on the web.
Any other great ideas on theft prevention? Looking to buy my first cam for this year.
Thanks in advance
Do YOU have a GPS receiver that would track such a signal? Because the local police aren't going to have one and no other agency will care.
Put a laptop LoJack in it and tell them it's a stolen PC? Costs $60 a year to subscribe to the service.
Smear it with dog poo. No one will touch it.
Someone needs to invent a camera box that looks like a knot on a tree.
Don't assume anyone taking it down is going to use it elsewhere.
Could be a non-hunter or a hunter who disapproves.
If I found one on my land unannounced it would be damaged severely.
QuoteOriginally posted by flyfish1:
Anybody use the python cables? I beleive they are made of kevlar, which you cant cut. I have been considering them.
As has already been said, the Python cables and any others for that matter can be cut like a hot knife through butter.
Just asked the guys that stole my ATV last year on my birthday. Just to "show off".......they cut it in about three different places. VERY clean cuts too. The guys that work with or have access to someone that works on power lines or such can get cable cutters that can and will cut any cable available.
Did I mention that I really.......REALLY hate a THIEF !!!!!
Winterhawk1960
QuoteOriginally posted by ranger 3:
Someone needs to invent a camera box that looks like a knot on a tree.
DING DING DING! theres your winning idea. now just gotta make one :thumbsup:
I engrave my name on the camera cases in at least two places it doesn't prevent theft but at least you can prove that it is yours if you ever run acrossed it. I am sure this will not keep them from being stolen however I do think it will deter alot of people from taking your stuff.
Can you imagine that we are now worried about such things. It really is a terrible thing but it is happening everywhere.
Some creep stole my treestand on my private property.
The same thing with my brothers stand. And he did'nt have a light chain on like mine, his was a 200lb. ladder stand. GONE!
Nothing is safe anymore.
And for these creeps that are taking trail cameras, I would suspect that (some) would take it not because they intended to, but because they feel that the camera has their picture while tresspassing.
Would be interesting to see in a pic who did it, would'nt it?
......Philip
Ive been lucky with the single trail camera I have I guess, I bought it for under 50 bucks new and have had it out plenty with no attempts to steal it. Im kinda shocked to be honest since it is the sort with the visible flash at night. Then again that might just be a deterent in itself, the really valuable ones dont have visible flash to give them away and my old relic probably isnt worth the time to cut down.
Ive seen camera security boxes on the market but again if they will steal the camera you would only be throwing in the security box with the deal to those sort of people. Im betting putting it out of reach would serve you better, anything over 9 feet should do the job.
Just get a Moultrie, then you won't care when it gets stolen. :bigsmyl:
Get one that looks like this. It's so hard to see that I have to be careful to remember exactly where I put it. Scoutguard, camo model.
(http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l376/don-stokes/006.jpg)
Theft is pretty high in most areas I hunt. Over the past few years I've had great results using my camera off the ground. I just make a small impression with my boot, secure or prop the camera up with whatever I find close by.
I had my first camera stolen on private property a couple of years ago. It was only up for one week. Since then I've had a buddy of mine make me a couple of camera boxes out of 1/4 thick stainless steel. They weigh 14lbs a piece and I lag bolt them to the tree with 4 bolts that are 3" long. Haven't had a problem since but I sure get tired lugging them around in the summer. The sad part is that the cameras are password protected so the thief can't even use it.
I use security boxs with my cameras and have not had any problems,but I know if somebody really wanted them they could take them.I just try to make it as hard as possible to steal,most theives are lazy
After several experiences with low-down thieves, I decided the stealth approach is the way to go. If they can't find it, they can't steal it. My Scoutguard has taken several pictures of trespassers who might have taken it if they had seen it. No visible flash is particularly important, and if the camera has a red light that comes on when it's triggered, it should be covered. Knock on wood, I've had this one for several years now.
In this world just put out signs. Free to a Good Home!! This way here you don't get upset when they vanish.
I had trouble with some trespassers on my land. After escorting their butts off for the third time I turned them in to the DEC. The last week of the season they stole a $200 camera of mine. I had a second camera set up on my logging road where they would walk through. I got a picture of the guy with the stolen camera plainly in his hand, but a tree was perfectly blocking him. You could see his hand, camera & one of his legs. DEC told me they couldn't do anything because you could not identify them in the pic. Only good news is I haven't seen them since.
The unfornate reality is that there is no way to stop a thief who is determined to have your stuff. I like the hang them in a tree idea, I think most thieves would say that is more trouble than its worth.
I was surprised to see how easy a python cable is to cut. I lost my keys and had mine locked to my truck bed. I used a set of 14" bolt cutters and it was pretty easy to cut. I dont think there is any kevlar in the cable. Its just a plastic coated cable.
Kevlar is not that hard to cut. It works in bullet-proof vests against impact of a bullet, but a hunting knife with a sharp point will cut right through the same vest.
I don't use trail cameras but a friend of mine does. He engraves and then fills in with white paint the following:
PROPERTY OF MDFW
GPS ENABLED
MDFW stands for MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife
He secures it with a cable. In three years it has never been touched. He doesn't even try to conceal it.
We have never had anything stolen from our hunting land but that doesn't mean everything won't get gone tomorrow.
I do use a bear proof type box, bolted to the tree. Someone could still get it or destroy it if they wanted to bad enough.
I heard a report of a guy used a GPS chip to track a tree stand to a house but that is where it ended. Police said probably no judge would issue a search warrant, but at least he knew where the thief lived.
The sad thing is if we did the things to a thief we really wanted to, he would get rich and we would be the one in trouble.
Misfire has it. Do the same thing on things I don't want people to screw around with. We painted our gate on our driveway with forest service brown and just like that the curious wanderers quit messing with it.
ttt