Eric Davis
Mayhood's Sporting Goods

CHENANGO COUNTY – With the advance of technology in the hunting industry, there are plenty of things to look at and say, ‘Wow, this is nothing like we used to have.’
Compound bows are one such hunting item. The ability to introduce let-off so that the shooter is not holding the entire draw weight when at full draw made it so hunters can hold their bows longer, allowing them to make better shots on game animals.
Compound bows also shoot extremely fast while being very compact, something useful for tree stand hunting.
Another hunting item that commonly is discussed is the trail camera. Before trail cameras, hunters would have to try to sneak out in the field to see what paths game were taking or what deer were using what fields to feed. This consumed a lot of a hunter’s free-time and could result in the hunter spooking animals during the summer.
Once trail cameras were introduced, the world of game scouting was changed greatly. A hunter can go put a camera out and not come back for a week or more to check on it, and the camera takes pictures (or videos) of anything that walks by and triggers the camera’s sensor. The hunter just swaps out the memory card for a ‘clean’ one with no pictures and back home they go.
Once home, put the memory card into their computer or a card viewer and they can keep track of what animals are going through that area, and at what time they are coming through.
This allows the hunter to plan when to hunt certain locations. If the deer come out of their bedding area to head to a food source in the afternoon/evening and are using trail A on your property but are using trail B to return to the bedding area in the morning. This kind of knowledge lets you make the best use of the time you have to go hunting.
As easy as it seems to use a trail camera, there are a few things that you may want to think about when deciding not only what camera to buy but how to get the maximum results out of it.
Trail cameras come in three set-ups based on how they take pictures when it is dark out. They are differentiated by the color of the lightbulbs that are used to illuminate the area when taking pictures.
White light is pretty uncommon now but were the first cameras used. Because they flash just like a regular camera you use at to take family pictures, animals can see this light and be spooked by it.
Red light is used by most of the other cameras because most nocturnal animals do not see on the red-end of the light spectrum, but rather the blue/violet end of the spectrum. This allows the lights to flash to take the picture but not to spook the animals. There are two animals that red light cameras can have problems with.
Bears can be curious of the camera and often rip the camera off the tree it’s mounted on and chew on it.
The second problem animal for red light cameras are humans. When the camera takes a picture and the red lights turn on, people can see the lights. This can result in theft of the camera, if it’s seen by the wrong person.
To combat these problems, many companies have blacked out/no flash cameras that use a black lens to mask the red lights. This option is very popular if you want the camera to pull double-duty as a cheap security measurement. With red light or blacked out cameras, you will often get pictures of the animals looking right at the camera at night. This is not because they see the camera, but because they can hear it taking pictures.
When putting a trail camera out, there are a few things to bring with you. I bring a pair of ratcheting pruners, in case I need to remove limbs to get clear lanes for pictures, extra batteries and an extra memory card.
Have the camera ready with batteries and a memory card loaded in it already. Be familiar with how to set the date and time before leaving. I have had cameras reset and then you have pictures with the wrong timestamp and date that can have you hunting at the wrong time of day.
When you get to where you want the camera to be placed, look for a good tree to mount the camera on. Try to have the camera facing north. With the sun rising in the east, setting in the west and having a southern angle, if the camera is facing north it is less likely to have problems with the camera not using the lights when it should be and vice-versa due to the direct sunlight on the camera.
When putting the camera near a trail, try to angle the camera 45-degrees to the trail so any animal walking on the trail is in the camera’s picture taking window longer than having the camera set 90-degrees to the trail. This will increase the odds of getting a good picture as the animal walks by. I like having the camera set to take a burst of pictures when triggered. That way I have 3 or 4 of pictures taken right after another.
Mount the camera to the tree and make sure the date and time are correct before setting the camera to capture-mode. Also walk to the trail and make sure the camera is set so that anything on the trail is going to be captured by the camera when it takes a picture. Flip the switch on the camera and walk away.
Come back in a week or two to see what the camera has taken pictures of.
Notably, Mayhood’s Sporting Goods will be be holding a Customer Appreciation Day, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. this coming Saturday, August 5. For anyone who stops in, all customers will be able to test out crossbows with a factory sales rep.
 
– Mayhood’s Sporting Goods