Pulling cams for the season

[phade]

It's that time where some people pull cams for the winter. A friendly reminder when doing so is to bring them in and leave their casings open for several days in a dry well ventilated area.

 

Outside of problems occurring right away, the most common cam failures are the stories where "it worked fine all season long and when I brought it out of storage it wouldn't fire up." Most if not all of these are the result of trapping moisture in the cam and leaving it be for months before use again. Look, it's a cold, wet, time of year with high moisture content in the air. You may think it's not a big deal, but it is. You turn the cam off outside in the snow, then maybe pull the card and batteries one last time as you get home, seal it up and leave it be. Think of it as bringing in a cold thin piece of metal inside and you can ever so slightly see the condensation film build and then slowly dissipate. Sort of like fog on your windshield in winter, that build up from the inside, and the only cure is to crank up the defroster to heat and dry air. Same thing is happening in your cams....moisture.

 

So, before you close them up for the season, lay them out for several days on your table or something near an area where air moves and its dry. This will help reduce the amount of times you are greeted with a DOA cam in the spring or summer when you put them out again.

 

[Paula]

Great advice, thank you

[blackradio]

I'm actually putting all my cams out now. Let people in the woods to take them, animals have calmed down from gun, get to see survivors and tracks are easier to find and set a camera on.

[Five Seasons]

I like to leave mine up till February and a few all year. It's crazy what bucks show up late in the year that I never saw all season.

Good tip about letting them dry though

[WNYBuckHunter]

I have pulled mine for now, but will be putting them back out soon, so I can get a better idea of what made it through the season. Im letting them air out as we speak.

[genesee_mohican]

Some of mine have stayed out. I wonder what condensation builds up when the temp goes from zero to 57F in a few days?

Or when it's zero out at night, then you get a warm sunny day with the sun shining on the cam?

 

[Big Indian]

What ( if any) are the drawbacks to leaving them out all winter? I was planning on swapping out the sim cards and leaving them up, I would like to see what made it through season and what their winter habits are

 

This is the 1st time I have ever used a camera, and I was absolutely amazed at what comes through my property.

[WNYBuckHunter]

There arent any drawbacks. I just like to pull all of mine in to clean them up, dry them out and pop some fresh batteries in. I dont think I need to swap batteries in my DLCs though, the first sets still have plenty of life left in them, even after thousands of pics, hundreds of videos and months in the field (since June).

[phade]

What ( if any) are the drawbacks to leaving them out all winter? I was planning on swapping out the sim cards and leaving them up, I would like to see what made it through season and what their winter habits are

This is the 1st time I have ever used a camera, and I was absolutely amazed at what comes through my property.

what cam? since you are talking about mms cams, transmission rates fall in cold temps if the juice isnt there to power them.

nothing really wrong with leaving them out. many people just dont like to do that though.

[WNY Bowhunter]

I enjoy checking them after season to see what bucks survived the orange army...