Trail Cams Good and Bad

[BrokenArrow]

I see the good but feel the bad may eventually overtake the good?( on PHA and WMA anyway)
My understanding was nothing left over a 24hr period or its considered abandoned on PHA/WMA in TN?
Seems that's not what's happening and I'm sure hard to enforce?

 

[Ski]

The only bad thing with cameras on public is when someone thinks nobody else can hunt the area because they already have cams in place. So long as they don't lead to confrontation, I see no issues with them. That said it wouldn't bother me a bit to see them regulated by having the owner inform TWRA of location, make, and model, or serial number if available, and maybe an identification tag like stands are supposed to have. Public lands only. Private land is well, private.

 

[TheLBLman]

Most of the opposition to trail cams, whether on public or private lands, comes from people with little or no experience using them.

Regarding public lands, I can see how the situations could be different in some arid western states (like New Mexico, etc.). But here in TN, the trail cams may actually benefit non-trail-cam users as much or more as they seem to think harm is being caused to the non-users.

I'm not going to go into all the pros & cons, has there are plenty of these discussions to be found in the recent past. I do disagree with Ski about trail cams needing to be "regulated" by any government agency. Just let hunters use them if they want, and those who don't, don't have to.

 

[redblood]

I dont hunt public so i dont have a dog in the fight, but i think TWRA should state in its manual adendum in bold type- cell cams cannot be used to reserve hunting areas and they are placed t hunters own risk.

 

[Smells Like Sulfur]

I don't like trail cams being left in public areas with the owner not nearby, or unidentifiable. In my opinion, the point of public land is to give everybody a level playing field. Some of us are new to the sport, and don't have lots of money to spend on high-tech digital equipment to track animals.

That being said, I would never damage or take somebody else's property, regardless of if it was legal or not.

On private property, you could put a camera in every tree for all I care.

 

[Ski]

I do disagree with Ski about trail cams needing to be "regulated" by any government agency. Just let hunters use them if they want, and those who don't, don't have to.

My reason is for accountability. TWRA manages the land that belongs to all of us. Just like with stands, cameras if left unattended indefinitely eventually become trash that hinders every other hunter wanting to use that location. Only people and identification tag would bother are the people who don't plan to obey the law.

 

[TheLBLman]

Only people and identification tag would bother are the people who don't plan to obey the law.

In theory, I could agree with you.

The problem is we already have far too many "laws" & regulations.
Even the county wildlife officer himself struggles to keep up with them.

Along with there simply already having too many "regulations", there is the issue of non-enforcement. So the end result is the honest sportsmen get punished for being honest, while the dishonest WMA users are simply rewarded for their dishonesty.

In the real world we're in, there is a shortage of law-enforcement personnel, so most laws are going unenforced, especially those deemed least significant. There simply is not going to suddenly be financial funding to greatly increase the number of wildlife officers who serve as law enforcement officers.

There is also not going to be this sudden prioritization of the least significant laws being enforced over higher-priority laws such as poaching, hunting out of season, hunting in areas not permitted, etc. Surely, no honest sportsman in TN wants LESS enforcement of such as these? But that is what we get when we add more new unnecessary "rules".

 

[Mr.Bro]

Has nothing to do about trail cams.

What your talking about is enforcing the laws in place or just changing the law.

Don't high light it
TRAIL cams good or Bad.

 

[Smells Like Sulfur]

There's already a bunch of laws in place regarding abandoned property on state land. They are about as clear as mud, so I maybe misunderstanding them a little bit. I think or some of the confusion can come in with a trailcam it is whether or not it's considered "abandoned". I don't think we need any more laws, but it would probably be a good idea to mark your camera with your TWRA number, and the date that you put it up, so nobody will think that it's been there for a long time and is now "abandoned".

From what I understand, a reasonable effort has to be made to track down the owner of the item, and a report filed with the state. If the owner doesn't come forward to claim the property in a certain time frame, it then belongs to the state, and is most likely auctioned off or used. I don't think you get to keep what you found.

 

[BSK]

The only bad thing with cameras on public is when someone thinks nobody else can hunt the area because they already have cams in place.

This is the problem I keep hearing about. Someone is monitoring an area with trail-cams so they think that areas is "their."

 

[Ski]

There's already a bunch of laws in place regarding abandoned property on state land. They are about as clear as mud, so I maybe misunderstanding them a little bit. I think or some of the confusion can come in with a trailcam it is whether or not it's considered "abandoned". I don't think we need any more laws, but it would probably be a good idea to mark your camera with your TWRA number, and the date that you put it up, so nobody will think that it's been there for a long time and is now "abandoned".

From what I understand, a reasonable effort has to be made to track down the owner of the item, and a report filed with the state. If the owner doesn't come forward to claim the property in a certain time frame, it then belongs to the state, and is most likely auctioned off or used. I don't think you get to keep what you found.

And that's all I was referring to. I was proposing extensive new laws or regulations. I was only saying it would make sense to have the cameras identified so IF an issue came up, TWRA would know who the camera belongs to.

Cams aren't going away. They're only going to become more and more prevalent. At some point there's going to need to be some formalized way to deal with them. If left only to hunters to figure it out then it's only a matter of time before there's a serious incident that forces regulation. I'd rather see it done preemptively with forethought than to happen reactively in haste.

 

[Antler Daddy]

I dont have a problem with cameras on public. However, another part of me does not like somebody else monitoring me on public land outdoors. Everywhere I go...somebody is always watching. It is a different world.

 

[rifle02]

I dont have a problem with cameras on public. However, another part of me does not like somebody else monitoring me on public land outdoors. Everywhere I go...somebody is always watching. It is a different world.

Yeah, you can't even pee in the woods without worrying about someone taking your picture.

 

[TheLBLman]

This is the problem I keep hearing about. Someone is monitoring an area with trail-cams so they think that areas is "their."

False narrative.
I never think any area is owned by someone just because I see a trail cam.
Little different than seeing human tracks or other signs someone has been there.

Now, if I see someone sitting on a deer stand, I'll give them a wide berth, best I can.

 

[TheLBLman]

Yeah, you can't even pee in the woods without worrying about someone taking your picture.

Technically, peeing in the woods is a violation of federal law.
Fortunately, it is usually unenforced when a wildlife officer notes someone doing it on a WMA.

 

[TheLBLman]

I'll just leave it with this:

Overall, I think the usage of trail cams, whether on private or public lands,
is of more value than harm (at least in Tennessee). The only people who should have a really big issue with them are those doing something illegal on those public lands?

More and more, hunters' trail cams are leading to the capture of dangerous felons on the lam. Just throwing this in because many haven't even thought about it.

There have been many discussions of trail cam use pros & cons recently, so no reason to write another book on this thread.

Cams on public land

Any suggestions or tips on puttin out cameras on public land? I've had several stole from private land but didn't know if public land was a pure suicide mission. There is a monster at one of the places I hunt and just wanna make sure he is still alive. I doubt he has been killed cause word would...

www.tndeer.com

Trail cameras ban

Just saw where Kansas banned trail cameras on public land. Cellular and conventional cameras. Very interesting.

www.tndeer.com