Trail cams - high or low placement?

[Scioto]

I have never used trail cameras until this year. Will be heading out this weekend to put down some trophy rock and cameras to watch what comes to it. My cams are Covert MP6's (IR not black flash). From what I've been reading, it seems that a high placement (6' to 7') and angled down is the preferred approach, although I've read elsewhere that 2' to 3' is the better way to go.

For those of you who use cameras, how high or low do you place your cameras?

 

[BHC]

Depends on specific set up.. On salt you can usually put them high and angle them down. The only reason I do this, is to lessn the deers reaction to camera. Generally it will reduce the cameras field of view, and make bucks look smaller..
I sometimes do this on scrapes too.. On fields, or trails or maybe under a mast tree, you'll do better to set them eye level...
Just remember when u set it high your field of view decreases so the exact aim of the camera is more important...

 

[BSK]

What BHC said. A high-pointing-down placement reduces deer reaction to the flash of the camera, as well as the camera box itself (and may also reduce the chance a trespasser will see the camera). But this placement produces just a "spot on the ground" trigger area. You will only get pictures of deer that walk through that spot on the ground. A low-parallel-to-the-ground placement greatly increases the camera's trigger area and field of view, but deer and trespassers may see the camera itself, and/or the camera's flash.

The best use of the high placement is for baited sites, such as a salt lick or even a scrape. But if you are trying to monitor an area, field, or trail, the low placement is better.

 

[Vermin93]

I mounted the camera in the video below about 12 ft high over a mineral site. I did that for 2 reasons.

1. It's a red IR flash camera and I didn't want the deer to see the flash. The flash stays on continuously at night in video mode. A red light that stays on for 10 seconds will definitely catch a deer's attention at waist level. You can see from the video why I prefer video mode to picture mode.

2. I don't want trespassers seeing my cameras.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQT5i0l4W58

Here are some pics of my cams mounted high over mineral sites and high traffic game trails. I strap one Lone Wolf climbing stick to the tree to reach mounting height. I wear a Treehopper so I can have both hands free to hang the cameras.

http://www.tndeer.com/tndeertalk/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=9&Number=3279344&Searchpage=5&Main=249229&Words=Vermin93&topic=0&Search=true#Post3279344

 

[TheLBLman]

But if you are trying to monitor an area, field, or trail, the low placement is better.

I would normally agree, but this time of year can be an exception, especially to those not experienced with year-round use of trail cams.

This time of year, weeds can grow very fast. On a low-mount cam, you can often experience weeds growing taller than your placement within a couple weeks. This is the time of year to opt for a tad higher placement, unless you're fully aware of and dealing with those weeds.

 

[BSK]

Vermin93,

With a red-glow IR cam, especially on video mode, I would DEFINITELY recommend a high placement, as deer will see and react to the red-glow night illumination.

 

[BSK]

But if you are trying to monitor an area, field, or trail, the low placement is better.

I would normally agree, but this time of year can be an exception, especially to those not experienced with year-round use of trail cams.

This time of year, weeds can grow very fast. On a low-mount cam, you can often experience weeds growing taller than your placement within a couple weeks. This is the time of year to opt for a tad higher placement, unless you're fully aware of and dealing with those weeds.

Smart advice Wes. I don't do much late spring/early summer camera monitoring, so I hadn't thought of the rapid weed/grass growth problem.

 

[Shed Hunter]

High angle photos just aren't the same as your typical waste high setups. It makes it harder to guess the antler size, and even more importantly aging is much more difficult and even impossible in some situations. You need a lower angle to see many physical characteristcs such as chest depth and how thick the neck is in relation to joining the body. Here's a buck I was pretty mad at myself for hanging the camera high on. All I can tell is mature and about 17" wide. No way to know how long his tines are. If the camera were lower I would most likely have a better view of the antlers.

 

[Rackseeker]

I have a big rub on a small tract of land I hunt that I am going to hand a camera on this year. I have been thinking about hanging it high above the big rub. It gets rubbed every year. Maybe being hung straight above it will not spook the buck.

 

[BHC]

When I do hang mine higher, I only hang it at about 6-7 ft. This is over there deers normal
Line of sight, esp at most cam
Locations,( bait, salt, scrape) because there head is usually down. This allows you to still get more body and antlers in the pic. And avoid pics like the one above. It's still not as good as eye level tho..,

 

[BHC]

 

[TheLBLman]

This time of year, weeds can grow very fast. On a low-mount cam, you can often experience weeds growing taller than your placement within a couple weeks.

. . . . hadn't thought of the rapid weed/grass growth problem.

This alone does not mean one needs to mount his cams really "high". More a case of just being aware of the fast-growing weeds, and it typically being advantageous to mount cams a little higher than you might in fall/winter. On average, I mount most cams about a foot higher this time of year vs. fall/winter.

 

[BSK]

Great advice Wes.

 

[BSK]

BHC,

Dang that's a stud pig of a mature buck! Anyone see that buck?

 

[BSK]

When I do hang mine higher, I only hang it at about 6-7 ft.

Normally, I hang my cams pretty low, only 30-36". But last year I had a set-up over a scrape in a small food plot where the only good option was about 7 feet above the level of the scrape, and about 20 feet from the scrape. I ended up really liking the pictures I got from that set-up. Because of the distance from the scrape, the downward angle wasn't too severe:

 

[BHC]

Yes he was a hoss! We had him on camera for 3 yrs as a big mature 10 pt.. I believe he was atleast 6 yrs old. And yes this past yr one of the youngest hunters on the property, 8 yrs old, with his grandpa took a shot at him... The deer basically walked away, no blood, hair, etc.. But we haven't got a pic of him since...
He lived on our property summer and winter.. We'de get pics of him from July- February each yr..
I dunno if he hit him, or if the buck merely died of old age shortly after being shot at...