Stolen trail cam
 

Well thanks to whoever went through the trouble of breaking my trail cam just to get it off the python lock I had on it. Had my camera set up in 347 to watch a nice game trail to come back and see someone stole it. Not much good when you can't strap it to a tree now *******.

I run 15 of them put them where no one will find them not always the best spot that's better than getting stolen

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I don’t bother with locks anymore. It’s just another item that they wreck or steal. Or it may save them cutting down trees for no good reason. I use cheap cameras that I can afford to replace if I have to.

I am still amazed at the number of cams that get stolen in crown land. I can see areas close to cities that have open wmu's, farm land patches of bush where thiefs can assume a camera may be and not have to travel far to look around but back in the woods means our fellow hunters are scummy to say the least. Who else would find trail cams in the back woods.

Mine always go on a old cutline and back 100 yrds on a game trail so you can't spot it from the line. And I'm careful not to make a trail in the grass or snow when going to check. So far so good but I did have my tree stand foot pegs stolen out of a tree once, also took my harness & misc gear that I had in a plastic pail hidden under all the branches I cut down for sight lines.

Actually I am amazed more are not stolen!!!

I thought I had it in a good place. Walk in spot only on a steep hill. Guess it was not good enough. I was hoping to figure out the elks routine a bit better this year as I've have yet to catch or call one during hunting time. This takes the wind out of my sails a bit

You just have to weld up a shaped lock box barely large enough, from 3/16 or 1/4" steel plate, with smallest serviceable windows for lens, flash, and motion sensor. Possibly covered with protective glass. Do a nice enamel primer and krylon camo paint job, then through-bolt it 4x to a big tree. Your design choice of access door, shackle guard and/or lock cylinder(s). Maybe mount another one at a weird angle watching the first one. The toughest part might be drilling the 4 x 3/8" holes for the long bolts or thread-rod. Note this is not something you go out and buy; you have to make it unusual and devious to screw around the potential thief in a big way.

I find it highly unlikely someone will pack in a chainsaw or oxy-acet cylinders and gear all that way in, for the off chance they'd want to drop a couple 24-inch diameter trunks or cut off bolts for camo-boxes with unknown contents. Especially if they'd have to explain to someone where their logging permit is.

Agree,

Thieves are lazy and look for the easy target. There is a reason those "dollar store" security company signs work to deter thieves.

All the cams that have been stolen over the past couple years is astronomically amazing. Cams that have been secured good whether on crown and private lands. During the falls there was a post or three a week about a cam being stolen. I'm sure lots of cam owners mark their cams for ID. So where the heck are all these cams going? Are they showing up anywhere? Are they being used somewhere else or sitting in the crack dealers basements? Are the stolen cams showing up in pawn shops?

I'm thinking cams should come with a door requiring a combination plus a key to open. And a fluorescent pink india ink packet and a flash bang inside so if someone tries to open the cam without knowing the combination to deactivate the cam the pink ink & flash bang will deploy. Would take a few weeks for the pink dye to wear off of a thieves face. The flash bang would just be for fun. Blind and deafen the pink faced bugger for a few minutes where ever they are when they try to open the stolen cam.

Internal tracking chips inside of the trail cams would solve lots of the thefts too. A chip that runs on an independant watch battery internally. An app linked to satellite or tower communications to track if it goes missing.

Why would the camera companies want to do that the more that get stolen the more cameras they sell. it's good business for them I guess. My first two cameras were very expensive that got stolen now I just buy the $75 ones

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I am still amazed at the number of cams that get stolen in crown land.

I don't steal game cams, but they are offensive to me, on Crown land, no different than finding a beer can on the trail. The work of the lazy, trying to get one up on everyone else, not what Hunting should be about. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. :D

Grizz

Mine have never been stolen but between myself and my boys checking them and moving them we have lost a couple by just forgetting where they were put lol.
If the batteries lasted decently they will have a pile of pics on them.
Im sure i will have an Aha , Oh Yeah ! Moment when i find them again..

Are you sure it wasn’t a bear? I’ve had similar encounters and found my trail cam destroyed just down the game trail by a bear. The smaller cams fit in their mouth quite nicely.

Doesnt help, with a portable grinder its easy to get the cameras.

I had custom boxes made from AR500, heavy duty chains and military grade locks. Those boxes literally withstood a .308 at 100 yards but someone still managed to get my cameras with a grinder.

Now I find it better to use minimal security. Last time someone broke into my camera they just broke the cheap plastic locking tab to delete their pictures. the camera was at least usable after. Perhaps I got lucky and just ran into the one nice trespasser.

After having a few taken. I now order all my cameras from china. They are cheap and have a passcode on them to be able to use. So now if they are taken, at least i know it is useless to them.

And this is probably why most people bust into them cause they now have their picture on them. Not that they want to steal them at first but maybe just so they don’t get busted being in the same area maybe? Possibly has to do with if it does get destroyed then maybe whoever is on the images might be pointed at as doing the damage. Not sure just know from a work perspective that people get cagey when they find out there image is somewhere they don’t want it. Just my thoughts. I’ve only ever run into government ones on wolverine or bear studies and I like to moon them as I go by covering my face.

I had mine stolen in a provincial park near my house. Big Lake area to be exact, in the neighborhood of Hawks Ridge. Tried to just get some video of animals and left it there for 5 days. Came back and gone. I have no idea why they would take it, and it was not in a visible location, so someone must have really wanted the camera. I mean it was a cheap camera but still annoying they would climb 12 ft to get it...

OK, then just make a 1/2 dozen identically-looking boxes, and fill 5 of them with cement.
Sort of like multiple-reentry vehicle decoys.

By the time the crook has climbed up and gone into 2 of those, he'll probably just figure WTF? and be on his way.

If I left a fishing rod unattended for weeks on end beside a trout stream on crown land just so I wouldn't have to carry one in the two or three times I went fishing there in a season, should I expect that it stays there all year?

I am not saying that taking someone's trail cam is legally or ethically right,,, just that there are a lot of people out there who feel that private belongings left / abandoned on public lands are "fair game' for "the finder". It really shouldn't be "a surprize' that someone decided to help themselves to your trail cam.

Further to that, there are quite a few people who simply dislike trail cams becuz of the perceived spying / intrusion of privacy they can represent.

Putting out trail cams is a case of "buyer beware"... there certainly are inherent risks!!!

Well put!

yup

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There are lots of people including myself that were raised to believe that stealing is wrong. You have no idea why the camera is there and it doesn't matter, IT IS NOT YOURS SO LEAVE IT ALONE. Are you actually trying to justify stealing?

Not at all,,, I agree with you that is wrong,,, but there are enough jokers out there who don't necessarily share our point of view about what is right and wrong and trail cams make for easy pickings.

I am just saying that by leaving a trail cam on public land, there is a very good chance it will eventually be stolen,,, that's reality,,, not morality!!!

Do you think that it safe to leave car keys in ignitions and doors unlocked in unattended vehicles?

So if you park your vehicle on public land (street) you are just asking for your vehicle to be stolen? Don't get sucked into believing the RCMP agenda of blaming victims for the theft of their property. They like to do this to deflect from their absolute pathetic performance with regard to theft, especially rural theft.

You can do things to help reduce theft of your property, which many many people have done but the theft of it is still 100% on the thief and always will be regardless of the RCMP constant effort to blame victims for the theft of their property. Because people may be a bit careless or forgetful sometimes does not mean they deserve to victims of theft.

Oddly enuf,I've had cams on Crown land,sometimes for several years constantly and never had one go missing.The one camera that I did have stolen was on private land where I had sole exclusive permission,stolen in less then 2 weeks,brand new WGI cam,I never got see a single pic from it.😡

re:the fishing rod analogy above....hardly the same thing at all,leaning a fishing rod against a tree(presumably forgotten there?) vs. strapping a camera to a tree....it's not like somebody "just left it there."
"Back in the day" when I trapped,I ran into the same attitude far too often,ie; some bonehead comes along and thinks "oh look at this,somebody just left this 330 Conibear staked in a channel and wired to the bank" ......trap and fur theft was a major concern back in the 80s when fur prices were good and lotsa thieves roaming around.
No doubt it's in no small part drawing on my trapping experience when it comes to deploying cameras is why I've never(yet) lost a cam on Crown land.....I learned long ago when trapping how to make stealthy sets that aren't easily seen/found,careful not to leave tracks,check from a distance etc.

This is intriguing! What site are you buying them from? How cheap is cheap? And how are picture quality? Pm me if you don’t mind please and thank-you

May be a way to go to with -from China.

Did you ever hear back about this?

I think alot of us are keen to know about this kind of deal etc..

Thanks!

Hang'em high out of eye sight and reach of the common thief.
Also moose don't play with them either.:)
Have not lost one since started that technique.

I have some cheap China cams and they take pics of nothing and forget to take pictures of something. Worthless compared to my cheap Browning and Moultrie cameras. I after dozens of placements I have learned that I cannot trust they will do their job.