Arizona may ban trail cams

[curtism1234]

I should add, this sort of management is almost impossible in many public hunting areas. There deer are managed for opportunity not quality. In such an environment, a 3 1/2 year old 120 class eight point can be the trophy of a lifetime.

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[375Fox]

the downside to the land/game management here is deer hunting has gotten quite expensive. i don't have a problem with them asking, but I ain't paying north of $5K for a 3-day white tail hunt. I can hunt nilgai or aoudad for that price or less.

we use "traditional" trail cams and this year started using cell cams on our place in St Francisville, LA. My B-i-L lives a 10 minute drive from our hunting place, and my best friend and I are in Texas, a solid 4.5 hr drive away on a good day, and 7-8 hrs away on the less good days. From our camp to deep in the woods, it's a good 45 minute walk. We can get there faster on our ATVs, but our deer have gotten wise to ATVs. Even if it were possible to sneak up on deer there (years and years of hardwood leaf litter on the ground), by the time we might get there, the deer are long gone. Not to mention that the hardwood stands, vines, and undergrowth are so thick, visibility is rarely any more than 30-40 yards. Water is plentiful (we have a sandy bottom creek running through our place, and it always has moving water in it), and except in the worst of winters, there is always forage for them.

all the cell cams do for us is to allow us to pattern deer without having to get out to the hunting spots to pull SD cards.

Our deer in Pennsylvania are the same. The trail cameras only give you the ability to pattern them, you could never use a cell phone camera to plan a stalk at that even moment because they can’t be stalked. Our problem in Pennsylvania is zero trophy deer management, nearly all hunting is free and everyone has access somewhere, so we have very few deer live past 3.5 if they even make it to that age.

 

[Red Leg]

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Precisely. Pretty buck by the way. I have taken his twin in Maryland and Virginia.

 

[MarkB]

Glad I live in BC, that many cams on a tree would definitely change my idea of wild areas and hunting. Our "updated" regs last year changed to make cameras that can transmit a pic illegal during hunting season. These bans seam to be happening in more places yearly.

MB

 

[Shootist43]

I use trail cams on my own property, but not the ones that send messages to the internet or cell phones. I put them up in the Spring and take them down after Hunting Season. Personally, I don't see why anyone would put a "smart" trail cam up on Public Property when other cameras are already present. The respective owners could possibly be shooting at each other and that is a bit dangerous in my book.

 

[Boyd Brooks]

We use cams on our property and on our own bear baits to see if mature boars are coming in. It must really suck that there is that much pressure in spots on the game. I can see cell cams for security but for run and gun alerts, that’s getting away from fair chase, IMO.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

My father and I own a rather large wood lot for are area anyway approx. 900 acres I employ a few trail cams but all mine are on travel routes for tresspassers not deer. How do the intend to people from using them for security purposes? How do you differentiate between scouting and security?

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

Assuming everyone one those cameras represent a hunter I wouldn’t want to hunt in the area anyway. It seems like cross fire could become a real problem.

how are public land hunts and tags allotted? Is there any consideration given to hunter density or is it just a free for all?

 

[Brent in Az]

Assuming everyone one those cameras represent a hunter I wouldn’t want to hunt in the area anyway. It seems like cross fire could become a real problem.

how are public land hunts and tags allotted? Is there any consideration given to hunter density or is it just a free for all?

Tags in Arizona are issued through a lottery draw. Permit numbers are a set amount.
Most Archery deer hunts, and Mountain lion tags can be purchased over the counter.

 

[Gemsbok45]

Two weeks before the season,take em down.I like management but hunting over water holes??

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

Tags in Arizona are issued through a lottery draw. Permit numbers are a set amount.
Most Archery deer hunts, and Mountain lion tags can be purchased over the counter.

Thanks Brent, your systems are different to ares so it helps me to clarify.

 

[Alaska Luke]

That water hole situation just looks a bit too crowded. I don't know what the answer is there.

Cell phone connection cameras were banned a few years ago in Alaska but you can use a traditional camera on a bear bait. How much it actually helps is debatable. Its pretty obvious when a bear has hit a bait. And patterning bears is sort of difficult, they seem pretty random. With or without a camera I'd hunt pretty much the same way.

But it's fun to see which bears are there. I know about a big one that got away.

On the other hand I have heard of guides setting up cameras along game trails. That doesn't bother me but I think having it connected to a cell phone would be going a bit far up here. The reason is that half the challenge here is finding the critters.

I think the bottom line is that anything that makes a hunt easier will drive up the number of animals killed. Then at some point you have to restrict the number of hunters to keep things balanced. I see it as an example of "Be careful what you wish for."

We can have a sustainable moose hunt with over the counter tags because finding a legal bull is difficult. If suddenly everyone knew exactly where to hunt the success rates would go up and we'd probably be looking at a draw hunt for moose. I think I like the current situation better. We can all hunt but it's not easy.