Bow Hunting Maryland

Stealth Cam Archers Choice 8.0 Megapixel Infrared Digital Game Scouting Camera was the camera that was discussed in our Stealth Cam Dilemma Article.  I have now been using it for a few weeks, so I was able to try it out and see how it worked to give you my honest opinion of it.  I have used the camera in the different modes including: high resolution pictures, time lapse, and the video setting.  I will say that the first one of these cameras that I purchased was defective.  However, I took it back and got a new one and the second one works fine.

Here are the basic manufacture specs and information on the camera:

Archer’s Choice Stealth 8.0 Megapixel Trail Camera

8.0 megapixels

40-ft. flash range

Accepts up to a 16GB SD card

Burst Mode shoots one to nine images per triggering 

Compact 6″H x 4″W x 3″D

Endorsed by Ralph and Vicki Cianciarulo, this camera features exclusive Posse Mode that produces 3.0-megapixel images in a two-picture burst with a one-minute timeout. Can also be set to shoot high-resolution 8.0-megapixel images. Plus, it captures 640×480 digital video with audio (10 to 180 seconds). 2X to 4X digital zoom. 38 infrared emitters range out to 50 ft. Burst Mode™ produces one to nine images per triggering. Time, date, moon phase and temperature stamp. SD memory-card slot accepts up to a 16GB card (sold separately). Auxiliary power jack for use with Stealth Cam Auxiliary Battery Kits (sold separately). Eight AA batteries provide power for up to 10,000 images. Compact housing. 

Dimensions: 6″H x 4″W x 3″D.

Below are a couple videos taken with the camera, as well as a picture so you can see for yourself what the quality is of the pictures and video that it takes.

The Pros:

I think the fact that this camera is small, lightweight, camouflage patterned, and seems to have a great battery life is the biggest pros. The other thing that I am very happy with thus far is the picture and video quality, you can see for yourself above. The quality seems to be as good as any trail cam pictures I have seen. I must say, in the time that I have been using the camera, I found a lot of little things that I really like about it past the reasons above.  The camera is easy to setup, and it is very easy to read the LCD screen.  It has an external screen to tell you how many pictures you have taken, which means you do not have to open the camera up or mess with it if you have no pictures.  The camera has a nice big slot so you can use a padlock to secure the camera to prevent theft. The camera also accepts the Stealth Cam Auxiliary Battery Kits. I own the external power supply which I had purchased for my last trail cam, The Stealth Cam 1540 IR and the external battery outlasted the camera. So I highly recommend it if you are taking a lot of pictures or videos and do not want to spend a fortune on AA batteries.  

The Cons:

The camera biggest con to me as of right now was the fact that the first one I purchased was defective and it cost me a return trip to my local outdoor store.  The other two things that I have noticed which are not huge but still noticeable is that the trigger speed is a little slow.  The other negative feature is the type of strap they provide you for attaching it to the tree.  I wish it was something that had a clip on it for easier setup and removal. The only other thing I would love to see is a backlit screen for nighttime setup, as this model does not offer this.

My Final Thoughts

Overall, I think this is a great camera for the price.  Other than the hiccup of the first one I purchased that was defective, I am pretty happy with my purchase.  It takes quality pictures and videos, and offers sound on the videos.  It has very easy setup, which keeps you from getting frustrated. The camera is very small, camo patterned, and has a very good battery life with either the AA batteries, or the Stealth Cam Auxiliary Battery Kits. All in all a good product for the price and I would recommend it to anyone that is in the market for a new trail cam.

Do you own the Stealth Cam Archer’s Choice Trail Cam? Let us know what you think and what your experience has been with it!

Watching the rain from Hurricane Irene out my window made me think about how this might affect our local deer populations and how that might translate to affect our upcoming bow season only a few weeks away.  Pleasantly surprising to me, scientists have done a couple of research studies tracking tagged deer throughout hurricanes and evaluating how the deer’s patterns changed from before the hurricane and after the hurricane. Here is some scientific info on how hurricanes can positively and negatively affect the deer population and their patterns.

The conundrum…

My main concern was that the hurricane would affect the travel movements of the local deer population.  Think about it…some of us have had our trail cameras in the field for weeks checking out our local population and speculating on what type of harvest we might have a shot at on opening day.  Like clockwork, our trail cams can pick out deer that wander through our hunting grounds on a daily basis traveling from their bedding area to a food source and back again.  What happens if the deer change their patterns or bedding/feeding areas altogether and move to a different area that seems less threatening?  We hunt in the Loch Raven reservoir area mostly and we know that a portion of that property is watershed…meaning that it could flood in a situation such as a hurricane!

The answers…

Two of the studies were conducted in Florida and studied deer populations and their habits before and after hurricane’s Andrew in 1992 and Georges in 1998.  Another study was held in France, Germany and Switzerland during the impact of Hurricane Lothar in 1999.  Each study often cited the others because the information and data was shockingly similar in each case.  I will focus more on the Florida studies for the remainder of this article.  Let’s look at some answers to the survival rate of deer during the storm, repercussions for survival after the storm, and how the storm affects deer travel.

Survival during the storm…

During Hurricane Andrew 32 white-tailed deer were radio marked and tracked; during Hurricane Georges 52 deer were tracked.  All of the deer during Hurricane Andrew survived and only one fatality occurred during Hurricane Georges and the cause of death was drowning.  This means that a white-tailed deer population would have over a 98% chance of survival during the storm.  It seems as if our white-tailed friends are very resilient!

Repercussions for survival after the storm…

The local habitat of deer is disturbed during a storm due to uprooted trees and lost branches.  However, this is overall beneficial to the deer because it will open up the forest floor to sunlight which will increase and promote the growth of smaller plants that will provide a food source for the deer.  Remember, for the most part, deer only eat plants and vegetation that is 3 feet off the ground or lower.

The next repercussion was not so positive; Hurricane Andrew hit the Florida Everglades on August 24^th, 1992.  Therefore, it hit right in the middle of rut!!  Yes, you read that right, rut in the Everglades is in the end of July and into August through September.  This surprised me and maybe for those of you not familiar with Florida, it surprised you as well.  For more information on rut predictions for the entire state of Florida check out this article from woodsnwater.net.  Needless to say, this disruption of rut caused conception rates to decrease and fetus survival to fall.  This impacted the deer population for the following year as less fawns were successfully born.  Considering that we have a few months to go before rut, I would only be concerned with our little guys that are already born; they might be a likely fatality if they get in flooded areas.  I do not foresee any impact in conception rates from Hurricane Irene.  I just hope that we don’t get another hurricane in late October!

How the storm affects deer travel…

This was the million dollar question for me….and the answer is….it doesn’t affect deer travel from their home areas very much at all.  Deer have strong site fidelity to their home ranges and this did not differ enough to measure during both Florida white-tail studies.  This being said, if your trail cams do not pick up your usual visitors for a couple of days, then that is to be expected.  We are finding that here as well. However, they will stay around whatever they consider to be their home range and will start moving about that area shortly.  We are already seeing our usual visitors back on our trail cams.  Overall, both Andy and I feel relieved that our deer population is resilient and faithful to their home ranges, perhaps opening day will go by without a backward thought of Hurricane Irene.

More information on the deer studies that we surveyed can be found by clicking on the links below:

Florida Study during Hurricane Andrew in 1992

Florida Study during Hurricane Georges in 1998

European Study during Hurricane Lothar in 1999

Did you see any impact on your local deer population due to the recent storm?  Do you think that it will affect opening day?

I mostly hunt public land, and one of the things that I have started to think about is my opening day stand location.  Opening day is now just about 3 weeks away, so I have started to strategize on where my stand location will be.

But going past saying that I have a few places to choose from, you really should think about this from several different angles to come up with the best decision possible.

Since I will be hunting some part of Loch Raven on opening day, I have to start thinking about things like: where the least people will be, where the fewest hunters will be, where I have my best chance at seeing a good deer?  This is just the start of my thought process when trying to decide my stand location.  First, I look at the fact that September 15^th is normally on the warm side, so a lot of hikers, joggers, dog walkers, and even bikers will still be out and about.  Unfortunately, even if any of us enjoy these activities when we are not hunting, they can really screw up your hunt.  The other problem with those activities is that many like to do them before or after work, which normally puts them in the woods the same time as hunters.

You then have to think about how many hunters will be in certain locations.  Last year, on opening morning there were several others hunting in the same location as me. You need to decide where your best chance at having the woods to yourself is.  The less foot traffic into the woods opening morning, the less chance there is of the deer knowing that you are there.  You have to take everything from noise, to scent, to the fact that the other hunters may have pushed deer already in the area out.  All of these things can affect your opening day hunt.

Then you have to look at where your best chance at a good deer is.  Whether you have scouted an area, put trail cams out, or just have an area you like to hunt. You always need to be thinking about where your best chance to see that trophy is.  The other thing is that many hunters go out in search of meat, so perhaps you need to think where your best chance to see deer in general is.

All of these questions get answered with our prior knowledge, skills, and good scouting no matter what method of scouting you use.

I hunted several new areas of Loch Raven last fall that looked like they could be great early season locations to hunt in.  However, some of them are good morning hunting locations and some are good afternoon locations.  So plan based on when you are hunting, many of us took opening day off, but lots of us are just heading out either in the morning or evening.  So think about when you plan to hunt and that will help you decide a general area.

Then, you need to start thinking about tree location. I always have 3 – 4 trees in a given area that I hunt out of, this allows you to play the wind, and keeps the deer guessing as maybe they picked you out or smelled one once before.  You should always have options when you are hunting public land, you need to be able to play the wind and have a plan B in case another hunter has already taken your spot (yes, I have had this happen on more than one occasion, that just tells me that I have a good spot).

Now is the time to pull out your topographical maps, think real hard about all the scouting and shed hunting you did during the offseason and start laying out a plan! Now, I know you cannot pick your exact tree until the day of due to wind, but you need a good game plan.  As I said, all good plans always have a hitch.  If you plan to hunt one particular tree or area and you get there opening morning and 10 guys are already hunting that area, or your tree is taken, you have to be able to figure out your next move quickly so you are in your tree before the sun comes up.

I love Google Maps for doing these types of things; I can look at real aerial photos, put markers on the map where I have hunted before, where I want to hunt.  Google Maps make everything easier.  I also use a trail tracker on my cell phone that allows me to keep detailed maps of where I entered the woods, where I hunted, and where I left the woods.  I then, save them to my computer and add comments so I can remember all the details.

If you have one, a handheld GPS like the Garmin® Oregon 450T GPS is great for helping to find a location and pinpoint a tree at a later date. I highly recommend using them when out shed hunting in the spring.  This is when I get some of the best scouting done, and by having a handheld GPS you can keep that data with you at all times. Thus, allowing you to just be able to pick an area based on scouting, and also be able to know exactly where the trees you have selected in that area are. This also will allow you to find those trees in the dark much easier and already have a planned route into the woods.

I suggest if you have never hunted an area before, but you plan to try it on opening day, stay away from morning hunts.  If you enter a section of woods that you have never hunted before and do not know where good climbing trees are, you could find yourself wondering around in the dark and disturbing other hunters that are already in the woods.  I like opening day afternoon for those wildcard locations that I have never been to before, or have not scouted to find suitable climbing trees beforehand.  Take the afternoon and go early, find a good tree, maybe scout out other trees on your way to or from your desired hunting location.  You will have a much better idea of where you are going and probably end up with a lot of information you would have never ended up with if you came in the dark.

So after you have gone through all those things in your head, you probably have a location, and probably a tree in mind if the wind is right.  That makes you just a little more ready for opening day.
Do you already have your opening day stand location picked out? Or are you still trying to figure that one out?

I know a lot of people have favorite trees for opening day and only hunt that tree no matter what.  So if that is the case, maybe you folks could help our other readers in picking their opening day tree by giving them your insight on the best way to pick a tree!

I hope this gives you some food for thought when you are trying to pick your tree for opening day.