We have a trail cam but have used it only a couple of times. Put it out the other night to get some coyote shots. The one coyote came in, walked past the camera, looked back over his shoulder and saw something, a red dot?, then bolted. I had thought that the cameras weren't supposed to spook animals? We did get some footage of a coyote last year that didn't seem to be bothered by the camera and hung around a bit, but this coyote came in three different times and bolted each time.
Wonder what experiences others have had, how to beat to that?

A film cam will have an audible shutter click and film advance noise, an electronic digital cam will make a high frequency attenuation noise as it re-charges.

Use a Moultrie black camera. I have had numerous occasions as you described over the years. I don,t know the model number. It is the only camera the animals don,t look at, that I have.

Use to, if you want to keep the coyotes away (and most animals), just set a camera.

My first digital trail camera was the ScoutGuard SG550. It had a soft glow IR flash. I used it in my ADC business, primarily in urban areas. It worked well in attics and around yards, no coyotes there. I did test it on coyotes, in woods behind my house. As you can see in the videos below, the coyotes could see the soft glow of the IR light. First, a pup came in and moved the bait into the shadows; however, the adults were still cautious

http://s13.photobucket.com/user/LAtrapper/media/Trailcam%20videos/IM000003.mp4.html

http://s13.photobucket.com/user/LAtrapper/media/Trailcam%20videos/IM000007.mp4.html

http://s13.photobucket.com/user/LAtrapper/media/Trailcam%20videos/IM000005.mp4.html


I now have a Covert Black 60, but haven’t yet tried it on coyotes. Here are some No Glow Infrared Trail Camera Reviews

A good camera mount is the Slate River Game Camera Mount.

I have a Primos Blackout and am somewhat disappointed in it. I bought it strictly for coyotes...hoping to film yotes around sets. It truly does not put out any visible flash but it has the loudest click of any digital camera I've ever used. Don't know if it is just mine or if they all do it.

As an aside, a few years ago I hung a roadkilled deer in a tree with a chain so that its head was about 3 feet off of the ground and put a camera on it thinking I would have quite the show. A pair of yotes came every night for a week and just sat and looked up at the chain. They never touched it until I finally let it down to the ground.

What I had planned to do with the Blackout was mount it under a horizontal limb directly over a foothold set so that the camera was "looking" straight down. Would have been excellent to see where he put his feet etc but the click of the Blackout ruined everything! I should have contacted Primos but never did.

I have a simmons black camera. Animals watch it the whole time it is on.

I have multiple pictures of coyotes with the Covert Special Ops Code Black this last winter. I've also successfully gotten coyote pics with a Reconyx. However, the Reconyx pictures are of the coyotes moving through the site location while I purposefully used the Code Blacks to monitor Collarum sets.

I just have one point to make. All of those trail cams are made in either China or Japan, so they actually go "crick".

You are a funny man!

Here is one I got a couple of nights ago on a Primos IR 35 (not the Blackout) This was the second shot in the series. He was obviously looking back at the camera.

Always so much to learn and ever changing. Thanks for the help, especially about the "crick." I guess my camera does go "crick." Made in China I think?, Little Acorn 5210A(5mp). Thought that the infrared would do it of night videos, but I guess there is more to it, "no glow" required for coyotes, and would that also apply to most predators? The camera I have should be o.k. for beaver and non-preditors, deer etc.? Anyone have any experience with one of these? I have heard good stuff about Moultrie. Seems not badly prices. The Acorn was pricy at the time.

The Spypoint cameras are made in Canada. I have been impressed with mine so far. I have the Tiny-D and IR-8. Battery life has been excellent compared to others I have used.

I tend to investigate and compare quite often, but in this field there seems to be countless companies, models, features, prices, tons to compare. Also for me, ease in usage is high on the list. WCT said they will have an article on trail cameras, which I look forward to reading.

There is an excellent review site at Trail Cam Review Site

I actually used this site to help me purchase a couple of Covert MP-E5 cameras for work. $65 each and I'm impressed. They're watching a chicken coop right now on a Fox job and I get vid of the owner coming in and closing up the coop each night and it's at least 60ft away through a chicken wire screen! Amazed. Only drawback I've found is they sensitivity can also pick up a branch if you have one in front of the camera in a wind storm.

Most of the cameras will pick up branches in the day if they are moving. They heat up during the day. Cameras need heat and movement.
I prefer cuddeback cameras. I've used stealth cams, moultrie, bushnell and cuddeback. Cuddeback is the best IMO. Moultrie a typically are slower and batteries don't last as long. Stealth cams worked well for me but havnt used any in the recent past. Bushnell sucked for me
I have not used any black versions so I don't get tons of yote pics. Fox don't seem to care at all