Considering buying a couple of cell cameras (Moultrie EXO or Tactacam Reveal X) to put on locations that are a pain to check.

For example, I have been trapping on the 50 ac behind the house, I can come home after work, change, hop on ATV and checktraps in 20min or so. I have another 93ac I can trap but I had a few traps out and I either have to go through 3 gates or drive around the road and either option involves a slow drive across pasture that is a kidney jarring trip.

With a cellular camera or 2 on the 93ac place I could reduce the time to go check when nothing in trap and decrease the disturbance

I had a cell camera I used on a hog trap in the past and it worked well

I have seen 1 or 2 that posted pics from a cell cam monitoring one of their traps, just wondered if it was common or not

I use cell cams to monitor traps and love it. I set them high, 10' and as far as i can 50' to keep the cam from spooking canines.

Some places that may not be legal. Another thought is it took me trying quite a few cameras before I found one that doesn't spook coyotes. Another thing to consider is some cameras detection system aren't 100% at triggering on deer and can be even worse on smaller critters . I had a browning set up over a set this year. I knew the camera didn't spook coyotes but I had also noticed while using it on test sets that it wouldn't always trigger perfectly on coyotes and I would sometimes miss some action but figured over a set it would ok.

Well I caught a coyote in a set within 50' of camera (80' detection range). I could see in the snow the coyote had checked out another set within 30' of camera before getting caught at other set but didn't commit to it. I was excited that I was going to watch a catch on video. Dispatched coyote, pulled card on camera and found 2 20 second videos of me dispatching coyote but not one single video of the coyote. And he had been caught long enough to have made a pretty good catch circle.

I had a Reveal X on a couple of coyotes sets for the last few weeks of our season. Real eye opener in more ways than one.

Camera placement is critical to prevent spooking coyotes. I had tried to avoid that possibility by mounting the camera high, angled down to get a good close up look at the set. But it was still spooking them. I had it set to take 2 still pics and a 10 second video. The video provided the evidence of them being spooked.

I had to move the camera further away and behind the set and that seemed to eliminate the spooking but revealed that they were passing within a few feet of my set and but not paying it any mind. I had already caught 2 in the set this year and it was the same spot where I caught 7 out of the same trap bed last year. There was no catch circle due to the use of a pre-hooked drag in cover away from the set. Make catch, reset the trap in the same trap bed.

That prompted me to put in another set about 15' away, a simple dirt hole in the wide open, earth anchored. I ended up catching 3 in that set before the season went out. The last one made a muddy mess so I moved the trap outside the red dirt circle. And wouldn't you know it, the next coyote spent time in the catch circle but did not work the new set.

It was neat to get up in the morning and check the phone and see a coyote in my set. Never did have the actual catch on video but the learning was worthwhile.

I use Spartans for just pics only. I’ll use them on off the main line sets and even on the line. They can teach you a lot, especially down here with no snow or straight dirt roads where I trap. I still ride all the line, just like seeing what critters do.

Can't used them here (or drones) to monitor traps. The one issue I see is if you have it connected to your cell phone, do you want you phone going off every few seconds when you do make a catch?

When I make a catch and see it, I can go in my app and turn it off or move the length of time I want to take a pic. Most of my cams cover 2-3 sets so sometimes I’ll just move it to every few minutes. Critters don’t fight all night. Most lay down and get a little sleep.

If my camera was spooking coyotes I wish repositioning it would fix the problem but ive never had it work that way. Whether it's the noise or the light spooking them, or just affecting them, repositioning them has not solved the issue for me. I just had to find a camera that didn't have an effect on them.

I don’t think my Spartans have ever spooked anything.
Here’s my first rolling action the other night.

Got more pics after that one of him going over and rolling on the set across the road, lol. Totally ignored camera and traps.

If they aren't looking at the camera and stay around for multiple pics I'd say they probably aren't affecting them

I think that last pic he was trying to figure out what he rolled on, lol, and not really looking at the camera.

Good info

Legal here in Texas as far as I know but I will double check

Blackout flash is only way to go, the cameras that have the IR lights that glow red will definitely spook coyotes here.
I have been using cameras on a couple of sets with 30 sec video and it is interesting to see how coyotes and other critters react/work the sets. The one I had with red IR glow definitely scared some coyotes BAD. The looked like they saw an alien or sasquatch or something when they noticed camera
All of this was after the fact since it was just normal game cameras you have to pull card and check.

As far as phone going off, I work in a hospital so it stays on silent mode 90% of the time

I did not have mine set up to notify me when it triggered. I checked my phone before I went to bed and again when I got up. It only sends a thumbnail of the still pic. I have to pull the card to see the video.

QBD the Cuddelink camera I had would not send video either

But I don't really need video, need to see if a coyote bouncing or not, couple of stills can show that and I can watch any videos later.

Moultrie EXO is cheaper but cell plan is more.

I don't need a camera on every set either, just a couple that are a pain to check

What is the cost of the camera and service? Assuming it’s a monthly cost?

I think I paid around $120 for the camera and the Tactacam Reveal does not affect my cell phone bill at all. The operating cost is paid directly to Tactacam. Minimum per camera is $5 per month and you have to have that to program the camera from your phone and you get 50 pictures per month. Unlimited pictures per month is $13. No contract and you can enable or disable on a monthly basis any time. Mine are disabled now meaning they to not send pics to my phone but they will still work as regular trail cams. I just have to pull the card to see the pics.

And NC has some new rules about electronic trap monitoring and when I have the service enabled, my setup meets those rules. The rules were set up, tested and approved for damage control operation but apply to fur trapping as well.

Stay away from the Moultree and SPYPOINT. Tactacam’s are great. Haven’t used Spartans. I agree with the above, up high pointed down spooks less game. I feel it’s a trade off. You may spook some game, but you can also trap places that you can’t access every day without a considerable walk, or creating a huge mess in some weather conditions.

I run about 8 of them most years, Bushnell cams that do run the yotes off you either get the first half or the back half but I’m ok with keeping them away from my cat sets. If you back off a bit it’s not so bad then if I’m checking traffic in area for furbearer activity.

I use Spartan cellular cameras on all of my active hog traps. Each hog trap is equipped with cellular wireless control units whereby I control the trap gates via my cell phone from home or anywhere in the world. I catch 99% of the hogs from home using that technology and save some money not having to make trips checking empty traps.. Using the cell cameras has numerous advantages. It allows me to be very selective of what is trapped, i.e. no unintended animals caught (deer). Also, I can identify and get an exact head count of my target group and then not trigger the gate until every one of that target group are inside of the enclosure. That all or nothing catch approach reduces the possibility of spooking hogs that are outside of the trap and causing them to avoid traps in the future. I can also see how animals react to the trap, bait, etc. and whether they avoid it or not.

I also have and use some Browning and Covert IR flash type cameras and have seen many deer, hogs, coon, coyotes and cats on those cameras. Some critters alert or spook, some don't. That may depend on the camera because some cameras make a barely audible click when snapping the picture. On a still night or in a quiet room, you can test your camera and hear the click. If you can hear it, so can the animals. Many of the critters get used to the camera and don't pay any attention to it. Coyotes are definitely the most spooky and do react to the click or red IR flash.

The IR cameras have a very brief faint red glow when they take a picture. Critters facing the camera quickly notice that. The black flash type cameras have no flash that a human can see, not sure if animals can see it or not, but those cameras get no reaction when the picture is taken.

Beware that when mounted high and facing downward, the camera sensor area and range are greatly reduced to a small area. In that case the camera would only trigger if the critter was inside that small area.

Frankly, I enjoy going to the woods regardless of what I am doing and I will never quit doing that whether using cameras or not, but the cameras reveal what is going on out there all day and all night when I am not there. You will see animals on the trail cameras that you would never see or know that were there. The cellular cameras allow you to see all of that from your home.

Hope this helps.

Dave