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DaveBell
Moderator
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2017 06:40pm
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About every three weeks I go to the property and download my Game Cameras. Caught this guy stealing firewood. I have others, but working with Sheriff on them now.
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DaveBell
Moderator
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2017 06:44pm
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Another
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Tarmetto
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2017 08:34pm
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Pretty good pics...hope you catch them.
May I ask what cameras you're using?
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DaveBell
Moderator
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2017 09:19pm
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I have two Bushnell Trophy Aggressor No-Glow. Bought one for $200, and the other at Amazon for about $160.
They do not reach out (48 LEDs) very far at night when the ambient light is pitch black. When there is a moon or I had a tiki lamp or camp fire going they took good night pics. But pitch black, failure. They did get the critters at night.
Most bad guys prefer darkness, so i need a cam that performs well at night.
So I just got finished looking at a Trail Cam Shootout that showed these cams (Bushnell) sense farther than most during the day, but have many False Triggers, which I have seen on mine. They take 100s of pics of leaves very well.
So I looked at the 100% column and there were 3.
One was MINOX, the Germans make great stuff.
I looked at the specs on the DTC 600, 650, 750, 1000. 60 LEDs light up to 50ft. I found 2 DTC 650's in Camo for $149 each on Amazon. Sold.
The DTC 1000 manual is not clear on wether Wi-Fi or cellular. Caveat Emptor.
I'll post some pics in the future comparing the two, the Bushnell and the Minox.
There is a trade off using gam cams for security. Too close and not well hidden, they steal it. So it has to be well hidden which means it may not be close as we like. The pics above are from a cam in a hollow stump. I'm going to work on making nice brush piles this year.
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toyota_mdt_tech
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2017 10:09pm - Edited by: toyota_mdt_tech
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Yes, dont locate it near the cabin, but looking at the driveway, so you can get them entering or exiting just like you did is perfect.
Are they gathering your firewood from a pile or cutting your timber down into firewood?
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DaveBell
Moderator
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# Posted: 14 Jan 2017 09:38am - Edited by: DaveBell
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Toy,
I had both cams looking at my driveway before, as a test of the settings. Once I got those results, I moved one cam inside the property and the pics above from cam two is on the road. I was curious to see who was coming and going and when and if I could get license plates.
My firewood theft was one time in 2015. They stole a half cord pile and cut up and took a bunch of big but crap wood on the ground. So they kind of did me a favor taking all the junk wood but cost me a half cord of oak.
When we had our 2016 summer camp-fest, this girl from Georgia found a path from the road into the property. It was barely noticeable but just wide enough for a pickup truck. I took the backhoe and put a stump there. I also used the backhoe to put a nice giant rock on an old driveway. No problems since. Too often we help the bad guys by providing them with easy access.
So the pics above, the red truck came up the hill loaded and then down in five minutes. So he cut from some where below me. But the time stamp on the two pics for the gray truck showed he was up top at the turn around for 2.5 hours.
When the two Minox cams come in, I plan on using one in a mutually supporting style where two cameras are watching each other and getting different views of the road.
The other I plan on installing on a tree with a ladder so it cannot be easily reached. And I will not leave the ladder there LOL. I'm going to use a 6"x3/8" eye bolt, 1/4-20 bolt and large fender washer. Mounting the cam to the eye bolt should allow me to get the camera close to the tree bark and tilted down, hopefully in front of a branch. The worse thing that can happen is they see it and shoot it. But if they don't hit the memory card, I'll have pics of who shot my camera.
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Asher
Member
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# Posted: 14 Jan 2017 12:55pm - Edited by: Asher
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Go on E-bay and see if you can get a couple of junk (broken) cameras. Mount them in spots that are a little more obvious and have the good cameras hidden much better facing the old cam and target zone...
I have had good luck with Moultrie cameras, I used them to replace a couple Primos truth cameras that where Ok, but very loud, used tons of batteries, and only lasted a couple years..
I just bought a Moultrie A-20 last week but haven't had a chance to give that one a work out...
Good luck finding those thieves...
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deercula
Member
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# Posted: 14 Jan 2017 02:21pm
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Dave.....I hope you nail that S.O.B. and prosecute him. Many of us have been the victims of these low-life scum. Even when we know who did it, we don't have the proof we need. Good for you for setting the trap and catching this thief!
Years ago a buddy of mine noticed his firewood pile going down from time to time. He hollowed out a piece, filled it with black powder, & plugged it. After it disappeared, the firewood theft stopped. 
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DaveBell
Moderator
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# Posted: 14 Jan 2017 11:55pm
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Quoting: Asher Mount them in spots that are a little more obvious and have the good cameras hidden much better facing the old cam and target zone...
Asher, that's a great idea. I found fake cameras on the net for under $25.
Quoting: deercula we don't have the proof
Deer, hopefully more folks will start using them. I bought the card reader that plugs into my laptop USB port, Lithium batteries to get 1 year of power, and 32 GB memory cards to get max pictures.
Quoting: deercula He hollowed out a piece, filled it with black powder
Yeah that story is on the net in various forms. One guy who stole loaded firewood blew out his wood stove glass and embers went everywhere which started a fire. He had to call the fire department but there was no mention on how he explained to fire/police how it happened. But the story stated that the firewood theft stopped.
It is against the law to use offensive deadly force measures. A guy down in Miami FL. had a small store which got broken into many times. He rigged a shotgun aimed at the roof skylight. He is serving a sentence for murder.
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DaveBell
Moderator
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# Posted: 14 Jan 2017 11:58pm
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Night pics.
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Bevis
Member
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# Posted: 15 Jan 2017 12:16am
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The Moultrie and Bushnell game cameras I had, caught the illegal use of and torching of my cabin. All offenders were caught and prosecuted...
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deercula
Member
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# Posted: 15 Jan 2017 07:52am
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Quoting: DaveBell Yeah that story is on the net in various forms. One guy who stole loaded firewood blew out his wood stove glass and embers went everywhere which started a fire. He had to call the fire department but there was no mention on how he explained to fire/police how it happened. But the story stated that the firewood theft stopped.
Yup. That's where he got the idea. I don't see how he could be prosecuted because there is no proof where the exploding wood came from. If he booby trapped the wood pile then he would be liable.
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deercula
Member
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# Posted: 15 Jan 2017 07:55am
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Quoting: Bevis The Moultrie and Bushnell game cameras I had, caught the illegal use of and torching of my cabin. All offenders were caught and prosecuted...
Glad you nailed the low-life-scum! Hope they got a stiff sentence.
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spoofer
Member
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# Posted: 15 Jan 2017 11:51am
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DaveBell
DaveBellI second Moultrie cameras.. Bought an optional lock-box they make for them. Very sturdy with good pics.
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rky60
Member
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# Posted: 15 Jan 2017 05:48pm
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Thankfully I haven't had problems at my place, or even heard of anyone around me ever having a problem. And I have the bad habit of leaving a lot of tools on the porch, should stop while i'm ahead. But for the occasional bear or deer wandering thru or other local cabineers just checking things out I've never caught anything.
I did just recently add the modem setup to the Moultrie M-990i Gen 2. So far so good. This is just a standard pic uploaded to Moultrie servers, hi res can be requested. Was just testing it off the porch in the pic....
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Moomps
Member
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# Posted: 16 Jan 2017 09:41am
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I have a couple cameras set up around my cabin. I've taken pictures of multiple people walking around the place including the DNR and the owner of the leased land that the cabin sets on. So far, no damage or theft, most of the other owners work together to keep the place fairly safe from that sort of stuff. But, I have two decent cameras pointing at different areas of the cabin and a third cheap one hidden back in the woods focused on the two other cameras so I can see if anyone walks off with either of them. All three are just regular cameras but I'd like to have one that works off cell coverage - but they are soooo expensive.
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Jebediah
Member
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# Posted: 16 Jan 2017 10:47am
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I have two Spy Point cameras, very small and they have a remote memory card that you can hide separate from the camera. They take excellent day and night pics. We used these cameras in Afghanistan.
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DaveBell
Moderator
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# Posted: 16 Jan 2017 03:05pm
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I have heard good and bad about the Moultrie line. The shootout test mentioned about shows the Moultrie about as good/bad as the Bushnell.
http://www.trailcampro.com/pages/trail-camera-shootout
Many of the cameras do a decent job for wildlife. Hopefully you all can post night time pics with no lights used to see how well they do. A night time pic with the light on is not a real test of performance when the bad guy can take out the light with a BB gun.
I emailed the TrailCamPro guys about them doing some night tests.
To TrailCamPro:
Tests. The shootout you did was very helpful and you did it correctly, walking across the PIR sensor. I would like to see a test in a dark room (controlled environment) to see the nighttime performance. You might only need 50'. My Bushnell Trophy Aggressor No-Glow perform poorly at night. I use them as security cameras on a mountain at my property. Thanks, Dave
Response:
First of all thanks again for the business we really appreciate it. We love getting any kind of feedback or ideas for new things it really helps us more than you know. I wish we had a dark room big enough to do a test like that it would be very helpful. However, when we do the flash range test we do that outside where the cameras are meant to be. The test is done for every camera on the same night so all the variable are going to be the same for each camera. If you had some photos from your camera to send to me that would be great so I can check some out? Look forward to hearing from you.
So lets help each other out. I'll keep posting my results so we all can better secure our stuff.
Along with new strategically built brush piles, I'm going to cut my hollow stump off at the ground so I can move it closer to the road.
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Shadyacres
Member
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# Posted: 16 Jan 2017 05:54pm
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I wouldn't move it too close to the road, they might throw it on the wood truck.
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DaveBell
Moderator
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# Posted: 23 Jan 2017 11:22pm
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Shady, LOL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7pCILPInb4
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Steve_S
Member
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# Posted: 24 Jan 2017 07:07am
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Paint Mine... Hmmm Now were are the instructions for making those ?
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deercula
Member
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# Posted: 24 Jan 2017 07:50am
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Then you get burned down.
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Moomps
Member
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# Posted: 24 Jan 2017 09:25am
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I have somewhat of a problem with Moultrie. I had one of their cameras and it developed an issue with the battery connection between the battery case and the contacts in the far back of the camera. It developed corrosion at this unreachable contact. So, I contacted Moultrie and they told me that it was probably caused by having the camera outside too long (isn't that what they're for) and I was also told that they no longer had a repair location because it was cheaper to replace the camera then it was to repair it. Unfortunately my warrantee was out about 2 months before the problem came up so I was screwed. It wasn't their top of the line camera but it cost me well over $100 and now it's worthless. I tried all sorts of contact cleaners and nothing would reach back there well enough.
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Cowracer
Member
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# Posted: 24 Jan 2017 10:11am
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At our lake, despite gains that they have made in the last 6-7 years getting the riff-raff out, there are still some 'undesirable' people living there full time (some even in campers and shanties). We've had one license plate stole off a camper on our lot, and a small trailer that we salvaged out of 50's little camper that we were going to use for something eventually.
To combat thieves we did two things. #1 was run a cable across the driveway at the main road, and #2 was put in game cameras. The cable isn't going to deter anything but the most casual thieves, but if a prick wants to steal my batteries or propane tanks, they will at least have to carry them all the way down the driveway.
For game cameras, I have two Stealth Cam G42NG no-glow cameras. They work exceedingly well. With the high $$$ lithium batteries and a 32gb memory card, they can go a whole year pretty much unattended. I have them mounted in steel camo enclosures, lag-bolted to a couple of trees.
Careful placement let me have them pretty much hidden, and still get coverage over about 90% of our lots, and each camera has the other in its field of view. So if a tweaker sees one and tried to take it, the other will capture it. I also have a cheap, broken cam that we mounted very conspicuously out in the open. That gives me some deterrence, and hopefully any thieves would concentrate on it and even think about the two more hidden ones.
So far, other than us, and a few forest woodland creatures, the only thing the cameras captured was a sketchy looking guy walking up our drive and across the back of our lot. He had a dog-leash and seemed to be looking for a lost dog. He didn't take or even touch anything, but I got crystal-clear pictures of him in case he did.
Best $300 I have spent on the lots, for sure.
Tim
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DaveBell
Moderator
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# Posted: 24 Jan 2017 12:10pm
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Some technical info.
The no-glow LED emits a wavelength of infrared light (940nm), which is completely invisible to humans and animals. The low-glow LED uses a wavelength that is partially visible (850nm), but has a shield over the LEDs to block some of the red glow that is often given off by these type of LEDs. Therefore, it still gives a slight red glow when the infrared LEDs are triggered.
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Cowracer
Member
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# Posted: 24 Jan 2017 12:49pm
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Also, if you ever want to verify that Ir LEDs are actually on or not, simply use your cell phone camera. Usually, they pick up very well in the IR range. I use that to make sure the batteries in my remote controls aren't dead.
Tim
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