The Bushnell Trophycam died completely last week. It had been having intermittent power problems which I tried to solve but failed. It looks like the power wire from the batteries pulled out of the solder. Anyway, I took it back to Bass Pro Shop in an attempt to exchange it. I bought it in June, no longer had the receipt and I wasn't too hopeful. I wanted to avoid the "ship it back to the manufacturer" drill that I have followed with other cameras. Anyway, the clerk consulted with a manager and informed me that the store return policy was 30 days - it would have to go back to the manufacturer. I asked to speak to the manager, appealled to him that hunting season would be over by the time it came back, and indicated that I was a regular customer. He relented and let me exchange it for a new one. Whew.
When I got to the farm, the Stealthcam had 56 photos on it from under the apple trees. That's the most this season but I had it set to take 2 everytime it triggered. I remain very suspicious about its trigger sensitivity.
This is typical - the buck had to walk thru the entire frame of the camera before it finally triggered and cut off his head.
I wonder if the buck in the foreground triggered this time or if it was the doe on the other side of the fence.
At least there was some buck activity this week under the apple trees.
This buck is on the far side of the fence. The turnips, brassica and soybeans in the field over there seem to be quite popular. I relocated the Stealthcam over to that side of the fence before leaving today.
I put the new Bushnell under the apple trees last night at a different angle. This was the only shot on it. The Stealthcam had some does on the other side of the fence. So maybe the Stealthcam isn't that bad??? Anyway, I left the Bushnell here this week and have the Steathcam on the other side of the fence.
This is from the Moultrie in the little clearing by the driveway stand. This is where most of the buck activity has showed up this year.
Hunting report - I was in PGH for a conference this week. I stopped at the farm on the way home and I hunted Friday evening from the driveway stand. I had 5 does come out with 15 minutes of light left. Shortly thereafter an 8 point came out and walked withing 20 yards of my stand. He was pretty nice but I'm still hoping to do better this year. He was not terribly wide, pretty tall tines but brow tines were very short. I took a photo with my phone but you can't really see him. He bullied the does, grunted at them and chased them around. After dark, I wanted to get out of my stand but I was surrounded with deer. I tried to scare them off by throwing my rattling antlers out the stand window. They landed about 10' from a doe and it didn't bother her at all. Finally I opened the door and they bolted - I hate doing that but I sure didn't want to spend the whole night up there.
Saturday morning I decided to spend an hour or so in a ground blind near the apple trees. When I walked out of the barn, two does bolted from right outside the door. I saw two other does cross the main field but that was the only activity. It was a brisk and beautiful fall morning.
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