scouting/trail cameras

[jon12]

not really long range equipment, but still hunting stuff...
Ive been thinking of getting a scouting camerea to put near my feeder later in the year to get a look at all the bucks coming into the area so I dont end up shooting something smaller than what Ive got.
These seem like a great tool but I see one problem with them. Say an old buck jumps into my feeder pen in the middle of the night and a big bright flash goes off 10 feet from his face. From my observing deer behavior forever, it seems like to me he would just about jump out of his skin, get outta there as fast as he could, and not be back for a while, so i have a picture that does me no good. Ive seen alot of photos from these, and many taken at night, and it seems the deer are just standing around or feeding casually. Do the flash from these cameras not bother them that much, or do the deer get scared by them? Has anyone observed this either way first hand. I would like to see what coming but the last thing i wanna do is scare deer away from my feeder all the time.
Thanks for any help.

 

[janderson]

In my VERY limited experience the flash is a short one time (while he's there) event that will put the deer on guard, but not run it off. Then after a couple times they get used to it. I used on last year and proved useful, because all it saw were does. Hope it helps. good luck.

 

[l29]

I don't know what your think'n, but I have hit deer in the face with 1 million watt spots, and they just stand there. I have flashed the healamps of my truck at them repeatedly and again, they just stand there. I imagine that when a flash of light hits them like that, that they too, will just stand there.

 

[ia]

Highlander has a digital black & white camera that uses a infrared flash. I've been using it for 2 years with great results.

[ 05-21-2004: Message edited by: ia ]