Over the past year it has started back up. I've got photos of a very big bear, but now I know he isn't culprit. My son Daniel has never been a fan of getting his picture taken. He goes out of his way to turn his head or otherwise mess up any photo of him. So in his honor, I named this bear Daniel. He found that amusing. Here is a photo from 24 September of "Daniel's" trip through my hunting area. Three of five cameras were touched, with two of them being removed from the tree.
If you look closely at the camera on the right, you can see evidence of the last time it had to be glued back together from a "Daniel" encounter
To avoid putting down too much human scent when checking the cameras, I decided to transition them all to cellular. First I put a new WGI cellular trail camera up at the top position on the mountain to avoid having to climb up there as much. Then I purchased three Spypoint Cell-Links for the three other cameras that would support a 12V external battery. I had visions of powering the Cell-Link and cameras off of the same battery so I wouldn't have to visit any of them for an entire season. Well, "Daniel" had a different idea.
Here is a snapshot of the Spypoint app on my phone. As you can see, the Cell-Links are only a week into their first month and none of the cameras have taken their first 100 photos yet. Actually, I had them take 12-20 testing at home before I deployed them so their total in the woods is even less.
As I headed to my stand for yesterday's successful hunt, I surveyed the cameras expecting carnage because two had stopped reporting. Carnage is what I found.
Two of the three Cell-Links were bare of external attachments. Antennas were chewed up or broken off. The tether cables were broken or chewed in multiple pieces. Both attached cameras were removed from the trees. One survived because the mount broke first. The other will be in need of some glue work. One was missing the memory card, which I can only assume was consumed.
The broken camera that still had a memory card provided evidence. It's not a "Daniel" terrorizing my cameras, but a "Danielle" as evidenced by the cub in the background.
Taunting me...
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
I've invested in 12v batteries and cases, but I'll need some new cameras now before I deploy any. I'm considering a couple more with built in cellular, but I'll have to get creative in mounting to help avoid the camera killer. Since she has cubs, she's off limits as far as settling the score. We haven't actually seen her in person, but we have seen her cubs so she has been close by.
I'm sure you guys up north have to deal with this all of the time. I wasn't planning on making an expensive investment in metal camera cases, but eventually that's going to start making a lot of sense.
Suggestions? Are there any repellents that will make a camera undesirable that won't have a similar impact on deer?
BTW, the last photo taken my new cellular camera at the top of the mountain was of a bear. I've got my fingers crossed that I'll see another pic eventually.