Made it to deer camp

[Sam Menard]

I wanted to come out in the spring to set up my trail cameras but my trip was canceled due to the Covid restrictions.

Finally made it out yesterday and set up 4 cameras. Unfortunately I forgot to buy 2 micro SD cards so I won’t be able to use 2 of my Cell Link units. I can set up the cameras (without the Cell Links) will have to wait until deer season to pull the cards though.

Despite the summer drought, recent rains have greened up all the fields. Everything is lush, just like spring. The area is supposed to receive 40 - 60 mm of rain starting tomorrow so that will help fill the ponds.

[rick_iles]

Sounds better…the guys planted clover up there in the spring, hopefully it made it ok….

[greatwhite]

How do you like those Cell Link cameras? IS this the attachment?

[Species8472]

Good luck this fall.

Just got home from a weekend at our deer camp. Put up one new stand and spent about 20 hours on trail repair. Most of our trails are 10 to 15 years old and basically other than pruning and windfall removal they have not been touched since i built them. Some of them were in pretty rough shape so spent 20 hours with the rubber tire tractor loader backhoe doing repairs. Estimate i wheeled out 4 or 5 tandem loads of sand and gravel to get everything ship shape. Fortunately for us you can dig into the side of any hill on the property and and get all the sand and gravel you need.

Next time up i will be upgrading the solar/wind system. Currently have 200 Watts of solar and a 400 Watt Windmill connected via charge controller to 200 amp-hours of solar deep cycle batteries. For the most everything connected to it is 12 VDC but we do have a 1750 Watt pure sine inverter for AC use when required. The current batteries are 9 years old and due to be replaced. Managed to connect with someone who supplies critical battery UPS systems for places like hospitals where the system has to bridge the gap time associated with generator start up. In many of these critical applications he said the batteries get replaced every 18 months (and have virtually never been cycled) and the 18 month old batteries just get sent to recycling. Was able to get 360 amp-hours of 18 month old battery for the core charge value of $75. Also adding 200 more watts of solar to the system and a better controller. One of my buddies said to be careful as if i keep upgrading the wives may want to visit.

[huntnmachine]

We cleaned trails after we decided we harvested enough bears this week.... Cut some new trails and hung 2 new stands that we have been meaning to do the last few years. Glad we took the time to do so, the area we cleaned shows good sign of bear, deer and moose (if we can ever get a tag for moose)

[Sam Menard]

Sounds better…the guys planted clover up there in the spring, hopefully it made it ok….

Your clover should be good. The area got 3.5 inches of rain yesterday evening/overnight. I knew the rain was coming so I cut my trip short. Put out 6 cameras in all.

[Sam Menard]

How do you like those Cell Link cameras? IS this the attachment?

I have 5 of them and like them a lot. For about $75 each, I think they are worth it if you have non-cell cameras to pair them with. Of course, you need cell service for them to work so they have limitations. You use the app to program uploads, just like the Spypoint cell cameras. It’s cool getting photos sent to your phone without having to run out to the woods all the time.

One thing to be aware of is that, like the SPYPOINT cameras, the photos that you get sent to your phone are low definition. If you want an HD version of a photo sent to your phone, you can request it through the app and will get it the next time that the unit uploads.