SHOT Show: Scout Cameras Are Shrinking

Near home, mule deer slip through the woods in the early hours of January16th.

I looked at some of the new scout cameras (trail cameras, game cameras) on display at SHOT Show and noticed one overall trend: They are shrinking. No more big cases holding eight D-cells — or even four C-cells, like most of mine. Now it is AA cells that you want.

As with many other electronic devices, they do more with less juice. You can find better video, time-lapse features, and so on.

Palm-size Simmons camera.

Infrared capabilities are increasing. Some manufacturers are claiming that their products now take IR photos without the tell-tale red glow when the IR flash fires, although I did not see a demonstration.

Actually, that feature makes such cameras more desirable to people wanting to use them for home security, as the guy in the booth readily admitted. Scout cameras have already nailed a few burglars, particularly in rural areas.

You will also be told that smaller cameras are less likely to be stolen if placed on public lands.

Maybe.

I have been experimenting with camouflage. Most cameras, like the Simmons pictured, come with a black strap. (Simmons is Bushnell's low-end brand.)

Sneaking up on my own camera sets, I notice that the line of black webbing catches my eye before the shape of the camera itself. Yet most trail cameras ship with a black strap.

Choosing a more tree-matching color helps a lot. So does finding a different way to mount the camera, such as propping it up with small stones on a convenient ledge.

I have taken olive-drab cameras like the one pictured and spray-painted them in my own ponderosa pine camouflage scheme. Thought about gluing bark on the cases, but would it hold up to opening and closing? You can spray-paint the strap with a disruptive color scheme too.

The flash, infrared sensor, and lens still must be exposed though. Camouflage is not perfect — all it can do is make the camera less obvious to an inattentive passerby.