Trail Cameras: Setup, Batteries and the Questions Everyone Asks

How a trail camera works

A trail camera sleeps until its sensor sees something warm move across the area in front of it. That sensor is called a passive infrared (PIR) sensor. It doesn't see a picture. It notices a change in heat, so a deer, a squirrel, a sunlit patch of ground or a swaying branch warmed by the sun can all set it off.

When it triggers, the camera wakes up, takes a picture or starts a video, saves it to the SD card and goes back to sleep. A cellular camera also sends the picture over the cell network to an app on your phone. At night it lights the scene with infrared LEDs, which is why night pictures are black and white.

A few terms you'll see on every box:

• Trigger speed: how long it takes from the sensor seeing movement to the picture being taken. Fast cameras are around a tenth to two-tenths of a second. On a trail, a slow trigger gives you pictures of tails.
• Recovery time: how long before it can take the next picture. A short recovery catches the second and third deer in a group.
• Detection range: how far away the sensor can notice an animal. Flash range is how far the infrared light reaches at night, and it's often shorter.
• Megapixels: many cameras list an "interpolated" number, which means the camera enlarges a smaller picture. A higher number on the box doesn't always mean a sharper picture.

Choosing a camera

Cellular or not?

A regular camera saves everything to its SD card, and you walk in to pull the card. A cellular camera sends pictures to your phone, so you can watch a spot without going near it.

In TrailCamPro's power tests, cellular cameras used about 31 to 74 watt-seconds per picture including sending it, against about 7 to 10 for a camera that only saves to its card.

No-glow or low-glow flash?

At night, the camera lights the scene with infrared LEDs. There are two kinds:

From NatureSpy's guide to infrared LEDs. Most mammals see both kinds as a faint red glow, so a no-glow camera isn't completely invisible to deer.

A white-flash camera takes color night pictures but lights up the woods. Most hunters avoid them on deer.

Other things worth paying for

• An external power jack, so you can add a solar panel or a bigger battery later. Many Browning, Spypoint, Stealth Cam and Tactacam models have a 12 V jack.
• A fast trigger if the camera is going on a trail. It matters less over a feeder or food plot, where animals stand still.
• Video if you want to watch behavior, like a buck working a scrape. It uses more battery than pictures.
• Battery count. A camera that holds 12 or 16 AA batteries runs longer between visits than one that holds 6.

Compare picks from Browning, Bushnell, Stealth Cam, GardePro, Tactacam, Spypoint and Moultrie on our trail cameras page.

Where to put it

Put the camera where deer already go: trails between bedding and food, pinch points where they funnel between cover and open ground, food plots and field edges, water, scrapes and rub lines. Here's how Moultrie and the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources recommend setting up for each:

Heights and distances from Moultrie's placement guide. Turkey height from Virginia DWR.

Where to focus through the season

From Moultrie's seasonal placement guide.

On a big food plot, run two cameras. Virginia DWR found two cameras on the same plot caught different deer. They also suggest setting one to pictures and one to video.

Setting it up, step by step

1. Load fresh batteries of one type and a freshly formatted SD card at home, and set the date and time. Doing it at the truck or the tree leaves more scent and invites mistakes.
2. Pick a sturdy tree that won't sway in the wind, about 3 to 4 feet up, on the north side of your target so the camera faces north. If north won't work, use a shaded spot like a creek bottom or hardwood edge.
3. Set the angle. About 45 degrees to the trail, 10 to 15 feet back. On a slope, mount it level with the path so it isn't shooting up or down at the deer.
4. Tip it slightly down to keep sky out of the frame. A small wedge of wood behind the camera, or a mount made for trail cameras, makes this easy.
5. Clear the view. Remove grass, twigs and branches within about 3 feet of the sensor, and anything that will move in the wind across the frame.
6. Test it. Most cameras have a test or walk-test mode. Walk across the trail where a deer would and make sure it fires and frames you the way you want.
7. Lock it. Run a cable lock through the strap loop, or use a security box made for your model.

Moultrie's walk-out checklist sums it up: about 45 degrees to the trail, facing north or into shade, brush cleared within 3 feet, 3 to 4 feet high, and a cellular camera on anything sensitive.

Settings that matter

• Sensitivity: high catches animals farther out but also catches more wind and sun. If you're getting lots of empty pictures, Moultrie's first fix is to turn sensitivity down.
• Pictures per trigger (burst): 2 or 3 pictures help you catch the best angle on a moving deer. Turn it off if you're fighting false triggers, since every empty trigger becomes several empty pictures.
• Delay between triggers: a short delay catches more of a group. A longer delay over a feeder keeps one deer from filling the card.
• Video length: 10 to 20 seconds is enough to see a buck's behavior. Longer clips use power the whole time they record.
• Time-lapse (often called field scan or plot watch): takes a picture on a schedule instead of on motion. It's the way to watch a big field where deer are out past the sensor's range.
• Cellular sending: sending only thumbnails, or only some pictures, saves data and battery. Full-size pictures and video use more of both.
• Date, time and temperature stamp: set them right. They're what let you see patterns, like a buck that only shows up after dark.

Batteries: which type and how long they last

A trail camera pulls very little power while it waits, then a burst of power for every picture, especially at night when the infrared LEDs fire. That burst is hard on cheap batteries. GearCheckers measured 12 kinds of AA in a lab at about the load of night video:

Measured at 0.5 W per cell down to 1.0 V at room temperature (GearCheckers). Temperature ratings from Energizer's L91 and E91 datasheets.

Here's what that means for run time, from our Trail Camera Battery Life Calculator, with 60% of the action at night:

Room temperature. Below freezing, alkaline drops to about half of these numbers. Run times past a year are limited by the batteries slowly losing charge on their own, so check at least once a season.

A busy spot changes everything. The same lower-draw cellular camera that lasts about 243 days at 15 triggers a day lasts about 62 days at 60 triggers a day. Run your own camera and spot through the calculator before you hang it for the season.

Rechargeables: worth it?

If you check a camera often, rechargeables can save real money over a season. Two cautions:

• NiMH is only 1.2 V per cell. TrailCamPro explains that four fresh NiMH cells make about 4.8 V, while many 6 V cameras shut off around 5 V. Some cameras run on NiMH but skip night pictures. TrailCamPro says the Stealth Cam G45NG Max won't take night pictures on rechargeables.
• 1.5 V lithium-ion AA batteries avoid the voltage problem, because a circuit inside holds them at 1.5 V. They need the charger made for them.

NiMH also slowly loses charge sitting in the camera, and TrailCamPro saw NiMH that normally lasted about 10 weeks die in 1 to 2 weeks during a run of 100 °F days.

Battery connections, external power and solar

How the AA batteries are connected

The battery tray wires the AA cells together to make the voltage the camera needs. In series, each cell adds about 1.5 V:

• 8 AA in series make about 12 V. TrailCamPro lists the Browning Defender Pro Scout Max HD this way.
• 4 AA in series make about 6 V, which is why some cameras use banks of 4.
• 12 AA as two groups of 6 make about 9 V, with the two groups side by side (in parallel) for twice the capacity. That's how TrailCamPro describes the Tactacam Reveal Pro 3.0.

Because the cells are in series, the weakest one drags the whole set down. That's why the rules on every battery package matter more in a trail camera:

• Don't mix old and new batteries. Replace them all at once.
• Don't mix brands or types, like lithium with alkaline or NiMH.
• Match the + and − marks on each battery to the marks in the tray.
• Take the batteries out if the camera will sit unused for a long time, so a leaking cell can't damage the contacts.

External batteries

Many cameras have an external power jack, often 12 V, for a bigger battery that lasts far longer than AA cells. Options include the camera maker's own lithium pack or a small 12 V sealed lead-acid battery in a weatherproof box with a cable made for your camera.

• Match the voltage. Check your manual for the voltage the jack expects. A 6 V camera and a 12 V camera are not interchangeable.
• Use the maker's cable or one sold for your model. Barrel plugs come in different sizes and polarities, and a reversed plug can damage the camera.
• If you build your own cable from a 12 V battery, match the plug size and polarity to the manual, and put a small inline fuse close to the battery, the same as any 12 V circuit.
• Check whether the AA batteries stay in. Some cameras use them as a backup when external power runs out. Your manual will say.

Solar panels

A solar panel with a built-in rechargeable battery plugs into the external jack and can keep a cellular camera going for a season. Buy the one made for your camera's brand so the plug and voltage match. Because the camera faces north, the panel usually needs to face the other way, toward the southern sky, and mount where it gets sun most of the day. Shade from leaves cuts its output a lot, so a panel that works in December may struggle under a full summer canopy.

SD cards

• Use the size and type your manual lists. Many trail cameras take SDHC cards, which top out at 32 GB, and some won't read larger cards. Moultrie's own card, for example, is a 32 GB Class 10 SDHC.
• Format it in the camera before the first use. Moultrie's instructions say to always format the card in your camera.
• Carry a spare and swap cards instead of looking through pictures at the tree. You'll spend less time there and leave less scent.
• Label each card with its camera, as Virginia DWR suggests, so you always know which spot the pictures came from.
• Keep an archive. Pictures from past seasons show you when bucks start moving in daylight and which spots they come back to.

Cellular cameras usually still save pictures to a card, and some, like Moultrie's EDGE cameras, don't need one at all.

Checking cameras without spooking deer

Every trip in leaves scent and pressure, and mature deer notice. Virginia DWR suggests checking cameras deep in the woods only about every couple of weeks, and putting cameras on field and food plot edges where they're quicker to reach.

• Check in the middle of the day, when deer are usually bedded.
• Walk in the way you'd walk to a stand, with the wind in your face and in clean boots.
• Swap the card and batteries and leave. Look at the pictures at home.
• Check more often in the cold, since batteries drain faster.
• Don't walk in to scrape cameras during the rut. Moultrie recommends a cellular camera there so you can watch from your phone.
• Mounting the camera higher and angling it down can keep mature deer from noticing it fire, according to Virginia DWR. You trade a little picture quality for less disturbance.

Fixing common problems

False-trigger causes and fixes from Moultrie's support guide. Battery and voltage causes from TrailCamPro. Flash and blur differences from NatureSpy.

Moultrie's test for a camera that keeps taking empty pictures: put it in a closed box overnight. If it still takes pictures, the camera has a fault and it's time to call the maker.

Are trail cameras legal where you hunt?

On your own land, almost always. On public land, and when it comes to using cameras to help you hunt, a growing number of states have rules. A few examples, as reported by the Wildlife Management Institute and the NRA Hunters' Leadership Forum:

Rules change and have details and exceptions not shown here. Check your state wildlife agency's current regulations before you hang a camera.

Wherever you are, get the landowner's permission before putting a camera on someone else's land, and don't aim a camera at roads, homes or places where people expect privacy.

Questions people ask

How long do trail camera batteries last?

Anywhere from a few weeks to over a year. It depends most on whether the camera is cellular, how busy the spot is, how much happens at night, and the battery type. A photo camera on lithium batteries at a quiet spot can go over a year, while a cellular camera on alkaline at a busy feeder may need new batteries within weeks. Our Trail Camera Battery Life Calculator works it out for your setup.

What are the best batteries for a trail camera?

Lithium AA batteries. They held the most energy in GearCheckers' test, keep their voltage up under the infrared flash and work in the cold. If you check the camera often, 1.5 V rechargeable lithium-ion AA batteries are the next best and save money over time.

Can I use rechargeable batteries?

Usually, but check your manual. NiMH rechargeables are only 1.2 V per cell, and some cameras shut off early or skip night pictures on them. 1.5 V lithium-ion rechargeables avoid that problem.

Can deer see the flash?

Deer can often see a low-glow flash as a faint red glow, and NatureSpy notes many animals can see some infrared even from no-glow cameras. If a camera seems to spook a mature buck, try a no-glow camera or mount it higher and angle it down.

Do cellular trail cameras cost money every month?

Most need a data plan from the camera maker, and prices and picture limits vary by brand. Check the plan cost and that your spot has signal from one of the networks the camera uses before you buy.

How high should I hang a trail camera?

About 3 to 4 feet for deer, which is chest height on a walking deer. Go lower, 2.5 to 3 feet, on a scrape for face shots, and about knee high for turkeys.

Which way should a trail camera face?

North, whenever you can. Facing east or west puts the rising or setting sun in the lens, which causes glare and false triggers. If north won't work, find a shady spot.

How often should I check my trail camera?

As little as you can. Every couple of weeks at most for cameras deep in the woods. Check more often in cold weather, and use a cellular camera for spots you shouldn't walk into.

Why is my camera taking pictures of nothing?

Usually moving grass or branches, the sun crossing the frame, or warm ground. Clear the area in front of the camera, face it north, mount it 3 to 5 feet up on a sturdy tree and turn the sensitivity down.

What size SD card do I need?

The size your manual lists. Many cameras take SDHC cards up to 32 GB, and a 32 GB card holds thousands of pictures. Format it in the camera before you use it.

Can I use a trail camera on public land?

It depends on the state, and some states ban or limit them on public land or during hunting season. Check your state's current hunting regulations first.