Home made bear box for trail cam
- Thread starter John A.
- Start date
Picture with strips in place. I had to trim the bolts, hence the half moon burn marks from the die grinder.
I like the look of the duct tape, but it does not stick very well.
I also need to rethink my locking mechanism. I may replace the 4 bolts with some hinges and a latch just to make it easier/quicker to get the camera out. That will be a later prioject, it's set for the season now.
I like the look of the duct tape, but it does not stick very well.
I also need to rethink my locking mechanism. I may replace the 4 bolts with some hinges and a latch just to make it easier/quicker to get the camera out. That will be a later prioject, it's set for the season now.
I switched to a different kind of camo tape to try out this year.
The one I had from last year, while was thick, the edges kept trying to peel up. I also noticed the camo tape on the camera face itself was starting to turn colors from the weather/sun and went from a brownish color to a decidedly greenish color as you can see on the face of the camera sticking out of the hole.
So, I'm going to try Gorilla grip camo tape this year to see how it does.
The pattern and overall non reflective tape looks better than the other tape too.
I put the tape on the new solar panel because I didn't like the silver color that it was when I bought it.
I hope the little panel keeps the rechargable battery going strong so I don't have to miss any pics due to a dead battery again. I plan to put the charger way up on the tree out of reach of bears and will add the necessary length to reach the battery box by using cheap speaker wire just in case the bears are still hanging around. (they almost always aren't very far)
I have it sitting in the yard hooked to the battery today to see how well the solar panel works and will check the battery voltage later this evening.
The one I had from last year, while was thick, the edges kept trying to peel up. I also noticed the camo tape on the camera face itself was starting to turn colors from the weather/sun and went from a brownish color to a decidedly greenish color as you can see on the face of the camera sticking out of the hole.
So, I'm going to try Gorilla grip camo tape this year to see how it does.
The pattern and overall non reflective tape looks better than the other tape too.
I put the tape on the new solar panel because I didn't like the silver color that it was when I bought it.
I hope the little panel keeps the rechargable battery going strong so I don't have to miss any pics due to a dead battery again. I plan to put the charger way up on the tree out of reach of bears and will add the necessary length to reach the battery box by using cheap speaker wire just in case the bears are still hanging around. (they almost always aren't very far)
I have it sitting in the yard hooked to the battery today to see how well the solar panel works and will check the battery voltage later this evening.
Solar charger is working fine.
I unhooked the terminals and checked the voltage and it was 5.77 VDC after only 4 hours.
Considering that it had sat on a shelf since mid november and discharged a little naturally during that time, I'm content with 5.77 volts after that short amount of time out in the yard.
I checked the panel leads and it was putting out almost 6.93 volts with no load, so it's working properly.
I unhooked the terminals and checked the voltage and it was 5.77 VDC after only 4 hours.
Considering that it had sat on a shelf since mid november and discharged a little naturally during that time, I'm content with 5.77 volts after that short amount of time out in the yard.
I checked the panel leads and it was putting out almost 6.93 volts with no load, so it's working properly.
I wanted to give you guys a quick update.
I retrieved the camera today for the winter.
The gorilla tape was a lot more colorfast. Matter of fact, it looks the same today as it did almost 9 months ago when I put it out.
The bear box is missing a strip of tape from the front of the box, but that was due to an overzealous bear trying to munch on it and peeled it off.
Otherwise, the color, and the adhesive has worked much better than the "duck" brand camo in all aspects.
Also, the WildGame Innovations 6v solar panel has performed great too.
Before I rigged up the 6v Rechargable lantern battery, I was going through about 4 C batteries about every 6 weeks and when it starts frosting a set about every 3 weeks. Needless to say, that started getting into the money after a while.
And now that I added the solar panel, I have not changed a battery all year and all I have had to do is swap the memory card every now and then.
Why don't trail camera manufacturers build these like this to begin with? I've got way less than a hundred bucks in this setup and it's definitely low maintenance and I'm not constantly carrying batteries back and forth or missing pictures because the batteries kerplunked.
I retrieved the camera today for the winter.
The gorilla tape was a lot more colorfast. Matter of fact, it looks the same today as it did almost 9 months ago when I put it out.
The bear box is missing a strip of tape from the front of the box, but that was due to an overzealous bear trying to munch on it and peeled it off.
Otherwise, the color, and the adhesive has worked much better than the "duck" brand camo in all aspects.
Also, the WildGame Innovations 6v solar panel has performed great too.
Before I rigged up the 6v Rechargable lantern battery, I was going through about 4 C batteries about every 6 weeks and when it starts frosting a set about every 3 weeks. Needless to say, that started getting into the money after a while.
And now that I added the solar panel, I have not changed a battery all year and all I have had to do is swap the memory card every now and then.
Why don't trail camera manufacturers build these like this to begin with? I've got way less than a hundred bucks in this setup and it's definitely low maintenance and I'm not constantly carrying batteries back and forth or missing pictures because the batteries kerplunked.
ripjack13 said:
Always do, though lately the numbers have decreased some over the past few years and I can't figure out why.
There is no foot traffic to run them out, and the predator numbers are also decreased. But the bear numbers have increased.
I only got about 600 pics this year compared to about 1200 last year.
