For those who use trail cameras long enough, there is an old adage “It is not if, but when your trail camera will get stolen.” It is an unfortunate truth, that there are people roaming around the woods, that have nothing better to do than to steal your camera, your time, and your hard work. Whether it be for a false sense of ownership of a piece of public property, or a desire to just to take someones equipment for themselves, I can not speculate, but the responsibility to protect your investment falls squarely on your shoulders.
To avoid having your trail camera stolen, it is important to decide if you want to disguise it, or you want to lock it. It is nearly impossible to do both with any sort of regularity, because the tactics that you would generally use would contradict one another.
Choosing to lock your equipment, makes it extremely difficult to hide lock boxes and horizontal cable straps while hiding your camera means you are leaving yourself vulnerable in the case someone does find your camera.
I would venture to say that most trail camera thieves are not out looking to steal cameras, but rather are opportunistic when they stumble across one, which makes your choice to either lock or hide your cameras even more important.
Locking your Trail Camera
When deciding to lock your trail cameras, you are trusting your equipment with manufactured items that are designed to keep your camera from being stolen. This tactic works well in most cases, but regardless of how well you lock your cameras, it is not impossible for someone to cut locks, break into boxes, or steal your SD cards.
Lock Boxes
Almost all manufacturers have created a lock box for their cameras that are specific to their cameras. The size, the placement of the holes for the lens, and motion detectors, and the location of access are all particular to their designed cameras. For that reason I can not recommend any one box over another. What I will say is that these boxes are primarily designed to protect the camera from bears. As I have shared numerous times, first hand I have seen what a curious bear can do to an unprotected trail camera, and it is not pretty.
For this circumstance lock boxes are great. For theft, there is a lot to be desired. Almost all lock boxes are locked by nothing other than a padlock. For the average person just passing by, this is probably enough to deter them from tampering with it, but for those thieves who have any perseverance, a simple trip back to the truck for some bolt cutters is a simple remedy for a free camera.
If you decide that locking your camera is your best option, using manufactured lock boxes should be part of your locking system if for nothing more than a hindrance to those potential thieves who are simply just passing by, but should not be your only line of defense for protecting your trail camera.
Locking Cables
Locking cables are are simply a coated braided wire that cinches through the trail camera and onto the tree. Master Lock Python is the most effective way to secure your camera, due to their patented key locking cable that eliminates the use of padlocks. The key to using these effectively is to make the cable as tight to the tree as possible making it impossible for anyone with a pair of bold cutters to be able to cut all away around the 5/16” cable.
I also like using the Guardian Trail camera lock, in conjunction with a manufactured lock box. This essentially works similar to the Python locks, but is made of a banding metal that is cinch tightened with a special size Allen wrench. This locking system makes it easier to have a more snug to fit to the tree as it is mechanically tightened rather than cinched by hand. It works great with the lock boxes because in order to cut through the tightened metal, a thief would also need a pair of tin snips. Since the Guardian is not used as often as the python locks, it is simply a new obstacle someone trying to steal your camera would need to think through.
Hiding Your Camera
For me, personally, hiding my trail cameras has been a much more effective way of stopping theft all together. While locking your camera can be an effective deterrent from theft, if no one can find your camera it is impossible to steal.
Eliminate Straps
In the woods, an environment where all trees and grasses are in a vertical alignment, it is unnatural to have horizontal lines. When you use a strap for your trail camera, the contradiction of a perpendicular line is an abnormality that is easy to spot even if you are not looking for it. Simply by eliminating the straps, that can be seen from every side of the tree, you will lose nearly 50% of your camera’s visibility.
Use Trail Camera Mounts
In order to get away from using your trail camera straps, you will need to use an after market camera mount. There are many styles on the market that make this transition away from straps easy.
The most common is the screw in mount that fastens to the tree with a lag bolt. Your camera attaches with the ¼ -20 thread at the bottom of your device. All of this is connected to a swivel arm that will give you the flexibility to position the camera at any angle you need, making hanging your camera easier than using straps, an added bonus to hiding your camera.
Another popular mounting system is the stick mount. I recommend the Stic-n-pic for anyone considering this option. The object of these mounting systems is to allow you to place cameras in areas where there is no suitable trees. As an added bonus, it works great for concealing your camera out of sight as well.
These systems are simple, sturdy sticks that you place into the ground, and attach your camera to, using the same ¼ -20 thread you use for screw in mounts. They have the same versatility of angling and adjusting the camera as well. Since the mounting stick is vertical, it naturally fits in with the environment around it, making it less visible even without trying to hide it.
Hang Out of Sight
In order to prevent theft it is essential to hang your camera where no one can see it. This will keep the wondering eye of a thief to continue to wonder without the temptation. Many people have gravitated toward hanging their camera higher up into the tree, finding those who happen to pass by, are less likely to too look into the tree canopy. It keeps the camera out of a normal line of vision, making it less tempting to steal. The only holdup for using this method is that the angle in which you will have to tilt your camera is so much so, that you will loos quite a bit of your field of view.
One of my favorite setups is to use a stic-n-pic and nestle the camera just inside the branches of a conifer. This allows the camera to sit closer to the ground, keeping your field of view optimal, while the low lining branches can be used as a concealment for the stick. You can use this method in tall grasses, cattails, and anywhere there is high density pole, like aspen groves or early successional growth.
When the opportunity presents itself, you can place your camera in hollowed out tree trunks or even stumps. Thinking outside of the box, eliminating your tree strap, and finding places to conceal the outline of your camera will all help in keeping your camera out of sight.
Find Hard to Reach Places
Maybe it is just a theory, but I find that thieves in general are lazy. Otherwise they would work hard and pay for their own cameras to begin with. I have never had a trail camera stolen in a place where I have had to cross a creek or a swamp, crawl on my hands and knees to get past thick brush, or walk any distance over a mile.
What I have found is that people who are willing to go to such lengths to get back into a secluded place, understand the work it takes to get there, and are unwilling to capitalize on someone else’s hard work. I have had people in these hard to reach situations, walk by the camera, look directly into it and give it a thumbs up or wave, and never so much as give it another thought.
Trail cameras that are placed in plain sight, with horizontal tree straps, and close walking distance to any road or parking lot, are typically the cameras that most often located and stolen.
Setup a Trail Camera Trap
If you are having a continuous problem with you trail cameras being stolen, one of the better options is to catch the thief in the act. A simple placement of another trail camera high in the air, and point it down directly at your original camera.
Make sure that you are using a no glow camera for the surveillance, being sure that it will not be seen as well. Often using longer video modes will give you better opportunities to catch a glimpse of his face, as he turns around. Nothing would be more frustrating than to have 8 pictures of the back of his head, and then in your next sequence of photos he is gone, along with your camera.
Make sure you present the pictures to you local game warden, even if you know who the perpetrator is. They are trained to handle these situations. If you do not recognize the thief, many times the game warden will personally know many violators by name, and have been looking for the evidence that they have not other wise had.
Use Cameras that are Designed to Stop Theft
Lucky for us, the trail camera industry has recognized the increasing amount of trail cameras that are being stolen, and understand the frustrations that come along with it. Some manufacturers are now creating products that can help with that frustration as a service to their customers.
Exodus
Aside from making incredible cameras, I personally like the Exodus Lift 2, Exodus focuses much of their efforts on their customer service. Not only do they have an industry leading 5 year warranty on all of their cameras, they also provide a 5 year theft protection warranty as well. If you have your trail camera stolen in the first 5 years, they will give you another camera at a 50% discount, basically at cost of making it. Their customer service is exceptional, and with one simple phone call, you will have direct contact with one of the owners of the company, and with their No BS warranty will have a new camera sent to you.
Spypoint
If you are in the market for a cellular trail camera, there are no better cameras on the market than the Spypoint Link. What makes Spypoint even better, for those who are having problems with theft, is that they installed a GPS tracking unit right into the camera. Linked to your smart phone with their spypoint app, whenever your camera is moved, it will send you an alert. If you do not respond to the alert confirming you are the one moving it, the internal GPS system will begin tracking it. There is no easier way to get your camera back from a thief than having the evidence of its exact location.
I hope this helps with the frustration of getting your trail camera stolen. Its unfortunate that anyone has to worry about such things, but it is a part of the risk we have with placing expensive equipment unattended in the woods.
