Are Wireless Trail Cameras Fair Chase?

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
I guess it depends on how you use it.
 

1eyefishing

...just joking, seriously.
Can of worms...
They must be ruling that you cannot get a cell phone Cam picture proving the location of your quarry and then go kill it there.
Surely, they're not saying that if you have cell phone camera pics of your q uarry from days previous, then your kill cannot be fair chase.
Where to draw the line in between those two scenarios is not real clear to me.
 

XIronheadX

PF Trump Cam Operator !20/20
If 2 eyeballs is legal and real time as it gets, what could be the issue with a cellular camera? LOL. I guess chalk it up to some kind of club jealousy.
 
When I took hunter safety in the 80s, using any electronic means to help pursue game was illegal. The game warden specifically mentioned dog hunters using radios to help during drives as an illegal aid. Cameras are creating a new wrinkle. What about scouting with drones? States are starting to address the new technology now.
 
Illegal scouting? lol. When seeking notoriety for killing, instead of personal accomplishment, there's always going to be an issue.
Like hillbilly said, it depends how you use them. If cameras along the trails are sending you pics real time as you are in the stand, that's not fair chase. Scouting before a hunt may be.
 

XIronheadX

PF Trump Cam Operator !20/20
Like hillbilly said, it depends how you use them. If cameras along the trails are sending you pics real time as you are in the stand, that's not fair chase. Scouting before a hunt may be.
What would it possibly matter if the camera sends me a pic? I'm going to see him when he gets there. Nothing else matters.

IF anything someone fidgeting with a dang phone would put more odds in the deers favor.
 
What would it possibly matter if the camera sends me a pic? I'm going to see him when he gets there. Nothing else matters.

IF anything someone fidgeting with a dang phone would put more odds in the deers favor.
It would give you a heads up if the deer is approaching or may spur you to move to intercept the deer. Neither of which would fall under fair chase. For the same reason you cannot fly and hunt the same day in many places.
 

XIronheadX

PF Trump Cam Operator !20/20
It would give you a heads up if the deer is approaching or may spur you to move to intercept the deer. Neither of which would fall under fair chase. For the same reason you cannot fly and hunt the same day in many places.
IF you moved, it would be more fair anyway. Instead of sitting in a tree. Is a picture any different than a buck grunting before it would be in view? Should it be legal to watch a deer cross a field with two eyes, then go get upwind to intercept it? Flying is another ball game. I can't fly.
 
IF you moved, it would be more fair anyway. Instead of sitting in a tree. Is a picture any different than a buck grunting before it would be in view? Should it be legal to watch a deer cross a field with two eyes, then go get upwind to intercept it? Flying is another ball game. I can't fly.
This is the scenario that makes it not fair chase. You're sitting in a ladder stand early one morning and your cellular trail cam send you a picture. You see a big buck heading north away from you along a fresh scrape line. You know with the direction he is heading you can get down and cut him off at a fire break a few hundred yards away. That's not fair chase. You were aided by the camera. Using your own ears and eyes to hear that grunt or see the flash of a tail is the essence of fair chase.
 
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XIronheadX

PF Trump Cam Operator !20/20
This is the scenario that makes it not fair chase. You're sitting in a ladder stand early one morning and your cellular trail cam send you a picture. You see a big buck heading north away from you along a fresh scrape line. You know with the direction he is heading you can get down and cut him off at a fire break a few hundred yards away. That's not fair chase. You were aided by the camera.
No different than if you see him cross the road in front of your truck going in and you loop around to do it. Or a half mile off with 2 eyes. The camera doesn't have a gun attached to it. Your own skills have to accomplish the feat, regardless. I know where most deer are without seeing them anyway.
 
No different than if you see him cross the road in front of your truck going in and you loop around to do it. Or a half mile off with 2 eyes. The camera doesn't have a gun attached to it. Your own skills have to accomplish the feat, regardless. I know where most deer are without seeing them anyway.
The essence of fair chase is using your own senses to harvest the animal unaided. As long as its legal you can do whatever you want. I don't have any issue with how you want to hunt. But that's not the same issue as is it "fair chase". As it was taught to me in my Georgia hunters education, it would not be.
 

XIronheadX

PF Trump Cam Operator !20/20
The essence of fair chase is using your own senses to harvest the animal unaided. As long as its legal you can do whatever you want. I don't have any issue with how you want to hunt. But that's not the same issue as is it "fair chase". As it was taught to me in my Georgia hunters education, it would not be.
Fair chase went out the window with baiting. Cameras don't attract deer.
 

elfiii

Admin
Staff member
The older I get the less crap I want to take to the woods to deal with. Being a successful deer hunter is about scouting (skill) and being in the right place at the right time (luck).
 

XIronheadX

PF Trump Cam Operator !20/20
The next time I'm sitting with my grown son, with a camera, I'll be sure to not tell him when I see a deer coming. Because I am faster than a cellular camera.

I'll even put some batteries in my pocket so I'm electronic. lol
 
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