Bushnell 8MP Trophy Cam HD Trail Camera

The camera is very well designed and has many features.

First thing to know that this is just the camera only. It requires batteries (not included) and an SD memory card (not included) to get started. Also, one might need to buy the tree mounting brackets, and if wanted, the security box. The mounting brackets make it so the camera can be placed in whatever location or position one desires, and the security box is to make sure no one walking thru the woods happens to come across your camera and decide to take it.

So keep in mind before you begin there are a few items you need and/or might want to get to be able to use this camera to its fullest potential.

A friend of mine who's wife is a Vet Tech takes home animals that have been abandoned or are ill and cares for them instead of having them put down. The house is full of cats, dogs, birds, and other assorted house pets. Also she rescues turtles. She is a professional and cares for them medically, keeps them clean, and lets them live out the rest of their lives in as much comfort as she can provide.

Well, the turtles for years have been put in their outdoor habitat when the weather turned warm. One morning she discovered someone had come into the yard and some of the turtles were missing. Several hours of searching could not locate them. It was obvious they did not wander off on their own. Police were called, and although there was nothing they could do, they said they would be on the lookout for anyone wandering around late at night on the street, with notice if they are in peoples yards.

A few days later, the remaining turtles were put back in the yard in a re-enforced enclosure, having been brought indoors again for safe keeping and while their outdoor area was made more secure. The next morning, she discovered the enclosure damaged and the remains of a few half eaten turtles in the yard. Now it was decided that most likely this was not the work of some kids going around stealing turtles, and certainly not eating them. This was the work of a natural predator. The oldest of these turtles had been in the outdoor enclosure since 1996 with no problems until just recently. We then decided we needed to figure out what was attacking and killing these animals.

I took the camera to their house, put in the batteries and a 16GB memory card. Even though there are many features to this camera, the manual and set up of how to use it are straight forward and if you have used a digial camera or video camera then the set up will not be difficult for you to achieve.

We mounted the camera on a tree in the yard (not using any of the above accessories, just some items from a local hardware store) and took some test video until we got the angle and picture how we wanted it showing the turtles outdoor area. After bringing the remaining turtles inside, we set the enclosure back to how it was and left some bait in it. We then let the device run and waited to see what we would find.

The following day the enclosure had been attacked and damaged again. We then reviewed what the camera recorded during the night. The video showed a fisher cat coming into the yard and doing the damage. Never before had there been a fisher cat in this neighborhood. We contacted the police to let them know it was not kids or vandals causing the problem but a natural predator, and gave them a copy of the video. They then put a release out saying that people needed to beware for pets or other dangers these animals might cause and to be aware they were around.

So I was able to put this camera immediately to good use and it worked great. Easy set up, and instant results. I am sure that if one was to use this camera for hunting or tracking wildlife it would serve the user very well. The camera is top notch, but keep in mind to use it to its fullest potential there are other accessories one would need to purchase. I am thinking of getting a tree mount bracket next so I can set it up in more places. In the future I may get the security box if I decide to put it in more distant areas than my yard or a friends yard.

I have to admit that this is my first trail camera purchase so I have nothing to really compare it to. I would have rated it higher but there are some things that could be designed better.

Also the picture is slightly different than what I recieved but I like it better. The "Bushnell HD" is not black on my unit but camo which I was going to live with but it seemed to defeat the purpose of the camo so I am pleased with that.

First the stand off on the bottom back of the unit should have some adjustability. This could be easily done with a locking screw in manufacturing. The result is that it is very hard to find a tree at the recommended size that does not taper in some way so the camera has a tendency to point up. That with the strap system that makes it very hard to place the camera with out a lot of fiddling. My first full day I ended up catching the backs of deer when they were about 15 yards away.

Second they should really have the loops where you would run a cable lock through metal in my opinion. However this would add cost and weight but it really isn't very secure. At least a would be thief are less likely to cut the cable maybe saving you the expense of buying a new lock.

I am very impressed though with the picture quality and the many options available. It takes a few minutes to get a handle on the menu system but once you do it is pretty easy. I thought when I got to the format option I was through them all as I would expect that to be at the end of the list.

I will probably pick up a second one of these units to really be able to scout effectively with them as only one does not tell you a whole lot about an area but I just took up turkey hunting and had only been monitoring their movements while bow/gun deer hunting really and wanted to decrease my learning curve on their movements. It did help me zoom into one particular Toms movememnt patterns. And now I leave it running just to keep an eye on the movements around my favorite spot.

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I've had this camera for about two months now, and I use it mostly in video mode. I have it trained on my front porch as both a wildlife camera and a security camera. The video quality during daytime is very good, but at night it is totally washed out. It can't seem to get the exposure correct at night.... and it might be complicated by the large white stone wall that is the front of my house...but still, the pics at night are useless.

My other complaint is that the trigger mechanism isn't sensitive enough and the camera is very slow to activate the video. I've had people arrive at my front door and make it inside the house before the video starts recording. I get the rear end of most of the deer that wander through, or nothing at all, because it has already moved out of the frame before the video starts.

It is also very difficult to set the field of view for the camera since there is no viewfinder or display to look at. You just have to guess at where it is pointed... take a few shots, remove the memory card, put it in the computer to check the positioning, then adjust the camera and do it all over again. Time consuming and tedious. It would certainly be nicer if there was an external USB connector that you could connect to a PC and view real time what the camera can see. That would make aiming the camera much easier.

This is my first wildlife camera, so i don't know if any of the others are any better. I've been disappointed with this one.. mostly because of the poor video at night and the very slow activation.

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I love wildlife and I love to watch the animals that come by my place at night. You just never know what you might see! I have had my Bushnell 8MP Trophy Cam HD Trail Camera with Night Vision going on 4 wks now and I really like it. It was easy to set up and works great. I get about 50 to 60 videos a night! FYI: I have used a Wildgame and Leupold before and hated them. I think Bushnell is way better!

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After reading a lot of the reviews, I purchased a trail camera (9437C). I was very disappointed with this product. The pir sensor ( Low, Normal, High and auto) is a joke, it seems one setting is no different than the other. The night time pictures will go from good to very snowy. Daytime are alright. I have a total of 6 "trail cameras", made up of three manufactures. This Bushnell is not one of the top cameras.

I am still looking. Stay away from skypoint

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