Utah bans trail cameras

[MrTom]

I have a single trail camera that I hang on one of the main trails up at the cabin. It's amazing what shows up on it, including trespassers. I don't hunt up there so nothing I see on the camera is ever pursued by me, or anyone else that sees the pictures because nody has permission to hunt there other than family and they seldom see any of the pictures the camera has taken.

 

[LHR]

I’m in Utah and feel this was a necessary step, though I hate that it infringes on our rights yet again! Our problem out here is very different than the eastern states that are mostly private land. Ours is mostly public land, that gets a beating from everyone, outfitters especially abuse the use of cell cameras.
I have four cameras myself which we can still use up until August 1st. They are basically just banning their use during hunting season .

They also banned any hunting over baits, even if it’s just a salt lick,( popular) but people use everything from apples to garden produce! As was mentioned, it’s totally unenforceable, they don’t have enough wardens to even respond to the found dead head issues from shed hunters, let alone try to police this!

Its just too bad people can’t use some discipline and not abuse a good thing to the point of making it a bad thing for everyone. Our deer herd is suffering worse than I’ve seen in my lifetime, so bigger steps than this need to be done. Sadly those who manage our game are truly just money managers, everything they do is based on the revenue they can bring in with the next great hunt for this or that, always innovating new ways to sell tags! For once I’d like to see some real progress towards just doing whats right for the deer herd, money side of it be damned!

So I see this as a step in the right direction as unfortunate as that is. By the way they also banned the use of Night Vision and Thermal devices during and just prior to hunting season. That’s a whole notha can o worms right there since coyote hunters are not regulated by wildlife dept’s, that falls on USDA.

 

[LHR]

That some people are butt heads does not mean the state should regulate the most mundane details of my life. This applies to more than game cameras.
Game cameras are not the issue, butt heads are. It used to be quite common for idiots to drive the logging roads of Idaho all night while bugling. Stop & bugle, stop & bugle. A good response would lead to phone calls to buddies who then would surround the area at day break. Should this have lead to outlawing elk bugles? For most of our issues, better parenting is the answer, not a rush to imitate CA, WA, or NY.

Exactly right!

 

[phalanx]

I have no issue with what Utah does or doesn't do, I don't live there and feel I have no say. If your state chose to ban them, so be it. My issue is stating they should be banned everywhere. I would suspect that soon you will have to register them and put your name, reg number, phone number, etc on them.

 

[MTY]

I agree Utah is Utah's business. However, when someone holds up this slide toward a nanny state as an example of what should be done in Idaho the conversation has shifted. At that point I am compelled to say, "No, not here."

 

[Jitterbug]

As was mentioned, it’s totally unenforceable, they don’t have enough wardens to even respond to the found dead head issues from shed hunters, let alone try to police this!

LHR, can you please explain this statement? I’m not arguing, I just don’t understand this (very small) part of your post.

If a shed hunter finds a skull with antlers in UT, do they need a permit to pick it up, or something?

Thanks!

 

[LHR]

LHR, can you please explain this statement? I’m not arguing, I just don’t understand this (very small) part of your post.

If a shed hunter finds a skull with antlers in UT, do they need a permit to pick it up, or something?

Thanks!

Yes, you have to report the location and try to make a claim on it. If by the time an officer gets out to investigate and it is still there, could be months later. And if they deem it died of natural causes you may be able to keep it.

I‘ve been burned by this lame policy because while you wait for the officer to do his thing, some ass that doesn’t care about this law will come along and just take it!

 

[LHR]

Lost to someone who could give a rip about our game laws!

 

[Jitterbug]

Yes, you have to report the location and try to make a claim on it. If by the time an officer gets out to investigate and it is still there, could be months later. And if they deem it died of natural causes you may be able to keep it.

I‘ve been burned by this lame policy because while you wait for the officer to do his thing, some ass that doesn’t care about this law will come along and just take it!

Thank you, I figured it was something along those lines.

Here in MN, you don’t need any paperwork to pick up sheds. The unethical will sometimes make “antler catchers” with chicken wire or hog fencing. When the deer try to feed on the bait left behind (under the wire, which is anchored down), their antlers get tangled. This is done before they’re dropping naturally, and it just helps to get both antlers “dropped” (snagged?) in a predictable location.

Antlers from a roadkill DO need a permit, prior to being picked up. In the good ol’ days before cell phone proliferation, it was common for someone to drive to a pay phone and call, requesting a permit. By the time they met a Warden or Trooper out there, the antlers would have been swiped by someone else, w/o a permit.

Good guys finish last, I guess. Now, I believe you mentioned “asses?”

 

[Hatchet Jack]

Years back I bought my first trail cam. It was a cheap Moultrie. I believe the model was the D5. I was late to the party since trial cams had been out for many years prior. A buddy of mine told me that trail cams are a hobby within them selves. He was right.
Trail cams are not the end all to woodsmanship, believe me. I still scout religiously in the late summer, early fall as well as late winter after the hunting seasons are over . I actually shoot less animals now than I did before I started running trail cams. I actually shot bigger trophy bucks before I started using them. If anything, trail cams have actually prevented me from shooting certain bucks. Only because I knew there was a bigger one lurking around. They can be a great tool on private property, especially if you are trying to practice healthy deer management.
What I have found with trail cams over the years is they are a ton of fun. I get pictures of every type animal on the mountain property I hunt. Deer, coons, eagles, hawks, coyotes, red and gray fox, black bears, bobcats, trespassers........ This list goes on and on.
It does not matter to me one way or the other if trail cams get banned or not. I just think they are fun to use and they have in no way given me an advantage as a hunter.
I have a friend in Virginia who has deer hounds. He told me recently that he thinks trail cams are cheating. Him and his sons hunt deer exclusively by chasing them in circles with the dogs so they can get a shot at them. Alot of the deer are shot after the deer runs to the point of total exhaustion with their tongues hanging out gasping for air. I refrained from giving him my opinion on his hunting technique.
To each his own. We are all hunters. We should band together not be divided.

 

[yoyodoc]

When trail cameras used real film and cost a lot of money, I didn't use one. I scouted. And some years I scouted a lot. In NM I hunted one square mile for 3 years and at the end of 3 years I knew where the game would be. Later I moved to Iowa. I hunted one farm for decades. The farmer grew up on that farm and knew where the deer would be. Scouting and patterning is almost like hunting but without the bloodshed. It burns a whole lot more calories than putting up trail cameras that you can down load from.

 

[ENCORE50A]

I run 6 cameras for about 3/4 of the year, all on our private property. I get photos of just about every critter that resides in the area, bear, bobcat, coyote, both foxes, buzzards, turkey, etc.
Call me sick but, I love the videos of the bear learning what electric is around the bird feeders.
If I want to run 6 cameras or 20 cameras on my own private property, that's what's going to happen. Not one of my cameras has ever produced a game animal for me.

 

[Okie Hog]

70 percent of Utah land is public property: One would hope the DNR manages that land in the best interests of i's citizens.

i've read online posts by Utah hunters who say the water holes are often surrounded by game cameras.

What is good for Utah is not necessarily good for other states. Oklahoma has a dearth of public property. There are numerous Oklahoma WMAs but they are often overcrowded. Landowners are reluctant to allow hunting because of the liability issue and damage done by slob hunters. That leaves deer leases.

i run trail cameras to access the state of the deer population but mostly to pattern wild hogs for killing.

 

[GM54-120]

I just have to raise an eyebrow when i see someone support the use of dogs for hunting but they would vote for a nation wide ban on using trail cameras.

 

[rusticbob]

I’m with Lewis! Here in Vermont we have seen “ hunters” using drones with cameras attached to find deer that they don’t want to climb or hike to. Is that not simply a moving, portable game camera? That is why F&G outlawed them. Hope they do the same for these transmittable trail cameras.
We are already loosing our hunting traditions to the lazy and inept. I don’t consider sitting in an elevated blind over a bait pile hunting, it’s shooting, not hunting.
I stillhunt, almost always. It was common years ago to see other hunters walking thru the woods doing the same. I used to see hunters way back in the woods. Now all I ever see is hunters in tree stands or ground blinds(tents), and I bet most of those are within 1/2 mile of the road. Where did all the “hunters” go!

 

[ENCORE50A]

................... Where did all the “hunters” go!

They were invaded by city dwellers who moved to the country and bought up all the 5 and 10 acre lots that the kids of true farmers that have passed split up and sold away.

 

[MTY]

I have a question for those willing to sacrifice my freedom on their altar of controling others. Have you stopped to think that those same cameras you dislike are also employed to catch poachers and other criminals?
An example. About a month ago I heard a shot just before midnight. In the morning, I found that a herd of elk had passed through my property the night before in the location the shot came from. When I reported the attempted poaching, the conservation officer told me he had spoken with my neighbor. The neighbor had the poacher on camera coming down the property line between us.
Even though the neighbor does not live on the property he owns, he was able to get a picture in real time and send it to the C.O.. He is also able to alert me to armed individuals approaching my house in the middle of the night.

 

[GM54-120]

Does Utah allow the use of 2way radios/cell phones while hunting, including using them to help spot game and coordinate a hunting group?

 

[ENCORE50A]

Does Utah allow the use of 2way radios/cell phones while hunting, including using them to help spot game and coordinate a hunting group?

You forgot GPS

 

[GM54-120]

Phones now days are more or less a small PC. Numerous apps you could use to do basically the same thing as far as marking locations with times. They can even guide you back to the exact same spot within a few feet of the GPS marker. Geo location for pictures is built into many new phones. You can even pull it up on Google Maps.

So sick the dogs on them and grab your smart phone.....Thats all good right? Well not in Utah, you cant hunt big game with dogs but you can in some states. Chase the bear or lion up the tree for some real fair chase sport huh?