# Trail Cam questions



## Lawdog (Sep 19, 2007)

I have a moultrie 4.0 I was messing with it and trying to figure what the range of the motion sensor was. I could only get it to take a pic a few times at 20 feet. 
Any one have any ideas on how to make it more dependable at that distance.


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## WasatchOutdoors (Sep 26, 2007)

I own one of those. My first reccomendation would be to hit it with a hammer repeatedly. 

But with that usually having monetary consequences, I would probably focus more on placing the camera in a more ideal situation. What i've found with that camera is that it has a very narrow window of sensitivity, slow to trigger, and it doesn't work well aimed at bright sunny hot areas. I suspect that it's because it detects thermal changes to trigger, so if you're aiming it at an area that is bright, sunny, and hot, the camera doesn't see a lot of contrast between the animals body heat and the surrounding area. 

I've had the best success with mine aimed directly down the travel corridor, usually at a funnel type spot, where the animals have to come throught an opening consistently and the camera will have them walking up the trail for a few seconds to give it time to detect the animal and then still trigger. Anytime I've aimed it perpendicular to the trail, the animal leaves the frame before the camera triggers and I get a scenery shot.

Good luck with it, if you're really careful and think about the placement of the camera you'll increase your odds of getting a good shot.


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## Lawdog (Sep 19, 2007)

Thanks Ill keep those in mind and hope it works out a little better.

What brand of cameras do you use


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## hunter_orange13 (Oct 11, 2008)

WasatchOutdoors said:


> I own one of those. My first reccomendation would be to hit it with a hammer repeatedly.
> 
> But with that usually having monetary consequences, I would probably focus more on placing the camera in a more ideal situation. What i've found with that camera is that it has a very narrow window of sensitivity, slow to trigger, and it doesn't work well aimed at bright sunny hot areas. I suspect that it's because it detects thermal changes to trigger, so if you're aiming it at an area that is bright, sunny, and hot, the camera doesn't see a lot of contrast between the animals body heat and the surrounding area.
> 
> ...


that is what i have noticed also... i own a moultrie dgs-200 but they all have slower triggerspeeds it seems like. i love tcams


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## bwhntr (Sep 12, 2007)

Lawdog said:


> I have a moultrie 4.0 I was messing with it and trying to figure what the range of the motion sensor was. I could only get it to take a pic a few times at 20 feet.
> Any one have any ideas on how to make it more dependable at that distance.


I have this exact cam. It has been taking great pics and it doesn't seem slow at all. I was quite surprised on the quality of the pics and not being on the highest setting. The only down fall is it does take pics when the sun hits it. It uses infared sensors instead of motion. Not a big deal though as the SD card holds thousands of pics and only a handful of them had nothing in them. I had a few pics it was picking up deer about 40 feet away. Good luck.


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