I have a wildlife trail across my yard (well, judging by the crushed bushes, there are multiple routes). So, given the opportunity to purchase an infrared trail camera (Bushnell Trophy, model 119455) at a reasonable price, I took it. The first night it was positioned poorly and I ended up with overexposed pictures of a skunk’s tail and the backside of a raccoon (the flash doesn’t seem to adjust for distance). The second night, I improved the positioning and found that a little black bear had wandered by twice (the picture shows it at about midnight).
So, what are my initial thoughts about this camera, apart from the obvious fact that the IR images are rendered in black and white? This is not a camera designed to get good wildlife pictures at night! The IR images are amazingly grainy (requiring much filtering for noise), and the IR flash is quite uneven (requiring much partially effective dodging). But, then (truth in advertising) it is a camera designed more to identify the movements of game than to produce something pleasing to the eye. Sigh….
Yet, it is fun to use it to monitor my visitors. Already I have learned that there is a depressingly large number of house cats that wander my property at night. During the day, the camera switches to colour pictures in the visible, so may be handy for monitoring birds, squirrels and voles.
The Kootenay-Lake Website offers a discussion and more pictures of local black bears and the other wildlife that wanders around the Lake.
