Ever the keen photographer, the editor looks at something new in the trail camera world

credit: Archant

I’ve long enjoyed the many advantages that watching your shoot can bring, whether that be through your binoculars, or with a trail camera. The advantage of the latter is that it can sit silently collecting information 24 hours a day, whilst you’re busy doing other things. With the time set correctly, you can see patterns forming such as when squirrels come to feeders or at which part of the day the rabbits are most active.

The downside is that cameras can be quite expensive, so Scott Country has introduced the Wildgame Innovations Terra 8 Lightsout. It costs £79.95 which is much cheaper than other cameras I’ve seen. To save cost, this camera has no viewing screen, so you need to remove the SD card and put it into your computer to view the images. This is no loss to me because it’s what I do anyway.

Cheap to run

As with most cameras like this it needs eight AA batteries to provide power ,and these will last over a year, so it’s pretty cheap to run. Memory cards are also inexpensive these days.

I found the set-up information a little vague, but soon had the camera attached to a tree in my garden to see if it was working as I hoped, taking pictures of my dogs as they were playing. Happy with the photos made, I took it to my shoot to overlook an area where I was concerned about the squirrels. I’d hit them hard over the winter, but it seemed that they were back with a vengeance. The estate manager was noticing damage, but with the trees in full leaf getting after them would be a challenge. If I could find out their routine, though, I could use my time wisely in waiting for them to show.

Information is power

I aimed the camera at an area where squirrels had been seen, and walked away. Three days later, I returned to view the information and I learned that at this time of year, and with the weather being so hot, they were most active in the early morning until around 10.30, so I made my plans for an early start to see if I could get them in my sights. Sure enough, they were on the move very early in the morning and a little patience allowed me to get the shots I needed through the dense leaves. Without the information that the camera gave, I could have waited all afternoon and wasted my time.

Model Terra 8 Lightsout

RRP: £79.95

Visit the Scott Country website to purchase!