Depend on Trail Cameras to Make You a Better Deer Hunter
Day 3: Don’t Buy Cheap Batteries for Your Trail Cameras to Watch Deer
Editor’s Note: Dave Parrott of Louisville, Kentucky, one of Mossy Oak’s pros (www.mossyoak.com), decided he could build a better trail camera. Parrott got involved in building trail cameras when the switch was made from 35 millimeter cameras to digital cameras. Because digital cameras ran $500 or more when they first were produced, Parrott decided he could build a better and less-expensive trail camera, if he built it himself. He became fascinated with what trail cameras could do, and what he could learn about game movement with the trail cameras. This began his lifelong obsession with developing game cameras and learning more-efficient ways to use them.
  I never have understood why hunters would buy really-nice trail cameras and put the cheapest batteries they could buy in those trail cameras. Then they wondered why those batteries died all the time, or why the cameras quit making good pictures. Remember, the colder temperatures that camera is exposed to, the more energy that cold weather will pull out of your batteries. I recommend the Energizer Advanced Lithium Batteries. I put these kinds of batteries in my DLC Covert cameras at the beginning of deer season and don’t change the batteries until the end of deer season. Even when I change the batteries, they still have life in them.
  Deer season starts for me in June when I put out my cameras to inventory my deer herd, watch the bucks’ antlers grow and begin to pick out the bucks I’m going to hunt. My deer season ends in February after deer season has been closed several weeks, because I want to get pictures of the bucks that have made it through deer season. I’ll only use one set of those Energizer Advanced Lithium Batteries per trail camera from June through February. The Energizer Advanced Lithium Batteries sell for about $20. They come in a pack of 4, and I use 8 batteries in my camera. So, I spend about $40 in batteries per season per camera. So, take a little extra time, spend a little extra money, and consider the possibility of using the best batteries you can find. You may get good results from less-expensive batteries from June through September or even into October in some areas of the country. But, when cold weather hits, those inexpensive batteries may not last but a day or two after a cold front.
For more deer-hunting tips, get John E. Phillips’ Kindle eBooks “How to Hunt Deer Like a Pro,” "How to Hunt Deer Up Close: With Bows, Rifles, Muzzleloaders and Crossbows,” and “PhD Whitetails: How to Hunt and Take the Smartest Deer on Any Property,” Go to www.amazon.com/kindle-ebooks, type in the name of the book, and download it to your Kindle, and/or download a Kindle app for your iPad, SmartPhone or computer.
About the Author
John Phillips, winner of the 2012 Homer Circle Fishing Award for outstanding fishing writer by the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) and the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA), the 2008 Crossbow Communicator of the year and the 2007 Legendary Communicator chosen for induction into the National Fresh Water Hall of Fame, is a freelance writer (over 6,000 magazine articles for about 100 magazines and several thousand newspaper columns published), magazine editor, photographer for print media as well as industry catalogues (over 25,000 photos published), lecturer, outdoor consultant, marketing consultant, book author and daily internet content provider with an overview of the outdoors. Click here for more information and a list of all the books available from John E. Phillips.
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