Wildgame Innovations has a $20.00 mail-in rebate on two of their popular Trail Camera Combo packs, the D8D combo, and the IR8D combo.

The D8D Combo contains the 8 MP digital game camera sporting a RealTree Camo finish, four D-Cell batteries, a 2 GB memory card, and a security bracket.  This dual flash (infrared and strobe) trail cam shoots video or picture, day or night.  And I almost forgot to mention that it has an integrated viewer, so you can play back your images and videos on the spot.

The IR8D Combo contains the 8 MP trail camera with 69 LEDs, for an infrared range of 60 feet.  This scouting camera is cheap to operate, since they include a 6 volt rechargeable battery and wall charger in this combo.  Add in the 2 GB memory card and cable lock bracket, and you've got everything you need to head to the woods.

Here is a link to the Wildgame Innovations Rebate.  Like with all rebates, you'll want to read the conditions and make sure you have it correctly filled out.  Always retain a copy of your form and receipt before mailing in any rebate.  This is a pretty simple form, and should be a breeze to fill out.

Enjoy!

These two trail cameras have a super simple set up, and a hair trigger of less than 1/3 of a second.

Just in time to start scouting for the upcoming bow season, you can get at $25 rebate on the Cuddeback Capture, and a $50 rebate on the Cuddeback Capture IR.

There are some stipulations, such as filling out a rebate form, supplying the store receipt and UPC symbol from the box, the serial number, etc.  But these are simple steps to put $25 or $50 back in your pocket.

Access the Cuddeback Digital Trail Camera Rebate by clicking on this link.

You have between 07/01/2010 - 12/31/2010 to make your purchase to be eligible for the rebate.

And hey, when you get that new Cuddeback, contact me and share any interesting pictures you capture.

Good luck and enjoy the rebate!

On the walk in, I saw a hog nose snake on the edge of the wood line.  Boy was he aggressive.  It seems like the heat has really made them active.  If  you're not familiar with the hog nose snake, they will vibrate their tails in the leaves which makes a buzzing sound.  They try to imitate rattlesnakes as a defense.  Even though I know their aren't any timber rattlers in this area, that hog nose snake gets me every time.

In the woods I jumped up a couple of little bucks, which I am always glad to see.  I saw some nice 10 pointers in the area last season, and got a few good videos of them on my Bushnell Trophy Cam.  I hope those little bucks got the genetics from one of those shooter bucks.

I got the game cam moved and then walked the creek back to check for crossing areas.  Fresh, muddy tracks in a couple of heavily trafficked crossing areas has me thinking I'll bring another game camera with me on the next trip.

There was a lot of activity in the woods this evening.  After seeing a few turkeys in a clearing, a Red-Headed woodpecker, and a lot of squirrel activity, I realized why game cameras have become a year-round hobby.  I just love being in the woods, and my game cams give me the hidden benefit of being there more often.

I was excited to test this scouting camera because of its low price point.  I picked up the kit for around $149.00, which included the I-530 game camera, a 2 GB memory card, batteries, and a security bracket.  I've had lots of questions from readers looking for the best infrared game camera at the lowest price possible.  I had hoped that the Nomad IR would meet that criteria, but there were ultimately some issues during testing that would make me not recommend this game cam.

The first minor issue I encountered was with the mounting bracket.  I've had previous Stealth Cams and previous mounting brackets, but this one just didn't seem to have as tight of a fit as prior models.  This normally wouldn't be a concern, because it is still a very secure solution, but the issue is that it could potentially shift its position and block the camera lens.  I ended up using a twist-tie through the bracket lock hole to hold it tight to resolve this issue.

My big concern with this scouting camera had to do with performance related to image quality.  This camera had big issues during the transition periods from light to dark.  This resulted in pictures that were washed out due to over compensation by the infrared LEDs.  It's almost like the timing needs to be changed to allow the LEDs to cut off sooner.  I have a series of videos near dawn that start off looking OK, but are increasingly washed out by the IR LEDs as more daylight sets in.

Here are some example images from these videos:

This first image was from a video captured at 6:32 am.  Note that it is a bit washed out.

This second image was from a video captured at 6:42 am.  Note that it is even more washed out.

This third image taken at 6:50 am is barely viewable because it is almost completely washed out.

You can see how this became more of an issue as the natural light increased.  This issue continued until the IR LEDs completely cut off, and pictures were just taken with natural light.

In Stealth Cam's defense, I may have just gotten a lemon of a game camera for my testing.  I spoke with the service employees at the retail establishment where I purchased this game cam, and they stated that they had not seen and unusually large number of returns on the Nomad IR thus far.  I ultimately swapped this game camera for the new Moultrie I-35, which has the same price point as the Nomad IR.  The I-35 is the next model that I'll be testing in my quest for a low-cost game camera that still offers good performance.

You can see my full video review below.  Any comments on my YouTube video are appreciated.

I say 'package', because StealthCam has bundled everything you need in one kit to head straight to the woods and set the I-530 up.

Included in this package is the following:

• The StealthCam Nomad IR game camera
• A heavy duty security cable and locking bracket
• A 2 GB SDRAM memory card
• A strap for affixing the Nomad to a tree
• Six Energizer C-cell batteries
• A USB cable
• A user manual

I like the fact that StealthCam often includes security brackets with their camera kits.  After being the victim of game camera theft in the past, I always purchase security lock boxes for my game cameras.  StealthCam has already taken care of this for me, and this is something that I wish more game camera manufacturers would include in their packages.

This game camera has the same look and feel of previous generation Stealthcam models, but sports a new camouflage pattern; the NEXT G-1 Camouflage microprint.  This is a welcome change from the drab olive green color of past models.  This should help to make the Nomad a little more difficult to spot by would-be thieves.

The jury is still out on this trail camera's performance, until I get it in the woods to see how it performs.

Check back in the near future for all the test results and a video review demonstrating the features and capabilities of the I-530!

Check out the following link that has an example video from this game camera:  Prowler HD Video (link will open in a new window).  This is a 1280 x 760 HD video of a little buck in velvet pawing at a doe and ends up bumping the camera.  I was definitely struck by the quality of the video.  The incredible detail, the color, and the clarity of the video from the Prowler HD beats out the video from any other game camera that I have seen to date.  Add the recorded audio to the equation, and you end up with a realism that makes you feel like you are in a blind, watching the action unfold in front of you.  The H.264 video compression gives you this widescreen format at 30 frames per second for a fluid video.

A few other features caught my eye while looking at the specs.  The video length is adjustable like with many other game cameras on the market, but this one can shoot videos from 5 seconds to 300 seconds (5 minutes).  It accepts a memory card of up to 16 GB, so a large number of videos (even long ones) can be stored to the memory card.  It can shoot  8 megapixel still pictures as well, giving you high definition quality stills, but lower resolutions can be set too.  It has all the other standard features that you are used to seeing from Stealth Cam.  The Burst Mode allows you to fire off multiple still pictures when the PIR is actived, and this one will let you take between one to nine images.  You get the Date, Time, Moon Phase, and Temperature stamping on images and video files.  This information remains visible on the bottom of the screen though, as opposed to just being displayed in the first frame like other digital game cameras.  That is a welcome change.

What don't I like is that some of the advertising details from Stealth Cam conflict.  For example, this link says that the 54 infrared emitters have a range of 30 feet.  But look at the Stealth Cam Product Specification Chart says that it is 40 feet.  I'd like to think that it is the 40 feet, as many other game camera manufacturers have been increasing their ranges with HO (high output) infrared emitters.  I'll tell you one other thing that bugs me is the built-in 64 MB of RAM.  Seriously?  What I would love to see is a game camera manufacturer placing 16 GigaBytes of built-in memory in their cameras.  Why do these trail cam manufacturers even put such a small amount of memory in a game cam?  And the 64 MB is generous compared to what some game cams have built-in.  Such a limited amount of memory is not usable.  I mean, does anyone reading this post actually make use of internal memory, or are you like everyone else I know, who swaps external memory cards in and out of the cam?

I think those issues are minor compared to the benefits offered by this trail cam.  The Stealth Cam website has this camera for sale for $309.00.  I have found this camera selling elsewhere for less, and in some cases as much as $60.00 less.  That's about 20% less, at a price of around $249.00 with free shipping.  You can see those deals here:

Scouting cameras can offer a hunter the following advantages:

1. Pattern general movement of deer on your property.
   A hunter can learn how deer are using the property.  By taking note of the sightings of deer within your property boundaries, you can determine their movement patterns, the times they are moving through specific areas, where they are bedding, where they are feeding, etc.
2. Patterning individual bucks.
   I have been fortunate enough to pattern some individual bucks over the years.  By determining the direction of travel in the mornings and evenings, you can figure out where to locate your stand to optimize your chances of getting that shot of a lifetime.
3. Eliminating the guesswork.
   Game cameras can be ideal for sampling the quality of the land you choose to hunt.  I have placed game cameras on multiple farms leading up to opening day.  By reviewing the images and videos from these game cameras, I have been able to determine which pieces of property are holding better quality deer, and have made decisions on which land to hunt based on this data.  It is all about being in the right place at the right time.
4. Building Confidence.
   A hunter that has seen images of good quality deer is much more likely to be able to remain in the stand longer, and have much more confidence in the location they have chosen for their stand.  It can be tough to stick it out and stay in the stand as it gets later in the morning.  By analyzing the images from game cameras, I have seen deer utilizing specific trails later in the morning or early afternoon.  A hunter armed with this knowledge will have more drive to stay on stand longer and increase the chances of harvesting deer during these secondary movement times.
5. A Major time saver.
   Scouting cameras can be major time savers.  I can remember back when I first started bow hunting.  This was back in the days prior to game cameras being such a common commodity.  Me and my hunting buddy would drag our climbers into the woods prior to the season, and prior to daylight.  We would sit in the stands on different locations of the property and note the number of deer that we saw, their direction of travel, and the times that we saw them.  We would do this for many days prior to the season opener.  Armed with this knowledge, we would determine our stand locations for the opening day, and fine tune these locations if necessary after each hunt.  Now, we can have our game cameras do this work for us, and we can reclaim some of that scouting time.

If you have never used or owned a scouting camera, you don't know what you are missing.  Things have changed a lot since the days of 35MM film game cameras, and advancements in game camera technology have definitely given hunters a decided edge.  I have to warn you though... game cameras can be an addictive hobby.  I now own 10 game cameras, and will soon be purchasing another.  And I'm sure that won't be the last.

I like to use a game camera to scout for turkeys when I'm hunting a new piece of property or an area that I am unfamiliar with.  I will do this in the months prior to the season coming in.  I don't like disturbing any areas that I actually plan to turkey hunt as the opening day draws near.  Here are a couple of tips that you can use to help use your game camera to check for the existence of turkeys.

1. Mount your game camera a little closer to the ground than you would if you were scouting for deer.  Turkey are obviously not as tall as deer, and this can help to keep your scouting camera's passive infrared sensor from overshooting a turkey that passes near your camera location.
2. Try placing your camera in the woods in areas that contain a good amount of red and white oaks.  Turkeys love acorns, in addition to various insects, grasses, other nuts, seeds and clover.  You will often see leaves in the area turned up as a result of turkeys 'scratching'  in search of food.  You can often capture good pictures and videos in these areas as turkeys come to forage.  Good mature trees with lots of horizontal limbs are also prime areas for turkeys to roost at night.
3. Try placing your game camera on trees or fence posts on the edges of fields that contain clover.  This is another prime foraging area, but fields are also a big draw for strutting gobblers.  More often than not, these gobblers will head to the highest point in a field to do their strutting.  This may even be just a slight rise or mound.  A game camera post mount is ideal for covering these type of areas in an open field.

I like to try to find areas that the turkeys are going to roost in on the evenings prior to the hunt.  A gobble tube is ideal for making a male 'shock gobble' and give up his location.  Unfortunately, these gobble tubes often fool other hunters, so I will either not use them (or use the sparingly) during morning hunts when other hunters may be in the area.  I'll never enter the woods when trying to locate birds heading to roost.  I'll stick to the outer edges of the fields.  The sound from a gobble tube will carry a long distance, and even a mature bird often can't resist gobbling back at them.  Once you locate turkeys in an area heading to roost, it's just a matter of quietly slipping into the woods before sun-up the following morning.  By doing this, you can cut the distance between you and a roosting bird, and the sound of your hen calls can be the first thing they hear when they hit the ground.  For this, I prefer a mouth call, as they require no movement and will lessen the chances of you being busted by their keen vision.  The only part of your body that should move is your finger as you pull the trigger and put that bird down.

I hope these tips help.  Best of luck this season, and let me know how you do!

PS.  Check out this link of some scratching turkeys that I caught on my Bushnell Trophy Cam.  I had to reduce the quality in order to upload it, but hopefully you enjoy.