In recent columns I have touched on the subject of cellular trail cameras and “fair chase” with regard to deer hunting. The September 2021 issue of Petersen’s Hunting magazine takes an in-depth look at the subject, and the factual information that follows came from the combined efforts of Jace Bauserman, Lynn Burkhead, and Darron McDougal as presented in that magazine article.

Bauserman speaks of a Nebraska hunting buddy who called him and reported the following. According to his friend, the trophy buck came through on the north side of the river and then came through the south-side funnel about 2 p.m. That makes two days in a row he’s done the same thing. He later reported that it was over quickly the following day. Weeks of cellular camera data, all observed from the comforts of his home, were used to slip in and make the kill. You be the judge as to whether or not this whitetail buck was taken by fair chase.

A few weeks ago I went out with my Wisconsin grandson, a Reconyx trail camera employee, to observe him setting up trail cameras on a prime piece of property. A few days later I asked him if any good bucks had been recorded. Even though we were miles away from the Grant County, Fennimore, Wisconsin location, he showed me pictures of magnificent bucks on his cell phone. It even recorded when they appeared. I don’t know that my grandson will bag a better buck than I this coming fall, but he certainly has an advantage in knowing what’s out there and when they appear. I’m happy for him…..and maybe little jealous.

I am not the only one critical of this technology. Arizona banned the use of all trail cameras in December 2020. Neighboring Montana has banned the use of trail cameras linked to cell phones. Nevada has banned the use of all trail cameras on public lands at certain times of the year, and Utah Governor Spencer Cox has instructed the state’s wildlife division to make rules and regulations for trail camera usage.

Lynn Burkhead wrote that trail cameras allow hunters to By Roger Wiltz quietly spy on game without leaving a scent or making noise. That’s quite an advantage. The Pope and Young Club and the Boone and Crockett Club, organizations that set a minimum trophy score for their record books, champion the rules of fair chase. B&C defines fair chase as “the ethical, sportsmanlike, and lawful pursuit and taking of any free-ranging wild game animal in a manner that does not give the hunter an improper or unfair advantage over the game animals.” It’s those last few words that bring the use of cellular cameras into question.

Kyle Lehr, assistant director of big-game records for B&C states, “Basically, any type of technology that transmits a real-time response to hunters disqualifies an animal from being entered into the B&C record-keeping system.” I presume that Lehr’s “real-time response” means “live” – as it is happening right now. From this point forward, P&Y and B&C officials will be considering not only the animal, but also the circumstances of its taking.

I am a technological klutz. I don’t own or know how to operate a cell phone, but I do know that with the old standard digital cameras, one had to go into the field to check the cameras and download the pictures. It was a timeconsuming process that meant either burning gas and/or walking to each camera location. One could easily spend half a day at this, and those standard cameras didn’t supply immediate feedback. With today’s cellular cameras, one can receive the action while it is happening or set a time on the camera, as many times a day as one likes, to send images, and they can be viewed from the comfort of one’s home.

What I don’t understand at all is the necessity to connect with a leading network such as AT&T or Verizon and pay a monthly user fee. I guess it’s like satellite TV or other phone services. I know one thing for sure. I may or may not bag a buck on my future hunts, but I won’t need a cellphone to do it.

I have found it somewhat necessary to cancel our coming Saskatchewan waterfowl hunt because of the Corona virus. Other than forms on the computer that I wasn’t comfortable with, a $120 screening was necessary that could have led to a ten-day quarantine in Canada. Our booking agent, Worldwide Trophy Adventures (1-800-346-8747) or worldwidetrophyadventures. com, the same agency I booked my 2016 British Columbia moose hunt with, returned our deposit fee and I thank them. Worldwide books hunting and fishing adventures to all corners of the world.

I still want to duck hunt this fall, but I’m unsure of myself when it comes to slogging around in a slough and setting decoys. If you have an empty space in your blind, please give this old hunter a call. I’ll supply the ammo.

See you next week.