I just had my cabin ransacked - looking for trail camera for surveillance

[prairie_boy]

Hello all,

I just had my cabin ransacked and most of my possessions stolen.  They even stole my parent's travel trailer that was parked there.  Also our quad, my outfitter's tent, camping gear, my tree stand, good sleeping bags, camp stoves, jerry cans....everything right down to old lawn chairs, nuts, bolts & screws...etc, etc.

The cabin is located out on a 160 piece of forested land, very secluded, with a long trail about 300 meters long leading into the cabin.  Do you guys think that a trail camera might work to get some stills of the vermin who did this, or maybe their vehicles & license plates?  I expect that they will be making a return trip, as the took the keys to my Kubota Tractor, which is still there, and they  know that there are a couple of aluminum boats still there.

Any suggestions on what to look for in a trail camera?  Or will these cameras even take a good enough picture to read plates and ID people??
I'd bet that if I got a snap of someone trespassing within the next month or so, that I'd have the bastards.  As far as I know, no-one has been into the cabin before. 
I've never had anything go missing before either.

[Land_Owner]

I just dug deeply and purchased four (4) Recon Talon IR's in B/W.  This infrared camera (@ $299.00 ea.) is quite crisp in photo to photo comparisons and reaches out to a reported 40 feet (reported best at 25 to 30).  Check out www.chasingame.com for a LOT of impressive side by side camera comparisons then go shopping for your best price. 

No one can decide for you which is best.  I decided on four cameras.  Two to watch two.  If the first is discovered, perhaps I will get them in the act of tearing it up.  Restitution will be one form of justice.  I am also having some 3/8" inch plate steel boxes made for housing these plastic toys. 

I am not impressed with today's "technology" in trail camera tree/aiming attachment (glued on plastic channel to back of unit), "security" (nylon web strap - you've got to be kidding me), and horrific battery life (batteries only last one to four weeks depending on the camera and its use) to get me started. 

Purchasing the camera is NOT the last purchase you will make (this list is not meant to scare...just educate): 
...Compact Flash card (~$30.00/ea....you may want two per camera)
...regular batteries (and lots of them @ ~$8.00 per stack of 6)
...or rechargeable batteries (@ $45.00 a stack of 6)
...a battery charger (@ say $90.00 for a micro-processor 8-position)
...a connection to the home computer for the Compact Flash card (~$15.00)
...Python cable locks for "securing" your camera to a tree or post (@ $25.00/ea.)
...or the more expensive route of shop fabricated 3/8" steel boxes (@ $275.00 ea.). 

So start small or be ready for a large initial investment into something that may be seen, stolen, shot up, or destroyed without providing you the information you seek.  Or, you may get EXACTLY what you need to get some of your stuff back and to prosecute.  A judgement against someone with nothing gives you nothing but the bad public press may be all that is necessary.  Prosecution is a tough financial and time-dependent decision, but the right one, every time. 

Shoot the idiots with a camera.  It is a hunting "game" like none you have ever experienced.

[Cap'n Jon]

I had my camp broken into every May when the snow pack melted.  It was a group of kids down the road but it sure gave me a case of the red @$$.  I ended up going nocturnal.  Every sound I heard I was up.  I parked my vehicle in between the pine rows.  I caught two of them stalking around while I was in full snow camo turkey hunting w/ the bow.  One punk just about swallowed his lit cigerette when they walked right up to me, 10 feet away and didn't see me until I Asked loudly "What are you doing?"

I bought a couple cordless "C" batt motion detectors and put one along my 750 ft 2-track and the other behind the camp.  I could tell if a skunk was walking down the driveway or a deer and a person from the sounds the alarm beeper going off.

[JonD.]

Expensive, but a Reconyx infrared. They are the best trail cameras made, period. They will take one picture a second, in total black darkness with no light given off from the camera whatsoever. They are as close as you can get to full moving video in a still camera. They also have very long battery life.