Trail cameras supported by Buck Finder App
Buck Finder App works with photos from any brand or model trail camera, your phone, or any other device that saves pictures in an image format supported by the app.
JPEG images are used most if not all of the the major trailcams. But the app works with images in any of the following formats. So the app will work with images taken by your phone, and most images you find on the internet.
Our workhorse SD card based trail cameras
Most of the trailcams we use are SD card based cameras. Sure, cell enabled trailcams have their conveniences. But most of us here actually enjoy taking the opportunity to take a long walk around the farms and in the woods to check our cameras, swapping SD cards so we can take the treasured photos home to peruse. And to change batteries as needed of course.
Using our feet to check our trailcams periodically also allows us to discover new, fresher game trails and buck rubs to deploy our cameras to.
“Hmm, I've never seen a rub there before. I should move that camera by the creek to here instead.“
With that in mind here are some of the trailcams that we've used the most. We've used many others along the way but sadly some of them met with accidents, lost an encounter with squirrels (!), or just stopped working for some reason or another.
Browning BTC-4P
We bought 6 of these about 8 years ago. We still use 4 of them regularly. Good battery life and durable. Easy access to the SD card and batteries without dismounting the camera. We had two that failed after 5+ years of trusty service after tiny red ants invaded them but that was poor judgement by the operator for leaving them out all spring and summer without checking on them.
Image quality and resolution suffer a bit when compared to modern trail cams. But they just keep working year after year.
A newer Browning trailcam that is a lot like our beloved BTC-4P. Similar enclosure layout but higher photo quality, resolution.
Moultrie M80XD
Our oldest trailcam still in service. We've had this trailcam for more than 10 years. We still use it when all of our other cameras are in the field. Which means most of the time.
Our most nostalgic trailcam for sure!
Cellular trailcams we've used
We deploy our cellular cameras with SD cards if possible. This makes collecting the high resolution images that we crave much easier since the apps that come with the these cellular trailcams make it difficult to get access to all of the high res images through the app itself.
Looks like the same camera as the Muddy MUD-MTRX but with slightly different enclosure. Indeed, instructions say that the same app can be used for both cameras.
Essentially the same as the Stealth Cam FusionX.
This camera saves very high resolution images (5888x3312) to the SD card.
The antennae for this camera doesn't fold. For those of us used to stuffing a bunch of trailcams into our backpack and taking off that leaves the antennae exposed to being damaged. Sure, it can be removed. But then one needs to worry about dirt and chaff getting in not to mention disassembling and reassembling the antennae with cold fingers.
We've found this to be a decent camera at a decent price.
The first time we deployed this camera was at the bottom of a small ravine. We were skeptical that it would be able to connect to the cellular network at the bottom of the ravine but that's where we wanted it. We were pleasantly surprised to see it connect just fine.
Unlike other cellular trailcams we've used there is no SD card in this camera. This makes it difficult to get access to the high resolution images since images available via the camera's app are limited to 640x360.
Be careful when trying top extract the battery tray from this camera. It's a tight fit so you have to pull harder than you're probably used to.
Good thing this is a cell enabled camera because it's a pain to service in the field. Depending on how you mount the camera it can be difficult to open the service door to change the batteries or swap the SD card without dismounting the camera.
Also, it uses a micro SD card which makes swapping SD cards a pain. it's difficult to grab onto the micro SD card with fingers to remove it even in the warm comfort of home. In cold weather with cold and numb fingers it's really easy to drop the micro SD card as you struggle to extract it.
We've found that the default sensitivity setting for this camera results in a lot of “nothing to see here“ images. Reducing the sensitivity setting of the camera seems to help some.
