Trail Cameras and Custom Camera Traps: Technology, Ethics & Strategies for Success

Have you ever seen a bear family digging up a wasp nest, a wolf pack chasing elk on a snowy night, or lynx kittens playing? These are exceedingly rare sights even for experienced wildlife trackers and photographers, and yet they are all within reach of anyone with a low-cost trail camera and an interest in learning more about these species.

In our series, Trail Cameras and Custom Camera Traps, our goal is to provide to hobbyists, citizen scientists, wildlife educators, photographers, hunters, and biologists with the critical information needed to capture compelling wildlife photos and/or explore wildlife behavior through the responsible and ethical use of camera traps.

We accumulated material for this series by managing about a hundred camera sets over a ten year period. We've reviewed tens of thousands of photos and videos. We also ran controlled tests of our equipment to better understand how to get the most out of each set.

This first book in the series covers the technology of camera traps, techniques for successfully deploying and servicing them, ethical and legal issues, the use of online mapping tools to find promising camera sites, and the use of wildlife tracking skills to fine tune camera placement.

We focus on practical advice, with examples, photographs, and illustrations to put this advice into context.

This book is broadly useful for any camera trapping location. Later books in the series will provide detailed camera trapping advice for select mammals found in Western North America.