Finally checked the cams after 4 months!

[CouesWhitetail]

Hey All,

 

Well, I finally got out and checked some of my Covert 2 trail cameras that I had out there since March. I really thought the batteries might be dead when I got there, but to my pleasant surprise the batteries were full strength...even the one that I had only put four batteries in. They were lithiums and I have been wanting to find out how long they would last. It's been 4.5 months and they took about 1000 pics on each cam and battery strength still shows it to be full. Excellent!

 

Anyway, here are some pics! Some of you might remember the sow that had a wounded shoulder last year and the small brown cub of hers. After she got her wound she didn't show up and the cub was there by itself. However, I think I may have pics of both the mom and her now yearling offspring. Of course they are not travelling together anymore, but here are the pics of her (notice a sort of colored section on her right front shoulder...perhaps the scar from her wound?).

 

here she is last year with the wound:

 

 

 

now this year, healed up?

 

 

and here are some pics from this year of what I think was her cub last year. The green-up area seems to serve as a scent station. There was a bigger cinnamon bear that visited that same patch of green earlier.

 

 

 

 

here is the big cinnamon bear (I had this one on cam last year too)

 

 

Some elk like the green patch too:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a bobcat pic:

[.270]

you have a good place. is that on the rez? Lark.

[CouesWhitetail]

you have a good place. is that on the rez? Lark.

 

 

Nope, it's not on the rez, but not too far from it. It's a place Clay shared with me. I love it! Great place to walk the dogs and see wildlife. Sunshine chased a big bull elk when we went in there to check the cams. That's a first for her. Apparently it was bedded in the some thick stuff up on the hill. We didn't know it but we heard her yipping and some loud crashing sounds. I assumed she got into a bear, but then we saw this big elk crashing through the thick shrubs and her right behind it. It was a bit comical to see that small dog chasing the elk. We were able to call her back so I don't think the elk suffered much from the encounter. But sunshine was very proud of herself.

[TREESTANDMAN]

Wow!!! Great variety of pics. Love the first bear pic with the cub!! It almost looks like she has a bullet or archery wound that has healed behind the shoulder?

 

The really cool thing is that most of the pics were during the day!

 

Mike

[CouesWhitetail]

Wow!!! Great variety of pics. Love the first bear pic with the cub!! It almost looks like she has a bullet or archery wound that has healed behind the shoulder?

 

The really cool thing is that most of the pics were during the day!

 

Mike

 

 

yes, it was right after archery season last year too when she showed up with that wound. I don't know if it was from an arrow, but it's kinda coincidental. When she had that wound she kept staying near that little pool of water for several hours. Then she didn't show up again on cam that year but her cub did. So I was worried she died. But now I am thinking she healed up and is that black bear from this year's pics. (oh and fyi - the year is wrong in the pic of her healed up...it was 2010).

 

 

[CouesWhitetail]

And for those wondering....it's just a patch of grass near the creek....I didn't put out any kind of attractant there.

[Gr8 White Jr]

Nice pics Amanda! You definitely have a good spot there. I love the bear pics!

 

The battery life on the Coverts is 2nd to none! I have had my camera out since mid April. I go check it every two weeks and I always have between 500 and 1300 pics on it so I would guess that its taken any where from 4000 to 6000 pics and I have not changed the batteries. I always bring new batteries with me but to this day the battery level still reads full. Amazing!!! That right there, IMO, makes the Covert the best camera on the market.

 

-Tracy

[CouesWhitetail]

Nice pics Amanda! You definitely have a good spot there. I love the bear pics!

 

The battery life on the Coverts is 2nd to none! I have had my camera out since mid April. I go check it every two weeks and I always have between 500 and 1300 pics on it so I would guess that its taken any where from 4000 to 6000 pics and I have not changed the batteries. I always bring new batteries with me but to this day the battery level still reads full. Amazing!!! That right there, IMO, makes the Covert the best camera on the market.

 

-Tracy

 

 

Thanks for the info Tracy....they say it will take over 4000 pics on one set of batteries, but sounds like you will be getting way more than that. You using lithiums or regular AAs?

 

 

[Gr8 White Jr]

Nice pics Amanda! You definitely have a good spot there. I love the bear pics!

 

The battery life on the Coverts is 2nd to none! I have had my camera out since mid April. I go check it every two weeks and I always have between 500 and 1300 pics on it so I would guess that its taken any where from 4000 to 6000 pics and I have not changed the batteries. I always bring new batteries with me but to this day the battery level still reads full. Amazing!!! That right there, IMO, makes the Covert the best camera on the market.

 

-Tracy

 

 

Thanks for the info Tracy....they say it will take over 4000 pics on one set of batteries, but sounds like you will be getting way more than that. You using lithiums or regular AAs?

 

 

Im using lithiums. Its been my experience that you get what you pay for when it comes to batteries. Lithiums may cost twice as much but you get four times the life. So it may seem expensive when your looking at the price but if you consider the longevity of the useage they are actually WAY cheaper!

[CouesWhitetail]

yes, I would guess you can get a year or more with the lithiums! It's pretty amazing. Of course if you are doing video most of the time, that would use up the batteries faster.

[catclaw]

I am not convinced that the lithiums are a good value in the camera except maybe in exceptionally cold weather. I easily fill up the stupid 2Gb cards before the batteries ever go dead. This is using Costco brand alkalines. I have taken 4000+ pics on one set of batteries and they were still working. The cards are the limiting factor. The new ones that are 16 Gb compatible are a different story. I will need to test one of them out and see.

 

I also got 3800+ pics out of a moultrie recently but it uses 6- D cell batteries. They were still 88% according to the display! I went ahead and put it back out with a fresh card. I will see how many more I get from it. Down side is that it is HUGE. I really like the concealability of the Coverts.

 

 

Nice pics by the way...

[bonecollector]

Those are some cool pics and its good to see the bear pulled through her wound.

I have about 3000 pics on my covert using just the regular duracell AA's and they are still good. Like was catclaw said the card fills up before the batteries are bad. I am still debating what camera to get the regular covert 2 or the new one with more memory.

[CouesWhitetail]

Yes, I hear what you are saying catclaw. The other nice thing about lithiums is they weigh about 1/2 as much as regular batteries. AND I was able to take about 1000 pics on just 4 batteries and it was still showing full strength. So, if you can use 1/2 the number of batteries and last 2-3x as long, that sounds good to me. I need to test out how long using just 4 batteries will last on the Covert 2s.

 

 

[pwrguy]

The lithiums sound like a great option for those camera's that are hard to get to, a couple extra bucks for the batteries are a small price for a longer life. That covert takes great pictures by the way, going to have to get one soon!!! Nice little spot you have there Amanda

[125coues]

I have a covert out and I have it set on video , It will be out for 2 weeks doing 60 sec video's. I wonder how long the reg AA will last ?