{"id":19191,"date":"2026-10-24T08:26:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T15:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=19191"},"modified":"2026-10-24T08:26:06","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T15:26:06","slug":"hunters-returning-to-trail-cams-only-to-find-memory-cards-and-cameras-missing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2026\/10\/24\/hunters-returning-to-trail-cams-only-to-find-memory-cards-and-cameras-missing\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunters Returning To Trail Cams Only To Find Memory Cards And Cameras Missing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Maybe in the surveillance era people don’t want to be surveilled when out using public land. And it could be rival hunters keeping tips to themselves. They could also suspect they might be installed by the government? Whatever the case, putting these up on public land other people use is bad form. Maybe learn to turn them off and format the SD card if it bothers you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/cowboystatedaily.com\/2026\/10\/23\/hunters-return-to-trail-cams-only-to-find-memory-cards-and-cameras-missing\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
Park County outfitter Chip Burgess was infuriated and baffled to find the memory card in his trail cam \u2014 with a month full of photos \u2014 missing. Turns out, other hunters are having their memory cards and cameras stolen too.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

By Mark Heinz<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hunters
Hunters and wildlife watchers use trail cameras, sometimes called game cameras, to document animal activity in their favorite places. But left unattended, they\u2019re vulnerable to theft. (Reader photo: Courtesy Owen Miller)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Chip Burgess set up trail cameras on Heart Mountain in Park County to scout elk where he and his wife planned to hunt, but he was also stoked to get photos of the mountain\u2019s notorious grizzlies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMostly, I just wanted pictures of the bears,\u201d Burgess told Cowboy State Daily, recounting how he set up several cameras on the mountain in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One camera was set up near a trail where he\u2019d found numerous grizzly tracks. So, he was especially excited to hike in and check that camera a few days ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He knew something was wrong as he approached the camera and noticed its indicator lights were off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018Oh, great, some jerk turned my camera off,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then he opened the camera and discovered somebody had stolen the SD, or memory card, with a month\u2019s worth of photos on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said it infuriated him, and also was baffling. Why would somebody go through all the trouble of opening the camera and swiping the card?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m actually surprised that they didn\u2019t just steal the entire camera,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey either just wanted a free SD card, or maybe they just wanted the bear pictures for themselves,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparing For An Elk Hunt<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Burgess lives near Heart Mountain. He owns Wyoming Upland Outfitters and takes clients on game-bird hunting trips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He and his wife also set aside time to do their own hunting. This year, they both have tags for Elk Hunt Area 65, with rifle season opening this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It includes the Heart Mountain Hunter Management Area, where hunters can access rugged enrolled lands with the required permission slip and vehicle pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burgess has a cow elk tag, and his wife has a bull tag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, they hoped setting out a few game cameras in the HMA would help determine if there are any trophy-sized bull elk around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trail cameras are motion-activated, meaning they start snapping photos if an animal passes close by. Many hunters consider game cameras to be a valuable scouting tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wyoming Game and Fish Commission regulations prohibit the use of real-time video photography equipment to help locate and take big game. Trail cameras that store images on the device without transmitting them through cellular or Wi-Fi technology are allowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s considered to be unethical<\/a> because it’s essentially cheating by giving away an animal\u2019s exact location in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, hunters are expected to physically check their cameras, getting photos after the fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Many Bears?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Burgess also wants to know more about the local grizzlies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As grizzlies have pushed beyond core habitat in Yellowstone National Park and on the Shoshone National Forest, Heart Mountain has become a hot spot for bears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burgess knew there was at least one female grizzly in the area they planned to hunt elk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd I saw tracks of at least one cub, maybe two,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith a sow and cubs around, you would think there must be a boar (male) up there too,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Scum People\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Two other avid Wyoming hunters told Cowboy State Daily they\u2019ve had similar experiences with game cameras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I\u2019ve had a few tampered with, but in general I try to put them in not-so-obvious places,\u201d Olin Machen of Cody said. \u201cThe cameras and SDs are cheap enough now that even if a not-so-honest person comes across them, it\u2019s not that big of a deal. At the end of the day it is public land, honest and ethical or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBears destroy way more (cameras) than scum people do.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northeast Wyoming resident Owen Miller said somebody was tampering with one of his game cameras \u201ca few years back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey’d pull the card and then put it back in, but not all the way, so it wasn\u2019t taking photos,\u201d he said. \u201cI set a bait camera and hid another one by it and got photos of them messing with the bait camera.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It turned out to be somebody he knew, so he let [it] slide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that some newer cameras come with a built-in tracking device, \u201cso you can trace it to wherever thieves take it, so long as the battery is good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four Miles In<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A camera next to the trail with grizzly tracks would have been relatively easy to find, Burgess said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the cameras was in an obvious spot. The others are way back in places that you would have a hard time finding,\u201d Burgess said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even the camera in the \u201cobvious spot\u201d wouldn\u2019t have been all that easy to access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was roughly four miles from the trailhead, Burgess said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The area is also supposed to have limited access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was especially surprised that something like this happened in the Heart Mountain HMA. It\u2019s a place where you have to sign in at the trailhead. Or at least you’re supposed to sign in. And you\u2019re not supposed to go in there unless you have a hunting tag for it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That might narrow the field of suspects, but Burgess said he\u2019s not holding out much hope he\u2019ll catch the thief or get back his memory card that probably has cool bear pictures on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The incident hasn\u2019t dampened his enthusiasm for the hunt, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m confident we\u2019ll harvest a quality bull elk,\u201d Burgess said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maybe in the surveillance era people don’t want to be surveilled when out using public land. And it could be rival hunters keeping tips to themselves. They could also suspect they might be installed by the government? Whatever the case, putting these up on public land other people use is bad form. Maybe learn to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech","category-wyoming"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19191"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19192,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19191\/revisions\/19192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}