Biggest spike I’ve ever seen! Great hunt with food in the freezer.
What a great weekend to be in the woods! Our annual trip to one of our hot spots in NY paid off with backstrap dividends. Going into the weekend, I did not have a ton of optimism for the first few days of the trip. The weather was going to be unseasonably warm, like 65-75 degree warm. Typically the first full week in November is right around 30 in the morning and at the highest temperature, about 45-50. After the long 6.5 hour drive, we arrived ready for action. Four hours later, we woke up and walked to our spots. It was 70 degrees at 5:45 AM, with wind coming in around 12:00 PM and some light rain. Not the most ideal conditions, but the rut has just started to kick off!
Stud 9 point (broken G-2) that took the trophy for the weekend. 185lbs dressed.
We ended the weekend with two bucks down and a few other nice encounters. During one of the warmer days, my buddy and I both shot “seeking phase” bucks that were on a mission to find a doe in estrous. I shot a big spike and he took a monster 9 pt. The best day of the trip (temperature wise) was Sunday morning. Crystal clear weather with 32 degree temps and no wind. I was already tagged out, but had a great time filming my buddy. We did not harvest a buck, but had a nice encounter with a massive four point within bow range.
I will post a video of the weekend within a few days. Thanks for reading and if you had success in the woods this past weekend, please share your pictures on our Facebook page!
I made a big push this year to try out a few different trail cameras to test out. Pending results I plan on buying a bunch of the best one in bulk for my properties in NY and our family’s outfitting business, Blue Walleye Outpost in Quebec, Canada. I already have a few of the older Wildgame Innovations models and have a neutral opinion on them. Trail cameras dramatically increase your chances on taking a nice animal and allow you to pattern appropriately. This year, I bought the new Wildgame Innovations Cloak, Wildgame innovations Razor 8x Lightsout and the Bushnell Trophy Cam 8mp. Earlier in the year, the Chronicles crew planted a few small food plots on one of our pieces of land in the Southern Tier of New York. I placed the Cloak camera on a small tree towards the top of an overgrown field, that overlooks our test plot.
Big boy cruising the top of the field
I was somewhat skeptical of this camera’s placement, but was hoping to get intel on bucks running the edge of the field and or deer coming into the plot. Only after a few weeks, the results were awesome. The photo on the right is of a nice 9pt cruising the top of the field near the food plot. We have him in many other pictures, typically at night and alone. The cloak also captured some turkeys, bunch of other smaller bucks and two wily coyotes. Here are my thoughts on this camera:
Functionality: 5/5 stars. The cloak is extremely easy to set up and is compact to fit in tight spots. It’s made of a durable plastic material that is waterproof.
Setup: 5/5 stars. I am a little old school and prefer to not waste time messing around with different settings and shooting modes. I like it simple, quick and reliable. The Cloak is really easy to use. Put in the correct date/time and your’e basically done. There are a few different options, but it does not get confusing like other, more complex cameras. Set, point and shoot.
Camera quality: 3.8/5 stars. The 4 megapixel lens is nothing to get to jacked up about, but the quality of the images are far better than $100-200 cameras that were available years ago. My dad always said that you get what you pay for and if you are expecting superior images, then you will be disappointed. The pictures are good and there will have no issues determining the size and quality of the animals that get captured.
Features: 4/5 stars. The cloak offers a fast one second trigger speed, 50-ft detection range, 18-LED infrared flash bulbs and up to 30 second capture video clips. If you want something fancy, then you will not fall in love with these features. As I mentioned above, they are perfect for me and other hunters who want a simple option.
Price: 4.5/5 stars. The cloak is not to expensive and competes with cameras above $100. They retail for about $69.99 and can be found at almost any outdoor shop. If you are looking to buy a handful of the same camera’s, the Cloak won’t break the bank and will give you a solid product.
Battery: 3.8/5 stars. Wildgame promotes this camera as one to take up to 10,000 pictures on a full battery. I don’t have 10,000 pictures yet, but I have changed the batteries once about 3.5 months after I put it up. This summer has been extremely hot and I know that can affect the power output, but be prepared to check camera often and change batteries accordingly.
Overall I rate this camera 4.38 stars. I like it and plan on buying more. Super simple, easy to set up and the trigger speed captures some great pictures. It gets the job done for what I need. I would definitely recommenced this camera if you want to spend under 100 bucks and get something reliable. If you have any questions about this post, please contact me at greenlakechronicles@gmail.com. Be sure to check out our Facebook and Instagram pages for great pictures. Thanks for reading.
My goal for the last few years was to get a “go-pro like” action camera and bring it along on my outing adventures. Been chirping for years to my buddies about all the “unreal” things I’ve seen and sick of having them not believe me.
Swift River rainbow
I did not want to spend $400 + on a camera that I will most likely beat the hell out of. Recently I purchased the new DB Power action camera, cheaper equivalent to the popular go-pro. The first video I shot, is of a school of fat rainbows mocking me in the middle of the bend hole at the Swift River. I was hoping to get an action shot of a fly take, but they just looked at the camera and swam away.
I was able to land one fish before getting blatantly disregarded for the rest of the trip. It was a cool morning, probably around 43′ degrees and I expected the fish to be eating up a storm. They were biting from 7-8:00AM ish then slowed down. I kept going after them, but they stopped considering what I had to offer. Thought it would be cool to try and get them on camera, so I slowly walked into the bend hole. I know the footage is a little shaky but its pretty cool to seem them underwater. Thank you for viewing this post and be sure to follow our Instagram, YouTube and Facebook pages for more great footage and still photos.
Green Lake Chronicles 