Field Test Review
Buckshot Scout Infrared Camera
by Linda Burch, copyright Sept. 2002

Three years ago when I purchased 80 acres of forested hunting land, I wanted to monitor game animals for hunting, food plot placement and overall wildlife management. Since I work and do not have the time to be physically present at my property except on weekends, I decided to try infrared camera monitoring. Foresite, Inc. heard about this and sent me a camera to field test. I have since purchased two more Buckshot Scout Cameras.

The first year, I had many pictures of does, fawns, coons, skunks and squirrels. The Buckshot Scout has three sensitivity settings, but I was so enthralled with seeing all the wildlife, I left the setting on high so I could get photos of all types of critters. I moved the camera all around my property and was quickly able to determine deer movement in the mornings and evenings. This helped me to erect portable stands in key locations. That first year was an education process for me and for my neighboring landowners/hunters, because the previous owner of my land had not hunted it and trespasser encroachment was significant. Thanks to that, I only saw one doe during gun season that year. However, I did get many excellent photos of the nocturnal bears that were hitting my bait pits and which kept me hunting them a lot longer than I normally would have. One larger bear that I had seen on my Buckshot pictures paid me a personal visit at my bait pit, though I never got a clear shot at him.

In spring of 2001, I again set out my Buckshot Scout, this time adjusting the sensitivity to exclude the smallest animals and birds. I saw even more deer, and now bears both during the day and at night. I set out corn piles and feeders at strategic travel routes in order to keep game animals traveling through the center of my property instead of the borders. Neighboring hunters were lining up at my borders because deer would run along the fence lines and I wanted to eliminate this problem. I was also bear hunting again, this time with a friend, and wanted to monitor her bait pit as well as mine. She wound up arrowing her first black bear in 2001, thanks in part to the Buckshot Scout. I arrowed a doe that year as well. Once I determined the travel patterns of the deer, I had two one acre areas of heavy woods bull dozed for food plots in the fall of 2001. I again put out my Buckshot Scout to monitor deer activity over the winter as they habited these clear cuts to feed on the tender tops of the felled trees. In the spring of 2002, I planted the food plots with Wildlife Buffet seed products. I also purchased two more Buckshot Scouts to keep watch over the food plots in order to monitor their growth, and the games animals visiting those areas. Both deer and bears frequented the food plots. On opening morning of deer archery season in Minnesota this year, I arrowed an adult doe thanks to my silent hunting partner, the Buckshot Scout camera.

The Buckshot Scout has a number of features that I particularly like and which set it apart from other Infrared (IR) Cameras. First, it's tough compact camo housing is virtually indestructible and invisible to wildlife. Foresite has a promotional video that they sent me, showing a dually truck running over the Scout without it getting broken. I had a bear maul the Scout this summer, and it still worked perfectly. I had the Scout go flying off while riding my ATV, then bounce off a rock and roll into mud. It still worked great. Another thing I like about the Scout is the heavy duty steel locking plate that is included with the camera, which attaches the camera to the tree. I use a bungee cord too, and not even a bear can get that camera off the tree. Thirdly, I really like the feature of the high-medium-low sensitivity setting. Many similarly priced cameras do not have this feature. I must admit, at first I got a kick out of dozens of pictures of coons, skunks, crows, squirrels and other small animals. But, after rolls of expensive film and developing, I ultimately just wanted to see photos of the animals I intended to hunt... deer and bear specifically. Once I adjusted the sensitivity setting, I never had another coon or bird picture. Another great feature of the Scout camera is the day, date, and time stamp feature. I can see exactly when animals are present, day or night. In fact, thanks to the Scout, I discovered that deer would come to my food plots within a couple hours of my being there, and not days later as I had thought. This greatly helped my hunting strategies.

Now, lest you think that I'm just writing all this stuff because I got a free camera, I will share what I feel are the very few, and honestly insignificant, drawbacks of the Buckshot Scout. A field test review is hardly fair if I just tell you all the good things and omit any concerns. One drawback, it that if you want to rewind the film before all the photos are exposed, and press the rewind button on the camera top, it sometimes stays depressed unless you use a needle to coax it back up again. The result is, that when you load a fresh roll of film, it will immediately rewind and be wasted. The solution is, don't use the rewind at all. Just click off all the pictures manually and tell your developer not to process those pictures. A second concern I had was with the Walk Test feature. The Walk Test feature is where you walk in front of the camera to see if it is aimed and ready to shoot where you want it to shoot. If the Sensitivity Setting is on low, that is, for large game animals, the Walk Test feature did not always perform consistently. This is probably because I had on too many layers of clothing for the camera to detect my body heat. One solution could be to run around in front of the camera buck naked, but I decided not to try that. The camera did take perfect pictures of game animals while at the low sensitivity setting, but the Walk Test feature did not always detect me. If I was on my ATV for the Walk Test, the test worked perfectly because the engine heat of the ATV set it off. The camera has a magnet activated On/Off mechanism, and I would recommend always having extra magnets because like me, you might have a knack for losing them. Always have extra batteries on hand too. Being an outdoor writer, I take a great many more photographs than the average hunter, at least 1-2 rolls a week, and hence I use many more batteries than average.

Other great features of the Buckshot Scout are Auto Advance and Rewind, 1,3 and 6 minutes Picture delay, double throw tripping mechanism, event counter, 24 hour flash availability, and most importantly, silent operation. I forgot how many times the camera took my picture because it was so well camo'd and so quiet, I forgot it was there.

I have also used literally hundreds of the Buckshot Scout photos in my articles and stories. Overall, it's a great camera. My biggest problem now, like most hunters who find a piece of equipment they really like, is that I want about ten of these cameras. On a scale of 1-10, with ten being perfect, I would give the Buckshot Scout a 9. After three years of testing, it has truly become one of my most valuable hunting companions. To round out my existing efforts, I would like to acquire the Buckshot Digital for next year's hunting seasons.