History of trail cameras: How trail cameras developed

The origin of trail cameras goes back to the early 80s. Students at the Missouri State University were looking at ways to study whitetail deer behavior, while studying for their Masters.

They came across a product made by Trailtimer that could record the time a deer tripped a string stretched across a trail. This was limited to one record per setting.

The early history of trail cameras

The drive to also capture pictures as well as timings took them to discover a company called Trailmaster. At the time Trailmaster had developed a 2 piece device that projected an infrared beam to a receiver. This so happened to be the first active infrared device used in this area of research.

Later developments introduced a 35mm camera, wired to the infrared receiver. On the beam being broken, the 35mm camera would open it’s shutter and take a picture. The first trail camera as we know it was born and the history of trail cameras began.

The first passive infrared trail camera

During this time over in South Texas a team of pioneers with a background in electrical engineering were developing a single, self contained unit operated by a PIR (Passive infrared sensor).

These units contained a Kodak disc camera, but were susceptible to many false tiggers, wasting film in the process. Further trial and error took these early pioneers to launch the brand we know today as CamTrakker.

Word soon spread about these new devices ability to help hunters and deer research. In 1989 Mark Cuddeback began marketing the Non-Typical DeerCam. Other early companies such as Gryphon Engineering did not last unfortunately.

Digital trail cameras

The early trail cameras in the 90s were of course capturing pictures on 35mm film. As digital technology improved and became more affordable, we saw the introduction of digital.

The first digital trail cameras had very slow trigger times. Sub 1 second trigger times were a long way off.

Today, the use of digital cameras mean that very few people miss the old days of 35mm film. Some people do still miss the quality that the old 35mm cameras produced. Having far better contrast ratio compared to a digital trail camera.

It’s in this area that we need to see digital trail cameras improve. At present in near perfect conditions, the modern trail camera can record decent quality pictures. But the pictures still pale in comparison to a DSLR. Better lens and smaller image sensors are an area that trail camera manufacturers need to look at to improve.

The trail camera phenomenon begins

Today we see a whole host of top trail camera manufacturers, such as Bushnell. Browning, Cuddeback and Moultrie to name a few. These owe much to the early pioneers of trail cameras back in the 80s.

Outdoor retail stores offer a huge range of makes, models and specifications in trail cameras, and the growth in the market doesn’t seem to be slowing.

If you go online today, you’ll find many forums and websites like this one Outdoor Wilds, offering advice and reviews to help you choose the right trail camera for you.

A survey conducted by the QDMA in 2010 revealed that many people who entered their data into the survey owned on average 3 to 5 trail cams, 14% who were polled owned 5 to 10 cameras.

With new technology such as Bluetooth and wireless recently being introduced to the trail camera world, the advancements seem to be continuing at a rapid pace.

The future for trail cameras

It wasn’t that long ago that the early pioneers were capturing pictures on 35mm film. Today in the digital world wireless is the future for trail cameras.

The only element holding back wireless technology are the network providers themselves. 

Wireless trail cameras require a strong signal to operate successfully. However , this technology has revolutionised trail cameras. Being able to receive a thumbnail picture from a trail camera such as the Bushnell Trophy Cam HD wireless is a massive step forward in trail cam technology.

The other area of advancement is in the physical size of the trail cam. Cameras like the Browning Strike Force HD Pro have seen trail cams shrink to just 4 inches. It’s this development that I think we’ll see more of. Smaller trail cameras with bigger capacity storage and super fast trigger times. Plus higher megapixels in the cameras sensor.

Conclusion

I feel there’s still a long way to go before we have the perfect trail camera. As I mentioned earlier, camera lens and image sensors need to keep up with other areas of development. 

This will of course be down mostly to the big technology companies offering their latest innovations to the trail camera manufacturers.

It’s an exciting time though to be a trail camera enthusiast, and I look forward to seeing what the next 20 years brings to the world of trail camera development.