Steve,... I wanted to share with you (along with everyone else here) a little item I engineered for protecting my Stealth Trail cam from theft and damage.
The main concern I had when I put my cam up to snap a few pictures of them trespassing was them finding the camera and either stealing it, or trying to damage it and this little idea works perfectly and won't break the bank to manufacture at home.
It consists basically of an old Army surplus 30-06 ammo can,.. I had to cut a couple of openings in it for the optics to be able to function and so there'd be a way to lock it shut. I'm going to post some pictures of it with descriptions along the way of my explanations of it. First you need to purchase an old ammo can,.. they are readily available and will cost you about $10 or so. I think when I got mine it was $6 but I'm adding in the inflation factor.
Once you get the ammo can take your trail-cam and lay it along side the ammo can to determine where you need to cut holes on the side to allow the optics and flash to function.
Once you have done that your going to need to cut a circular hole in the flip-up latch that closes the the lid of the ammo can and secures it.
You'll need to go up to your local hardware store to purchase a threaded U-Bolt and drill out 2 holes to accommodate the diameter of the U-Bolt shank and securely tighten it down from the inside of the ammo can.
The next thing you'll need to do is to get your self some 4-6 inch LAG bolts with large flat washers and drill out 2 holes in the other side of the ammo can that will fit the diameter of the lag bolts.
Now that this has been completed all thats left is to insert your camera into the box to see how well it will fit your openings. Depending on how thick your unit is you might have to shim it up a bit to take out any loose play. I did mine with some scrap foam material.
Your finished product should look something like this picture below,... make sure there is sufficient padding around the camera so it won't alter its position. That way the camera can't move when it's taking the picture and your pictures will be clear.
Then all that's left for you to do is take it out to a tree of your choosing and run those LAG bolts with the flat washers through the can and into the tree from the inside of the ammo can, slide in your camera and padding, close the handle and latch it securely and run a padlock though the U-Bolt.
Your all done!
Now I went the extra mile on mine and glued down some camo material to help it blend in better but it's not necessary to do that unless you want to. The cans are normally already OD Green to begin with. We were having a problem in the neighborhood here with cameras coming up missing from time to time,... this was my cure to the problem.
There's no way in hell
ANYONE'S going to be yanking that ammo can off the tree once you tighten it down to it !
The only other alternative I had at the time was the manufactures little cloth belt thing you used to tighten the camera to a tree with,... that wasn't going to cut it.
Oh yeah,... forgot one item,.. try to mount it up higher than the normal pesons height would be. Bring a small folding step ladder and put it up about 8-10 foot off of the ground. and if you think it won't be pointing down enough a 45* wedge cut from a 2x4 placed behind the lockbox before tightening it down to the tree wi
<message edited by 7mm Magnum on Friday, April 04, 2008 2:11 PM>
