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I found the camrea like this, top remover and camera pulled out and left hanging. Developed the film and all 36 photo were snapped of the first night on elk. These lids snap on well and the camera is placed in side. It would take something with hands to open and remove the camera. Not boot tracks seen, would not really expected anyone this deep in. Also hunters would have most likey taken the camera being i dont' lock em up, only due to the fact that i put them well of the beaten path. Elk, bear, bigfoot or hunter? Only two have hands.

this is indeed wierd. I would imagine that if somebody went through the trouble of breaking it open, they would at least steal it... or if there were any pics left, moon the camera or something... Maybe next time, if you can, hide another game cam facing the one on the tree.

I would say a bear. Bears will often pry open and destory trail-cameras with their mouths and paws. Its such a common occurance that many hunters will hesitate to put their more expensive units in areas known to have high bear populations.

If a bear had gone about doing it in the fashion you state, there would most likely be tooth marks on the camera casing. Remember, bears aren't subtle.

My vote is for a human. Some jerk just being destructive, or maybe some tree hugger who thought your camera was disturbing wildlife.

I would agree with SFS........human contact would be the most likely reason

From looking at the pictures, it certainly looks like tracks should have been visible at the base of the tree.

Raccoon? Not sure if they'd have the required strength though.

RayG

termites?

Maybe the the flash spooked an elk that lashed out at it after being blinded. Could the strap have become tangled in it's antlers and simply fell apart after being slammed around a bit? Any marks on the tree?

I'm not sure how this setup fits together, but my pet raccon had strong little hands. And as curious as they are, and smelling something different from everyday stuff in the woods, I dunno.
But like Jaylee said, tracks from biggie probably woulda been under the tree.

I like the raccoon theory that's been presented, although I will go agaisnt the grain and say that if it was a sasquatch messin with your cam, I don't think there would have HAD to have been tracks. Too many accounts of them being too cautious and not leaving tracks, even if they have to crawl to do it, and that ground at least from the photos doesn't look conducive to perfect tracks. Anything come off the film? There a lot of bears in the area? (although I agree they aren't that delicate usually) You know your local area better than the rest of us, if you think it was far enough off the beaten path to rule out humans I won't disagree.

KW - Not ruling anything out at all.

I'm with SFS on the tree hugger theory...

Also...sorry for the off-topic question...but this one is for SCOTTO...do raccoons have opposable thumbs? Just wondering.

Zog

Hi all,
As someone who has put cams out for about 4 months now, mine have not been disturbed. One reason is that I put very strong bike-security cords around them, and lash them tight to the trees. So far, the only problems have been spider webs and, recently, wasps building a nest between the cam and tree. The second reason may be that I put the name of my university on the cams (the cams are on state park land), so maybe this keeps humans hands off (I hope!).
IMHO, this was done by a human or other primate--did the film survive?
thanks,
vlandrum

Probably some jerk who took it apart trying to figure out how it worked and then couldn't put it back together, or got scared away and just left it.

This is what I'm thinking, too.

just a quick question, how is the casing held together? If it is just some sort of clasp then I'd say an animal did it, but if it was held together with some sort of lock it was probably human. I don't think bigfoot would be subtle when it's just discovered another pesky human contraption.

Heya Zog,

Not opposable thumbs like us or a monkey would, not the same. But they are kinda close, and mine managed to take apart quite a few things. They sure do look like little hands. I have no doubt that a raccoon could of done this. They are surprisingly strong.

Scotto

That's a definate possibility also.