The Hunting Industry's Best Digital Trail Cameras

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I can't remember the year or the brand name of the trail camera, but what I do remember is the blinding white strobe flash and the whine it made when it triggered. A small, toothy wheel would grab the film slots and roll it.

I was excited. I paced around the Walmart one-hour photo lab intently. When the lady behind the counter handed me the photos, my excitement dissipated quickly. The images showed 22 pictures of grass and trees—false triggers by the wind—and two bug-eyed does frightened by the bright flash.

My, how times have changed. Digital trail cameras and cellular trail cameras have revolutionized scouting. With 64GB SD cards or ridiculous internal storage space, these rapid-trigger cameras sport low-glow and no-glow flashes, detect deer at long range, capture photos and high-resolution video, and the list of scouting amenities goes on and on.

While some believe non-cellular cameras are obsolete, I disagree. Sure, having real-time photos and videos sent to your cellular phone is handy, but there are some drawbacks to cellular trail cameras.

A Case For Traditional Game Cams

First, cellular trail cameras aren't legal in every state. In some, they are strictly taboo, while others limit their in-season usage. There are also many locations, especially in the West, where cellular service isn't available. I've made the mistake of packing a backpack full of cell cams to a far-flung elk hole only to discover there was no cellular service.

I also like to be surprised. I love playing the wind and going into the woods to pull an SD card. The excitement of not knowing what the card may hold is something I look forward to.

While cellular trail cameras have exploded in popularity, traditional digital game cameras are still relevant. We took the best digital trail cameras in the industry and put them to a head-to-head test in the field and at the author's backyard archery range. Here's how they fared.

Browning Strike Force Pro DCL Nano

Browning digital cameras are an integral part of my scouting arsenal. Over 60 percent of my digital scouting cameras are from Browning's Strike Force Series, and I've grown especially fond of the Pro DCL Nano.

At $170, the Pro DCL Nano doesn't fall on the budget side of digital cameras. Instead, it boasts a plethora of features that surpass space-filling bullet points and fancy marketing schemes.

I used my Pro DCL Nano for precisely 52 days in the field. During that nearly 8-week stretch, the camera was lashed to a T-post over a pronghorn water source, pinched between two rocks to overlook an elk wallow, and moved about in my whitetail woods.

News that should make every trail camera user smile is that over 52 days, this lightweight, ultra-compact digital camera with a helpful 1.5-inch color viewing screen didn't take a single false image. All 418 photos and 119 videos taken by this trail camera showed an animal.

The trail camera was exposed to back-to-back 108-degree Fahrenheit days, 50-plus mile-per-hour wind, lashing rain and pounding hail. The housing with a single-latch door is bulletproof. Backyard and in-the-field testing confirmed the camera's 130-foot infrared nighttime flash range. Browning brands daytime detection to 100 feet, but the camera took ultra-sharp, clear images of deer and elk beyond that.

The camera's .15-second trigger time is accurate; it doesn't miss a thing. Two of my favorite features of the trail camera include the Dual Lens 4K, which captures ultra-clear photos and 4K ultra video with sound, day or night. Thanks to settings such as capture delay, video length, video quality, and detection range, Browning's Strike Force Pro DCL Nano is one of the very best digital scouting cameras available. You'll love the up to 512 GB SD card capacity and easy-to-angle mounting bracket.

Bushnell CORE DS-4K No-Glow

I've had excellent results with Bushnell digital and cellular cameras, and the CORE DS-4K No Glow may be the trail-cam maker's best digital scouting device yet. Being able to select between Camera, Video, and Hybrid modes provides options, and Bushnell's Pre-Sets (Feeder, Trail, Food Plot, and Advanced) make setup simple.

What I loved most about the DS-4K is its lack of false triggers and how, when set in Low Illumination, the camera's No-Glow LED provided a tested 120-foot range that didn't spook game.

Picture sensitivity can be adjusted, and over 52 testing days, I discovered the Auto sensor setting was best for the torrid summertime temps, wind, and wet weather. The DS-4K No Glow is easy to set up, and the 1.5-inch color LCD screen enhances ease of use. I appreciate the 4K video with audio, and the camera will record video for up to 4 minutes. Day and nighttime images are crisp, stamped with valuable scouting intel, and the .15-second trigger speed proved spot on.

The CORE DS-4K No Glow set to Camera mode captured a daytime pronghorn at a rangefinder-measured distance of 135 feet, which translates to a range beyond what Bushnell uses in their advertising. I like that. At $180, this compact digital camera proved durable, snapped only 13 blank images out of 513 total photos captured, and is built like a tank.

Stealth Cam DS4K Ultimate

As baffling as it might be that some digital cameras carry a price tag much higher than their cellular cousins, it's critical to remember that digital cameras have no monthly/yearly cellular plan.

While Stealth Cam's DS4K Ultimate trail camera reaches a $250 price point, it proved to be the best all-around digital trail camera over the 52-day testing period. Like the Browning Pro DCL Nano, the DS4K produced zero false triggers, which is something every scouting fanatic will love. The trail camera also had the fastest tested trigger speed of all the cameras tested. At 100 feet, the DS4K captured me running through the camera's wide detection zone. I was at a full tilt when I entered the detection zone, and upon reviewing the photo, I was centered in the middle. The picture wasn't grainy or blurred; it was crystal clear. This scouting device misses nothing.

While I do wish the DS4K had a square LCD screen, the small, thin screen with blue lettering, along with Menu and Enter buttons and up/down/left/right arrows, makes the trail camera easy to set up. I appreciate the GPS marking mode—a feature generally reserved for cellular trail cameras. The video with audio quality is the best I've ever seen in a digital camera, and the Low Glow flash range didn't spook the game. It was also able to reach beyond the Stealth Cam-branded range of 100 feet.

I tend to run most of my cameras—digital and cellular—in video mode. The DS4K Ultimate captures amazing 4K video, and the video recording time can be set between 15 and 180 seconds, providing unmatched versatility. The camera captured a 190-plus-inch velvet buck using a pond, and thanks to the extended video mode, I know how the buck entered and exited the scene.

Like all cameras in the field test, the DS4K Ultimate was exposed to hellish weather conditions. The full-length side-latch door keeps moisture and dust out, and even with standard AA alkaline batteries, this camera, after 52 days of use, taking 609 photos and 115 videos, still had 91 percent battery life when I pulled it.

SpyPoint Force-24

I'm as guilty as anyone. I get skeptical when a product seems legit but has a too-good-to-be-true price tag.

That was the case with SpyPoint's Force-24 digital trail camera. However, this $40 trail camera surprised me in a good way. In fact, it was one of my favorite summertime products that showed up for testing on my doorstep.

With a manufacturer flash and detection range of 70 feet, backyard and in-the-field testing produced decently clear photos between 10 and 55 feet. Between 55 and 70 feet, the 24MP photos were slightly grainy, and if the subject was moving, there was some blurring. Nighttime photos were excellent between 10 and 45 feet, and the maximum nighttime range I could obtain was 65 feet.

However, the Force-24 false-triggered only 12 times in 238 photos. Plus, the 2K video with audio was clear, and I appreciate the camera's 5-photo bursts in multi-shot mode. You can also select 2, 3, and 4 multi-shot modes. Battery life was excellent, and SpyPoint's .5-second trigger speed is spot on. This camera puts game in the center of the photo and even captured a quick-moving bobcat.

If I were looking for a trail camera to use on public land (check state regulations) where the chances of someone stealing or breaking a trail camera are high, the Force-24 would be my go-to. Five cameras will run you under $320. They are bulletproof, and the LCD screen and toggle controls make setup easy. I also appreciate that once set and turned on, a red light on the front of the camera flashes for 30 seconds, allowing you to move out of the field of view. When the red light stops flashing, the camera is ready to take a picture.

Muddy Pro Cam 24

At $120, the Muddy Pro Cam 24 is an excellent value. The digital trail camera comes with a 16GB SD card and 8 Duracell alkaline batteries. The trail camera is light, compact, and I like the dual-latch full front door. Over 52 days, no water or dirt got inside the trail camera, and the large color LCD screen and lower-mounted manual controls make for an ibuprofen-free setup.

The Muddy Pro Cam 24 offers multiple settings, including image resolutions of 24MP, 8MP, and 4MP, as well as burst intervals ranging from 1 to 8 images per trigger. The camera captures 720p video at 30fps, and both the photo and video quality were excellent during the daytime. I did notice a dip in quality in nighttime photos and video, but even still, deer and other animals were easily identifiable.

Thirty-six No Glow IR LEDs don't spook game, and although the Pro Cam false-triggered 29 times over 52 days, it did effectively capture 433 images and 95 videos.

Muddy's website brands the camera's detection and capture range to 80 feet, but the instruction manual that comes with the camera notes a detection range of 100 feet. Daytime testing confirmed detection and capture to 105 feet, while nighttime detection and capture range slipped to 80 feet. The .5-second trigger speed is accurate. The camera captured a coyote in mid-bound in the center of the frame, and most other subjects were positioned in the center of the frame or slightly to the left of center, which suggests a quick-fire trigger.

Final Thoughts

Digital trail cameras aren't dead, and they still serve many purposes. In my home state of Colorado, I can run cellular trail cameras for up to 48 hours before hunting, but then digital cameras must take over. I rely on standard digital cameras more than my cell cameras, and because I wander the West in search of big-game hotspots, many of my cameras are in areas with no cellular service.

While cellular plans are reasonable, I appreciate not having to pay them monthly, and I enjoy the process of pulling SD cards and replacing batteries. The process of managing a camera in the field adds to the hunt, and you can get some excellent digital trail camera bundles—two and three cameras—for a significantly discounted price.

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