Scouting game and wildlife with the Stealth Cam Prowler HD Digital Trail Camera has never been more advanced.
Stealth Cam’s Prowler HD digital video scouting recorder with Full HD video footage recording capabilities as well as an 8Mb still camera. The device also stamps the time/date/moon phase and temperature on each file to provide invaluable field information. In addition to recording videos and photos, Prowler records full audio.
With 54 infrared emitters, the Prowler HD can capture nighttime images and subjects up to 40 feet away. It has adjustable video recording times. (from five seconds to five minutes)
How to set up your Prowler HD
Stealth Cam Prowler comes in the box with a belt strap, instructions, and a data transfer cable. You will need 6 decent quality C cell batteries and an SD memory card you can buy a 4 Gig one for around £7.00. Running the camera at full resolution with a 4Gb card will give you 1600 high resolution 3400×2550 photos or 112 HD video clips.
camera placement
It is recommended that you mount the camera 5 feet from the ground with the lens pointing at a slight downward angle. Watch out for the rising sun and position your camera so it faces north or south, removing any foliage in front of the lens. Thread the strap through the camera, there are two “belt loops” on the back of the device, and wrap the straps around a tree or pole, but don’t tighten them yet.
Point the camera so that it faces the area you want to cover with the IR. Avoid positioning the camera towards the rising or setting sun, as this can cause overexposure of your shots. Slide the camera to the side of the tree and look through the viewfinder on top of the camera to check the area the lens will cover.
When you are satisfied, tighten the straps and close the belt through the buckle for a snug fit. For small game, a wooden wedge placed on top of the camera will point the lens further down to the ground, better covering the ground area.
operation test
1. Once you are satisfied with the position of the cameras, open the camera body and turn the power on.
2. Press the Test button, the camera will enter a 1 minute countdown mode, enough time to get out of the coverage area.
3. Walk through the desired capture area, making sure the PIR detects your presence, this is indicated by a green LED lighting.
4. I use Millie, my lab pup, as a test dog, but ask her to walk past the camera and check to see if she’s picking up a smaller object, instead of a 15-stone human!
5. When you are satisfied that the camera position is sufficient to cover the area you need, you are ready to go.
Programming the camera for its operation
1. When you have completed the test operation, you are ready to set up the camera. You should now decide if you want to capture video clips or photos. Remember that you can have a burst mode of 1 to 9 sequential images in still mode!
2. Open the camera and insert your blank SD card into the SD card slot on the side of the inner body of the camera.
3. Turn on the camera and following its manual, set the camera to Camera or Video mode. You also need to set the length of the video or the number of shots you want the camera to take at a time. In video mode you can have the camera running in HD, D1 or VGA mode, with HD being the best quality but fewer images per card. In camera mode, you can choose High, Low, or Base resolution; Of course, just like with video, the lower the resolution, the more images will fit on a memory card. We set the video duration to 20 seconds and the timeout to 1.
4. The Timeout setting allows you to tell the Stealth Cam how long to “sleep” between shots. This should be set quite low if you are using a high capacity memory card, as there is nothing worse than a deer moving into shot, then out of shot for a moment, only to return to graze in front of a trail camera. asleep, not waking up again for 10 minutes, by which time the deer has moved on to new pastures.
5. You also need to set the time and date at this stage, which is very important when you review the video at a later date.
6. At the end of each program setup selection, you can press MENU to exit and return to the camera status reading screen. You now have 60 seconds to close the camera and exit the PIR zone.
7. Making sure to hold both clips firmly, close the camera and leave the area, the camera is now ready to capture the movement of the animals.
8. At night the infrared will light up.
9. During the day you will get color images.
going back to the camera
When you return to the chamber, you can instantly see if it has been activated by the counter on the front.
If you’re lucky, you’ll have captured still or video images of wildlife or passers-by.
1. The Stealth Cam Prowler HD comes complete with a cable to download to your PC, however this means unplugging the camera and taking it home. It’s best to have two SD cards, so you can keep an empty one to swap out and replace the entire SD card.
2. We have two SD cards, so please open the camera and turn it off.
3. Remove the existing SD card, replace it with another empty card, make any changes you need in the menu, such as resolution or time, etc., and then make sure the camera is on, close it for the next day.
Downloading your footage
1. We take our Prowler back to our desks and remove the SD card ready to download.
2. Remove the SD card, and then insert it into your laptop’s card reader. If your PC doesn’t have a built-in SD slot, you can buy a USB card reader for a few pounds.
3. When you have inserted the card, your PC will read the information.
4. Open the folder containing the files on the SD card and you can view the photos or video on your desktop or save them for a later date, or even upload them to YouTube to share with the world.