How Do Cellular Game Cameras Work?
The Network
A cellular trail camera acts as a second set of eyes for you in woods. The trail camera has a cellular sim card that connects to a cellular network like Verizon or AT&T. The cellular camera takes takes photos and videos just like your non-cellular camera does however it has the capability of sending you notification alerts to your cell phone or sending you the photo or video to you as a text message. Our favorite cell camera and in our opinion the Best Trail Camera That Sends Pictures To Your Phone – the Covert Blackhawk camera comes equipped with a mobile app that notifies you whenever your camera is triggered. When you have the Covert Blackhawk cellular trail camera set up to shoot video, you get super crisp videos like the one below sent to your phone:CHECK THIS CELLULAR TRAIL CAMERA OUT ON AMAZON
One of the biggest headaches you’ll come across with while searching for the best trail camera that sends pictures to your phone is making sure you have cell phone service where you want your camera. We hunt mostly high mountain backcountry in Idaho and cell phone service can be a real pain. A few years ago, these Covert Cameras were on the AT&T network and we had to be extremely strategic about placement. If your cell service is spotty, you will miss photos. Your camera will still take the pics but you just won’t get them sent to you. Covert really stepped up with their Verizon LTE cellular cameras like the Blackhawk above. We’ve literally had ZERO issues with service on the Verizon LTE cellular network. It makes getting your cameras setup super quick, and requires less time boogering around your honey holes in search of cell service.Fees
There will be some sort of service fee you’ll need to pay for the cellular usage. On our Covert Blackhawk cameras we’re paying less than $20 a month for the cellular service and we can turn it on and off whenever we’d like. Plans are as low as $7.99 a month. You can see the various plans below to get an idea of what it will cost you to run a cellular game camera.
Time Saver
It’s truly incredible the amount of time you save by not having to hike in and pull the memory card – or check the batteries or just to make sure it’s still attached to the tree you placed it on and working properly. With a cellular trail camera like the Covert Blackhawk, you get all the above information + more right on your mobile phone app.Cellular Trail Camera Set Up Tips
When it comes to getting your cellular deer or elk camera setup, it’s important to pay attention to the details. These wireless game cameras aren’t the cheapest on the market. I have a couple cheap cameras that I don’t really care if they get stolen (I actually do care – just won’t be livid if a fellow hunter accidently mistakes it as their own and does me a favor by taking it down for me.) With these cheap cameras I’m a little more relaxed with placement and how secure I make them.3 Tips For Expert Trail Camera Setup

- Secure way to procure your trail camera to a tree.
- Makes it more difficult for a dishonest person to tamper with your camera or open the camera up and steal your SD card or delete your photos.
- Eliminates the threat of animals like elk and bears from moving the camera around on the tree or completely knocking it off. Make sure you use long screws and that security box isn’t going anywhere.

BROWSE LOCKS Camera placement Camera placement can make all the difference in your camera lasting the entire season or even multiple seasons. Have you ever come across a money “honey hole” placed a camera there, and returned to no camera? Chances are, if you’re on public land and not too far off the beaten path, you’re not the only one that knows about your new honey hole. To be safe, instead of placing the camera in plain sight right on the wallow or spring, go find the main trail that leads to the honey hole and set your camera up on that trail somewhere. Sure, you’re probably going to miss a few animals, but your camera should stay put. Moral of the story, don’t set your camera up where everyone else does or would.
Advantages and Disadvantages of a Cellular Trail Camera
Advantages I think it’s obvious what the biggest advantages are about a cellular trail camera when you’re searching for the best game camera for your situation. Real-time intel If you have multiple areas that you hunt and have cellular game cameras set up in the different areas, you have all the intel on your phone that tells you which location you should hunt. If you didn’t have a cellular trail camera, you’d have to randomly pick a spot, or, go pull all the SD cards to see which area is most active at the moment. As you know, that can take up a ton of time while also boogering an area. Easier to learn animal patterns
- battery life
- memory card
- camera placement
- If the camera is still where you placed it
Best Cellular Trail Camera {the camera we use}
Covert Cameras Blackhawk w/Verizon LTE

- Dimensions: 6in x 4.75 inx 3.5in
- 12 Megapixels
- 58° field of view
- .65 second trigger speed
- 60 No Glow LED’s
- 100 foot flash range
- 12 AA batteries
- Invisible flash technology
- 1-10 turbo shot burst
- Maximum Silence Image Capture™
- Time/date/temp/moon phase stamp
- 2” color viewer
- Pipe through security
- Up to 32GB SD card
If You’re Looking for a Good Cellular Deer Camera…
The Covert Blackhawk cellular camera makes a great deer hunting camera for remote viewing and is considered one of the best cameras for deer hunting. Why?CHECK THIS CELLULAR TRAIL CAMERA OUT ON AMAZON