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With most of the hunting I do here in Alaska, trail cameras aren’t really practical. This is simply because many of the locations are too remote for setting up and checking cameras on a regular basis. One form of hunting for which I do employ trail cams, though, is black bear baiting. In my part of interior Alaska, the forest and brush is so thick that the only practical way to hunt black bears is over bait.

It can be done without cameras, but I like to use them because cameras give you a clear picture of what bears are using a bait station, and when they are coming into it. The problem with trail cams, though, is that bears seem to love to chew on them. In the area we hunt, grizzlies in particular have a habit of destroying every trail camera I have ever put out…until now.

This winter I picked up some of Leupold’s RCX trail cameras and set them up on all my baits. They come with a remote control that plugs into the camera so that you can correctly position the lens during set-up. Then, when you return to check your photos, you can download the pictures to the remote control right there in the field. The RCX has more programmable settings than you’ll need and it captures excellent images and video, even in the dark.

What I like the most about the RCX, though, is that it is tougher than just about any other camera I’ve used. I fully expected to find my new camera chewed to pieces within a couple weeks, but so far so good.

One camera in particular was really put to the test. The first time I checked it, the bears had twisted and yanked it around the side of the tree, and there were a few small tooth scratches in it. The next time, it was ripped completely off the tree, and chewed on even more. But, it was still in perfect working condition!

This was the first time I’ve had a trail camera survive a grizzly attack. Needless to say, I have been very impressed with the Leupold RCX; if you’re in the market for a good, bear-proof trail camera, you can’t go wrong with this one.

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