As I progress as a serious bowhunter, I place more and more value on the quality of gear I purchase. Let’s face it, I don’t like when my hard earned money goes to waste due to products that deliver less than desirable results. I’ve always been the guy who purchases cameras at a sub $100 price point and until the Fall of 2016, I’ve never been the owner of what I would call a “high end” scouting camera.

When it comes to comparing entry level trail cameras to the Exodus Lift, I like to make the comparison of a Chevy Cruze to a Chevy Silverado LTZ. With the Exodus, much like the Silverado, it will perform in a rugged environment, it will stand the test of time, and it’s loaded with features. The other bonus is an unbeatable warranty policy at an extremely good price point because of their direct to consumer business model.

After putting it to the test for much of the previous Fall and Winter, I am truly impressed with The Exodus Lift Trail Camera.

Reliability and Performance

As a western whitetail hunter who lives in the mountains of Colorado, I don’t have the luxury of checking my cameras on a regular basis and I often have a four-hour drive just to pull cards in the areas I hunt. With this scenario in mind, reliability is everything to me. The last thing I want to see when I go to review pictures is a card full of empty landscapes or no photos at all (both have happened to me) due to a camera malfunction.

The Exodus Lift captured a beautiful daytime picture of a rutting whitetail buck and doe in Eastern Colorado. The camera was set at 5MP picture quality.

Recently, I experienced the superior reliability and performance of the Exodus Lift versus a competitor camera where I put both cameras on the same property, less than 50-yards apart, from November through the end of February. Upon pulling the card on the competitor camera, the batteries were drained and I found myself staring at three days worth of blank pictures. It was a total bust, especially for a camera that is less than two years old. The Exodus performed flawlessly and still had 47% battery life throughout bitter cold temperatures on the eastern plains of Colorado, even with using non-lithium batteries.

Quality Design and Build

When I first removed the Exodus camera from its original packaging, I immediately felt a difference in the quality of design and build. It’s hard to describe in words but it feels as though I could toss this camera across the room and it would hold up just fine. An aluminum alloy back plate and frame means that I don’t have to worry about this camera getting damaged under normal operating conditions.

An aluminum alloy backplate provides strength and durability for years of use in rugged environments.

To further add to its bullet-proof design, the rubber gaskets on the door are oversized and the hinges are overbuilt to protect against moisture from getting inside the housing, which according to Exodus, is the number one reason why trail cameras fail prematurely.   

Features and Ease Of Use

Often times with trail cameras, the ability to fully understand various settings and features can be quite difficult. I was very pleased with the built-in LCD display which is intuitive and easy to comprehend without the need to comb through the entire owners manual. With the Exodus Lift, there is no more guessing what certain numbers, letters, and symbols represent when setting up the camera in the field.

An intuitive screen and easy to use controls make it simple to change photo settings.

There is no more “guesswork” with an LCD screen that shows the field of view during test-mode.

In addition to a 12MP picture resolution, another feature I really like with this camera is the ability to see the field of view during test-mode, which allows you be sure of the camera position without having to guess. It’s really nice to know what your camera is taking pictures of before coming back to images that were angled either too high or too low.

Warranty and Theft/Damage Replacement Policy

Exodus Outdoor Gear is the only trail camera manufacturer to offer a 5-year warranty, which reinforces the superior components that they put into their product. Do you think a company would offer an extended warranty if they thought their products would fail after the first few seasons? I sure wouldn’t think so.

Every hunter’s nightmare is walking up to a trail camera location only to find out it has vanished into thin air, or better yet, into the hands of a trail camera thief. Sadly, for many hunters, a stolen trail camera is an all too common occurrence, but as the owner of an Exodus Lift, they help ease the pain by offering a 50% off replacement cost in the event of a damaged or stolen camera. This means that Exodus will allow you to purchase one replacement camera at half the cost of the original purchase price.

Exodus Outdoor Gear is the only trail camera manufacturer to offer a 5-year warranty/theft/damage replacement policy.

To be completely honest, warranty and replacement policies were both major selling points to me as a consumer because it tells me the folllowing:

1. Exodus understands the needs of serious hunters.
2. They recognize accidents and theft do occur.
3. They 100% believe in the product they put in to the field. 

Recap and Final Thoughts

If you are looking to try out a high-end scouting camera without breaking the bank, I would certainly recommend the Exodus Lift from Exodus Outdoor Gear. If this product was sold through retail stores, it would be a $400 camera all day long, but since they only sell direct to consumers, they are able to offer a trail cam that is loaded with features, great picture quality, and a warranty that no one else can touch for about half the cost.

I look forward to putting this camera to use during my scouting efforts for many years to come.  Based on what I have experienced thus far, I will be purchasing more Exodus trail cameras in the near future! 

Check them out at: www.exodusoutdoorgear.com. 

Given that I didn’t have the luxury of scouting every weekend, I needed an extra edge in conjunction with running trail cameras. At this point in time, I had no information related to deer densities and if there were even deer that I would be interested in pursuing on the recently acquired properties. Long story short, I was looking to take a quick inventory on any big bucks roaming the farms I had access to hunt. To help me do this I implemented the use of Big Tine Fortified Deer Blend!

A Needle In A Haystack

Now before you jump to conclusions about the 7,000 acres of hunting land, let me paint you a better picture by stating that the acreage is not continuous and only about 1,000 acres is what I would deem “hunt-able”. Out of that 1,000 acres, there are less than 10 acres of trees, the landscape is comprised mainly of open grass, small draws and has a total of two crop fields. Do you get the picture? If not, I posted a snapshot below for your viewing pleasure.

With all due respect, I’m not hunting Iowa, people! This is Western Kansas, where the only trees you will find are located in and around dried up river bottoms or in the immediate areas surrounding homesteads. The wide open prairie makes the deer extremely tough to pattern so just hanging cameras in a “hopeful” location wasn’t going to yield the best results. Big Tine was the answer to my early season scouting success!

Yielding Results

Upon my first use and within hours of putting out Big Tine’s Cherry Rush Last Call, I had a mature buck in front of the camera during daylight. Below are a few trail camera pictures showing me putting out the mixture and shortly after, catching a mature buck coming out of the bedding area from behind to investigate. Although he is not a giant, he is still mature and I was blown away at how quickly Big Tine was able to bring him in front of the camera. See my trail cam pictures below where it shows the dates and times only hours apart on the first day I put out Big Tine.

One of the more successful camera locations was where I put out the Big Tine 30-06 formula; a perfect blend of minerals, corn, sunflower seeds, and cherry aroma to spark their curiosity! Within 2 days I had pictures of 5 different bucks ranging in size from 150” – 170”. Right then and there I had confirmed two things; Big Tine really does work and I had hit the deer hunting property lottery! See below for a sampling of trail cam pictures of the giants I was able to capture on camera. To view the full card pull, check out the Transition Wild Facebook Page.

All Season – All Purpose

My original use of Big Tine Deer Feed was used as a tool to help with my early season scouting efforts but I will also utilize Big Tine for my Spring / Summer mineral sites. Because of the desolate environment that Western Kanas deer are subject to, they do not receive maximum nutrition through their everyday diet. With the help of Whitetail Institute’s Imperial 30-06 Mineral/Vitamin Supplement, Big Tine is the perfect supplement for enhanced antler growth and an overall healthier deer herd.

Although I can’t credit Big Tine entirely for a successful deer season, it did play a big part in my scouting efforts which was the first step towards completing my end goal of killing a mature whitetail in 2015. After many failed attempts and close encounters, the cards were finally dealt in my favor and I was able to arrow my biggest whitetail to date on November 20th. To read more about that memorable hunt, click HERE.

Don’t just take my word for it. Stop by your local retailer today and pick up a few bags of Big Tine and start experimenting on your own property. They have a wide range of products in addition to deer feed including; food plot seed, cover scents and mineral blocks. Regardless of what you use, I think you will be very pleased with the results!

To find out more information about Big Tine, please visit their website at: www.bigtine.com.

-Adam