December 2009:
December 29: Happy New Year!
Camera Returns: The Camphouse Camera is back online. We had loaned this camera out and it's now returned to it's home at the camp house. We're now using infrared lights at night. The picture is very grainy but at least we're getting around the clock images without resorting to flood lights.
December 24: Merry Christmas!
Website Outage: Recently Texas Deer Cams website was down due to a hardware failure on the server at our host provider, Host Rocket. This required rebuilding the RAID array, eventually moving us to a new server, and reworking our account settings. Unfortunately the repairs took several days and meant the website was unavailable for much of that time, and the web camera feeds unavailable until everything was completely repaired. We are committed to providing continual service to our patrons, but at times things simply happen.
December Photo Contest: The outage occurred just as the voting was to begin for the December Big Buck Contest. Therefore our voting period will be short this month. So take some time during the holidays and get your friends and family to vote for you.
December 4: Snow is sweaping across Texas as Old Man Winter settles in for the year.
December Photo Contest: Big Buck. This month we're looking for pictures of big bucks - those elusive bad boys that have evaded hunters this year. Upload your photo for a chance at fame and fortune. Well, a mention on the website and $25 in hunting gear.
November Photo Contest: Buck Combo. Seems everyone was out in the stands instead of in front of a computer for the November contest. Joe Kitchens, who was a monthy member, won a yearly membership by being the only person to enter the photo contest for November.
October 2009:
October 21: Just a few items today. Hope you're enjoying this year's bow season.
Camera Outtage: The cameras were all offline last weekend due to a disk failure in the server computer. Had to replace the hard drive, reload the OS and all the software, and set the services back up. Sorry for the inconvenience. We allowed a couple extra days for the photo contest to make up for it.
October Photo Contest: Voting has started for the Kill Shot! monthly photo contest. Please vote daily and spread the word. The more people you can attract to vote for you, the better your chances are of winning.
New Camera: We added a new members-only camera in Tom Green County called Recurve II. There are plenty of deer at this location so enjoy the action.
New Game Ranches: We are still talking to several game ranches about adding them to the site for next year. We couldn't get the arrangements made before it was time to prepare for this year's seasons. If you know of a game ranch you'd like to see on TDC, please contact them and give them our link. If you are a game ranch and would love to have camera feeds on your website, please contact us!
October 3: BIG CHANGES!
October Photo Contest: Kill Shot! We're doing something we hope will be a bit more fun. This month you need to not only find a big buck, but find one in the crosshairs. The crosshairs have been put in various placed in the frames so they aren't centered on the feeders. We hope you enjoy this idea.
New Pricing Structure: In order to deal with the present economic conditions and make TDC memberships more attractive, we are changing our price structure. In general prices are reduced by 50% and the monthly photo prizes are reduce to $25. Monthly members who win the photo contest will be upgraded to a yearly membership in lieu of the listed prize.
| Old Fee | New Fee | |
| Yearly Membership | 100 | 50 |
| Monthly Membership | 10 | 5 |
| Monthly Photo Prize | 100 | 25 |
September 2009:
September 20: Texas Deer Cams blew past the 500,000 page mark! In just a couple days we've already racked up 23,000 hits past that milestone. Remember, our counter only increases when you switch from page to page, not with camera frame refreshes. You could watch a camera for hours and not affect the page count. That means that half a million page load mark is a bigger number than you'd think.
September Photo Contest: What a Ham! Voting has started. Please visit daily to vote. And pass the word to your friends and associates.
Maintenance: Our regular viewer have noticed that the Crazy Lady camera went offline for a few days. One of the leads from the solar panels had worked itself loose and caused a power outtage. That's all fixed now. He have our repaired camera returned to us and will be swapped for the camera at the Back Windmill once archery season begins. Then that camera will be shipped off for repairs to correct it's blurred image.
September 1: Several news items.
Powel Windmill: We finally got the Powel Windmill camera back online. Sprint sent us a card that was incompatible with our router and refused to work. Once we identified the problem it was a simple matter of replacing the cellular air card with a different model and we were back online.
September Photo Contest: What a Ham! This month we're looking for photos of hogs doing their best to ham it up. We'll leave it up to you to decide exactly what that means. Submit your photos and we'll see what the voters thing.
August Photo Contest: We had more voting during the August Photo contest than any month before. In fact almost more than all votes from every month before. Great job spreading the word! Michael Kopecky won with 129 votes - just over 6 votes per day. So the lesson learned is - tell your friends to vote!
2009 Hunt Give-a-ways: This year we are giving away the following three hunts to these lucky winners!
August 2009:
August 14: Members get an improved Save Image feature. Now when you click the Save Image button a new browser window will open and contain 6 images. The top image is the current image being displayed in the camera window. Below that are the 5 previous images, all at 5 second intervals. Please remember that we don't always get new images every 5 seconds, so there may be some duplicates. It depends on the cellular reception at the time. Also, if you get a blank where an image belonged this is due ot the images being updated at the same time as you requested them. This should make saving that perfect contest photo much easier.
Maintenance: The new Sprint air card has been shipped and should be installed in a few days at the Powel Windmill, bringing that camera back online. The Camp House camera has been shipped off to Toshiba for repairs. Once it is returned we'll put it up at the Back Windmill and send that camera off for maintenance. The blurriness in those images is due to moisture that got into the lens. Toshiba says they've identified the problem and will correct it.
August 13: The Powel camera is temporarily down due to a technical issue with Sprint. If you'll remember we had an electrical storm that fried some equipment, including an air card. We've received the new card from Sprint, but when they activated it they selected the wrong card. And they tell use they can't reactive it unless it's connected to an online computer. So now the Powel camera will be down until the replacement card (which was activated) can be shipped to the ranch and it can be installed. Probably about 4 days from now.
We're also getting the other camera repaired will have it back online once it's been returned to us. Plus, there's another camera that should be coming online in the near future. We'll be at 8 cameras total then.
Slowly but surely, we're growing. Keep spreading the word!
Live Members Index Page: We've revised the Member Camera Index page to have thumbnail sized live images. Each camera view refreshes at the same rate as the individual camera pages. Now you can watch all the cameras live, see something interested, and jump to that camera view.
Monthly Photo Contest: We have not yet filled up our 10 entry slots. The photo submission period ends at Midnight, Friday the 14th. Members have until then to submit photos into the contest. Good luck!
Membership Referral Program: Texas Deer Cams is very happy to announce our newest promotion, our Website Membership Referral Program. Every paid TDC website member who refers a new member will recieve an additional entry into the Yearly Hunt Give-A-Way drawings. Referred member must join the TDC website as either a Monthly or Yearly member, and must informing us of the TDC member who should be credited with referring them.
TTHA Hunt Extravaganza: Texas Deer Cams had a very busy weekend July 31-Aug 2 at the TTHA Hunt Extravaganza in Houston, TX. We passed out approx 1500 flyers, talked to hundreds of people about the website, and spoke to numerous game ranches about our advertising opportunities. Several ranches are very interested in participating in our camera program. So hopefully we'll be giving away even more hunts for the 2010 season.
2009 Hunt Give-a-way: The drawing for the 2009 Hunt Give-a-way will be held on Sept 1, 2009. This year we are giving away three hunts!
You MUST be a yearly member by that date in order to be included in the drawing. Remember all yearly members earn an additional entry into the drawing for each month they participate in the monthly photo contest. For complete contest rules, click here.
July 2009:
July 23: The voting portion of the July Photo Contest has started. Please enjoy the photos and vote. We have changed the voting back to one vote per day (24 hours).We replaced the Camphouse Camera with the Recurve Cam located in West Texas. There is plenty of deer and hogs at this camera almost around the clock offering lots of great viewing. We are very pleased to be able to offer this to our viewers. Once the fried equipment is repaired or replaced will will bring the Camphouse Camera back online.
Texas Deer Cams will be exhibiting at the Texas Trophy Hunters Extravaganza in Houston July 31-August 2. We would enjoy the opportunity to meet some of our members in person and have a chat. And all you lurkers, this is the perfect time to join!
July 11: The July phonto contest is starting today ( a bit late ). Catch a buck fraternizing with any animal other than a deer and snap a pic. Submit your pic and get your friends, and everyone else you know, to vote.
We finally have the Powel Camera back online. A recent thunderstorm fried various pieces of eqiupment at both the Camp House and Powel Windmill. We were able to relocate working equipment to get one system back operational. We have another camera at a different location what we've wanted online. Hopefully we can make that happen very soon.
June 2009:
June 4: The monthly photo contests was won my David Haley. David, please contact us to claim your prize.
May 2009:
May 24: Voting can now start for the May Photo Contests. Only three members submitted entries. So remember, you can only win if you participate.
Happy Memorial Day! Please, remember to honor our troops.
This month's poll is asking "How had the economic downturn affedted you?" Please vote.
May 5: The April Photo Contest ended with Ryan Edwards being the clear winner by a large margin. Congratulations Ryan! Now, you have 10 days to contact us via the link in the Contest section of the website to confirm your win and claim your prize. Don't hesitate.
The May Photo Contest has started. This month we are looking for the best picture of a buck with new growth. Good luck, and may the best photo win.
This month's poll is asking what other sports do you enjoy (watching or participating in). Please vote.
April 2009:
April 18: The monthly photo contests submittal phase is over. Please take a look at the 4 entries and vote for your favorite.
The website surpasses a quarter million page views this month. Actually blew right past it and is already 10 thousand pages higher.
Texas Deer Cams is very pleased our newest sponsor, Republic Whitetails. The Buck Hill camera is located on their property in East Texas, in the big metropolis of Dodge TX, just east of Huntsville. They offer trophy white tail deer hunting along with first class food and accomodations. In exchange for this camera placement, Texas Deer Cams will be giving away a management buck hunt in our first annual Hunt Giveaway!!! That's right, your membership is a raffle ticket for the chance to win a hunting trip of a lifetime!
More information to follow soon. Please stay tuned.
This month's poll is asking about the Texas Trophy Hunter's Hunt Extravaganza shows this summer. Please vote.
April 3:
April should prove to be a very eventful month for Texas Deer Cams. We will be announcing two of our hunt givaways in the next couple weeks! Plus we will soon be offering monthly memberships. Look for updated information next week if I survive this weekend's Cub Scout campout.
This month's photo contest is all about Turkey Season. Please see the contest page for more information.
February 2009:
February 11: We got off to a slow start this month.
The February Monthly Photo Contest has started. This month we're paying homage to Groundhog's day and are looking for photos of small critters. Snap a photo with one of our webcams and submit it for your chance to win.
We are also having an issue with the cellular carrier for the Buck Hill camera. Unfortunately it is out of our hands at the moment. We hope to have the situation remedied as soon as possible so that we can bring this camera back online.
This week's opinion poll: What other shooting sports do you enjoy?
January 2009:
January 23: Have you noticed all the partial images and slow refresh rates? Never ones to rest on our laurels, we've spent the last month making behind the scene changes to how images reach our viewers. You'll now notice that cameras refresh at normal intervals (10 seconds for all cameras except Buck Hill which is 5 seconds). There are no more partial images. Plus our new system allows for overlaid date/time stamps, text captions, and a logo. And when you click the Save Image button it will send the latest frame to you in a jpg format allowing you to save as many images as you'd like. If you like the new system, please drop us a note.
The January Monthly Photo Contest submittal time ended with only one submission. That member (the winner by default) didn't need a gun sled so has chosen to forgoe his win in order to keep playing. He's hoping to win once the prize is a bow. Members, remember, you can't win unless you enter. There's plenty of room for competition. And as Jas (our December winner will attest) the contests are for real.
This week's opinion poll: What do you think of the new image software?
January 13: We've moved the Valley Stand from Motley County to it's new home on Buck Hill on the Republic Whitetails game ranch in Dodge, TX. Expect to see some VERY nice deer here. And look for their website in the very near future. Don't worry, we will announce when it's up and will provide direct links to it.
The January Monthly Photo Contest is still in the submission phase (until January 17th, 14 days after announcing the theme) so submit your photos and get entered. You could become the proud owner of a Caldwell Lead Sled Gun Rest valued at $100.
This week's opinion poll: Which is your favorite TDC webcam?
January 3: Our FIRST Monthly Photo Contest has completed and was won by member Jas Bowling. Jas, you have 10 days (until Jan 13, 2009) to contact us via the "Claim your prize: ling on the Contests Page. Congratulations Jas, we hope you enjoy your new Garming eTrex Legend GPS.
The January Photo Contests Submissions starts NOW!
We are very close to announcing the next addition to Texas Deer Cams. Please stay tuned for the new camera placement as we relocate the Valley Stand camera to it's new home on the opposite side of Texas.
We've been working on our server side software to improve our frame rates. It's very difficult to provide full 640x480 color images with the bandwidth available at our current location. That's why you'll see partial frames as we're working on ways to provide every frame possible. We strive to provide the best wildlife viewing possible, which would be must less complicated if the deer would simply relocate to areas where DSL and better internet were readily available. :-)
This week's opinion poll: What do you plan to do to improve your 2009 hunt?