Big Bucks On Camera?

[Mike Belt]

I love fooling with cameras and getting big bucks on them but I don't ever remember seeing a big buck in an area I was hunting "AFTER" getting one on camera. I realize that repeated trips into an area checking the camera could spook a deer away from that particular site or he could just be passing through that once but I've seen too many pics where the buck was looking at the camera before fleeing even with black flash. I like the pics but it seems that camera sites with good bucks on film are not the places to hunt. What say ye?

 

[Shed Hunter]

I got a mature buck on camera then he came back through in front of my stand about a week later in daylight. One of the few days I wasn't there of course.. I do agree that trail cameras hinder your chance of killing a big buck though. I'm gonna start putting my cameras away from where I hunt during season. IMO pre and post season cameras do not hinder your chance of killing a buck.

 

[redblood]

i have never killed a mature buck (wouldn't shoot an immature one) that i got on camera until Friday. These deer became afraid of the IR camera, you could tell in his posturing as he got near them. I will not put cameras near where i hunt again, during the season

 

[BSK]

First, let me say that I've learned how to take extreme precautions when checking cameras, and these precautions limit where I can place cameras. That said, when I follow these precautions, I have no problem getting mature bucks to come back to the same locations (often within just yards of a stand), over and over and over again.

 

[300wby]

First, let me say that I've learned how to take extreme precautions when checking cameras, and these precautions limit where I can place cameras. That said, when I follow these precautions, I have no problem getting mature bucks to come back to the same locations (often within just yards of a stand), over and over and over again.

Could you share a couple of these precautions? I just recently started running cameras and this will be my first full off season running them. Any tips are appreciated.

 

[BSK]

300wby,

I've been using trailcameras since before they were commercially available (my ex-boss helped invent the first commercially available trail-camera), and I've been running photo-censuses since the technique was developed in 1998. What I've learned over the years to reduce camera avoidance by deer is:

1) Only use black-flash cameras

2) Only place trail-cameras where you can ride/drive right up to them with a vehicle/ATV/UTV (do not walking to cameras).

3) If you have to drive through brush, tall grass, or anywhere where low-hanging limbs will touch you, wear a cheap plastic rain-suit while checking cameras, to keep scent from your skin and clothes from rubbing against and sticking to anything within reach of a deer's nose. You simply wouldn't believe how long after you pass by that a deer can smell where your clothes brushed against something. I would also recommend occasionally hosing the outside of the rain-suit down with scent-reducing products.

 

[puppy]

BSK,
I assume your place is a lot like Cathole with a logging road, trail, etc down almost every ridgetop so it is pretty easy to check your cameras from the ATV but what if you don't have that well developed trail system. If you have to walk is the rain suit and scent reducing products the only protection or techinque you know of to help with deer avoidance to the area?

 

[Boll Weevil]

Triangulation.

In the last few years I've killed 2 mature bucks that I got on camera. Without the cameras I'd have never known they were there and as a matter of fact the only time I ever saw either on the hoof was through the crosshairs. Saw them exactly one time...boom.

My cameras are roughly set on a grid, I check them no more than once a month, and drive right to them on the ATV or tractor. Both bucks were homebodies until mid November when they started to stretch their legs a little and wander outside their core areas (which did not overlap). In that time I got exactly what I was hopiing for...multiple pics on multiple cameras. One buck showed up on 3 different cameras; the other showed up on 4.

The times and directions of travel really helped nail down what they were doing inside what turned out to be a very, very small triangle. Up until that time I didn't hunt either area, moved 1 stand (midday in a driving rain), and only sat them when the wind allowed.

 

[BSK]

BSK,
I assume your place is a lot like Cathole with a logging road, trail, etc down almost every ridgetop so it is pretty easy to check your cameras from the ATV but what if you don't have that well developed trail system. If you have to walk is the rain suit and scent reducing products the only protection or techinque you know of to help with deer avoidance to the area?

Yes, my place is very similar to Cathole, except I probably have more logging roads, as I have had patches of timber cut all over my place (about 15 small patches currently in the early stages of regrowth).

If I can't get an ATV to the location on a road, I will wear the rain-suit and drive cross-country, but I'm trying to avoid doing that as much as possible. Over time, I've found enough locations I CAN drive to that I have less need for remote camera locations.

 

[BSK]

Triangulation.

In the last few years I've killed 2 mature bucks that I got on camera. Without the cameras I'd have never known they were there and as a matter of fact the only time I ever saw either on the hoof was through the crosshairs. Saw them exactly one time...boom.

My cameras are roughly set on a grid, I check them no more than once a month, and drive right to them on the ATV or tractor. Both bucks were homebodies until mid November when they started to stretch their legs a little and wander outside their core areas (which did not overlap). In that time I got exactly what I was hopiing for...multiple pics on multiple cameras. One buck showed up on 3 different cameras; the other showed up on 4.

The times and directions of travel really helped nail down what they were doing inside what turned out to be and very, very small triangle. Up until that time I didn't hunt either area, moved 1 stand (midday in a driving rain), and only sat them when the wind allowed.

VERY cool information!

 

[Solo Hunter]

I killed a 165" deer last year that I had on camera close to 30 times in the same area close by. I've killed other mature bucks also that I had close by on camera. Maybe some of my success is what BSK spoke of. A lot of my cameras I ride my electric cart right up to and never get off to check them. The others I'm as scent free as I can be as if I'm hunting. With all the ones I've killed I've had flash, IR, and black flash cameras out. Even with the IR I know they spooked some but I was fortunate they stayed in the immediate are.

 

[BSK]

Even with the IR I know they spooked some but I was fortunate they stayed in the immediate are.

And that's an important point. When deer are spooked by a camera or simply avoid a camera, they don't leave the area. They just learn how to walk around the camera so it won't flash. I've watched deer that have learned where a white-flash camera is and its exact trigger area. They walk up to the trigger area, turn, walk around behind the camera, and then return to their normal travel route once they are past the camera's trigger area.

 

[Mike Belt]

Two of what looked to be the best bucks I had on camera in one location last year could see my camera on the tree. They would skirt the main trail they'd come in on and cross in front of the camera just at the edge of the effectiveness of the camera and I'd get weak pics of them at a distance. I got several pics of them doing this.

 

[TheLBLman]

I think it is commonly more the case of human intrusion altering the deer routes (cam avoidance) as much or more as the cams. Many users check their cams too often, and at the very least, the location of the cam is "disturbed" more than places without a cam.

As much as possible, I try to use weather and timing to my advantage in disturbing the spot as little as possible. There are many ideal locations where it's not practical to just drive up to them, and it may or may not be practical for me to don a cheap rain suit in the process.

I believe the best time of day (for most locations) is as close as possible to 1PM. This tends to be the time of least deer movement, and near the time of greatest air circulation most days. The wind can help dissipate your human scent, leaving less around the spot for when deer are near it. Time itself is also valuable, as a deer coming along 4 hours later is less likely to "smell something" than one coming along 1 hour later.

Most ideally, I like to "run the cam line" around mid-day right before a good rain is moving in.

 

[BSK]

Most ideally, I like to "run the cam line" around mid-day right before a good rain is moving in.

I agree with this completely.

Since I work in this industry, I have the luxury of a great deal of freedom in scheduling my "cam running time." Hence I try to schedule "running the cams" for the same period as Wes, near mid-day, and if possible, just before a rain. I will change which day I'm going to run cams if I see a forecast of rain.

 

[Solo Hunter]

Most ideally, I like to "run the cam line" around mid-day right before a good rain is moving in.

No doubt!

 

[Thirty-06]

I have a ir cam and the deer definatly know it's there been there for three years over a salt lick and feeder. I had five or six 8 pointers on there during velvet but once hunting season began they all go there separate ways and stop by from time to time . Seen one during daylight but once hunting season began everything was at night which pretty much happens every year for me and not being I. The right place at right time! I'm anxious to go check my cameras the next two months to see what's on there I always get new and nice bucks after season.

 

[landman]

BSK,
I assume your place is a lot like Cathole with a logging road, trail, etc down almost every ridgetop so it is pretty easy to check your cameras from the ATV but what if you don't have that well developed trail system. If you have to walk is the rain suit and scent reducing products the only protection or techinque you know of to help with deer avoidance to the area?

Yes, my place is very similar to Cathole, except I probably have more logging roads, as I have had patches of timber cut all over my place (about 15 small patches currently in the early stages of regrowth).

I agree , try to check with my truck and then it's
Pop card out/ new one in, never cut the truck motor
off, helps cover the sound. I also find that spots more
to inventory the herd of bucks, but not may be the
spot that I'm going to hunt these deer at seem to
keep them less wary. I find I'm spending less time
in the deep woods but killed more mature bucks


If I can't get an ATV to the location on a road, I will wear the rain-suit and drive cross-country, but I'm trying to avoid doing that as much as possible. Over time, I've found enough locations I CAN drive to that I have less need for remote camera locations.