hunting by camera, food for thought

[Headhunter]

Amazes me how many will put cameras out, especially "cell phone cameras" and if they don't see a nice buck or a particular buck they will not hunt. 2 different people I talked to yesterday said they had not been hunting because they haven't been getting pics of any bucks. First deer can and will avoid cameras and a buck, especially a mature buck will avoid a camera like the plague. Both of them laughed at me and told me there was no way a deer will a camera, especially a camera that sends pics to a phone or computer. All I could say was OK. Proven that deer will avoid them, even SILENT cameras, and mature bucks are really good at it.

So glad I have never used a camera for hunting and don't plan to.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

I am an avid camera user, but I certainly agree. Cameras can most definitely be seen and avoided by deer. Folks often ruin spots due to their humanly presence so often in these locations. Cameras do not help me determine where to hunt (most of the time), but more importantly, they help me get an inventory of what the property is holding. I have 20 cameras out right now, mostly over mock scrapes.....and I don't hunt over scrapes (unless there just happens to be one in close proximity of where I am hunting). They are a valuable tool if used properly.

 

[TheLBLman]

I am an avid camera user, but I certainly agree.
Cameras can most definitely be seen and avoided by deer.
Folks often ruin spots due to their humanly presence so often in these locations.

Same here, totally agree.

IMO, the single biggest mistake most cam user make is hunting, and hunting too much, close to where their cams have been getting pics of a "target" buck.

The main purpose I have for trail cams is to "inventory" what bucks are using the "general" area.

But considering the average buck will be utilizing several hundred acres in the early fall, then several thousand acres during the rut, specific bucks are often completely missed by trail cams, even when they are regularly within 100 yds of a cam site.

Then never mind that many the bucks we kill may only be within a particular quarter-square mile (160 acres) only once to over a few days annually during the rut.

Trail cams can give you reasons to pass up some some very nice young bucks when they prove to you that some much better older bucks are also in the same "general" areas. They can also be of great benefit in helping you identify which bucks you would prefer to give a pass, and which ones you want to "target". But "targeting" does not mean hunting near where you obtained a pic, but rather where in a much larger area might you be most likely to kill that buck.

Also, one of the best places to get deer pics is in fields at night.
But these same fields can be low odds for killing a mature buck, especially on morning hunts.
Not that it doesn't happen, but a better strategy is often to be set up on a ridgeline saddle @ a half mile or more from that field, trying to catch a specific buck traveling to or from that field.

Well, then, how about cams monitoring those saddles? Can be a good idea, but I've found bucks will often vary where they regularly cross a ridge by 50 to 150 yards, meaning you miss seeing them most of the time they cross. Same for scrapes, as many bucks will often "scent check" the scrape from 50 yds or so, never even getting close to it, and the direction from which they're checking changes with the wind.

 

[DeerCamp]

Amazes me how many will put cameras out, especially "cell phone cameras" and if they don't see a nice buck or a particular buck they will not hunt. 2 different people I talked to yesterday said they had not been hunting because they haven't been getting pics of any bucks. First deer can and will avoid cameras and a buck, especially a mature buck will avoid a camera like the plague. Both of them laughed at me and told me there was no way a deer will a camera, especially a camera that sends pics to a phone or computer. All I could say was OK. Proven that deer will avoid them, even SILENT cameras, and mature bucks are really good at it.

So glad I have never used a camera for hunting and don't plan to.

After watching enough whitetail habitat solutions videos on YouTube, I started hanging my cameras about 8 ft off the ground.

I can't say for sure that deer don't see it anymore but they definitely don't seem to be staring straight at it as much

 

[PickettSFHunter]

I agree that they are pretty sly about cameras sometimes but a lot of times even mature bucks will stand in front of cameras frequently. There's no doubt that cell cams are costing a lot of big bucks their lives. It's not legal in TN but I know alot of people are just waiting for a pic over a corn pile and then walking out to shoot.

 

[rem270]

Amazes me how many will put cameras out, especially "cell phone cameras" and if they don't see a nice buck or a particular buck they will not hunt. 2 different people I talked to yesterday said they had not been hunting because they haven't been getting pics of any bucks. First deer can and will avoid cameras and a buck, especially a mature buck will avoid a camera like the plague. Both of them laughed at me and told me there was no way a deer will a camera, especially a camera that sends pics to a phone or computer. All I could say was OK. Proven that deer will avoid them, even SILENT cameras, and mature bucks are really good at it.

So glad I have never used a camera for hunting and don't plan to.

Will mature deer avoid a camera with corn in front of it or do you think the corn helps them avoid cameras as well?

 

[DoubleRidge]

I've seen mature deer standing in the background while other deer trigger the camera...and the mature deer turn and walk away never entering the cameras "zone"....I've seen this multiple times and this has me considering hanging them higher as mentioned....then other mature bucks I've had stand there on a mineral site and literally have hundreds of pics taken from every angle....but....I've never used a camera to determine if I was going to hunt or not hunt...never once.....I have however been influenced to sit all day and too hunt harder knowing at least a mature buck had used an area or was in the general area.....and camera images have made it much easier to identify bucks and to make a decision quickly to shoot or don't shoot....zero doubt bucks on our place have lived another year due to the history we've developed using trail cameras.....and I genuinely enjoy the anticipation of checking cameras...it's fun.

 

[RUGER]

Back when I had somewhere to hunt and used cameras it added alot of enjoyment for me.
We would pull cards and my son and I would go through every picture together.
Each time I clicked to the next picture it was like Christmas, never knowing what we would see.
I had them in the general area we were hunting but not right on top of where it was.

I do believe some deer will spook by a camera.
May sound stupid but I honestly believe they can smell the batteries or maybe moreso the electronics or something, just a guess though.
I know some things that are battery powered I can definitely smell them when they are working.
I think that is what attracts bear to cameras too.

If I ever have a place again I will definitely use them.

 

[Headhunter]

Will mature deer avoid a camera with corn in front of it or do you think the corn helps them avoid cameras as well?

Couldn't tell you, never used a camera or corn. Don't know about either one. For cameras I just know what I have been told by people who make a living selling hunts, both fenced and unfenced, deer will avoid cameras, especially mature bucks.

 

[cbhunter]

Some of ya'll, i would love to hunt with. Some of ya'll i would not. Thats all i've got

Hope everyone has a great season regardless!

 

[rem270]

Couldn't tell you, never used a camera or corn. Don't know about either one. For cameras I just know what I have been told by people who make a living selling hunts, both fenced and unfenced, deer will avoid cameras, especially mature bucks.

Might want to question the ones who tell you the info you put out then. I've had lots of mature bucks over the years on camera in front of corn and just over scrapes. Never shot one over corn and usually don't use it but the Aug-Sept months to get pics but later in the season will get some over scrapes. Now the one I killed last year I had pics of him in velvet but nothing hard horned and killed him 80 yards from a camera I had out. Deer don't just look up and say "there's a camera we have to avoid it". I do agree they can hear it go off or just not like the way it looks on a tree and maybe avoid it but it doesn't happen all the time like your people with the info say. Heck I wouldn't take much info from a guy who lets an undersized cow out of a cattle trailer and some big time city boy shoots it and thinks he's done something.

 

[BSK]

I don't use cameras to find where to hunt. I use cameras to inventory deer populations. I pioneered the "unbaited seasonal-long census technique." Getting an inventory of the unique bucks using a property is far more complicated than most hunters/trail-camera users assume. The most important aspects of a successful census are camera type, camera placement, and how those cameras are checked. Cameras with a visible flash, even the so-called infrared cameras that produce a visible red glow, will be avoided by deer once they've seen the flash. A camera that makes noise will be avoided over time. Placing cameras in the wrong locations will miss deer. Checking cameras on foot, leaving human scent around the camera, can DRAMATICALLY reduce deer activity around the camera.

But totally silent true black-flash cameras, placed in the right locations and only checked from some type of vehicle, can do an amazing job of inventorying the constantly changing buck population on a property over the course of a season. Is it still possible to "miss" a harvestable buck? Absolutely. As recent research has shown, just about all bucks 2 years old and older go on "walk-about" excursions during the rut, often traveling several miles over 48 hours well outside their normal rut range. If one of those bucks walks across a monitored property just once during the rut, never to return, he could easily be missed by cameras. Yet if a hunter is in the right place at the right time, he or she could kill that buck as he makes his one transit of the property. That would be a harvested buck that was not inventoried by camera.

One way to get a good estimate of the percentage of bucks using a property that are being captured on camera is to use a modified version of the "mark-recapture" statistical technique. Mark-recapture statistics are used to estimate what percentage of a deer population is being captured in any type of capture process (drop nets, baited pens, etc.). In this process, a group of deer are captured and marked. Later, the capture process is repeated. The percentage of the 2nd capture that are marked (were captured the first time), gives an excellent indication of what percent of the total deer population was captured in the first capture process. Modified versions of this statistical model are used to assess what percentage of the buck population has been censused in helicopter surveys. For the photo census process, the percentage of bucks killed by hunters that had been previously photographed gives a very good indication of the percentage of the buck population being captured by camera. For example, if 80% of killed bucks had been previously photographed, that's a strong indicator that the camera census is capturing 80% of the deer on the property.

If a user is good with placing cameras, they should have 90% of bucks captured on camera. Currently, with over 21 years of census work under my belt, on projects where I place and run the cameras, my over-all capture rate is 96%.

 

[Kyboy]

Cameras are just like everything else, they are a tool used for hunting. I run 10-15 cameras over roughly 1000 acres just to see what is there when I am not. I recently got a bear on trail camera (rare in my parts) and if I didn't have the camera I would have never known. I use my cell cameras over scrapes and trails to let me know that deer are moving. I have ran cameras for 15 years and up until three years ago I never had a deer I had killed on camera, I get almost as much joy getting a "mature" deer on camera as I do killing it. When the calendar hits October 25th-Novemeber 25th I don't care what you have on camera your butt better be in a tree if you're serious about killing a deer.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

I don't use cameras to find where to hunt. I use cameras to inventory deer populations. I pioneered the "unbaited seasonal-long census technique." Getting an inventory of the unique bucks using a property is far more complicated than most hunters/trail-camera users assume. The most important aspects of a successful census are camera type, camera placement, and how those cameras are checked. Cameras with a visible flash, even the so-called infrared cameras that produce a visible red glow, will be avoided by deer once they've seen the flash. A camera that makes noise will be avoided over time. Placing cameras in the wrong locations will miss deer. Checking cameras on foot, leaving human scent around the camera, can DRAMATICALLY reduce deer activity around the camera.

But totally silent true black-flash cameras, placed in the right locations and only checked from some type of vehicle, can do an amazing job of inventorying the constantly changing buck population on a property over the course of a season. Is it still possible to "miss" a harvestable buck? Absolutely. As recent research has shown, just about all bucks 2 years old and older go on "walk-about" excursions during the rut, often traveling several miles over 48 hours well outside their normal rut range. If one of those bucks walks across a monitored property just once during the rut, never to return, he could easily be missed by cameras. Yet if a hunter is in the right place at the right time, he or she could kill that buck as he makes his one transit of the property. That would be a harvested buck that was not inventoried by camera.

One way to get a good estimate of the percentage of bucks using a property that are being captured on camera is to use a modified version of the "mark-recapture" statistical technique. Mark-recapture statistics are used to estimate what percentage of a deer population is being captured in any type of capture process (drop nets, baited pens, etc.). In this process, a group of deer are captured and marked. Later, the capture process is repeated. The percentage of the 2nd capture that are marked (were captured the first time), gives an excellent indication of what percent of the total deer population was captured in the first capture process. Modified versions of this statistical model are used to assess what percentage of the buck population has been censused in helicopter surveys. For the photo census process, the percentage of bucks killed by hunters that had been previously photographed gives a very good indication of the percentage of the buck population being captured by camera. For example, if 80% of killed bucks had been previously photographed, that's a strong indicator that the camera census is capturing 80% of the deer on the property.

If a user is good with placing cameras, they should have 90% of bucks captured on camera. Currently, with over 21 years of census work under my belt, on projects where I place and run the cameras, my over-all capture rate is 96%.

Awesome stuff!

 

[Kyboy]

I don't use cameras to find where to hunt. I use cameras to inventory deer populations. I pioneered the "unbaited seasonal-long census technique." Getting an inventory of the unique bucks using a property is far more complicated than most hunters/trail-camera users assume. The most important aspects of a successful census are camera type, camera placement, and how those cameras are checked. Cameras with a visible flash, even the so-called infrared cameras that produce a visible red glow, will be avoided by deer once they've seen the flash. A camera that makes noise will be avoided over time. Placing cameras in the wrong locations will miss deer. Checking cameras on foot, leaving human scent around the camera, can DRAMATICALLY reduce deer activity around the camera.

But totally silent true black-flash cameras, placed in the right locations and only checked from some type of vehicle, can do an amazing job of inventorying the constantly changing buck population on a property over the course of a season. Is it still possible to "miss" a harvestable buck? Absolutely. As recent research has shown, just about all bucks 2 years old and older go on "walk-about" excursions during the rut, often traveling several miles over 48 hours well outside their normal rut range. If one of those bucks walks across a monitored property just once during the rut, never to return, he could easily be missed by cameras. Yet if a hunter is in the right place at the right time, he or she could kill that buck as he makes his one transit of the property. That would be a harvested buck that was not inventoried by camera.

One way to get a good estimate of the percentage of bucks using a property that are being captured on camera is to use a modified version of the "mark-recapture" statistical technique. Mark-recapture statistics are used to estimate what percentage of a deer population is being captured in any type of capture process (drop nets, baited pens, etc.). In this process, a group of deer are captured and marked. Later, the capture process is repeated. The percentage of the 2nd capture that are marked (were captured the first time), gives an excellent indication of what percent of the total deer population was captured in the first capture process. Modified versions of this statistical model are used to assess what percentage of the buck population has been censused in helicopter surveys. For the photo census process, the percentage of bucks killed by hunters that had been previously photographed gives a very good indication of the percentage of the buck population being captured by camera. For example, if 80% of killed bucks had been previously photographed, that's a strong indicator that the camera census is capturing 80% of the deer on the property.

If a user is good with placing cameras, they should have 90% of bucks captured on camera. Currently, with over 21 years of census work under my belt, on projects where I place and run the cameras, my over-all capture rate is 96%.

That is very interesting, I am assuming you leave the cameras out for a year or so, or do you go in and check the cameras every month? Do you place them at standard height or above a deers viewing plane?

 

[Headhunter]

Might want to question the ones who tell you the info you put out then. I've had lots of mature bucks over the years on camera in front of corn and just over scrapes. Never shot one over corn and usually don't use it but the Aug-Sept months to get pics but later in the season will get some over scrapes. Now the one I killed last year I had pics of him in velvet but nothing hard horned and killed him 80 yards from a camera I had out. Deer don't just look up and say "there's a camera we have to avoid it". I do agree they can hear it go off or just not like the way it looks on a tree and maybe avoid it but it doesn't happen all the time like your people with the info say. Heck I wouldn't take much info from a guy who lets an undersized cow out of a cattle trailer and some big time city boy shoots it and thinks he's done something.

First I don't know of anyone who shoots undersized cows let out of a cattle trailer. Referring to fenced areas for deer killing, I don't agree with it, well I have helped kill a pile of does in high fences, never a buck, not one. But I am not a fan of fenced areas, but to say any info from a high fenced area is useless is wrong. Amazing that even deer in a high fenced area will avoid a camera to me though.

And seems like you missed the point of my post. I was talking about people who put cameras out, no matter the type of camera, and do NOT hunt unless they have pictures of a nice buck or a buck they want to kill.

Never said deer just look up and see a camera. They sense something is not right, especially a mature buck, and avoid the area.

The people with the info, the best info to me, are hunting areas just like an average hunter has access to, regular farm land, ZERO high fences, and they kill more and bigger racked and mature bucks than anyone I know. They flat out kill them, most with a bow, and I did not believe them when they told me deer avoid cameras, especially mature bucks, but I have seen their proof of it, it is amazing to think a deer figures out something is not right.

And if your camera is taking pics at 80 yards, I don't know anything about trail cameras, to me that sounds impressive, I would want a couple. NOT for hunting or deer watching but to catch trespassers if needed. I lost my best place to hunt this year, would have loved to have trail cameras there taking pics at 80 yards, FOR trespassers. And I am sure at 80 yards, a trail camera will never bother any deer, even the smartest, oldest buck.

 

[BSK]

That is very interesting, I am assuming you leave the cameras out for a year or so, or do you go in and check the cameras every month? Do you place them at standard height or above a deers viewing plane?

I run my unbaited season-long censuses usually from the 1st of September through the end of deer season. Sometimes I will start them earlier (1st of August) just to see what percentage of the summer buck population sticks around for the hunting season. But what I want to census is the "huntable" buck population: the bucks that are using a property during hunting season.

I check cameras weekly, from the back of an ATV. If I cannot easily get an ATV right to the camera, I don't put a camera there, no matter how good the set-up. The fastest way to kill a camera set-up is to walk to the camera.

I don't use cell-cameras at all. Too expensive and the quality of the image too poor. I need VERY high-resolution images, and as many as possible. In fact, as of last year I switched to only black-flash high-resolution video cameras. It's actually much easier to identify a buck on video than in still images, many of which can be motion blurred, especially at night.

 

[TheLBLman]

The fastest way to kill a camera set-up is to walk to the camera.

Generally true.
Same goes for repeat hunting the same spot.

As to your checking cams from an atv,
are you saying you don't get off the atv?

When I check a cam, I try to do it as infrequently as reasonably possible,
and at the most optimal times as possible.

For example, mid-day, right before a heavy rain.

During the season, many are checked two hours before dawn and/or a hour after dark,
typically while I'm traveling to or from a hunting area.

Cell cams have given me the ability to check cams less frequently,
so for many applications and in many locations, they are preferred to me.

Also, my using many cams in "field scan" mode allows me to check those (non-cell) cams frequently WITHOUT or only very minimally disturbing those areas. For example, I might have a cam set to "field scan" watching a 20-acre field, but can see everything coming & going around that field without ever having to step foot in it, or walk around it.

 

[rem270]

And if your camera is taking pics at 80 yards, I don't know anything about trail cameras, to me that sounds impressive, I would want a couple. NOT for hunting or deer watching but to catch trespassers if needed. I lost my best place to hunt this year, would have loved to have trail cameras there taking pics at 80 yards, FOR trespassers. And I am sure at 80 yards, a trail camera will never bother any deer, even the smartest, oldest buck.

No I was saying the buck I killed was 80 yards from a camera I had up over a scrape but had not had a pic of him as of recently. It didn't take 80 yard pics.

 

[BSK]

Generally true.
Same goes for repeat hunting the same spot.

Couldn't agree more. My years long project of tracking the hunts from a stand and deer seen for each subsequent hunt show that clearly (at least for stands set for close-range deer encounters).

As to your checking cams from an atv,
are you saying you don't get off the atv?

Correct. I try to set cams up so I can drive right to touching distance so I don't have to get off the ATV. I have no idea why deer don't react negatively to the smell of the ATV having been there, but they don't. At least not like they react when human scent is all around the camera. Using this ATV technique, I have no problem getting the same mature bucks to come back through the camera over and over throughout an entire deer season.

When I check a cam, I try to do it as infrequently as reasonably possible,
and at the most optimal times as possible.

For example, mid-day, right before a heavy rain.

I check mine so frequently because I need to see if the camera location is good or not. I can't afford to waste a camera sitting in bad spot for weeks. But I also check cams mid-day, and if I can plan it for just before a rain, even better.

Also, my using many cams in "field scan" mode allows me to check those (non-cell) cams frequently WITHOUT or only very minimally disturbing those areas. For example, I might have a cam set to "field scan" watching a 20-acre field, but can see everything coming & going around that field without ever having to step foot in it, or walk around it.

I think the time-lapse use over large fields can be a huge benefit for finding out how deer are coming in and out of the field. But for me, I need very close up pictures/video of bucks so I can identify them by sometimes very subtle difference in rack configuration, so for census work, long-range pictures of deer are useless. However, time-lapse can tell you where to move cameras to catch close-up images of deer coming in and out of field.

 

[cbhunter]

First I don't know of anyone who shoots undersized cows let out of a cattle trailer. Referring to fenced areas for deer killing, I don't agree with it, well I have helped kill a pile of does in high fences, never a buck, not one. But I am not a fan of fenced areas, but to say any info from a high fenced area is useless is wrong. Amazing that even deer in a high fenced area will avoid a camera to me though.

And seems like you missed the point of my post. I was talking about people who put cameras out, no matter the type of camera, and do NOT hunt unless they have pictures of a nice buck or a buck they want to kill.

Never said deer just look up and see a camera. They sense something is not right, especially a mature buck, and avoid the area.

The people with the info, the best info to me, are hunting areas just like an average hunter has access to, regular farm land, ZERO high fences, and they kill more and bigger racked and mature bucks than anyone I know. They flat out kill them, most with a bow, and I did not believe them when they told me deer avoid cameras, especially mature bucks, but I have seen their proof of it, it is amazing to think a deer figures out something is not right.

And if your camera is taking pics at 80 yards, I don't know anything about trail cameras, to me that sounds impressive, I would want a couple. NOT for hunting or deer watching but to catch trespassers if needed. I lost my best place to hunt this year, would have loved to have trail cameras there taking pics at 80 yards, FOR trespassers. And I am sure at 80 yards, a trail camera will never bother any deer, even the smartest, oldest buck.

Taking pics at 80 yds

 

[deerfever]

I run a couple of cameras just for the heck of it, I don't think it bothers anything checking them at all because I usually do it when I am up on the tractor working and the deer are used to that. I don't base any of my hunting off of pictures but just like to see what is using my property. I have had mature bucks stand in front of the things all the time almost as if they are posing or taunting me.

 

[BSK]

I don't run cameras for hunting, but have cameras helped my hunting? Oh absolutely yes! But not because they help my pinpoint a spot and time when a big buck is going to walk through. In ridge-and-hollow hardwoods where I do most of my camera work, that is futile, because mature bucks don't follow those rigid predictable patterns (expect for very early in bow season). Cameras have helped me be a more successful hunter simply by teaching me so much about deer movement patterns and behaviors. More knowledge of how deer move across the terrain, how those patterns change around the rut, and how deer react to hunting pressure has made me a better, more successful hunter.

 

[TheLBLman]

I don't run cameras for hunting, but have cameras helped my hunting? Oh absolutely yes!
In ridge-and-hollow hardwoods . . . . . mature bucks don't follow those rigid predictable patterns.

It is absolutely nothing like hunting farmland deer.

Also, many hunters set themselves up wherever they can SEE the farthest,
while mature bucks more often travel through the areas they can least be SEEN!

What's more, mature bucks will often walk through the thicker cover areas,
then bolt running across the more open areas, only to then go back to a walk, or stopping & walking, when they run into the next heavier cover area.

Typically, when I'm hunting ridge & hollow hardwoods with a rifle,
my setups may appear to be those of a bowhunter where there is little chance of seeing a deer beyond 40 yds.

 

[Headhunter]

Generally true.

Same goes for repeat hunting the same spot.

Several of my BEST bucks, have come from hunting the same stand, for consecutive days, either all day or each morning and evening of each consecutive day and most of them were killed on the 6th consecutive day (or more, one was the 13th day I had hunted the same tree and it was going in and out every morning and evening) of hunting. I have had great success, especially for mature bucks, hunting the exact same spot many days in a row.

 

[Headhunter]

No I was saying the buck I killed was 80 yards from a camera I had up over a scrape but had not had a pic of him as of recently. It didn't take 80 yard pics.

Wondering what that has to do with a camera bothering deer, which is what the post is about. And proves the point of the post, several I know would not have been hunting there because the buck had not shown up on camera.

 

[Headhunter]

It is absolutely nothing like hunting farmland deer.

Also, many hunters set themselves up wherever they can SEE the farthest,
while mature bucks more often travel through the areas they can least be SEEN!

What's more, mature bucks will often walk through the thicker cover areas,
then bolt running across the more open areas, only to then go back to a walk, or stopping & walking, when they run into the next heavier cover area.

Typically, when I'm hunting ridge & hollow hardwoods with a rifle,
my setups may appear to be those of a bowhunter where there is little chance of seeing a deer beyond 40 yds.

Agreed, I hate hunting LARGE blocks of woods, well I love the hunting but the killing part can be difficult.

I hunt any and everywhere, but when I get lucky and know a rut is happening, I like to able to see, so I will hunt more open areas. Same thing as wind to some extent, mature bucks only use thick areas, they only run across open areas, etc., I do not agree, I have been told don't hunt that field, it is to open, a buck won't use that in the daytime, etc. only to hunt it and I will get an opportunity to kill a nice buck. Mature bucks will for sure use a wide open area, especially on a bad weather day where their hearing and smell is hampered, I prefer to hunt more open areas on bad weather days.

 

[Headhunter]

Taking pics at 80 yds

Know of any? Need a couple of those in case of trespassers.

 

[BSK]

I'm going to stick with the statistics from thousands and thousands of hunts and not overhunt my stands.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

I have been told don't hunt that field, it is to open, a buck won't use that in the daytime, etc. only to hunt it and I will get an opportunity to kill a nice buck. Mature bucks will for sure use a wide open area, especially on a bad weather day where their hearing and smell is hampered, I prefer to hunt more open areas on bad weather days.

I can count on one hand how many mature bucks we have seen out in one our fields during daylight. We've owned it for 21 years