The problem with trail cams.

[102]

I know BSK and others have touched on this topic before, but I have a comment to make for some of you experienced trail cam operators and thought I'd share it.

After asking several questions to several experienced guys on here about trail cams, and after getting several good pieces of advice, I finally bought my own camera. (I actually did not get what I would have preferred, but it was FREE).

So I put it up in a place I had long suspected was a natural travel corridor and got a few pics right off the bat. After only a three day hang. Feeling "cocky" at that point, I took it down and went to another spot, one of my best pinch points in a thick beetle blow down area.

I even put out corn an sugar beet block. It looked very appetizing.

I left it for EIGHT days without a single visit.

This is one of my BEST, late season areas and looked "beat down" the day I put it out.

I pulled the camera a couple weeks ago (I thought about NOT writing this post for a while) and I got ABSOLUTELY NOTHING on camera. Not a squirrel, or a coon, or a bird, or a deer, NOTHING. Just 6 pics (2 three shot bursts).

Here is the "rub".
I am certain this is a VERY productive place for deer hunting. Even BIG deer. But if I were to rely on trail cam info, I would NEVER hunt here.

I am sure the inverse is also true.

Not all the places I (or you) hunt are like this. But if a trail cam takes many photos of deer or a particular deer, in an area at a certain time of the year, I conclude this may have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with how productive this spot actually IS.

And if, I have a trail cam set up in an area that shows ZERO activity, this may or may NOT help me because when I actually hunt this area, deer MIGHT be coming through.

And MOST importantly...if I scout an area, find GREAT sign, and hang a camera, am I ruining the element of surprise by leaving too much scent there because I return to check my camera? (one of the does at my first set-up actually put her nose on the camera and turned inside out getting away from the area)

It's all new to me so let's hear it.

BTW, I was never so happy to see a camera hanging on a tree as when I went back after EIGHT days and it was still there.

 

[Elmer]

Your pinch point is most likely a great rut funnel. right now deer are focused on agriculture and other primary food sources. The changes that will take place this month with acorns, loss of summer vegetation, crop fields being harvested, and human intrusion for bow season and scouting( amoung many other things) will likely bring deer back to pinch point soon.

Put a mock scrape in your funnel around october 20 and put your cam over it. You will have a ball

 

[Elmer]

All about seasonal timing

 

[Mike Belt]

I've never killed a buck where I had a camera with him on film. I have seen bucks killed that I had pics of by other hunters but not in the same area that I got the pics. I don't feel that trail cams give a hunter an advantage at taking a particular deer as much as they do preventing him from taking particular deer/s just by virtue of the fact that he may now know that there's one in his hunting area that he's more interested in pursuing.

It's great getting pics of bucks particularly if they get you fired up but as with everything related to deer hunting, timing is everything. Just because you get pics doesn't mean they'll be there in that exact spot when you're hunting. On the flip side just because you didn't get any pics doesn't mean that they won't. Results from cameras set up on trails, even in pinch points or funnels, aren't near as predictable as those set up closer to the rut on scrapes. Then you may get multiple pics of bucks over several days or you might only get a single pic of nomadic bucks passing through. Either way you'll gain alot more appreciation for your camera during this time period whether you kill what's on film or not. For the most part, even though the pics are nice, I don't put alot of store in basing my hunting location on pics taken during the summer through this time of the year. With Fall approaching and all the changes happening so quickly in the deer's world there's too much "flux" involved.

 

[BHC]

Trail cams are great tools to get a idea of what's on your property.. Past that they can be good scouting tools but you have to understand a coule things about them. They're never sure fire tell all about an area. For instance I've had a cam in a location for a month now and just this week got a good buck on cam the first two weeks it was there I had one 1.5 yr old and coons(that was after two weeks). They can push you to hunt certain areas over others when the others are just as good! Keep playing w it they can definately be used to scout, find funnels, etc. After time you start to understand what you can and can't concurr from a batch of trail cam pics... Good luck, have fun w it!

 

[Coach]

I only use cameras to see what's in the area...and, well, for fun! I really never have made a specific point to hunt where the cams are, just want to see what's there. Last year I had a camera up with no success at all..my son killed a very nice buck right near there. I'm no pro hunter, I'm a sportsman who loves the out of doors and trailcam pics are part of it for me...lookin' is almost as fun as gettin'

 

[-DRM-]

I mainly use cameras because I love taking pics.

At the end of the day - it's just an extension of the tools I already use (mainly, my eyes).

 

[DMD]

If all a person depends on is trail cams for scouting, they are gonna be disappointed. I have similar places that I will not get good pics during summer and early fall, but during the rut, they are great travel corridors, in which several good bucks have been killed.

Trail cams for me are mostly "inventory tools". They allow me to know what kind of bucks are roaming around my neck of the woods.

 

[102]

WOW...
I believe you guys just might be some of the MOST perceptive hunters on Tndeer.

I COMPLETELY agree with your assessments.

As BSK said, (and others agree), cameras are a good way of taking inventory of what may be VISITING your property on a particular day.

Not necessarily a good tool for actual hunting a particular buck.

But I like that I can also use it to see if a good buck is in the area. It might just help me pass a few others.

BTW...SPOT on about this travel area (pinch point) being a pressure area.

EXACTLY right.

 

[Shed Hunter]

I've seen deer walking in to get my trail cams and had no pictures on them. It's just the way it is.

As mentioned above timing is a big issue. I have a decent rut spot behind my house that has yeilded a sopping 10 pictures this whole year.

 

[whistlinwingman]

102--I have one of the beetle blow down spots too. I won't get near it until cold weather, hunting pressure, and the rut kick in which is mid to late november. The deer seem to really pull to there then. Put out your camera during that time and you may get some great pics.

Also, I don't hang my hat on it for deer using the area. Maybe on some scrapes they are a little more reliable for getting buck pics but definitely not now. One of my camera's got about 10 pics the first two weeks it was out. The last two weeks though it has gotten hundreds. Pattern shift? I hope so.

 

[102]

Right on Whistle!
I also noticed that acorns had begun falling about the time I put out the cam.
Talk about some scattered deer.

Also...this area is BIG mature woods. No ag.

 

[bass56]

I love checking the cameras I really just run the for something to see the ratio of deer

 

[BSK]

102,

First, check the camera to ensure it is working properly. When ever I get a new camera, I set it up in my backyard, flag off 10-foot distances from the camera, and then walk in front of the camera at different distances at all times of the day and night, especially focusing on the hottest part of the day to find out how far it will sense heat and motion when there is little difference between my body temperature and the ambient air temperature. Your camera may have a sensing issue.

Second, it never ceases to amaze me how different areas are used by deer at only one time of year, and often that timing is of very short duration (just a few weeks).

Third, using cameras to monitor trails has also taught me just how little traffic it takes to produce or maintain a visible deer trail. It can really be shocking just how rarely deer actually walk on what appears to be a heavily used trail. In fact, a trail-camera taught me a very valuable lesson about just how easily visible trails are produced. I had placed a trail-camera in a particular location, and then checked the location twice after deployment. I walked the exact same route to the location each time. As I went to check the camera the next time, I noticed that the "trail" I had created by only walking the same route--there and back three times (and a human has only two feet instead of four)--could be easily seen from 30 yards away. Just those few walks back and forth through the same spot had produced what appeared to be a heavily used trail. The take home lesson was that it doesn't take much deer traffic at all to produce what appears to be a heavily used trail. Placing cameras over such trails confirmed that many of them are used very little, and even that little traffic was enough to maintain the appearance of heavy use.

Lastly, using true black-flash cams that produce no visible light to alert the deer, I've also learned just how unpredictable many deer are, especially older bucks. By leaving a black-flash cam in one location for an entire season, I've found that a particular buck might walk through that particular area only 3 or 4 times in an entire six month period. Many older bucks just don't use the same trail or funnel as often as we think they do.

 

[FARMTOFIELD]

Yep i have a thicket on a creekbank that sits between a couple thousand acres of crop fields and cutover. Right now there aint a deer track on the place but whe corn is combined, acorns fall, and people start hitting the woods its a freaking hotspot

 

[TENN.BOY]

It is a great inventory tool to see what you have on your property.But like we all know the the movement is going to turn 180 degrees from what they have been doing all summer when the pressure gets high and the rut gets closer, and no offense to your free camera but i have tried several differant brands of cameras in the past 5or6 yrs and you get what you pay for alot of times.So you still have to get out in the woods and do your scouting like always.