Trail cam placement is key...

[Chickencoop96]

This past season and up until opening day of Turkey season I had my cell cam set up over an area in low deer density terrain that had been eat up with buck sign (Scrapes, Rubs, etc.) the whole time i had one turkey and one good buck pop up. when i picked my trail cam up on turkey opener, I noticed newer buck sign about 20 yards directly behind my trail cam. Y'all ain't kidding about these mountain deer. they really are like ghosts. although i didn't get what i wanted on camera, i'm still planning to hunt those hills. I guess i'm partial to a hunting challenge.

 

[Specializedjon]

to add to that, make sure it's turned on. I put out a bunch of cameras and THOUGHT I turned them on.....it said "on" when I selected the burst rate, but never did the countdown. 2-weeks later, (1) picture of me setting the camera on a lease 2-years ago

 

[Chickencoop96]

to add to that, make sure it's turned on. I put out a bunch of cameras and THOUGHT I turned them on.....it said "on" when I selected the burst rate, but never did the countdown. 2-weeks later, (1) picture of me setting the camera on a lease 2-years ago

I can't lie I've done that myself on a property where there were 5 shooter bucks going into the corner of a field together. I learned real quick how to utilize the power button on those things LMAO

 

[Specializedjon]

I'm an old school, "pull/replace the card, go back to the computer" kinda guy. What a letdown

Lesson learned. I didn't get this ugly and stupid by accident. I work at it daily.

 

[mr.big]

First one I bought you had to take a roll of film and change it and then sit in the parking lot at the drugstore waiting on the one hour photo.
That was like 2002 seems like I have 400$ for that thing. Lol

 

[Ski]

Yeah it can be tricky figuring out where to hang the camera sometimes, especially if it's just a rub area with no definitive trail. In those situations I don't hang a camera at the "sign" but rather at the nearest funnel/pinch. I don't get the money shot of a buck rubbing a tree but I get the buck coming and going.

 

[BSK]

I could write a book about all the dumb mistakes I've made with trail-cameras, starting with the earliest film cameras. I swear I had seen the film advancing... Nope. I still forget to turn a camera back on at least once every season. That makes me so mad.

 

[BSK]

That was like 2002 seems like I have 400$ for that thing. Lol

The first legit trail-monitoring system was made by TrailMaster. It had a sending and receiving unit. It basically shot a light beam between the two units, and any interruption of the beam triggered the system. The first version only had a digital counter in it. You had to go through the list of interruptions and write down the date and time of each one. And you had no idea WHAT interrupted the beam. Their second system, the TM1500 included a film camera to take a picture. That unit cost $1,200 back in the early 1990s. That was a LOT of money. I still have mine sitting around somewhere.

 

[Mescalero]

to add to that, make sure it's turned on. I put out a bunch of cameras and THOUGHT I turned them on.....it said "on" when I selected the burst rate, but never did the countdown. 2-weeks later, (1) picture of me setting the camera on a lease 2-years ago

Been there done that.

 

[sgtwebb1]

Anyone remember when we had a bunch of guys in here that built the "homebrew" film cameras with cams and Radio Shack motion sensors?
I still have the first one I built. Haven't used it in years, but it still works.

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

My first camera used 35mm film and was very expensive to operate. It used a regular camera that plugged into it. Everytime you changed film you had to change batteries in the camera. I didn't get i to trail cams until about 20 years ago.

 

[Antler Daddy]

Anyone remember when we had a bunch of guys in here that built the "homebrew" film cameras with cams and Radio Shack motion sensors?
I still have the first one I built. Haven't used it in years, but it still works.

That was quite a thread....longest legit how to thread ever. We used motion detector flood lights, jerry rigged soldered cameras, etc.

I put m camera in a electric conduit box and the first pic was a bear!

No telling what I spent on ruined floodlights and cameras.

 

[41Magnum]

This past season and up until opening day of Turkey season I had my cell cam set up over an area in low deer density terrain that had been eat up with buck sign (Scrapes, Rubs, etc.) the whole time i had one turkey and one good buck pop up. when i picked my trail cam up on turkey opener, I noticed newer buck sign about 20 yards directly behind my trail cam. Y'all ain't kidding about these mountain deer. they really are like ghosts. although i didn't get what i wanted on camera, i'm still planning to hunt those hills. I guess i'm partial to a hunting challenge.

That's one of the reasons why I hunt up on the mountain here in my area. It's a low deer density area and those bucks are smart. The buck I took last fall was an example of that. I placed my ladder stand in a funnel and really brushed in my stand very well. Even covered in the seating area with camo netting. My hunting partner even had a hard time finding it. That buck came through the gap, we'll I should say "appeared like a ghost", just easing along very cautiously, and just when he offered me a shot he suddenly stopped and looked directly at me. It was too late. I really don't know how he saw me or what he thought he saw. I remember when I first started deer hunting (early 70's) up there back when we had a 3 day hunt, actually we had 3, 3 day hunts. Friday, Saturday, Sunday only. The first year the harvest was 141 bucks taken off that area. Now the harvest is probably around maybe a dozen. The bears have taken over. That and the coyotes have put so much pressure on the deer that is no wonder they have become like "ghosts". But I still love the challenge of hunting these mountain ghosts.

 

[Bad habit]

The problem with cameras is we put them where we travel. That's not always where the deer travel.

 

[Ski]

The problem with cameras is we put them where we travel. That's not always where the deer travel.

That therein is the conundrum of trail cams. Them buggers avoid us like the plague. It's been largely solved with cell cams, though.

 

[Headhunter]

So glad I never have had a need or desire to use a trail camera. Bunch of money saved with many other benefits.

 

[DeerCamp]

Anyone remember when we had a bunch of guys in here that built the "homebrew" film cameras with cams and Radio Shack motion sensors?
I still have the first one I built. Haven't used it in years, but it still works.

Sell it to spypoint.

 

[UCStandSitter]

I usually put out a mineral lick in front of the camera or look for "highways". Those are the only two reliable ways I know to get those sneaky ghosts on camera. They WILL hit that lick. They WILL travel that "highway". Sometimes I make my own "highway" or travel corridor in tighter spots and then set the camera on that. Those cameras I usually use for population census. The mineral lick is usually closer to a stand and that's what I use to gauge timing.

All this lousy advice is just the ramblings of a hick though. Not a professional, just some dude sharing what has worked for him.

 

[BSK]

I usually put out a mineral lick in front of the camera or look for "highways". Those are the only two reliable ways I know to get those sneaky ghosts on camera. They WILL hit that lick. They WILL travel that "highway".

For summer censusing, salt licks are hard to beat. However, with CWD advancing across the state, I do NOT recommend using salt licks anymore. One of the best possible set-ups from spreading CWD. In addition, although salt licks are a great place for summer censusing, they don't help much for hunting season censusing. Most bucks stop using salt after their antlers have hardened into bone in late August, and does don't use them as much once their fawns are weened in mid-September. And many properties see a dramatic turnover in what deer are using the property in summer versus the fall hunting season, hence summer data doesn't tell you much about the population that will be hunted in fall.

In ridge-and-hollow bigwoods, there's virtually no such thing as a deer highway. Unless you want to put a camera on every ridge-line.

 

[UCStandSitter]

In ridge-and-hollow bigwoods, there's virtually no such thing as a deer highway. Unless you want to put a camera on every ridge-line.

I'd disagree on this one point for my area. I hunt the plateau and it is VERY thick. I've found that if I create a path of least resistance through the brush, it quickly becomes a "highway".