Well said! Exactly.
Trail Camera Warning
- Thread starter DMD
- Start date
BSK
Well-Known Member
I will stand behind what I've said many, many times. Trail-cameras are the greatest management tool every invented. I would also say I've learned more about deer behavior from trail-cams than any other source. This knowledge has made me a much more successful hunter.
Notice I did NOT say they are a great scouting tool! My eyes and my brain are the best scouting tool.
Notice I did NOT say they are a great scouting tool! My eyes and my brain are the best scouting tool.
Concur on management tool (along with trigger restraint), as cameras have taught all of us so much over last few decades, especially those of us who have had the opportunity to run numerous cameras over large contiguous tracts (18k+ acres). With that said, cameras capture itty bitty "snapshots" in time, but they miss 10,000x the things they capture. I see hunters nowadays, with many being 20+ year seasoned hunters, put all of their faith in trail/cell camera data. That irks me beyond belief. At one point in time, they all knew how to scout, read the landscape, read the deer/buck sign, look for pinch points and travel corridors, etc. For "some", I belief "relying on camera data" is just a way to justify being lazy and opting out of going to the woods, essentially their excuse for why they have not been hunting lately. My .02
Yeah that's a misuse of cameras, IMO. Like driving nails with a screwdriver. Wrong tool & wrong use of the tool and you'll be frustrated with the results.
I am using alot of the same cameras you have. My point is 90-110' is tiny when you look at the fact that a deer can walk wherever they want. If they walk behind the camera, 40 yards over, scenarios like that. I am running a camera for every 5 acres and I see bucks while hunting that I have never gotten a picture of. On the flip side I may get the same buck on multiple cameras everyday. It is hard to get them all.
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That is very true, and I am guilty of it as well.
Concur..........but but but, they are "seeing it" or "not seeing it" with their own eyes, via their camera photos, so it must be true, and telling the whole story. That sort of thing. We all know there is so much more to the story that what a camera displays. That's the point I stress, just as HH did above.
Amen! I watched a small buck rub a pine tree for 2-3 minutes early November. His head/nose almost touched one of my old school Reconyx cameras. He eventually walked off back the way he came from. Never entered the "trigger zone" and never tripped the camera.
Factor in the fact most hunters have not ran trail cameras on the same parcel/tract for 20+ years, and some hunters drive an hour, then walk an hour to place camera/check camera/hunt, and it is easy to see why "one size does not fit all" in the trail camera/hunting world. That's painting the subject with waaaaay too broad of a brush.
What I meant was coverage area of cameras, Trigger area per camera X number of cameras to get total coverage area divided by acreage. I am betting most are less than .05 % of your land that is being monitored by cameras.
Exactly. Great illustration.
what affect have you found that to have on mature deer? I typically rely on food supply and geography to determine where to position myself to kill a mature deer. I have always feared that my presence, even if only monthly or bimonthly decreases my chances of shooting a mature deer. Thoughts or data welcomed.
You nailed it HH. My initial point exactly.
BSK
Well-Known Member
I have to say, something is wrong in your camera placement. A camera per 5 acres and you're seeing bucks in person that aren't on camera? I have 500 acres, run 6-8 cams and we almost never see/kill a buck we don't have on cam. And that's over a 21-year timespan.
You may be 100 percent correct on the camera placement. Could it also be that the bucks with no pictures are on their outer edges of their home ranges and only occasionally drift through? I place cameras in food plots, major trails, secondary trails, and scrapes. Where do you recommend that I place them?
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DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
It's interesting how different properties can be so different...on one property we run 3 cameras on a little over 200 acres and the majority of bucks we see we have pics of...with the exception of the peak of the rut...during that narrow window we will occasionally see a buck we have no history with?...also we will have a buck disappear only to reappear later.
And maybe a topic for another day....but one neighbor we have has the exact same management goals and we have an open line of communication, share pics, etc....and its amazing...some bucks we both get pics of multiple times...but a few bucks he gets pics of that we dont and we never see them?..and some bucks we get pics of that he never gets pics of or never sees...home ranges? Not sure? But very interesting.
I get new bucks in December almost every year. I had a buck disappear a few weeks ago and thought he was dead. He showed back up, stayed a week and has vanished again. I almost shot him last week but decided against it. I can't decide wether he is 3.5 or 4.5 so he got to live. If my son sees him, he won't be so lucky.
Bsk, what would you coverage percentage be?
IMO, same 500 acre tract for 21 years is what makes your "situation" more of an anomaly when compared to most. Also, you are on your property A LOT more than most messing with/moving/checking cameras when compared to most other guys/hunters I know. I try not to disturb my properties, and definitely not disturbing them "just to check a camera". I check cameras when I am "in the area" hunting. I also try to hunt a new property every year, even if it means new public ground. Other than one 22 acre tract, I do not have the "historical knowledge" that you do for most of my tracts because I have not hunted them that long, thus I am always in learning mode learning lay of the land, neighbors and their management styles, nearby land use patterns, etc. Again, one size does not fit all when placing/running/checking trail cameras.
My cam count comes out to around 1 camera per 4 acres, although not evenly dispersed. They're mostly concentrated in spots where deer frequent. Although I do catch a couple bucks cruising through on cam and only ever see them once, I've yet to kill or personally see from stand a buck I didn't recognize. The possibility of that happening exists but it hasn't happened yet.
One big reason for that could be because the spots I hunt are also the spots where my cameras are. I probably hunt less than 5% of my property, and more yet it is surrounded 3 sides by a 10,000 acre state forest. Logic dictates that deer I'm completely unaware of move through without my knowing. I've just not seen it on camera or while hunting.
