Trail Camera Warning

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BSK said:
My wife would agree with you. At least the "freak" part.

Funny, but I recently met my nephew's new wife. She specializes in teaching children with autism, ADD, and ADHD how to cope with life surrounded by people who think very differently. She saw me working on all my data and asked what I did with it. I told her I need to turn information into numbers so I can see the patterns. Apparently, the need for pattern recognition is major indicator of autism. And I always thought I was just ADD...
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Ha! Well then you're more autistic than me. I'm most definitely on the spectrum but you're in the pot of gold 😂 😂 😂
 
Ski said:
I'm not BSK but I do have an opinion, albeit a long one 😁

Deer are deer regardless of property lines. Their nature is static. And on public ground a buck doesn't get old and big by being a stranger. He got old because he knows the area, knows where to be and when. The only way to acquire that kind of familiarity is by spending a lifetime in that area. That means yes, you can run a camera program on public land and get the same kind of data as you would on private.

That said, I've never heard of anyone attempting it because fear of theft. Could you imagine hanging a dozen cams on a public tract and leaving them in place for several consecutive years? Pretty risky. However if you did I 100% believe you'd see the exact type of cumulative data you'd get from private ground.

The one exception is that you'd likely have to shift camera locations as the resources and movement patterns change. Public land isn't managed to have static spots like food plots, mock scrapes, water holes, managed bedding areas, etc that dictate movement. On public that stuff is in constant flux so the deer are always adjusting. But the deer aren't leaving. It's the same deer.

I've heard of guys having multiple year hunts for a specific buck on public and have done so myself. That's only possible because the buck lives there, at least periodically.

Think of the clear lottery tank with all the numbered balls. That is a buck's home range and each ball is an individual buck's core. Notice how that core floats all around but is contained within the tank. In my experience that's exactly how it works in the deer woods, regardless if you're on public or private. A buck's core floats around according to his specific needs at the time, whether it be food, does, or safety. They don't recognize property lines or ownership. That's why we see a buck on camera every day for awhile then poof he's gone. Just when we think he must be dead poof he shows back up. It's nothing more than his core bubble floating across our property. And it floats across lots of properties both private and public.
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Challenge accepted. im gonna give it shot on a specific public property that im very familiar with and that I consistently see the most mature deer. I have an aging fleet of about 10 cameras I could dedicate to it and not feel too bad if some get stolen. I like the analogy of the lotto balls hahaha.
 
BSK said:
A club, yes (most of my clients are clubs). Public land, probably not. Far too much pressure driving bucks all over the place.


I think public would be tough, especially knowing the number of cameras needed and the influence of too many hunters (and possibility of getting cams/cards stolen).
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Thanks for sharing all the info you do. Its really inspiring honestly. It makes me want to try something similar on public. I have some old cams that need to be used anyway. Very worst that could happen is they get stole and maybe I get an incomplete census. No biggie. Rewards outweigh the risk I think.
 
philsanchez76 said:
Challenge accepted. im gonna give it shot on a specific public property that im very familiar with and that I consistently see the most mature deer. I have an aging fleet of about 10 cameras I could dedicate to it and not feel too bad if some get stolen. I like the analogy of the lotto balls hahaha.
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If you need help or need some old cams, I'd be happy to offer. I'm pretty curious to see how it pans out!
 
Andy S. said:
Say it louder for those in the back. This cannot be emphasized enough. Like I said, put a cell camera in my closet and you might get me 2x per day, and you will have no idea what is going on the rest of the day in "my house". Same can be said for deer in "their house".
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;), despite whatever the 3 armchair biologist on here would have you believe. Funny how they tell you they have on camera, almost every big deer they kill, but they really ain't "killing" anything that big, despite all the "management" they have done to these properties over the years. I have no doubt the effort they are putting forth has to be producing some truly "big" deer. So why are there no 150in+ deer on your cameras. I don't want to hear "It's the soil" or its "because of what part of the state I am in" horsesh#t either. Surely their not smart enough to be avoiding all the cameras you have out:rolleyes:
 
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Soft Talker said:
;), despite whatever the 3 armchair biologist on here would have you believe. Funny how they tell you they have on camera, almost every big deer they kill, but they really ain't "killing" anything that big, despite all the "management" they have done to these properties over the years.
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You've got to be the most insufferable human on planet earth. I bet you think Tiger Woods is awful at golf and Tom Brady a terrible football player. There are plenty of dudes on this site killing great TN deer every year. Funny how we never see pictures of anything you supposedly catch or kill.
 
Soft Talker said:
;), despite whatever the 3 armchair biologist on here would have you believe. Funny how they tell you they have on camera, almost every big deer they kill, but they really ain't "killing" anything that big, despite all the "management" they have done to these properties over the years.
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Fox Tv Popcorn GIF by The Four
 
bowhunterfanatic said:
You've got to be the most insufferable human on planet earth. I bet you think Tiger Woods is awful at golf and Tom Brady a terrible football player. There are plenty of dudes on this site killing great TN deer every year. Funny how we never see pictures of anything you supposedly catch or kill.
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Don't give a rats azz about sports dude. I ain't smart enough to post pics, and honestly, have no desire to. Mainly a Turkey and Hog hunter, who when not guiding, also enjoys hunting rutting Bucks in the Fall and Winter.
 
bowhunterfanatic said:
You've got to be the most insufferable human on planet earth. I bet you think Tiger Woods is awful at golf and Tom Brady a terrible football player. There are plenty of dudes on this site killing great TN deer every year. Funny how we never see pictures of anything you supposedly catch or kill.
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The ignore feature works. I highly recommend 👌
 
Ski said:
I've only ever used it once. Usually I can wade through even the deepest BS but I've gotta give that blowhard credit. He's exceptional.
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Agreed. First time I've used it. He's a troll.
 
BSK said:
Personally, I don't use cams as a scouting tool. I use them as a management/herd monitoring tool. However, while I'm monitoring, I sure learn a heck of a lot about deer movement pattens in the area.
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We to like using ours to observe the deer population. We like to compare to previous years. Also, we like to leave the bucks alone for years and years so we get big mature bucks. With the trail cams we can see their progress over the years. Same with does. And, it's very fascinating and informative. We see numerous doe year after year with their young and have been able to identify some of the doe and keep up with how many little ones each have in the spring. As with you, we like to observe their behaviors and have learned so much about them. Especially the bucks. It's very fascinating, educational, and informing.
 
Trails cameras are tough. Especially cell cameras. I had one morning that I sat from 6am to 1pm. I saw 25 deer, I had maybe total 30minutes where I couldn't see a deer, and I had 4 pictures on camera. The area I was hunting was not very big maybe 1.5 acres in a bottom that was pretty thick. Likewise the single deer I was hunting was killed that morning, and I hadn't had a picture of him in 2 weeks, but during that week this was the second time I had seen him in person.

If I hadn't been there I would of saw 4 does on camera and thought slow morning, but in reality it was chaos including the opportunity I needed to harvest the buck I was after. I love them so much, but aside from knowing a deer exists, and uses an area. Using them to make day to day hunting decisions saves a lot of deer.
 

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