Trail Camera Warning

[DMD]

I love fooling with trail cameras - almost as much as hunting. But, I've said for years, as others have as well - "don't make too much out of the information obtained from them". An empty trail camera can discourage you from hunting in a spot that is a fantastic hunting spot. Case in point - this season, I put a cellular trail camera on a spot that is a traditionally good picture spot. It's on a knob where several hollows intersect - I put the camera in front of a beech tree that always has 3 or 4 scrapes, as it did this season. Early muzzleloader season, I got numerous pictures of bucks and does using the scrapes. Some nice bucks. But, as November moved along, the activity on the camera just completely dried up - nothing! I don't get to hunt this tract often -so, when I finally got the chance in late NOvember, I was contemplating where to hunt. After going over the information in my brain, I still felt this to be my best spot - after all, it was the best travel corridor on the property and there were a lot of acorns on the ground there. So, I hunted there. I was really amazed in two days sitting - I saw several deer and killed a decent buck (nothing giant) the second sit. But, of the deer I saw, none were in front of the camera. All of them were about 20-40 yards below the camera - traveling, scraping, and eating. When I shot the buck the second morning, as I went to get him - I saw numerous fresh scrapes probably 25 yards below the beech tree where I hung my camera. Also, all kinds of feed sign in the leaves. So, my camera was getting zero pictures - 25-40 yards away, all kinds of deer sign and deer sightings. I have known this for years, but it was strongly reinforced to me -trail cameras are great tools for taking inventory before and after season, but they can be lousy scouting tools.

 

[BSK]

Let me suggest that cell-cams make lousy scouting tools. Hunters place them out and then expect good pictures from that location all season. That usually isn't the way it works.

I move my cams constantly. When I pull a card on a cam, I look at the images while I'm standing there and decide if the cam needs to be moved. Maybe it only needs to be moved 20 yards to a new hotter scrape or some other sign. Or perhaps the images I see show me the travel pattern have shifted 50 yards "over there." Or maybe that location has just gone dead "for now" (it may pick back up later in the year). By checking cams frequently (but being very careful HOW you check your cams) you can constantly adjust their locations. Just running 8 cams, I will use 50-60 different locations during the season.

 

[BSK]

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.

 

[Ski]

I can't argue that. They're just another tool in the bag. Can't make any more of it than that or else you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

 

[kaizen leader]

I almost like watching my cell camera as much as hunting.

 

[Dumbluck]

Or they can be torture. I have had the flue or something for about a week. I have a cell camera set up on the edge of a thicket that my target buck is utilizing a lot. I positioned it on some red Oaks and have been expecting him to start hitting them soon. I drove out there Tuesday to hunt that afternoon as the wind was perfect for that location. I climb a tree about 25 yards from that camera. I worked on paperwork in my truck to finish out my work day and was going to go climb that tree but just felt like crap so I left and went home. I got a notification at 4:30 while I was laying on the couch, I looked at it and of course it was the big 150 class buck I've been after, he came in on the exact trail I would have needed him to come in on and ate acorns upwind of my tree.

This has happened twice this year on the same deer.

 

[BSK]

Or they can be torture. I have had the flue or something for about a week. I have a cell camera set up on the edge of a thicket that my target buck is utilizing a lot. I positioned it on some red Oaks and have been expecting him to start hitting them soon. I drove out there Tuesday to hunt that afternoon as the wind was perfect for that location. I climb a tree about 25 yards from that camera. I worked on paperwork in my truck to finish out my work day and was going to go climb that tree but just felt like crap so I left and went home. I got a notification at 4:30 while I was laying on the couch, I looked at it and of course it was the big 150 class buck I've been after, he came in on the exact trail I would have needed him to come in on and ate acorns upwind of my tree.

This has happened twice this year on the same deer.

Opening weekend of gun season, my daughter and I hunted together. Although it's not my preferred method of hunting, she prefers hunting from condos overlooking food plots. Saturday afternoon, we pick one of the stands and food plots, and hunt it. See nothing. But when I pull cards from my cams later on, in another food plot just 125 yards away on the same afternoon, I get the biggest buck on the property chasing a doe round and round right in front of the condo in that plot.

 

[Ski]

I move my cams constantly. When I pull a card on a cam, I look at the images while I'm standing there and decide if the cam needs to be moved. Maybe it only needs to be moved 20 yards to a new hotter scrape or some other sign. Or perhaps the images I see show me the travel pattern have shifted 50 yards "over there." Or maybe that location has just gone dead "for now" (it may pick back up later in the year). By checking cams frequently (but being very careful HOW you check your cams) you can constantly adjust their locations. Just running 8 cams, I will use 50-60 different locations during the season.

My approach is a little different. Most of my cam sites are pretty permanent, and if the spot is bigger than one camera can cover then I have multiple cameras. One such spot has 5 cameras. I've got lots of spots with 2-3 cams basically back to back facing opposite directions because a single line of sight often misses more than it catches. It's not out of the ordinary to catch a deer on only one of cams, so if I wasn't watching every feasible angle I often wouldn't catch deer at all that were indeed there.

I also have cams that I move around. I'm always finding something while scouting or hunting that I want a better look at, so I'll hang a camera. Once I'm satisfied it's been there long enough to show me what I wanted to know, I take it down. I usually keep a camera with me so if while I'm sitting on stand I see a deer do something or follow a trail I didn't know about or had dismissed, I'll hang the cam to monitor awhile to find out if what I saw was common or random. That's about as close as I get to using cam intel inside the same season I get the pics. By far & large the majority of intel I get from cams isn't immediately or singly relevant. It's the accumulative information season after season that allows me to begin picking up on patterns, trends, and time lines that I can apply in choosing how I approach future hunts.

 

[BSK]

My approach is a little different. Most of my cam sites are pretty permanent, and if the spot is bigger than one camera can cover then I have multiple cameras. One such spot has 5 cameras. I've got lots of spots with 2-3 cams basically back to back facing opposite directions because a single line of sight often misses more than it catches. It's not out of the ordinary to catch a deer on only one of cams, so if I wasn't watching every feasible angle I often wouldn't catch deer at all that were indeed there.

Fascinating tactics. I just hate having to have that many cams! But if it works, it works.

I also have cams that I move around. I'm always finding something while scouting or hunting that I want a better look at, so I'll hang a camera. Once I'm satisfied it's been there long enough to show me what I wanted to know, I take it down. I usually keep a camera with me so if while I'm sitting on stand I see a deer do something or follow a trail I didn't know about or had dismissed, I'll hang the cam to monitor awhile to find out if what I saw was common or random. That's about as close as I get to using cam intel inside the same season I get the pics. By far & large the majority of intel I get from cams isn't immediately or singly relevant. It's the accumulative information season after season that allows me to begin picking up on patterns, trends, and time lines that I can apply in choosing how I approach future hunts.

I couldn't agree more. That's why I say I don't use cams for scouting. Although this isn't completely true. The accumulated knowledge over a number of years has undoubted taught me a great deal about how deer use habitat and terrain. THAT has certainly made me a more successful hunter.

 

[Popcorn]

I set many of my cameras up for both trigger shots and time lapse shots every 15 minutes
Often my best deer show up out of trigger range or off trail and are captured in the time lapse shots in the background. Like ski said I to will use more than one camera at times

 

[deerhunter10]

I move them a decent amount. When on a deer we are trying to kill I move more cameras around him.

 

[Flintlocksforme]

BSK knows how to use cameras. No doubt. My cell cams rarely ever get moved. I did a little more moving this year. Cell cameras have put me in the right place at the right time a few times. But for the most part it's a waste of money I am realizing if I am not actively moving them. It's a pain moving lock boxes too. Hunting public WMAs and CWD area I have taken 3 of the nicest bucks I have ever killed this year. No pictures just a surprise, well sorta I old fashioned walked the woods and studied maps. I knew big bucks were possibly using the areas frequently. I also squirrel hunt with dogs lot and scout while I am hunting. I make mental notes of the areas where I find the most buck sign, and ideal locations for a big buck to roam safely. I get better walking than I do from a stationary cell cam. One more thing about cameras, I am guilty of not even going to a place to hunt if I don't get pictures of a good buck. Even though I have killed many in the past that never walked in front of the one camera in that area.

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

My approach is a little different. Most of my cam sites are pretty permanent, and if the spot is bigger than one camera can cover then I have multiple cameras. One such spot has 5 cameras. I've got lots of spots with 2-3 cams basically back to back facing opposite directions because a single line of sight often misses more than it catches. It's not out of the ordinary to catch a deer on only one of cams, so if I wasn't watching every feasible angle I often wouldn't catch deer at all that were indeed there.

I also have cams that I move around. I'm always finding something while scouting or hunting that I want a better look at, so I'll hang a camera. Once I'm satisfied it's been there long enough to show me what I wanted to know, I take it down. I usually keep a camera with me so if while I'm sitting on stand I see a deer do something or follow a trail I didn't know about or had dismissed, I'll hang the cam to monitor awhile to find out if what I saw was common or random. That's about as close as I get to using cam intel inside the same season I get the pics. By far & large the majority of intel I get from cams isn't immediately or singly relevant. It's the accumulative information season after season that allows me to begin picking up on patterns, trends, and time lines that I can apply in choosing how I approach future hunts.

Good post! I do alot of the same. It is amazing how easily deer can avoid the cameras, whether on purpose or just by luck. I run a high number of cameras and it is amazing how many deer that I see that do not trip the cams. An acre food plot will have several trails leading to it, it is impossible to cover them all. I watched a very nice 3 yr old last week feed in a food plot for over 30 minutes before he finally tripped a camera. there are 4 cameras at that location. The "trip zone" for cameras is very small. I try to put as many as possible on scrapes to up my odds. Cameras on food plots are tough and really not the most productive locations for cameras.

 

[hammer33]

Got a nice food plot and mineral block on a point overlooking a steep drop off to a creek. Basically a finger between the woods on either side.
Great cell cam activity up through the 1st weekend of Mz then photos fell off a cliff. Very few pictures and mostly only at night.
Got to looking and the trail I blocked with trees/brush 2 years ago is now open (decomp ) just over the edge of the bluff. Deer have been skirting the field just out of sight from the condo blind. Based on the sign on that trail, the deer never abandoned the area, just shifted 25 yards down hill so they could stay in cover while traveling to bedding on the neighbors in the mornings. When I get time, Ill cut another cedar tree and drag it down to block the trail again.

 

[DeerCamp]

Let me suggest that cell-cams make lousy scouting tools. Hunters place them out and then expect good pictures from that location all season. That usually isn't the way it works.

I move my cams constantly. When I pull a card on a cam, I look at the images while I'm standing there and decide if the cam needs to be moved. Maybe it only needs to be moved 20 yards to a new hotter scrape or some other sign. Or perhaps the images I see show me the travel pattern have shifted 50 yards "over there." Or maybe that location has just gone dead "for now" (it may pick back up later in the year). By checking cams frequently (but being very careful HOW you check your cams) you can constantly adjust their locations. Just running 8 cams, I will use 50-60 different locations during the season.

This is a great point. I had 2 cams yesterday with low batteries.

Ran down around lunch and changed them, then decided to move them. One about 10 yards but South instead of East. Another about 50 yards, North instead of South.

Got small bucks on both of them a few hours later.

 

[BSK]

I old fashioned walked the woods and studied maps. I knew big bucks were possibly using the areas frequently. I also squirrel hunt with dogs lot and scout while I am hunting. I make mental notes of the areas where I find the most buck sign, and ideal locations for a big buck to roam safely.

Very smart strategy.

Years ago, I used to walk every inch of my property post-season and mark every rub and scrape I found on a map. Looking at these maps year after year taught me a lot about how bucks use terrain during the rubbing/scraping season. At that time, deer density was low enough that I could piece together a individual buck's entire travel pattern by his rubs. Now, deer density is too high for that, with all of the patterns crisscrossing each other.

 

[BSK]

he "trip zone" for cameras is very small.

Depends on the brand of camera. I'm regularly getting triggers at 90-110 feet. Because my food plots are long and linear, that covers the entire width of a food plot.

 

[BSK]

Got a nice food plot and mineral block on a point overlooking a steep drop off to a creek. Basically a finger between the woods on either side.
Great cell cam activity up through the 1st weekend of Mz then photos fell off a cliff. Very few pictures and mostly only at night.
Got to looking and the trail I blocked with trees/brush 2 years ago is now open (decomp ) just over the edge of the bluff. Deer have been skirting the field just out of sight from the condo blind. Based on the sign on that trail, the deer never abandoned the area, just shifted 25 yards down hill so they could stay in cover while traveling to bedding on the neighbors in the mornings. When I get time, Ill cut another cedar tree and drag it down to block the trail again.

Very interesting.

 

[philsanchez76]

I love fooling with trail cameras - almost as much as hunting. But, I've said for years, as others have as well - "don't make too much out of the information obtained from them". An empty trail camera can discourage you from hunting in a spot that is a fantastic hunting spot. Case in point - this season, I put a cellular trail camera on a spot that is a traditionally good picture spot. It's on a knob where several hollows intersect - I put the camera in front of a beech tree that always has 3 or 4 scrapes, as it did this season. Early muzzleloader season, I got numerous pictures of bucks and does using the scrapes. Some nice bucks. But, as November moved along, the activity on the camera just completely dried up - nothing! I don't get to hunt this tract often -so, when I finally got the chance in late NOvember, I was contemplating where to hunt. After going over the information in my brain, I still felt this to be my best spot - after all, it was the best travel corridor on the property and there were a lot of acorns on the ground there. So, I hunted there. I was really amazed in two days sitting - I saw several deer and killed a decent buck (nothing giant) the second sit. But, of the deer I saw, none were in front of the camera. All of them were about 20-40 yards below the camera - traveling, scraping, and eating. When I shot the buck the second morning, as I went to get him - I saw numerous fresh scrapes probably 25 yards below the beech tree where I hung my camera. Also, all kinds of feed sign in the leaves. So, my camera was getting zero pictures - 25-40 yards away, all kinds of deer sign and deer sightings. I have known this for years, but it was strongly reinforced to me -trail cameras are great tools for taking inventory before and after season, but they can be lousy scouting tools.

im the same absolutely love messing around with cameras. It's what keeps me engaged in the off season. But you are absolutely right about them missing things. Usually in the summer ive got all my cams on trails going into bean fields. I dont do mineral sites on public just because they attract other hunters. Then right before season starts I move them to historic scrapes. The only time during the season I use a cell cam for actionable info is during the pre rut. When I see a certain scrape heating up or get a daylight pic of a good one, ill go hunt it the next day. This is still public land so lots of things can happen in the 24 hours between my intel and the hunt. But its definitely how I killed me best buck this year. He daylights on a scrape, I killed him the next evening 25 yards from that scrape. Funny part is, that night there were 7 does and 3 bucks around that scrape and my cam gave me 0 pics from that night. go figure.

 

[Andy S.]

The "trip zone" for cameras is very small..................

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".

 

[DMD]

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".

Well said! Exactly.

 

[BSK]

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.

 

[Andy S.]

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

 

[Ski]

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.

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

Depends on the brand of camera. I'm regularly getting triggers at 90-110 feet. Because my food plots are long and linear, that covers the entire width of a food plot.

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.

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

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

That is very true, and I am guilty of it as well.

 

[Andy S.]

Yeah that's a misuse of cameras, IMO.

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.

 

[Andy S.]

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 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.

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.

 

[Andy S.]

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.

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

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.

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.