Why is it so hard to get mature bucks on camera?

[fairchaser]

Without attractants or food plots, I find it difficult to get mature bucks on camera. I realize they are few in number but I wonder if it's my camera technique. I use black flash only by the way. Buck sign is limited right now too. Any other suggestions?

 

[infoman jr.]

If buck sign is limited, you may just not be where the bucks are. A mature buck's range (generally) shrinks with age as well. Use good scent control, and put your cameras over scrapes. One might show up.

 

[Boll Weevil]

One thing to consider is that old bucks often don't use the same trails/routes and youngsters and does. I've even found in some cases that if it's a well-traveled-beat-to-bare-dirt type of trail it may not even be worth hanging a cam if I'm trying to catch an old deer.

Assuming you've got old bucks roaming your property, they may be using completely different routes/areas then most other deer. They can be hermits...loners.

 

[MUP]

Cause they is smarter than yer average younger buck. :grin: Or, should I say, more wary. ;)

 

[BluegrassDan]

...or there might not be any mature deer in your area.

 

[Bucks & Beards]

...or there might not be any mature deer in your area.

HaHaHa - fairchaser

 

[TN Whitetail Freak]

IMO your answer is in your question....the number 1 downfall for hunters shooting a mature animal is the constant use and checking of trailcams....honestly i feel most hunters dont give deer credit for how smart they actually are especially mature bucks.

 

[TN Whitetail Freak]

IMO your answer is in your question....the number 1 downfall for hunters shooting a mature animal is the constant use and checking of trailcams....honestly i feel most hunters dont give deer credit for how smart they actually are especially mature bucks.

 

[deerhunter10]

IMO your answer is in your question....the number 1 downfall for hunters shooting a mature animal is the constant use and checking of trailcams....honestly i feel most hunters dont give deer credit for how smart they actually are especially mature bucks.

X100000000000 agree 100 percent there are very few people on here or that run trail cameras that truly do it effective. They don't pay attention to scent, where they are setting them up, checking then every week a whole lot of pressure that hunters don't realize are put one farms when running trail cameras especially when running them with very little attention to detail. Some seem to run then very well on here some not at all from what I can tell.

 

[Shed Hunter]

IMO your answer is in your question....the number 1 downfall for hunters shooting a mature animal is the constant use and checking of trailcams....honestly i feel most hunters dont give deer credit for how smart they actually are especially mature bucks.

He asked how to get them on camera.. Not shoot them. Use of cameras is the only way to get them on camera. I put trail cameras before hunting simply because I enjoy them more.

If you aren't yet, start running them on scrapes. In my area scraping started heavy on Oct. 14-virtually no revisits to scrapes before that. There were scrapes that had been made the first week of Oct. but they died until the 14th. I don't run mock scrape cams. Instead I rip off the deer's hard work and find their scrapes that occur every year in the same spot.

 

[Mike Belt]

Poser...

Was that your first time there? Where'd you go and what did you think about the place?

 

[fairchaser]

One thing to consider is that old bucks often don't use the same trails/routes and youngsters and does. I've even found in some cases that if it's a well-traveled-beat-to-bare-dirt type of trail it may not even be worth hanging a cam if I'm trying to catch an old deer.

Assuming you've got old bucks roaming your property, they may be using completely different routes/areas then most other deer. They can be hermits...loners.

I do hunt on Ames and I think this is right on. With out any ability to attract bucks to walk in front of the camera or without any or very little buck sign, you are relegated to placing the cameras on good trails. Mature bucks likely don't use these trails as often. Finding the faint buck trails and having the confidence to invest the camera time on it is another thing. But, I think your comments are good. Now how do I find them? :D

 

[fairchaser]

IMO your answer is in your question....the number 1 downfall for hunters shooting a mature animal is the constant use and checking of trailcams....honestly i feel most hunters dont give deer credit for how smart they actually are especially mature bucks.

I use the Covert Black Ops phone cameras to minimize the contamination of the area since they don't have to be checked as often. Also, they are black flash which helps. Even with precautions, we find it takes three days for deer activity to resume after putting out cameras. Yes, mature bucks are smarter and more wary and I think they can even avoid cameras if they see them in time. But, they are still just deer.

 

[fairchaser]

IMO your answer is in your question....the number 1 downfall for hunters shooting a mature animal is the constant use and checking of trailcams....honestly i feel most hunters dont give deer credit for how smart they actually are especially mature bucks.

He asked how to get them on camera.. Not shoot them. Use of cameras is the only way to get them on camera. I put trail cameras before hunting simply because I enjoy them more.

If you aren't yet, start running them on scrapes. In my area scraping started heavy on Oct. 14-virtually no revisits to scrapes before that. There were scrapes that had been made the first week of Oct. but they died until the 14th. I don't run mock scrape cams. Instead I rip off the deer's hard work and find their scrapes that occur every year in the same spot.

I will definitely do that Master Chef, once they start scraping. I almost feel its a waste of time now but it does help to establish patterns and after all I still like to shoot does this time of year.

 

[MRUTVOL]

I get plenty of pics of mature deer but just about all at night and very few in daylight. I think most of the mature deer I get pics of are coming from surrounding areas to feed on the corn or beans and moving back b4 daylight comes to their daytime areas. A deer can travel several miles in just a couple hours if he is intent on going to a food source he likes and feed for a few hours and head back out a couple hours b4 light comes. I have pics of deer that were feeding in corn on a farm that was almost 5 miles away and killed them the next day or 2 on the other farm.

 

[shaggy]

I agree 100% about cameras being checked to regular.

But I wonder if my father in law has an exception. He has about 75 acres that he lives on. Probably daily he is out and about doing something, cutting grass, bush hogging, riding trails thru the woods to get from point a to point b, etc. I am thinking in this situation that it may be a little different. He has killed some 130" and now has one that is pushing 150". The 150" has recently disappeared, although nothing changed as far as his routine. I know the deer could have just moved on, just wondering what yall's thoughts were on this certain situation.

 

[Mike Belt]

Poser...
Next time you go if you hunt around the campground go through the AP gate and down the road to the building on the right. Turn in there and head to the end of the road. Go to the right along the edge of the woodsline and the pasture. It doesn't look like much but we've seen a bunch of deer there and a few good bucks.

 

[Boll Weevil]

Now how do I find them? :D

I�ll answer best I can without being too long-winded. Hopefully others that chase old deer will chime in with their experiences to help get you headed in the right direction.

In my mind, one of the single most important aspects of consistently locating mature deer focuses purely on their behavior�and it�s often very different than young bucks and does. The way I had to look at even the basics required some re-thinking and was somewhat of a process of elimination. I actually had to �unlearn� a bunch of things when I decided to focus on bucks 4.5 years and older.

1) He just DOES NOT have a very high tolerance for any human interaction that he perceives is a threat. To a great extent his movements will be determined by this single, and often overlooked characteristic. He will sometimes choose very unorthodox places to rest and it�s not necessarily the thickest, nastiest, furthest-from-the-road piece of ground. Imagine a heatmap overlaying an aerial of your property and start identifying some of those �hotspots.�

2) Try to begin recognizing those routes that allow him to maintain some advantage as he moves: thermals, wind, visibility, terrain. Some of the best camera sets for old bucks actually might not really have the greatest field-of-view. For example he�ll often walk IN a ditch, gully, or hedgerow�if you just turned the camera to shoot up the length/inside of that hedgerow you�da caught him.

3) Every deer has to eat but I�m one that actually doesn�t believe food is at the very top of his list�it�s staying alive. Identifying the preferred food sources might not be the hard part at all, rather, look at how he�d prefer to enter that spot. For example, maybe it�s an unpicked cornfield or a block of timber that's raining acorns. He�ll often choose to enter from a direction that allows him the ability to pre-check the dinner table visually and will oftentimes loop downwind of a food source for a pretty good piece before entering. Look for his trail paralleling that food source vs. trying to catch him walking out into it. That�s the reason it will be such a faint trail�he�s the only one that uses it.

Obviously nothing is guaranteed, but maybe this will help.

 

[fairchaser]

Now how do I find them? :D

I�ll answer best I can without being too long-winded. Hopefully others that chase old deer will chime in with their experiences to help get you headed in the right direction.

In my mind, one of the single most important aspects of consistently locating mature deer focuses purely on their behavior�and it�s often very different than young bucks and does. The way I had to look at even the basics required some re-thinking and was somewhat of a process of elimination. I actually had to �unlearn� a bunch of things when I decided to focus on bucks 4.5 years and older.

1) He just DOES NOT have a very high tolerance for any human interaction that he perceives is a threat. To a great extent his movements will be determined by this single, and often overlooked characteristic. He will sometimes choose very unorthodox places to rest and it�s not necessarily the thickest, nastiest, furthest-from-the-road piece of ground. Imagine a heatmap overlaying an aerial of your property and start identifying some of those �hotspots.�

2) Try to begin recognizing those routes that allow him to maintain some advantage as he moves: thermals, wind, visibility, terrain. Some of the best camera sets for old bucks actually might not really have the greatest field-of-view. For example he�ll often walk IN a ditch, gully, or hedgerow�if you just turned the camera to shoot up the length/inside of that hedgerow you�da caught him.

3) Every deer has to eat but I�m one that actually doesn�t believe food is at the very top of his list�it�s staying alive. Identifying the preferred food sources might not be the hard part at all, rather, look at how he�d prefer to enter that spot. For example, maybe it�s an unpicked cornfield or a block of timber that's raining acorns. He�ll often choose to enter from a direction that allows him the ability to pre-check the dinner table visually and will oftentimes loop downwind of a food source for a pretty good piece before entering. Look for his trail paralleling that food source vs. trying to catch him walking out into it. That�s the reason it will be such a faint trail�he�s the only one that uses it.

Obviously nothing is guaranteed, but maybe this will help.

Thanks Boll Weevil, those are some good tips.

 

[Jmed]

Find a hot scrape, piss in it, hang cam and walk away. That's how I get my best bucks before and after peak rut

 

[T.J.]

Actually you should go hunt the corn field in five with a trip pod in it...mike let folks find their own spots or at least make sure there is not a stand where your sending every ames tndeer member. Thanks.

 

[Mike Belt]

I'm still at a loss as to where to place a camera to capture big bucks without the aid of bait/mineral sites or outside the pre-rut/scraping period. In no particular order there are a few things I consider.

1) A big, mature buck is NOT the same as 2.5 year old and younger bucks.
2) Mature bucks don't use doe trails unless they're on doe tails.
3) I've never killed a big buck on or near the scrapes where he was photographed.
4) I've seldom seen big bucks prior to or after they were photographed.
5) I've seldom photographed an individual big buck at a scrape more than 2-3 consecutive days.
6) I hunt some semi mature pine thickets. They have raised berms traversing through them: presumably fire breaks. Well prior to scraping activity and during the rut the big bucks travel these. In fact some of our biggest buck pics come off them including a few target bucks.
7) Big bucks love edges and travel them inside and outside the rut. They prefer the soft edges and in particular those between overgrown grass fields, power lines, CRP, etc. and timber.
8) I've almost grown to the point that I don't want a camera hanging near where I want to hunt.

 

[landman]

I'm still at a loss as to where to place a camera to capture big bucks without the aid of bait/mineral sites or outside the pre-rut/scraping period. In no particular order there are a few things I consider.

1) A big, mature buck is NOT the same as 2.5 year old and younger bucks.
2) Mature bucks don't use doe trails unless they're on doe tails.
3) I've never killed a big buck on or near the scrapes where he was photographed.
4) I've seldom seen big bucks prior to or after they were photographed.
5) I've seldom photographed an individual big buck at a scrape more than 2-3 consecutive days.
6) I hunt some semi mature pine thickets. They have raised berms traversing through them: presumably fire breaks. Well prior to scraping activity and during the rut the big bucks travel these. In fact some of our biggest buck pics come off them including a few target bucks.
7) Big bucks love edges and travel them inside and outside the rut. They prefer the soft edges and in particular those between overgrown grass fields, power lines, CRP, etc. and timber.
8) I've almost grown to the point that I don't want a camera hanging near where I want to hunt.

Funnels and pinch points... they all use the same trails
at those spots

 

[Nealmeally]

Have to be on a place where a mature buck is.. That's the main thing..

In and out trying to get a pic of one and moving cameras all the time never helps. The more you are in there walking and looking the less of a chance you have.

Little to no pressure is a must!! In there looking for him and trying to get a pic isn't low pressure... Trying to get pics of mature bucks is something that has to be done very cautious and smart..

 

[Boll Weevil]

Little to no pressure is a must!! In there looking for him and trying to get a pic isn't low pressure... Trying to get pics of mature bucks is something that has to be done very cautious and smart.

Good point and absolutely concur, sir. 100% spot on. Chasing a pic vs. chasing a kill is a very important distinction.

Nailed it.

 

[BSK]

Without attractants or food plots, I find it difficult to get mature bucks on camera. I realize they are few in number but I wonder if it's my camera technique. I use black flash only by the way. Buck sign is limited right now too. Any other suggestions?

Fairchaser,

Unquestionably, the most difficult time to get mature bucks on camera is the period between late-summer baited censuses and when scraping really picks up.

However, the two most productive places I've found are:

1) small feeding areas, such as tiny food plots or patches of preferred food (a single muscadine vine dropping grapes, an early dropping oak, etc).

2) As Mike Belt mentioned, soft habitat edges, such as the edge between a younger pine plantation and more mature hardwoods; just inside the woods from a power-line right-of-way or overgrown/CPR field, etc.

However, as others have pointed out, mature bucks will tolerate almost no obvious human intrusion. I've gotten to the point that if a particular location won't allow the use of my normal camera monitoring practices, I'm just not going to hang a camera there. And the most important of these practices is "no walking." If I have to walk to hang/check a camera, a camera isn't going there. In my opinion, walking to and from a camera is the quickest way to ruin that spot.

 

[REM7]

You got to tie them up really well. :) we dont see many mature deer round my hunting spots cause alot get killed the first 2 years of their life.

 

[fairchaser]

Without attractants or food plots, I find it difficult to get mature bucks on camera. I realize they are few in number but I wonder if it's my camera technique. I use black flash only by the way. Buck sign is limited right now too. Any other suggestions?

Fairchaser,

And the most important of these practices is "no walking." If I have to walk to hang/check a camera, a camera isn't going there. In my opinion, walking to and from a camera is the quickest way to ruin that spot.

I appreciate the suggestions and comments from everyone. I'll be the first one to tell you that you can't take any chances with mature bucks. They simply don't screw around. There are some good thoughts I plan to implement in my camera strategy. At least at Ames, there is always some kind of human intrusion in the whitetail's world. If not from biologists doing tick surveys, loggers, farmers, ranchers or cameras, there is a constant stream of hunters willing to wade into swamps for big bucks. Last season we pressured a mature buck in his home area for several weeks with several people hunting him. He was seen in daylight more than once but nobody could get him. We know he stayed in his area because we got pics of him. They can go nocturnal but they run the risk if they leave their comfort zone they move into even more danger. I personally believe the mature bucks know when the season starts. They just know. You might have to step on them to jump em out of their beds. They don't move, they just get more invisible and illusive. He already knows he's being hunted. He can't afford to let his guard down simply because he has not sensed any recent human intrusion into his world. You can think that you may have fooled him into acting casual in his little play pen but he is on constant alert regardless. You can't use cameras at Ames if you must ride only. Most of us can't even use ATVs. If you limit cameras to approved roads there would be cameras every 200 ft. along the roads only. Besides if you don't walk in someone else will. Good ideas just not practical were I hunt.

 

[Shed Hunter]

Without attractants or food plots, I find it difficult to get mature bucks on camera. I realize they are few in number but I wonder if it's my camera technique. I use black flash only by the way. Buck sign is limited right now too. Any other suggestions?

Fairchaser,

And the most important of these practices is "no walking." If I have to walk to hang/check a camera, a camera isn't going there. In my opinion, walking to and from a camera is the quickest way to ruin that spot.

I appreciate the suggestions and comments from everyone. I'll be the first one to tell you that you can't take any chances with mature bucks. They simply don't screw around. There are some good thoughts I plan to implement in my camera strategy. At least at Ames, there is always some kind of human intrusion in the whitetail's world. If not from biologists doing tick surveys, loggers, farmers, ranchers or cameras, there is a constant stream of hunters willing to wade into swamps for big bucks. Last season we pressured a mature buck in his home area for several weeks with several people hunting him. He was seen in daylight more than once but nobody could get him. We know he stayed in his area because we got pics of him. They can go nocturnal but they run the risk if they leave their comfort zone they move into even more danger. I personally believe the mature bucks know when the season starts. They just know. You might have to step on them to jump em out of their beds. They don't move, they just get more invisible and illusive. He already knows he's being hunted. He can't afford to let his guard down simply because he has not sensed any recent human intrusion into his world. You can think that you may have fooled him into acting casual in his little play pen but he is on constant alert regardless. You can't use cameras at Ames if you must ride only. Most of us can't even use ATVs. If you limit cameras to approved roads there would be cameras every 200 ft. along the roads only. Besides if you don't walk in someone else will. Good ideas just not practical were I hunt.

Good post.

Deer do not see us as danger until we give them reason to. If I'm not mistaken 102, made a great post recently on this subject. So long as we do not interact negatively with deer they have no reason to fear us. If human activity is common and not harmful to deer, they accept it. When you start shooting/shooting at a lot of deer, they will catch on.

This isn't a realistic situation for most areas though. Suburban hunting is an example that is common but most properties you simply aren't going to want to invade the area a lot.

 

[ffmedic]

Fairchaser
On your reply about it taking 3 days to resume activity after placing a cam how many times have you witnessed that happening?