Understanding a trail cam photo (am I correct?)

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bowmike
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Understanding a trail cam photo (am I correct?)

Unread postby bowmike » Thu Oct 03, 2013 1:42 am

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This camera was placed at the lower left of the cliff set up about 80 yards south west of the windmill. I have this set up on the trail that I felt a buck would be walking to get to his bed on the point in the upper right section on the map. The photo of this buck was taken at 8:30 in the am. Do you think this photo was taken of him working his way to his bed. I panicked about having the old flash type cam out while I wold be hunting. My stand will be about 15 yards from where this photo was taken.

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He is not a monster as many of you guys get on camera but this is an average "decent" buck for this area. I would like to harvest this buck. Do you feel I am correct in thinking that the buck is working towards his bed. The only reason I am puzzled is the wind was S SW this day. i would anticipate him wanting to be able to scent the top on a north wind. If he is bedding on the opposite side he could be hugging the cliff and then he would have a decent wind to pick up scent if he is in the middle of the point overlooking the trail. 8:30 is a bit late for him to be getting to his bed. I am contemplating that his bed may be to the south west of this point and he is up on his feet browsing.

The conclusions I am coming up with are:
that his bed has got to be somewhere close by being that it is this early and he is on his feet.
The amount of acorns on the ground are suggesting that this area would be a primary food source for him.
The day before I had a picture of a deer at 7:47 but it was jumping over the log and its head was down. i am not positive that it was or was not this buck but think that the deer are browsing this in the AM.

My stand is to the south of where the photo was taken so this deer would not smell me on a South wind, and north approach. Also If i climb up on a North wind, my scent would blow over him, I would not cross the trail so I feel that on either set I would be able to hunt this "undetected". When I first cam across this spot, there were clumpy larger "poopies" to quote Dan and feel that this was his. This would mean that he would be frequenting this area. I put the camera out 2 days before this picture so I feel i am not spooking him. I am not going back in there until Saturday so this area will have 3 more days to cool off.

Any insight is appreciated. Thanks in advance.


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Re: Understanding a trail cam photo (am I correct?)

Unread postby hunter_mike » Thu Oct 03, 2013 1:55 am

He looks like a nice buck! Hopefully you can figure him out

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Re: Understanding a trail cam photo (am I correct?)

Unread postby dreaming bucks » Thu Oct 03, 2013 2:13 am

I would think that if that pic is taken at 8:30 in the morning, he is very close to his bedding at that time..... In my opinion, it's not so much the camera being there that spooks them, but you putting your scent in there everytime you check the camera..... but who knows, every buck is different....

The moon transit ( overhead ) for that day, was 9:27am...... that also might be why he was on his feet those days late in the morning....

my .02
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Re: Understanding a trail cam photo (am I correct?)

Unread postby bowmike » Thu Oct 03, 2013 2:28 am

I agree with my scent being there but I did not want a deer to come into my shooting lane and have it get spooked by the sound and run off. I am done in there for now, just hope that I did not ruin that spot. there is constant human presence around this area all be it quads, or mushroom pickers or hunters, but then again they are not right on the trail.
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Re: Understanding a trail cam photo (am I correct?)

Unread postby Stanley » Thu Oct 03, 2013 2:48 am

I like your thought process. I don't like the fact you are setting up where you have been checking that camera. Think of it like this; You have maybe one opportunity to see a buck where you expect him to be. You set the camera up 2 weeks before you get him on camera. You check the camera and sure enough he is on there. Problem is you now have put fresh human scent in the area where you plan to hunt.

It is a double edged sword sometimes. Without the camera you have no knowledge of him being there. With the camera you are leaving a lot of human scent where you expect to hunt. What I like to do is set my cameras up where I expect deer to be and have no intention of hunting. This way you know the buck is in the area and aren't contaminating the hunting site with human scent before the hunt.

I have cameras out right now, the ones I have in areas where I might hunt I wont check until after I am done hunting for the year. I will check the cameras in areas I have no intention of hunting this year. I can use that information for next year hopefully or subsequent years.

It's kind of like shooting pool, the ball you make is not the ball that wins the game its 3 or 4 or 5 balls down the line that win the game. You can't win the pool game by making the first ball but you can lose the game by not making the first ball.

Good luck I hope you kill that buck.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: Understanding a trail cam photo (am I correct?)

Unread postby bowmike » Thu Oct 03, 2013 3:16 am

Thanks and a ton of knowledge in that last post. i am just so eager to get a better pin point on the deer but this was all a 100% topo scouted spot, i just put the cam up there 2 weeks ago. I wish i could trust in myself more, i knew a decent buck would be in there and using that spot, just "HAD" to get a picture of him. I could see me falling into my old ways of hunting travle corridors to see deer and not a buck I am after if I did not get the buck on cam.

I hope i didn't just fall on the double edged sword. I know this area gets a ton of pressure, and was hoping to get close to a buck and have a one up on the others. I would bet 10 dollars that this buck is on at least 3 or 4 cameras where I hunt, I just think I am going to be a lot closer on my set up for killing him.

I know that there are some bigger bucks in the area, and every year, besides this one I would have at least 2 over 120 and normall one big one in the 130's. I stayed away from putting out any food and such on cams this year.
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Re: Understanding a trail cam photo (am I correct?)

Unread postby bowmike » Thu Oct 03, 2013 3:17 am

My avatar is just one of those bigger bucks but from 3 years ago.
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Re: Understanding a trail cam photo (am I correct?)

Unread postby Buckfever » Thu Oct 03, 2013 11:28 am

Delete thins one I forgot attribution to the quote.
Last edited by Buckfever on Thu Oct 03, 2013 11:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Understanding a trail cam photo (am I correct?)

Unread postby Buckfever » Thu Oct 03, 2013 11:30 am

Stanley wrote:
I have cameras out right now, the ones I have in areas where I might hunt I wont check until after I am done hunting for the year. I will check the cameras in areas I have no intention of hunting this year. I can use that information for next year hopefully or subsequent years.
.


Just so brilliant it deserves being highlighted.
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bowmike
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Re: Understanding a trail cam photo (am I correct?)

Unread postby bowmike » Sat Oct 05, 2013 12:15 am

Got some disheartening news. My dad was travling the windmill roads on Wednesday and told me he saw a jeep parked about 200 yards from where I will be hunting. I knew that this area would have guys but did not think they would be so close. I am going to go in super early tomorow and park right where he did. Gotta love public land war fare. LOL
NEXT YEAR I' HOLDING OUT FOR A BIG ONE!!


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