Mature bucks and trail cams...
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Re: Mature bucks and trail cams...
On a managed farm in Iowa I have hunted a few times I have watched bucks avoid cameras a lot... Way to often to be coinincidental. And yes, they are black flash.
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Re: Mature bucks and trail cams...
dan wrote:On a managed farm in Iowa I have hunted a few times I have watched bucks avoid cameras a lot... Way to often to be coinincidental. And yes, they are black flash.
That sort of thing made me wonder if cameras are emitting a frequency of noise that we can't hear and deer can. Scents an issue too of course.
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Re: Mature bucks and trail cams...
JoeRE wrote:I have noticed many deer avoid cameras just like that. Not just big bucks either. I see it every time I put out a camera in the snow. I use IR cameras but they are not black flask so I know they are detecting some light as well as maybe some tiny noise, maybe ultrasonic so we cannot hear it (like "silent" dog whistles). Has anyone ever studied cameras to see if they emit noises deer could detect - probably outside our range of hearing? Consistently deer start using trails further away from the cams once they are there, if there is no trail they make a trail in the snow far enough away. Its very obvious in snow.
My normal routine is slip in, hang a cam and come back and pick it up 2-4 weeks later. No checking it periodically just two trips in and out and I probably won't put a camera back there till the following year if at all. I started putting cams way back from trails/scrapes etc, 30-40 feet or however far away the particular camera can detect and high up too pointed down. That has helped, I get more repeat pictures of big bucks - I used to expect to get a big buck on cam once and that's it, they generally avoid it afterward.
I trade information with some of the neighbors. I find when I get a buck on camera and he isn't showing up again it's because he is moving around. He will be on a trail camera 3/4 mile away on property I can't hunt. It's good to have a relationship with the neighbors. The areas I hunt are not huge so a bucks core area will be bigger than what I have access to.
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: Mature bucks and trail cams...
JoeRE wrote:dan wrote:On a managed farm in Iowa I have hunted a few times I have watched bucks avoid cameras a lot... Way to often to be coinincidental. And yes, they are black flash.
That sort of thing made me wonder if cameras are emitting a frequency of noise that we can't hear and deer can. Scents an issue too of course.
That's what got me thinking about this year with my cams....... I thought maybe I could just put a couple up high in the tree, maybe around July.... and then don't go back to check them until the very first time I hunt that nearby spot. When I leave from hunting I could switch out cards and leave it again until I hunt the pre-rut.....
But if it is indeed some sort of sound from a high frequency of some sort, they are going to know it's there reguardless if they smell me or not..... I still think I'll try it, but it really makes me wonder what they are picking up on..... I have to believe it's the scent from people checking them too much, so they relate the smell to just seeing a camera, therefor avoiding it....
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Re: Mature bucks and trail cams...
Stanley wrote:JoeRE wrote:I have noticed many deer avoid cameras just like that. Not just big bucks either. I see it every time I put out a camera in the snow. I use IR cameras but they are not black flask so I know they are detecting some light as well as maybe some tiny noise, maybe ultrasonic so we cannot hear it (like "silent" dog whistles). Has anyone ever studied cameras to see if they emit noises deer could detect - probably outside our range of hearing? Consistently deer start using trails further away from the cams once they are there, if there is no trail they make a trail in the snow far enough away. Its very obvious in snow.
My normal routine is slip in, hang a cam and come back and pick it up 2-4 weeks later. No checking it periodically just two trips in and out and I probably won't put a camera back there till the following year if at all. I started putting cams way back from trails/scrapes etc, 30-40 feet or however far away the particular camera can detect and high up too pointed down. That has helped, I get more repeat pictures of big bucks - I used to expect to get a big buck on cam once and that's it, they generally avoid it afterward.
I trade information with some of the neighbors. I find when I get a buck on camera and he isn't showing up again it's because he is moving around. He will be on a trail camera 3/4 mile away on property I can't hunt. It's good to have a relationship with the neighbors. The areas I hunt are not huge so a bucks core area will be bigger than what I have access to.
Yea that happens to me too, a lot of big farm country bucks are not homebodies and move around a lot, but I still noticed a difference in getting more repeat pics when I concealed the camera as best as possible. A lot of time bucks come into community scrapes all lathered up so they ignore cameras more often there, but where I saw the biggest difference in getting repeat pictures was on trails, ditch crossings and the like.
Ive gotten pics of the same buck on cams a mile and a half apart as the crow flies, that's happened to me twice - they move a lot not just in the rut but between summer, fall and winter in farm country. I once killed a buck late season close to a mile from where I had him on camera in the summer, and my dad killed a buck a mile away from where I passed the deer and got him on cam in bow season. I think those sort of bucks are more routine than homebody bucks honesty.
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Re: Mature bucks and trail cams...
Well I tend to think that certain deer react to cameras a certain way. I have a picture of a buck that looks like it's ready to spook from the flash of the camera. I started using s couple of LW sticks and getting my cams high. I'm going to use a black flash cam this summer.
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- Bigb
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Re: Mature bucks and trail cams...
I keep all my cameras around 8 feet and pointing down at trails 20 or so feet away from where I want pictures to be taken. When I approach my cameras I come in from where the deer won't be walking by. I don't check my camera very often either. Maybe once every 6 weeks. Maybe I missed it but did he check his camera in the last few days? He might have just enough scent around that the buck knew something wasn't right. When I put my cameras out, I don't expect to get every deer in the woods, I just want to get a few pictures of the bucks that area around. I have two cameras out right now that I haven't checked since October. They didn't give me any information this year, but next year I can learn from the and use it to my advantage for next season.
This year we put a camera about 30 yards from the road on an old tracer path over a ditch that it overgrown that connects to about 3 acres of THICK cedars and brush in a small ravine. It was so close to the road, we decided to put an old stand there and a camera just for quick hunts where we might be late getting out or in. We didn't expect much since we walk by this spot half the time when entering the woods. Sure enough, first camera check in October we had a lot of deer on there, second camera check in November we had every mature buck on the farm on this camera. There was a lot of scent in this area but deer didn't think we were a threat there I guess. Deer might have also known that area was a threat where your buddy had the camera. Too much scent or checking it too often.
This year we put a camera about 30 yards from the road on an old tracer path over a ditch that it overgrown that connects to about 3 acres of THICK cedars and brush in a small ravine. It was so close to the road, we decided to put an old stand there and a camera just for quick hunts where we might be late getting out or in. We didn't expect much since we walk by this spot half the time when entering the woods. Sure enough, first camera check in October we had a lot of deer on there, second camera check in November we had every mature buck on the farm on this camera. There was a lot of scent in this area but deer didn't think we were a threat there I guess. Deer might have also known that area was a threat where your buddy had the camera. Too much scent or checking it too often.
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Re: Mature bucks and trail cams...
I noticed I almost never get a buck pic in the daytime and the night pics , they are always looking at the cam. They must see it. I also noticed my BIL 's trail cam pic are a pic, then 30 seconds later it takes another pic . The big bucks never hang around long enough to get the second pic taken, so they do spook.
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Re: Mature bucks and trail cams...
ihookem wrote:I noticed I almost never get a buck pic in the daytime and the night pics , they are always looking at the cam. They must see it. I also noticed my BIL 's trail cam pic are a pic, then 30 seconds later it takes another pic . The big bucks never hang around long enough to get the second pic taken, so they do spook.
Ihookem, try and raise your cameras about 3 feet and you'll be amazed at the difference. I used to put all my cameras at hip level and would get deer starring at the camera all the time. Now, at eight feet, I have only gotten one buck that routinely picks on the camera (See the lsat picture) He comes through during the daylight with no problem but at night, he always looks at it. All the other bucks seem to never pick it up. I think I have that camera at 8 feet too. The other pictures are from a camera that I put up at the beginning of October just out of curiosity of what is walking through so I didn't have a chance to trim and put it high. I never realized the amount of bucks we have walking through there. THe two pictures show a buck that walks right by and never notices. The other buck (second to last picture) I kid you not, has found the two cameras that we have at hip high and sits there and licks the lens of the camera for a few minutes giving us plenty of close ups. He was a borderline shooter this year (Who am I kidding, I would have shot!) but next year he will be a giant. I still hope he has a fascination with our cameras next year too!
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Re: Mature bucks and trail cams...
Good idea. I wonder if at this point bucks avoid an area altogether .
- gjs4
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Re: Mature bucks and trail cams...
I actually put in cams in places to inventory and flare deer with a purpose...
Green and growing... Or red and rotting
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Re: Mature bucks and trail cams...
Ive personally watched big deer come walking down a trail and at last minute cut off to avoid a camera iv placed weeks ago and continue walking that same trail. Crazy Stuff
- Stanley
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Re: Mature bucks and trail cams...
I find it interesting how many guys have bucks avoiding cameras. When I set a camera it is not in a place where I can watch the camera to see what is avoiding it? I do have bucks stay in front of the cameras for multiple shots on many occasions, day and night black and white flash.
The buck I killed this year wasn't on my trail cameras very much. He wasn't avoiding the cameras he was on the neighbors property on his cameras.
The buck I killed this year wasn't on my trail cameras very much. He wasn't avoiding the cameras he was on the neighbors property on his cameras.
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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