Trail Cams - How Close Is to Close

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Swampbuck
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Trail Cams - How Close Is to Close

Unread postby Swampbuck » Sat Mar 08, 2014 6:37 am

How closeis too close to a bucks bedding area?

I've recently been trying to run cams for inventory in the offseason and leaving them for months, but the public swamp is hunt is extremely thick and flooded so once i get 50-100 yds from bedding areas evidence of travel is non-existent.

The only way i can feel confident of catching the bucks travel is placing the cams somewhat within the bedding areas, yet i have been hesitant to this at the expense of risking blowing them out

Is it better to place on the very edges and hope for a passing pic over time? Or will they tolerate them if they are not on top the bed?


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Stanley
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Re: Trail Cams - How Close Is to Close

Unread postby Stanley » Sat Mar 08, 2014 6:46 am

When I set up cameras I look at the big picture. How will this help me? Will I get information that will help me in the upcoming years months. Lets say you find a good bed. If you set up a camera and leave until you are done hunting, you stand a good chance of getting information that could help you down the line.

If you set up a camera and push the buck out by checking too often you have gained nothing. Distance isn't a big of factor as time.
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: Trail Cams - How Close Is to Close

Unread postby JoeRE » Sat Mar 08, 2014 7:50 am

I hunt very different terrain than you, more hills than swamps, but I keep my cameras close to food sources instead of bedding - meaning not where I am hunting most of the time. I think using cams to pinpoint where a buck is bedding so you can then go hunt it has the potential to be the wrong approach because of the impact, unless you do it like Stan does and leave it there a long time to use the info you get the following year.

I just use them to see what is in the area and depend on my scouting to tell me where a buck is probably bedding if he shows up on my cams.

I usually let a camera set 2-ish weeks then pull it and move it somewhere else - that way I can cover lots of different spots, thousands of acres in all, in a few months and still keep it pretty low impact, one trip in and one trip out and often I don't hang a camera back in that area till the next year.
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Re: Trail Cams - How Close Is to Close

Unread postby Swampbuck » Sat Mar 08, 2014 8:00 am

Thats part of my issue, there arent defined food sources... They browse on an assortment of food that is usually very close to bedding..

I am more or less finding as many bedding areas as i can and then attempting to inventory them for the next season, by leaving them cams in the area for months as Stand suggests. I know its not the most productive method for inventory but without a food source draw its all i can think of
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yungbuck
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Re: Trail Cams - How Close Is to Close

Unread postby yungbuck » Tue Mar 11, 2014 2:04 pm

i have cameras on a farm just to get inventory of some deer...to see if the property is worth my time
i was surprised to find it holds more and bigger deer than I had seen in season...i think farmland is different because the food sources are easy to spot- wish I could be more help. My hope is to get pictures of bucks on the property through the summer just for fun, but when I pull it in the fall (only time I will check it) its going to confirm for me that these bucks stuck around and it will help me determine how much effort I give to this parcel.

i set mine pretty far off the bedding area because if I do check it because I am like a kid in the candy shop- i do not want to get the big ones weary
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Mario
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Re: Trail Cams - How Close Is to Close

Unread postby Mario » Tue Mar 11, 2014 3:04 pm

Stanley wrote:If you set up a camera and push the buck out by checking too often you have gained nothing. Distance isn't a big of factor as time.



X2 I think the number of times you check it, or the travel routes you take in placing it can have the biggest impact. If you are stage hunting an area slowing making your way back to a prime bedding area then I would possibly just set the camera up after I hunt each stage. But you always run the risk of leaving your scent with the camera.


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