Have Game Cameras Taken Away From "The Hunt"

[VilasCo]

I wouldn't say that trail cameras have taken away from "the hunt". They are great tools to observe deer and other critters while we can't be in the woods. Personally, in a big woods scenario, buck pictures give me added motivation when deer sightings aren't frequent. If a hunter wants to pass smaller bucks in hopes of the big one walking past, that is their choice. If the reason to pass a small one is to impress people or avoid embarrassment then "the hunt" is lost. With no doubt mainstream hunting media is to blame for the obsession with inches. Of the deer I have killed, my favorite memory is a five pointer I got still hunting.

[Swampbuck]

I haven't found that they are such a huge advantage. In fact even on good sign, in big featureless woods settings with no bait or draw it's quite tough to get pics of a buck...

[ Post made via Android ]

[IkemanTx]

I think the same question could be asked about shining. Many states don't allow shining even out of season or without a firearm. The inventory information gathered by shining often times provides more specific information about a buck's routine than cameras can. And, it doesn't require NEAR as accurate placement to gain that Intel.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[mainebowhunter]

I haven't found that they are such a huge advantage. In fact even on good sign, in big featureless woods settings with no bait or draw it's quite tough to get pics of a buck...

[ Post made via Android ]

Funny, but I have always looked at it as a feat to kill a buck you got on camera. Here in the Northeast...very few guys are killing bucks they get on camera. Sometimes, guys actually give up. I was one of them back a number of years ago. My scouting skills were not good enough to interpret what I was seeing on camera. So for me, killing bucks I get on camera was a challenge for me...because I found it pretty hard to do.

On the flipside, I can understand what your talking about. When every buck has a name...and everyone is hunting "jeremy" or "phil" or "larry" even though the "hitlist" is comprised of 12 bucks, 9 of which the hunter has 1 nighttime picture of. And if you kill a buck you don't have one camera, thats ok BUT your not really at the same level as guys hunting bucks they "know". lol.

I am not sure its game cameras that have taken away from the hunt but more of the exposure on TV.

[tim]

i guess my response wasn't completely accurate cause I do have farms that I hunt that I don't put cams on. it doesn't stop me from sitting dark to dark . I still have the motivation to sit without seing pics of whats out tthere. although I do listen to the farmers when they tell what they are seing .

[P&YBuck1]

I may not be good with my camera placement but I do not get many big bucks on mine until around the time the rut starts kicking in.

To me cameras are like what others have said a confidence booster since you can see there are deer around. :)

Another thing I have seen is that even the small bucks on my cameras are not the ones I see while hunting live, so where did those camera deer go?

Just this year right by my parents cabin we found a huge 12-point buck which died of some unknown reason. We have many cameras nearby due to the cabin being broken into. Neither our family or my cousins had this buck on their camera nor saw him during the hunting season..... where the heck did he come from?????

[JoeRE]

Yes they have taken away from the hunt. Most of us are camera addicts whether we want to admit it. We spend a ton of time and money on our cams and the stories of successes on bucks directly a result of camera information seem to be few and far between. Without cameras, we probably would focus all the more on actual hunting and scouting and maybe would be better off? Often what we do with cams is counterproductive to what we should be doing because we want one more pretty picture. I know we say they help us keep hunting, but that seems hard to prove. I have a couple stories where I think deer I killed directly resulted from camera pictures, but a lot more that didn't work out including some that my camera use probably hurt more than helped.

Wanna prove otherwise - put all your cams on a shelf and don't touch them for a whole year. I think I have heard one or two stories of guys doing that EVER. I want to do that but haven't worked up the nerve yet - so yea, addict

Don't get me wrong, if you like using cams use them! But be realistic about what they do and don't do. They are sort of a parallel activity to hunting, overlapping a bit but not entirely.

[hunter_mike]

I dont feel that way right now but definitely see the o.p.'s point.

For me, i still find it very challenging to get pics of a big buck on trail cam. So the limited success keeps things challenging/exciting. But i am hanging cams high on public, on terrain features and natural sign with few to no crop fields.

[ Post made via Android ]

[IkemanTx]

My biggest question every time this conversation comes up is what is it about this specific technology jump that makes IT what is taking away from hunting.

Are high resolution satellite images not WAY more informative and have much more impact on scouting/hunting plans and strategies than the pics you get from a cam? Heck, how many times have you scouted a place, and placed a cam, without first looking at google earth or CalTopo? If I have an addiction, aside from hunting itself, it is topo maps and sat images. I spend hours pouring over the same images, trying to gleen any hidden information that might show itself.

Why isn't it modern compound bows? We have sights that glow in the dark, calibrate to unbelievable accuracy, and require little strength to hold back once drawn. (I saw a video recently where the weight of the bow itself was all it took to hold full draw...)

Why isn't it the ease with which our gear gets us up a tree. We have ultralight, specifically engineered gear designed to do for us in a matter of minutes what used to require several trips with building materials and tools? Is the fact that we can now so easily set up with no previous disturbance to the area?

And as I previously mentioned... Shining, where legal, provides a HUGE amount of information over very large areas relatively easily. Many guys have admitted to not hunting certain bedding areas due to seeing no target bucks utilizing the immediate area while shining. Isn't this the same thing as hunting a bedding area that showed a nice buck on cam?

I don't get why cameras are always the scape goat for "technology going too far" and this is coming from someone who didn't start running my first until this January.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[cbigbear]

I tend to agree with Ike.

As far as inventorying with cams, I don't see the difference from glassing, shinning, riding roads, talking to local postal workers or road graders, etc. The main purpose is to gain Intel a mature buck is frequenting a certain area. If you live 15-30 minutes from your grounds & spend 3-4 times a week glassing & shinning or scouting for tracks make you a better woodsman/hunter than a guy who live 2+ hrs away & spend hrs per day studying maps to deploy 20 cams?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[goldtip5575]

Yes they have taken away from the hunt. Most of us are camera addicts whether we want to admit it. We spend a ton of time and money on our cams and the stories of successes on bucks directly a result of camera information seem to be few and far between. Without cameras, we probably would focus all the more on actual hunting and scouting and maybe would be better off? Often what we do with cams is counterproductive to what we should be doing because we want one more pretty picture. I know we say they help us keep hunting, but that seems hard to prove. I have a couple stories where I think deer I killed directly resulted from camera pictures, but a lot more that didn't work out including some that my camera use probably hurt more than helped.

Wanna prove otherwise - put all your cams on a shelf and don't touch them for a whole year. I think I have heard one or two stories of guys doing that EVER. I want to do that but haven't worked up the nerve yet - so yea, addict

Don't get me wrong, if you like using cams use them! But be realistic about what they do and don't do. They are sort of a parallel activity to hunting, overlapping a bit but not entirely.

Ill put my cameras away for a year if others can leave their video cams and cell phones out of the woods. .

[IkemanTx]

My opinion is simply based off the"wonder" of a hunt If cams, cell cams scouting with drones is ur thing hammer down. I go I tnto the woods with a sense of wonder that ties me back to being 14 and I would not trade that for a pic of a buck any day. If ur after effecient hunts and real time information ur living in the right time

[ Post made via iPad ]

I think you nailed it right there. For me, scouting is where I satiate my sense of wonder and adventure. I can trample around and look at everything, change directions because of a random observation, even walk a mile out of my way because an insignificant WHY popped into my head. Sometimes I just burn an hour sitting because the bluebirds are really active in an area, or sometimes I just watch the entrance to a beehive (I am fascinated by bees, but that's another story). I guess, in my mind, scouting is lenient but hunting is serious business. No need for strict, zero deviation plans of attack while scouting. I am always 14 when I'm scouting. Anything that makes you feel 14 again should be kept around.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[iowa whitetail]

I love cams, I think it's more of a challenge to get a buck you have on cam. If you pass bucks to kill t he one you want but still don't get him, well think ho much bigger they will all be next year. I've spent most season's empty handed but its worth it when you get the one you want.

[ Post made via Android ]

[mainebowhunter]

I love cams, I think it's more of a challenge to get a buck you have on cam. If you pass bucks to kill t he one you want but still don't get him, well think ho much bigger they will all be next year. I've spent most season's empty handed but its worth it when you get the one you want.

[ Post made via Android ]

And that right there is where / how the cams have revolutionized hunting. I think it does more to tell what IS out there so sit back and be patient. That attitude is new, not something your really heard much about 20yrs ago.

[olivertractor]

They're a small piece to the whole change in hunting, good or bad obviously that's individualized.

For me years ago it gave me Intel I needed to jump into just wanting to shoot mature bucks, that was big for me.

Nowadays I still use them but hunting fresh sign is more of a direction I want to go

[ Post made via Android ]