Late season trail cameras

[3dog]

This is my farm, located in CWD central, I commonly refer to it as the "deer desert" But it has been pulling in some deer the past few years, I think largly in part to late season plots plots drawing them in.

A little about the map:
Thin green line shows property border
The map is off a county website / #'s shown are section #'s
Thick yellow lines are corn
Thick dark green line is beans
Lime green rectangle is fall oats
Red dots are tree stands
Blue dots are water holes
Small orange circles are cameras

You have to look close but on the south border of section 2131 there are 4 cameras hung relatively close to one another. There a little history behind when I hung so many in a small area, starting in 08. Christmas day I trudged back there to check cameras and a nice 8 I'd been chasing was there in daylight the morning before. I hunted him but no luck. In 09 the 8 was still hanging around, much bigger this year.
(CLICK THE PIC TO PLAY)


I hunted him over Christmas again in 09. No dice but did see a lot of deer, last two hunts had good cold weather and saw 13 deer, 6 were bucks. This is huge for the "deer desert" I was out of state for the last weekend of late rifle so Brother Joe gladly filled in for me. He hunted hard in absolutely brutal weather and got a crack at the big 8 on the last evening but came up short.

On to this year and the camera placement. A lot, if not most of the deer using my plots are not bedded on my property. Keeping tabs for the last 3 years show most of the big bucks enter from where I have the camera spread out along the south fence line. I did the same thing last year but with only 2 cameras. You'd get good picks the day after the hang then nothing, the bucks would come in and smell where you were then vacate that immediate area. In this case they were only moving 20 to 30 yards off, the snow packed trails gave it away. This year I'm trying to cover the entire entrance to the food, we'll see how it goes.

I know there's a lot of different opinions on trail cameras and how helpful or damaging they can be. I thought to throw this post on here to get some opinions, so have at it!

[magicman54494]

Just a thought. If you know where they come from why not forget the cameras and hunt the spot when conditions are right. First time in could be a winner. Besides knowing what's there they (the cameras) can only hurt you. You can put out the cameras after season to take inventory.

[Hodag Hunter]

I see the (4) cameras on the bottom, how far apart.....all of them 20-30 yards from each other? 80-120 yard stretch?

Do cameras spook deer, should say your human scent checking cameras, my opinion yes and no. Really big bucks may not tolerate scent one bit, but I'm mainly hunting good 2.5 year olds and a few 3.5's, don't have the knowledge to constantaly get on 4.5 and older deer. Some or most of these deer (young bucks) do tolerate the scent IF there is a reward.

I've explained my late season stratergies beforehand, right or wrong, by placing a little corn and then trying and backtrack the animal closer to his bed. This tatic is not fool proof but has worked in the past. When I find this ambush spot, sometimes 100-400 yards away I don't place a camera there. If there is no feed/reward for the deer, then yes I can easly see where the deer will just skirt the area a little because of human scent. I've had this happen in the past when first "hunting" with trail cameras, placing them in areas planning to hunt pre-rut, like funnels or when I did hunt over bait a lot. A few times did have the one or two pictures of a buck and poof, he's gone.

In your case 3dog maybe keep the cameras closer to the food and just hunt the trail crossing the borders....might work. It's your land and you know what's best, the (4) cameras may not be doing much damage if there already is human activity in that area on a consistant basis.

[DropTyne]

One thing that I tried this year that helped me was something that Black Squirrel taught me. Wunderground.com has a weather history section of their website. By taking trail cam pics and personal observations of bucks and relating them back to what the wind/weather was doing on certain days I was able to put together a pattern of when the bucks are bedding there and when they are coming to the food source, what weather conditions etc.

This way you may be able to back the cameras off a hair so that you don't spoil the area you intend to hunt, especially when that area is so close to the fence. On the day the conditions are right you walk right past your cameras close to the fencline and it is a virgin sit without disturbance.

I'm not sure this helps, maybe its something you've tried before or know about, but I swore by it this year and worked good.

I would also utilize the moon guide too, that way you can create a little database of that area so utilizing moon, weather, wind, and what came in during those conditions. Then when you go in there you know you have alot of things in your favor.

[Hodag Hunter]

Thanks for the tip Drop Tyne and Black Squirrel on the wunderground. Just checked it.....cool info by the day.

[hunt n nut]

First off, looks like a cool set up you got there, Bob. Its fun using trail cameras, just to see what you got out there, when they're moving ect. I try to keep my cameras close to food sources and scrapes in the fall as long as they are where my scent would be pretty much anyway. I keep hearing how deer are spooked by trail cameras and we have witnessed it often from bucks to does to fawns jittery when going by cameras. My son was sitting on our food plot this fall, we moved the camera that morning (which we try to move cameras at the very least every other time we check'em) and a fawn picked it out before it even got its picture taken and got spooky. I often joked about bungy cording a board onto trees all over the place, then see what they'd do? Every so often though as it happened this year one of our bigger bucks was very photogenic and we probably got his picture the most...go figure...Good luck

[Bucky]

I think they are beneficial to help figure things out... but it sounds like you know what your target animal has done for the past couple of years. I would go without this late season.

Something that I tried this year and worked really well on open areas with food (looks like it would work well in this situation) is a Day6 Plotwatcher. It is a camera that takes continous pics all day long during daylight at a wide angle (software is provided with the camera to go back through the pics at 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x speed and it allows you to zoom in images - so essentially it is like watching a video of the area). I would set it up out in the food on a stake to try and cover all 4 entrances that you have marked with red dots (cams). Not only will this camera catch activity coming off those trails but it will show how deer work through the food plots and which way they tend to go when feeding off the food. This new verision of trail camera provides a lot more information and it is a nice tool to have if you got the extra $$$ (run around $200). That way you can approach the camera area through the food (deer are way more tolerant of scent in plots than back in cover/timber) and still "watch" with the camera. I often drive to mine in fields to leave no ground scent at all. Deer are used to smelling farm equipment etc in those fields. This time of year a snowmobile might work well... (I have not used mine in super cold weather conditions by the way, but it worked awesome all hunting season).

FYI - I'm not trying to sell anything, just trying to provide a new technique from my experience this past fall. My buddy used one as well with great results....

[3dog]

First off, glad I took the time to post this, lots of good info in the replies. A lot of me is with Magic, Bucky, others why mess with what you already know is a good thing??…. I do think the 8 point from 09 is dead, did not get a single pic of anything that looked like him this year. I started off by just hanging 1 camera in there the first part of this month to see what was around. Had 2 other shooters show up the day after I hung and nothing beyond that, typical. Even tho I’ve seen this sooooooo many times before it still amazes me these animals are smart enough to make attempts to learn you thru tracking your scent. Anyways I thought, on it, I’m going to cover the whole run, they’re going to have to come thru here or starve. Hodag, three of the cameras are 30 yards apart and one is about 80. They’re all on a logging road which sees a little human activity during bow and a lot during gun when the relatives come to hunt. I believe in this too, there’s less damage if the cameras are hung in areas with consistent human activity. I also believe in setting them so you can check off a truck or 4 wheeler. All my summer/fall hangs are placed this way on the farm, not stepping on the ground is a big plus. Anyways, back to the point after reading the replies and thinking it thru some more I’m done checking those cams unless I have another reason to be in that area which the only one I can think of is if I shoot one in there. I’ll just keep batteries with me when I hunt so I’m ready if the opportunity arises.

Droptyne, I’ve been on that weather site for 3 seasons and use it for the exact reasons you noted. Joe and I keep all the info in an excel sheet so we can sort by winds, time of year, ect. To be honest, there are so few deer in the areas we hunt we are yet to see any real heavy patterns per property or individual animal. Have picked up a few other things, like a dropping barometer, this is really big for early season evening hunts over or near food sources. I also think keeping a virgin area out in front of you is HUGE. When that buck comes in it’s critical to know he’s not going to pick-up your ground or airborne scent.

I’ve heard about those Plot Watchers Bucky and like to concept, do you have any pics you can post? Also, how far out will it pick up say a 130 class buck? I guess to clarify, if the buck is 50, 75 or 100 yards at what point can you no longer see the head gear?

[Bucky]

I will post some pics in the next few days... gonna be slightly busy with the fam. If you know the deer well in the area from past trail cams, I think you can easily tell from 50-75 yards which buck it is... 100 yards it gets harder... I can post some pics with estimated distances.

Driving to cameras and sets with no ground scent is a great tip for those that are able to accomplish it (field edges, logging roads, etc) I use creeks, railroad beds, drainages full of rocks (hills) much the same way.

[DropTyne]

I am also interested in this camera. I have seen them in the store but wanted to hear what others thought before the purchase.

[Bucky]

Here are a few plot pictures...

40 yards or so...




close ups




Buck I shot this year with bow... roughly 50-60 yards