multiple bucks on cam PA

[superblackhawk]

Got up to camp saturday before opener and pulled my cam. At least 4 nice mountain 2g bucks,

Man I'm, psyched. fast forward to end of week I did not see one of the bucks.

Now i know they dont just stay right in that spot, but I posted, still hunted that area and the outskirts.

Anyone have any advice on what you do when you have nice bucks on the cameras and how to pursue them? Not real expecienced, so anything anyone can add would be great.

Thanks

[mauser06]

When were the pics taken???

Anything between about now and Halloween is a gamble..unless you regularly get pics of them on the same camera...


After a few years of running cameras, I've come to the conclusion that after about Halloween, you just never know...between the rut and pressure, they can go just disappear from an area.

I have pics of numerous bucks that I've never actually seen alive. Noone I know has. None I ever heard of being killed. Some bigguns for the area that I feel like odds are high I would have heard about.


Cameras are great for inventory and figuring out how and when deer use an area...but just never know if they actually live there or happened to pass by.

[elk yinzer]

Like mauser said, when were the pictures, date and time? I wouldn't put very much stock in trailcam photos. You know good bucks are there, now you have to put in the time scouting to figure them out.

Anything during the rut, those specific bucks could live 5 miles away. Yet if there are daylight pictures during the rut you may have confirmed a good daylight travel area.

If they were outside the rut, you can try to piece together travel patterns and find bedding areas in the offseason. You'll typically find those bucks to be pretty nomadic but there are definitely thick areas they gravitate to for bedding.

Do you bowhunt? I find rifle season in the big woods a tough time to hunt. The bucks are laying up in the thick stuff recovering from the rut and hiding from what few rifle hunters are left. Unless you luck into a doe in 2nd estrous or a fawn in estrous, you aren't going to see a lot of natural daylight movement.

[Debo03]

1 and done type pictures more times than not are just bucks passing by for one reason or another and do not hold a lot of value other than to know they are there.

You need repeated pictures or pictures of the same deer on multiple cams to really begin to put together a plan. If I start getting pictures with any regularity on a cam then that usually tells me that I am pretty close to that Bucks home range. I try to move in and set up a couple more in the same general area in order to try to get a better idea of how that buck is using the area and narrow down where he is bedding and feeding depending on wind direction. Once you get that information then it becomes a lot easier to pattern and have encounters with the buck.

Until then in my experience Cams just keep me motivated to stay on stand as I know at any moment 1 could come strolling by.

[superblackhawk]

Thanks all.

Pics were taken mostly during day week prior to rifle in PA, third week of November.

I'd never seen deer of this quality in the area, but this is first time with cam. It does give motivation to stay on stand, but frustrating at end not even a glimpsse of ne.

I will scout the area better in the post season when theres some snow.

[mauser06]

That's IMO peak for mature buck daylight rut cruising. I see the same on my cams. That week just seems to be THE week.

Don't know where you are...but that's also bear season and could had guys driving bear in the area moving deer.

I don't put much stock into pics after Halloween..I do look at yearly trends. I know those bucks are often transient and moving so I don't hold my breath for them. But they do tell me when and where those bucks move..and those trends typically stay year from year.


Many guys in PA are struggling seeing bucks. The problem is the tradition. I see it at the camp I goto. They all head to the same stump they sat on the past 15 years. Every few years they might see a shooter buck. Now that we have some age to our bucks, they are tougher to hunt. Gotta do some homework. Another thing is rifle season isn't what it used to be. Used to be nearly double the hunters in the woods. License sales are down nearly half. Plus many many more guys killing bucks in archery season means rifle season is just different. Not as much pressured movement. I fell victim to that this year. Usually I have enough pressure around me to see steady action all day. This year that wasn't the case.

Scouting is getting to be much more important for rifle season.

Where I hunt in Michigan is that way. I had to change my gun season strategy and revert back to archery type setups hunting actual deer..not setups for pressure.

Not sure your exact situation. Public/private etc etc..