Would you rather?

[Mathewshooter]

For me, I'll stick with the cameras. I hunt public land here in NY so its nice to know theres at least one buck in the area that you would like to shoot. Ive had it go the other way too. Ive had cameras out and had bucks show up that I didnt have on camera...so thats a surprise. This happened last fall. I had cameras out a month before season and had 6 different bucks using one spot with 2 of them being 2.5 year old 8 points that I would gladly shoot. Imagine my surprise when the first time I hunted this spot a 150 inch 10 point came by!

[creepingdeth]

I have 2 cams for inventory and fun. Last year was the first time I let one sit for 6 months. It was a place where I couldn't hunt, but tons of deer. I liked to watch the 2 diff. bachelor grps. and how they acted. Neat stuff. I also had turkeys 'yotes, gr. fox, coons....Probably will never use it for hunting strictly.

[Grizzlyadam]

I like to know which bucks NOT to shoot.

[Ghost Hunter]

I hunted many years without one. I like knowing what is in area. But getting your paths to cross is a different story.

[Natenlsn2]

I love trail cams! But trail cams have also been a very humbling learning process for me...I am having to change up my camera strategies because I have ruined a few good spots with my cameras. I have had a tendency to put my cams right near a spot I wanna hunt and would have those cams out from late may through December. I always get fantastic buck pics every summer, but come hunting season they disappear. The mineral becomes less attractive, my human scent makes them wary of that location due to biweekly card pulls, and the camera noise sets the buck on edge.

I shot my first pope and young buck this past season. While tracking his blood trail, the buck was on the trail to go in front of my trail camera...but he intentional circled the cam to avoid it. I never once got that buck on camera in that spot, he knew something was up. I haven’t been setting up my cams in bedrooms, but I also just discovered the beast this past season. Moving forward I plan to keep my cameras in easy to access spots a fair distance from bedding to just get intel on the buck/what he looks like. When it comes time to hunt I will have hopefully not ruined my chance on that big woods public land buck! I want to use cameras, always will, but my priority needs to be the hunt and not just knowing what the bucks look like.

[Rob loper]

I remember a time with hunting without trail cameras. The anticipation of waiting to see the buck for the first hand was a part of hunting I really enjoyed. The mystery. With that said would you rather........

Get a picture of a shooter and try to go after him knowing he exists?

or

Go off the sign and keep the mystery of how big he is, until you see him personally for the first time?

I like to be suprised too. Besides if there is a mature buck in the area there is gonna be mature buck sign somewhere

[JAK]

I like the mystery. I've had big bucks on camera all summer long and makes me disappointed when I never see him . I do still run cameras but get more excited over seeing a good buck in a area I have no idea he's there.

[Matt6506]

I don't use trail cameras at all anymore. Imo they have done more bad than good in the past for me. I feel the most important part of the game for me is staying undetected and trail cameras hurt me in that regard both in the case of deer and man. If I hunted land I had to myself it would be a different story for sure.

[headgear]

I hunt anywhere from 15-30 different pieces of public land in a season, just no way to keep track of everything even if I had 20+cams. It's certainly nice to know bucks are out there but those mystery deer are just as fun to hunt. Big tracks get me just as excited as big bucks on cam.

[tim]

I’d rather have pics, I love running cams. I use mine for inventory only I’m not trying to pattern Deer. Obviously if a whopper shows up I’ve never seen which does sometimes I’m killing it if I think it’s better than pics I have of others.

[Kraftd]

Much prefer the surprise and just going off of mature buck sign myself.

[JoeRE]

I'm not there yet but am pretty sure one of these seasons I am going to box up my cameras put them on a shelf and see what happens...definitely have a love hate relationship with them

[Boogieman1]

I would be perfectly happy eithier way. I still get a rush from a buck I have on camera as well as a surprise stranger I've never seen.I will say I think cameras allow for better buck opportunity, believe a lot more of the younger age class deer would be killed if hunters were not getting pics of bigger bucks.

[Hawthorne]

I ran 8 cams last summer for inventory. Both bucks I shot I got pics of neither. The area I shot my public buck I didn’t have a buck on cam over 1.5 years old. Knew it held a good one in fall tho because of sign. They’re more useful for historical data in fall imo. You can capitalize on camera patterns from the season before. Unless your using cell cams.

[tgreeno]

To me, my ultimate goal is to target, find & pattern a mature buck strictly on sign he has left behind! And my ability to decipher it, and a put myself in the correct spot, at the right time to harvest him!

That is the skill set I am working towards, every day I'm in the outdoors!