Trail cameras on public land

[may21581]

actually, right now through August is the best time to take inventory of bucks IMO. Just use sound strategy. I have 30+ cameras up right now, most are not where I will hunt but all of them focused on new spots where I'm not sure what caliber buck is in the area.

Ok so you mentioned a few things that I think I was talking about in a previous post. They are very good points and couldn't agree more. You mention running cams right now for an inventory purpose, I agree with you 100 percent on that. This will give you the Intel that some good bucks are in the "area".
The second thing you mentioned was putting them in new spots that you may or may not hunt based on what you see. So by what I gathered your early enough in the season to not rattle them up enough where you push them off and your not to worried about spooking the others because their new properties you are trying to gather data on.
I will say that some of my best properties I had i ran several cameras on only to be disappointed by what I seen. However I knew better than to just rely on the cameras so I threw several observation sits at them only to be blown away by the bucks I got onto. I always wondered how I never had them on camera, well it only takes a few yards to miss a picture or maybe a camera isn't set up in a particular area.
Running 30 cameras is alot. That to me is totally different than running two or three. To saturate a property to that level is getting into a new game, I'm a boots on the ground hard core spring scouting type of hunter. All my big bucks were taken with observation stands first then moving in for the kill. I honestly dont even know what I would do with 30 cameras let alone try to connect the dots on them all, that would be a real chore.

I hunt 100% public in 3 states. The cameras are spread out over many properties. I seldom have 2 cameras within 1/4 mile of each other. Yes it's a lot if work but I enjoy it. I will only check them 1 or 2 times. half of them will wind up in actual hunting spots come august where they will sit until March as I have no plans hunting there but there might be a nice 3.5 year old I want to keep tabs on.

This would constitute good use of cameras! I know alot of hunters are trying to use them in a month or two to connect on a buck during the season. This would be great if it were so easy and one can get lucky by doing so but with my experience and what I see and hear it's a very low odds game they play. To build a pattern, learn the history of a property, learn some tendencies and figuring out when and where you need to be based on current and past sign in conjunction with the data you pull from the cams is the name to the game to connect on the big boys.

[jwangle13]

actually, right now through August is the best time to take inventory of bucks IMO. Just use sound strategy. I have 30+ cameras up right now, most are not where I will hunt but all of them focused on new spots where I'm not sure what caliber buck is in the area.

Ok so you mentioned a few things that I think I was talking about in a previous post. They are very good points and couldn't agree more. You mention running cams right now for an inventory purpose, I agree with you 100 percent on that. This will give you the Intel that some good bucks are in the "area".
The second thing you mentioned was putting them in new spots that you may or may not hunt based on what you see. So by what I gathered your early enough in the season to not rattle them up enough where you push them off and your not to worried about spooking the others because their new properties you are trying to gather data on.
I will say that some of my best properties I had i ran several cameras on only to be disappointed by what I seen. However I knew better than to just rely on the cameras so I threw several observation sits at them only to be blown away by the bucks I got onto. I always wondered how I never had them on camera, well it only takes a few yards to miss a picture or maybe a camera isn't set up in a particular area.
Running 30 cameras is alot. That to me is totally different than running two or three. To saturate a property to that level is getting into a new game, I'm a boots on the ground hard core spring scouting type of hunter. All my big bucks were taken with observation stands first then moving in for the kill. I honestly dont even know what I would do with 30 cameras let alone try to connect the dots on them all, that would be a real chore.

I hunt 100% public in 3 states. The cameras are spread out over many properties. I seldom have 2 cameras within 1/4 mile of each other. Yes it's a lot if work but I enjoy it. I will only check them 1 or 2 times. half of them will wind up in actual hunting spots come august where they will sit until March as I have no plans hunting there but there might be a nice 3.5 year old I want to keep tabs on.

This would constitute good use of cameras! I know alot of hunters are trying to use them in a month or two to connect on a buck during the season. This would be great if it were so easy and one can get lucky by doing so but with my experience and what I see and hear it's a very low odds game they play. To build a pattern, learn the history of a property, learn some tendencies and figuring out when and where you need to be based on current and past sign in conjunction with the data you pull from the cams is the name to the game to connect on the big boys.

I would say I agree to a point. So for me a photo of a good buck simply let's me know he is in that area. Now if I have him on the same camera multiple days in a row during shooting light that is one thing. If you get sporadic photos then you can start looking at other factors as to why he is there and under what conditions. What I hope to gain is knowing of there are bucks in the area where my cameras are. That combined with knowing the bedding areas may help me know where to set up. I did fall into the trap of rushing around to check cameras before my hunt to see if I should hunt that spot during the evening. Sometimes is worked out for the does in the area. I dont plan to fall into that trap again this year.

[DaveT1963]

I do not use cameras to tell me where to hunt/set up in most cases. I use post-season scouting and during season scouting to do that. I use cameras to find the bucks I want to hunt. I do not live or hunt in an area with high deer #s and certainly don't have the quality bucks/age structure others do. Finding a true 130+ buck on public down this way is difficult and you seldom find several on same piece of ground. Cameras help me locate them, then I hunt them based upon sign. You get one or two legit cracks at these bucks before they disappear during daylight (long gun seasons of60+ days during the entire rut, insure they die if they don't develop this habit)

Occasionally, I will photograph a monster during summer mineral licks, then I may use a small # of cameras to try to peg down his bedding habits if it is a new property. If you follow my posts, I do not subscribe to mature bucks using the same beds very often; just same bedding areas which can be 20-200 acres. If they did use the same bed consistently, and I could locate that preferred bed, I would like to think that buck should die? i just don't see this as much as I have in hill/mountain country or large ag areas.

[bowonly68]

I typically set my trail cameras in pinch points leading to feeding areas. Since there is no agriculture around the areas I hunt here in Louisiana, these locations are usually far from human access points and I can leave them without fear of discovery. If I am unable to locate a pinch point within close proximity to a feeding area I will place one near the oak that has the highest usage.

[ThePreBanMan]

Hang them one stick high aimed down and they won't get stolen. People just won't notice them. Unless they see you putting it up, changing the card, etc. No one will ever notice it's there. Make sure to GPS tag the tree or you won't find it yourself.

[Rob loper]

I think people put most cameras too close too bedding or in bedding. Too low and in the wrong locations. Especially non cell cams. Cell cams are a different monster lol. Too much money for me.
I have 10 cameras out and they are set and doing future research far away from bedding.
Probably more closer too primary food source.
I buy 2 a year and my collection is growing. I also share my findings and pics with 2 other beast brothers who are in my area as do they with me also.

I will not leave cams in during season ever.
Been stole from way too many times.
Gotta remember when is most hunters in The woods?
During hunting season thsts when. So i like too put cams in primary recon spots as soon as physically possible after the season because most non beast hunters are never ever in woods when season is not in. Which equals regular daily movement.
If there is some turkey hunters they are nowhere near my camera placement while they turkey hunt.

I will check cams maybe end of may. And thats a big maybe. This year I'm gonna let them eat til mid august.
Mid august i will go back in and remove for the season. intrusion too retrieve cameras are no where near where im ever gonna hunt. So it never effects kill spots.
Trail cams can get you vital information on travel routes on what winds and morning pics will show where they bedding on what winds.
But again they have too be placed right.
I set my camera about 10-12 feet placing down on a boatload of heavy trails coming together.
It looks like spokes on a bike tire.
If i find a spot like that it warrants a trail cam

Guys put too much into it. They make it difficult for themselves
They check cameras way too many times.
Put trail cams over bait piles.
Put cams waist high where scent is left on cams and i swear batteries have a metallic smell too them.
Put real low or waist high on some kind of singular sign.
A random Rub or scrape or a single trail.
Then get maybe one pic of a buck and no more and wonder why
Well he knows camera is there. So then guys think thry gotta go deeper into woods close too bedding for pics.
Well thats nail in coffin.
Where i hunt at trail cams in bedding areas are a recipe for a vacant bedding area during the season which equals less deer sightings which equals frustration which equals guts saying “ these tactics dont work”. So they go back to hunting their previous ways.
Little details are in my opinion very important it could be just 50 yards too close too too vacate deer from an area. Again nothing is 100% and these are my findings and experiences with the tactics i use. Might be different somewhere else. But public land trail cameras are a very very sensitive thing that can make or break your season.
Again nothing 100% and just my 2 cents

[DaveT1963]

Deer seem to be able to adapt to every human invasion (new homes, windmills, cell towers, freeways, trash, oil rigs, railroad tracks, farm equipment, new fences, fishing holes, horse trails, clear cuts, forestry, pipelines, access trails, ATV trails, etc..... except if they see a 6 inch box left out in the woods on the side of a tree - somehow they have the power to perceive that it is a camera being used for their demise (even though they seldom experience any negative reaction to it being there) and leave the country.

IMO If someone is consistently blowing deer out of an area it is operator error; not the camera.

[Rich M]

Hey everyone. I was watching some hunting beast videos yesterday and I came across the one where Dan talks about trail camera placement. Basically what he said was putting trail cameras in bedding areas is a bad idea because you leave behind scent. He then explains that you should instead put them in feeding areas around the bedding, such as an open field. This all makes perfect sense but let's apply this to public land. I would say scent control is even more important in this situation but I would say public land has the highest possibility of getting your camera snatched. Also, if you dont have some kind of attractant there may not be a chance of you getting that photo of a shooter buck even if he is there.

So what do you all think? Again I am only wanting to know about public land.

I use trail cams to aid in stand site selection - we get 3-5 day WMA hunts down here and might only get 1 for the year. Sucks. You don't know where or if you are even hunting that 3-day weekend until mid-July. No sense scouting then, wait until a couple/4 weeks before the season, see where everyone else is going, go the opposite way...

Anyway, last year I finally found a good spot and hung the cam 1 stick high - used brown wire to attach to tree (straps are too visible). Checked it a week later - had a mature buck on there 5 days running. Moved it a little and set it at bellybutton height to better cover the area. Not a single buck picture after that.

Hunted it a week later, shot a small buck at 0730 and had a big 6 pt come thru at 10. The next day had 3 young bucks and a doe come thru. Buddy shot one of those. Closed out the permit... The mature buck did not come thru and was caught on another camera about a mile away in between times. He adjusted himself to avoid us...

Got some great intel on the deer travel in that particular area and seen how the deer react to the scent & lower camera. I'm eyeballing the Cudde Link system. Have no cell phone service in the swamp and would like to set a cam in there and check it but not interrupt the area. It is a funnel (3 trails and 3 habitats converge) but has to be adjacent to the bedding cause of all the deer we saw in there late in the morning.

[DaveT1963]

double post

[may21581]

See this is why I enjoy this site and love bow hunting. Lots of good info and many different perspectives and experiences. To steal the words from the D'Acquistos I think we can sum this up as "it's situational". What works on one piece may not work on another. The setup on one vs the setup on another. What one hunter sees vs another's. I guess there is no right or wrong answer and every situation is different. As a bow hunter to be successful it is our job to figure out what works for a given situation. The skills and info on this site just help us get there faster!

[BackCoverBowHunter]

actually, right now through August is the best time to take inventory of bucks IMO. Just use sound strategy. I have 30+ cameras up right now, most are not where I will hunt but all of them focused on new spots where I'm not sure what caliber buck is in the area.

Ok so you mentioned a few things that I think I was talking about in a previous post. They are very good points and couldn't agree more. You mention running cams right now for an inventory purpose, I agree with you 100 percent on that. This will give you the Intel that some good bucks are in the "area".
The second thing you mentioned was putting them in new spots that you may or may not hunt based on what you see. So by what I gathered your early enough in the season to not rattle them up enough where you push them off and your not to worried about spooking the others because their new properties you are trying to gather data on.
I will say that some of my best properties I had i ran several cameras on only to be disappointed by what I seen. However I knew better than to just rely on the cameras so I threw several observation sits at them only to be blown away by the bucks I got onto. I always wondered how I never had them on camera, well it only takes a few yards to miss a picture or maybe a camera isn't set up in a particular area.
Running 30 cameras is alot. That to me is totally different than running two or three. To saturate a property to that level is getting into a new game, I'm a boots on the ground hard core spring scouting type of hunter. All my big bucks were taken with observation stands first then moving in for the kill. I honestly dont even know what I would do with 30 cameras let alone try to connect the dots on them all, that would be a real chore.

I hunt 100% public in 3 states. The cameras are spread out over many properties. I seldom have 2 cameras within 1/4 mile of each other. Yes it's a lot if work but I enjoy it. I will only check them 1 or 2 times. half of them will wind up in actual hunting spots come august where they will sit until March as I have no plans hunting there but there might be a nice 3.5 year old I want to keep tabs on.

I have been dong this, putting cameras in spots I am interested in for the future and not in areas that I plan on hunting that season. I have seen my encounters go up 10 fold and actually am killing more in the spots I have intel from years past and have not boogered up because I am in there often placing & checking cameras. I used to get so pissed when I would hunt see nothing then looking at the pics on the camera, see that a shooter buck or group of does walked by the day after at 10am while I was at work. haha

[Rob loper]

Deer seem to be able to adapt to every human invasion (new homes, windmills, cell towers, freeways, trash, oil rigs, railroad tracks, farm equipment, new fences, fishing holes, horse trails, clear cuts, forestry, pipelines, access trails, ATV trails, etc..... except if they see a 6 inch box left out in the woods on the side of a tree - somehow they have the power to perceive that it is a camera being used for their demise (even though they seldom experience any negative reaction to it being there) and leave the country.

IMO If someone is consistently blowing deer out of an area it is operator error; not the camera.

Lmao.
I agree dave it was my point cause guys cant help themselves but too check it and too check it constantly And also from a previous post of yours.
Deer see lights. Red green yellow or whatever so not too say that lights spook deer. Im sure all of a sudden going past a certain tree and seeing a bright light whatever color it is. Will spark curiousoty and probably a little bit of avoidance.
Operator error is and will most likely always be alot of problems in the world today. Not just in deer hunting but in life in general.

[DaveT1963]

Deer seem to be able to adapt to every human invasion (new homes, windmills, cell towers, freeways, trash, oil rigs, railroad tracks, farm equipment, new fences, fishing holes, horse trails, clear cuts, forestry, pipelines, access trails, ATV trails, etc..... except if they see a 6 inch box left out in the woods on the side of a tree - somehow they have the power to perceive that it is a camera being used for their demise (even though they seldom experience any negative reaction to it being there) and leave the country.

IMO If someone is consistently blowing deer out of an area it is operator error; not the camera.

Lmao.
I agree dave it was my point cause guys cant help themselves but too check it and too check it constantly And also from a previous post of yours.
Deer see lights. Red green yellow or whatever so not too say that lights spook deer. Im sure all of a sudden going past a certain tree and seeing a bright light whatever color it is. Will spark curiousoty and probably a little bit of avoidance.
Operator error is and will most likely always be alot of problems in the world today. Not just in deer hunting but in life in general.

I normally hang mine higher 8-10 foot and use black flash. I have not noticed a single deer buggered by them. Red flash on camera is ok but I have noticed on videos I think it is noticed more. Probably because their is some light for a period of time? Down at eye level I prefer to use black flash only. I will occasionally use a red flash over a mineral site or a mock scrape to take inventory - but once again I set then at 8-10 foot I have ZERO pics of any deer looking at my cameras. At ground level I have many pics of deer sniffing the camera and then walking away so I really do not think black flash is bothersome to them. 99% of the time I do photos and not videos -perhaps they think a black flash is lightning or something? And then there are people that say headlights dancing around in the woods don't bother deer - lol - go figure.

Like I tried to convey above, it is a tool, our job is to learn to use them in a manner that gets the info we need without being counterproductive. And yes they most certainly can be done. For the guys that simply cannot help themselves, and want to check a camera weekly - set a few over bait or a crop to satisfy your urge - but leave the others out to do their job. Discipline is within everyone's capability.

Also - One thing I have learned in the last decade for sure - Believe only half of what you read/see on social media - and test the rest...… we certainly are not suffering from a shortage of "Subject Matter Experts" these days. There are no absolutes and every deer is different. Read, Study but test everything. Crap I just saw a "product review" today on YouTube by someone that had just taken it out of the box and tried it for first time - they are out there.