A Trail Cam Experiment
- Trout
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A Trail Cam Experiment
I changed how I am putting my trail cams out this year and the results have been pretty cool, wanted to share here since no one at work hunts and this kind of stuff isn't interesting to them
The Old Way
The old way I would set my cameras is in batches, basically put all of my cameras on a single property. Let em soak for a month or so, then move em all somewhere else except for any that are getting regular pics. The goal was to understand how and when deer used the terrain and look for any trends I could use during the season. Cameras were on transition lines, thermal hubs, funnels, etc.
The New Way
The same as above, but I'm making the areas my batches are in smaller and in some cases, I'm lining the cameras up like a gill net across one end of a terrain feature to the other instead of just covering the spot in the feature I think deer are most likely to use, or the spot that has the best sign. The hardest part of this for me was not spreading my cameras way out to inventory a larger area, or multiple properties. I'm giving up quantity of data for quality data.
What I'm Seeing
(Keep in mind I'm only about 3 weeks into this experiment, so still lots to learn)
I'll use this spot as an example, pardon my poor art skills
Last year the bottom camera was my best camera, but the sign on the ground and in season observations told me there was a lot of action happening just out of range. So I stacked these two on top of each other so nothing can travel across the bench without walking in front of a camera. The red and blue shapes are roughly what's in the camera's range and the black lines are where I've been seeing deer come through so far this summer.
I've got a pic or three on each of these cameras every day, but what's crazy is I NEVER have the same deer on both cameras. I even had a bachelor group of 4 bucks come through almost on the line that's the edge of the lower camera's range and it didn't get any of them, but the Upper camera got all 4. On the flip side, I've had bucks come in on the edge of the top camera but only get picked up by the bottom camera.
Here is a bedded buck the bottom camera got, this buck came in just outside the upper camera's range bedded for an hour an a half, then moved on. Only the bottom camera got him despite him being 10 or 15yds from the upper camera for that whole time. If there wasn't so much foliage, you would see the upper camera in that shadow just behind him.
Here's a buck that comes through every morning, if I didn't have the upper camera there, I'd never know it.
My Takeaway
1.) This just emphasizes to me the limitations of trail cameras. We've all had that one spot we just knew was money, only to have dismal trail cam data, but then when you hunt it, you are seeing all sorts of good action.
2.) I think if you really want to get the whole picture from trail cams, you gotta string a line of them together from one end of the terrain feature you're getting Intel on to the other.
3.) I only have about 10-12 cameras, so I think there must be a pattern I could string them together in to more efficiently cover surface area. I think it would be fun to string 40 cameras up in a row to cover like a 1/2 mile line from north to south, then move my line 100yds at a time every 2 weeks until I've covered the whole area from east to west and see what I see.
The Old Way
The old way I would set my cameras is in batches, basically put all of my cameras on a single property. Let em soak for a month or so, then move em all somewhere else except for any that are getting regular pics. The goal was to understand how and when deer used the terrain and look for any trends I could use during the season. Cameras were on transition lines, thermal hubs, funnels, etc.
The New Way
The same as above, but I'm making the areas my batches are in smaller and in some cases, I'm lining the cameras up like a gill net across one end of a terrain feature to the other instead of just covering the spot in the feature I think deer are most likely to use, or the spot that has the best sign. The hardest part of this for me was not spreading my cameras way out to inventory a larger area, or multiple properties. I'm giving up quantity of data for quality data.
What I'm Seeing
(Keep in mind I'm only about 3 weeks into this experiment, so still lots to learn)
I'll use this spot as an example, pardon my poor art skills
Last year the bottom camera was my best camera, but the sign on the ground and in season observations told me there was a lot of action happening just out of range. So I stacked these two on top of each other so nothing can travel across the bench without walking in front of a camera. The red and blue shapes are roughly what's in the camera's range and the black lines are where I've been seeing deer come through so far this summer.
I've got a pic or three on each of these cameras every day, but what's crazy is I NEVER have the same deer on both cameras. I even had a bachelor group of 4 bucks come through almost on the line that's the edge of the lower camera's range and it didn't get any of them, but the Upper camera got all 4. On the flip side, I've had bucks come in on the edge of the top camera but only get picked up by the bottom camera.
Here is a bedded buck the bottom camera got, this buck came in just outside the upper camera's range bedded for an hour an a half, then moved on. Only the bottom camera got him despite him being 10 or 15yds from the upper camera for that whole time. If there wasn't so much foliage, you would see the upper camera in that shadow just behind him.
Here's a buck that comes through every morning, if I didn't have the upper camera there, I'd never know it.
My Takeaway
1.) This just emphasizes to me the limitations of trail cameras. We've all had that one spot we just knew was money, only to have dismal trail cam data, but then when you hunt it, you are seeing all sorts of good action.
2.) I think if you really want to get the whole picture from trail cams, you gotta string a line of them together from one end of the terrain feature you're getting Intel on to the other.
3.) I only have about 10-12 cameras, so I think there must be a pattern I could string them together in to more efficiently cover surface area. I think it would be fun to string 40 cameras up in a row to cover like a 1/2 mile line from north to south, then move my line 100yds at a time every 2 weeks until I've covered the whole area from east to west and see what I see.
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Re: A Trail Cam Experiment
I actually put 2 30 or so yards apart. It hurts because I only have 7. But there are 2 hard trails coming out of an area. 1 will capture the trail and also show me if they are coming/going off another trail. Ideally, I'd need at least 4 or 6 to cover this small piece. There are a couple trails on each side of a right of way. The north side it necks down. The south side is a decent patch of woods just torn up with buck sign. The one will almost 100% take pics of the deer the other camera got. But that's giving me direction of travel too.
Another spot I have 2 cameras 75yds apart. They should capture completely different movement I'm guessing.
Cameras only capture what they capture. It's a snap shot...or in some cases a short video.
I've also seen where the camera didn't take pics via tracks in snow. Even with lithium, they aren't 100% especially in cold.
Between the cost of good cameras, potential theft, cost of batteries and cards, time and disturbance of the areas etc, it's just hard to run a ton for me.
Another spot I have 2 cameras 75yds apart. They should capture completely different movement I'm guessing.
Cameras only capture what they capture. It's a snap shot...or in some cases a short video.
I've also seen where the camera didn't take pics via tracks in snow. Even with lithium, they aren't 100% especially in cold.
Between the cost of good cameras, potential theft, cost of batteries and cards, time and disturbance of the areas etc, it's just hard to run a ton for me.
- Eddiegomes83
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Re: A Trail Cam Experiment
I always tell my boys not to get discouraged if they think the camera is in a good spot but not getting as many daytime pics as they like. I told them that there are probably many days the deer is in the area just happens to not get on camera
"Am I the Only One" - Aaron Lewis
EGOutdoors youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UClk54pzxS6MsnSTCOtTvKJg
EGOutdoors youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UClk54pzxS6MsnSTCOtTvKJg
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Re: A Trail Cam Experiment
Cool experiment Trout! I can't wait to see what mysteries you unveil. It sounds a bit like "camera bombing" an area except a bit more concentrated and linear. I've always assumed that i'm missing 50% or more of the deer passing through a corridor while using a single cam. Your process should help define how much we are missing using just one cam facing one direction, or even using two cameras on the same tree facing opposite directions.
- Brad
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Re: A Trail Cam Experiment
I am trying to do something kinda similar, but not quite as close together. This is my first year running cameras, and only have 6 of them. I am concentrating my cameras in an area I am very interested in learning as much as possible about, where I shot my big buck last year. I have 4 total cameras in that piece of public. 3 of those cameras are within 230 yards of each other, with one being only about 90 yards from the middle one, and the other 130 yards from the middle one. These are all in travel areas that I've found. One is a deer travel intersection near the crest of a timber covered ridge point that goes north to a lake, where the deer seem to meet up to travel along the crest in the pines on top of the point. The other two cameras are on the east and west facing slopes of each side of that same point in areas that appear to be travel routes. I figure almost every deer that uses that point or crosses the base of it should show up on one of those cameras at some point. The other camera I have in that piece is near the tip of the next point over in the timber where there is a field corner that creates kind of a a pinch point with the lake. that camera and the nearest on on the bigger point has the area I believe my 2021 buck was bedding. When I went in to set the cameras I bumped what I believe was a buck (due to pretty good sized body and no fawns near it, but didn't see its rack) right in the spot I had marked from 2020 where I bumped a big buck that I am very certain was the one I killed in 2021... hoping another big boy is moved in... or more
- austin1990
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Re: A Trail Cam Experiment
I did something similar last year. Pretty amazing the different deer you get on one, but not the other even being so close together.
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Re: A Trail Cam Experiment
What I’ve noticed over the years is you will get those younger deer on multiple or every cam, but the older they get the less because they now move with more intention and are much smarter. I’ve put 2 cams on same tree because of this and had one capture right outside the viewing distance the other could t quite catch if a deer would cut the corner just so and I can’t tell ya how many deer would be on one and not the other. Trailcams only have so much capability. I have areas certain cams will have the majority of the deer but not the mature bucks , those mature bucks though will be on one certain cam. Mature bucks for the most part are much more methodical but there’s always exceptions to the rule but isn’t that the fun part,learning each deers behavior pattern and tolerances, to me it is.
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Re: A Trail Cam Experiment
Interesting listen on trail cams. Sheds light on how many cams it takes to cover an area.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t ... 0561138971
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t ... 0561138971
- Brad
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Re: A Trail Cam Experiment
cbigbear wrote:Interesting listen on trail cams. Sheds light on how many cams it takes to cover an area.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t ... 0561138971
I listened to that on when it came out. I don't think you'd have to use that many cameras to get all of the info you'd need, but that was a very interesting podcast. The second episode was even better than the first, & I'm still hoping there will be a third episode with those guests like they implied there could be.
- Wlog
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Re: A Trail Cam Experiment
This makes a lot of sense. I can think of a couple different scenarios where this would be really helpful. For instance, a lot of cameras are placed on scrapes but what about setting cameras in this fashion to cover trails downwind of scrapes. Or another way would be covering the perimeter of a big bedding area from a distance.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
- Trout
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Re: A Trail Cam Experiment
cbigbear wrote:Interesting listen on trail cams. Sheds light on how many cams it takes to cover an area.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t ... 0561138971
Man, those guys sure put out great podcasts. Listened to that this morning out in the garage, thanks for sharing, right in line with what we are talking about.
- Boogieman1
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Re: A Trail Cam Experiment
Something I stumbled onto a few years ago it placing my cameras up high in the tree angling downward. What started as preventing low life’s from jacking with my stuff has turned into my go to method when possible. It creates just a much larger view. Can’t tell ya how many big bucks I captured on camera off in the distance picked off by friendly fire. Might have been a squirrel that tripped the camera but off in the distance a slob is sneaking.
Life is hard; It’s even harder if you are stupid.
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- Brad
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Re: A Trail Cam Experiment
Trout wrote:cbigbear wrote:Interesting listen on trail cams. Sheds light on how many cams it takes to cover an area.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t ... 0561138971
Man, those guys sure put out great podcasts. Listened to that this morning out in the garage, thanks for sharing, right in line with what we are talking about.
You ain't kidding. I do not live in the south, & I still don't miss an episode. They have great guests and are great interviewers. I've come to the conclusion that Dan's dvd's and the southern outdoorsmen podcast are the two best sources I've found out there.
- Edcyclopedia
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Re: A Trail Cam Experiment
I did a 1 cam test going off a huge deer track in the snow.
1 - put it on his trail - result was he changed his trail 30 yards.
2 - move cam to new trail - result, he choose another trail 40 yards away.
3- moved cam to this 2nd new trail, result was he went back to 1st trail
They are old for a reason and their nose don't lie..!
Everytime I capture a mature buck it has almost always been "a one & done" scenario...
1 - put it on his trail - result was he changed his trail 30 yards.
2 - move cam to new trail - result, he choose another trail 40 yards away.
3- moved cam to this 2nd new trail, result was he went back to 1st trail
They are old for a reason and their nose don't lie..!
Everytime I capture a mature buck it has almost always been "a one & done" scenario...
Expect the Unexpected when you least Expect it...
- Trout
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Re: A Trail Cam Experiment
Edcyclopedia wrote:I did a 1 cam test going off a huge deer track in the snow.
1 - put it on his trail - result was he changed his trail 30 yards.
2 - move cam to new trail - result, he choose another trail 40 yards away.
3- moved cam to this 2nd new trail, result was he went back to 1st trail
They are old for a reason and their nose don't lie..!
Everytime I capture a mature buck it has almost always been "a one & done" scenario...
Ain't that the truth! How'd you decide where to relocate the camera to on those moves?
The last two seasons have been the first two that I've started to have better luck getting older bucks on camera more than once. I attribute that to getting my cameras higher and getting my cameras out earlier in the summer instead if waiting till late summer.
I'm convinced that one and done thing with older bucks is almost always them catching your ground scent at the camera site or smelling human scent on the camera. There was a buck last year that I am positive followed my ground scent to the camera tree and never saw on that camera again on a 4 week soak.
I'm not sure I wanna start planning entrance/exit routes for every trail cam I put out and handling cameras with rubber gloves, though. I rarely hunt in close proximity to my camera locations anymore, so not a big deal to me when it happens.
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