How to decide where cameras go?

[johndeere506]

The thread that JoeRE is doing and some other posts really has me questioning if I place cams correctly. Most of where I use my cameras is private land, because thats most of my hunting, and Im nervous to put them on public still.

On the roughly 40 acres I hunt at home, and another small property nearby, I never get any shooter buck pics until mid September. Reading from some experts, this simply means Im hunting non local bucks. I dont believe these bucks live far from me, but they begin frequenting my property in Sep and Oct, because of my food plots and doe families that live here. Plenty of bucks early just no big ones. I think the bigger bucks are feeding in the larger AG fields nearby until early fall when they begin coming close to me, and then they cruise my area a lot during late oct, early november. I dont get too worried about it anymore, since I know the bucks will come in once we get into September. I dont see much value in running cams early anymore, unless I was to place them closer to known big buck bedding and trails to the crops. Should I bother trying to get cams deep in the land to get early season pics? Or just hunt them once or twice early season there? I havent been going in that are til November recent years.

For all of you getting good summer pics on trail cams, dont their patterns change after early season hunting? Or do you find these spots showing good buck pics now are showing big buck activity through the entire season? I have about 10 cams to run, and leaving most of them in the basement til October feels a bit unproductive. Id like to find a shooter to hunt for early season.

[Redman232]

1.)Bucks are all about food right now, so if your neighbor has more preferred food sources right now it's possible they just aren't using your property much at this time of year. 2.) Bucks are in bachelor groups so it's more difficult to get pictures of them, but once you do, you will likely have several. 3.) Fawning does will run off pretty much every other deer for most of the summer (from my observation anyways), they are really aggressive this time of year. So if you have several does on the property their will be fewer deer around. 4.) I typically see bachelor groups of mature bucks around the best habitat in the area, but once their testosterone pumps up the bachelor group breaks up and they disperse, this is probably why you start seeing them in mid september and october. I have the same scenario behind my house, I have ran cameras and scouted mid summer but the bigger deer just aren't back there this time of year. I don't even go back there anymore until season comes in. Would you rather have mature buck pictures all summer long or have them living on the property when you can kill them? I personally wouldn't worry about setting the cameras deeper in the property. If you know they will come and know approximately when they will come, you need to locate the beds they use during season, so next year you know where to hunt a buck early season. Find the beds and you won't need to worry about pictures. I hunt a lot of small tracts of private, some have good buck bedding and some don't, I fill the first 3 weeks of the season chasing bucks on land (private and public) where I know there are bucks bedding and try not to booger the doe groups up on my private ground. Having several places to hunt is key.

[johndeere506]

Thanks Redman. Your early season strategy is EXACTLY what Im going to try this year. Found some good beds to try on public that Im really excited about. Maybe its not worth getting pics, and doing more with the cams early may do more harm than good for me.

[Stanley]

40 acres is a pretty small area. You can often do more camera set up than you think. As you have noticed the lack of buck sightings, this is normal. Bucks don't move around much this time of year. I find this to be true even night time pictures. Plus like Redman232 mentioned the bucks are kind of concentrated into areas.

I still like to have cameras running rather than not. As far as not going into that ground until November? If the bucks are not there you can't push them out. Do your tree stand work now so you don't have to do it in November. Cut some of those shooting lanes now.

That is why I think running the cameras is good. Lets you know if you have a buck or 2 bedding there. If you had run the cameras last year or the year before that you'd have that information this year. It's not always about today or tomorrow. It can be about next year or 2 years from now. I'm all about low impact, but man you gotta know what's going on.

I hunt some very small properties. If I can't visually watch them, a camera can. If you think about it a camera is no more than a scouting tool. If you are scouting when you should be hunting then you won't kill a buck. If you don't scout you lessen your chances of killing a buck. You have to hunt smart, scout smart, and run those cameras smart.

[Wapiti]

Would you rather have mature buck pictures all summer long or have them living on the property when you can kill them?

Great point.

4.) I typically see bachelor groups of mature bucks around the best habitat in the area, but once their testosterone pumps up the bachelor group breaks up and they disperse, this is probably why you start seeing them in mid september and october.

I've found pretty much the opposite with respect to bucks and habitat in the summer months on the farmland I hunt. I see bucks in/near open, old-growth forests directly adjacent to quality crops in the summer. Once the testosterone starts building, they shed their velvet, and hunting pressure begins, I see them seek better quality cover (i.e. higher stem count, thick cover).

[hunter10]

Great points Stanley

[dan]

If its 40 acres and I am hunting it regardless, I am going to be pretty carefull about my summer time intrusion. Cameras would be placed around the edges, not "deep" if placed at all...

[Wlog]

It depends on what your goal is with the pictures. I'm assuming you want the summertime pics for inventory purposes. On any property but especially a small property you could do more damage than good with the camera because a buck doesn't have to relocate very far to end up somewhere you can't hunt him.

Your best bet might be a mineral site (if legal in your area) to draw the buck into an area where he will already expect some human sent around. You just have to weigh the pros and cons of any camera location.

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[johndeere506]

All good comments thanks. I seem to have been following what Dan said, and I will hunt it no matter what. Always see or shoot a good one. Maybe a couple extra cams on my side of thickets to learn more when cruising starts and preferred winds. More data can't hurt, I can place these extra cams from the creek on creek crossings w minimal intrusion. I'll see what that does and leave the cams for unknown areas.

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[mheichelbech]

[quote="dan"]If its 40 acres and I am hunting it regardless, I am going to be pretty carefull about my summer time intrusion. Cameras would be placed around the edges, not "deep" if placed at all...[/

Are you concerned about the scent? How would that be different than putting in a good plot on a small parcel? That is what I struggle with...fortunately on the one property, for me, it doesn't get used until November.

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[johndeere506]

If its 40 acres and I am hunting it regardless, I am going to be pretty carefull about my summer time intrusion. Cameras would be placed around the edges, not "deep" if placed at all...[/

Are you concerned about the scent? How would that be different than putting in a good plot on a small parcel? That is what I struggle with...fortunately on the one property, for me, it doesn't get used until November.

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Yes, concerned about my scent and visual presence if seen. Id be MUCH less worried putting in a food plot, Id keep the tractor running at all times, no surprises. The deer are never worried about me on the tractor.

Ive noticed any time being sneaky, deer dont like it you seem like a predator. If you walk past talking and making some noise, they just watch and go back to eating once gone.

[JoeRE]

Yea as you know my strategy is to spread them thin this time of year for a combination of inventory and sometimes to find early season opportunities. The bigger net I cast the better the possibilities. If I had 10 cams I would throw several out on various pieces of public just to see what you get. In the summer there are a lot less guys walking around on public in my experience so the risk of theft is probably as low as its going to get. Starting in September I am a lot more careful about where I put a cam on public.

I also would tend not to hang more than a couple on 40 acres of land just because I think there is no need - I would be confident that if you have them on the best food or travel routes to that food and are not getting big bucks, the big bucks probably are not there right now. In farm country I think you can slip in and out every few weeks no problem as long as you stay away from bedding. Anyway, there are a lot of different productive ways to use cams, the main thing is try something new if you are not happy with current results and sounds like you are getting to that.

[BHC]

In my experience I rarely place more than 1 camera in a 40 acres size area.. One well placed camera will usually get most deer using that. I try to find 1-3 target bucks then scatter 5-8 cameras over about 1 square mile. This will really help narrow down where to hunt. Just because a buck is photographed at a given spot does not mean he is very killable there. That why I spread them out, to really find where he spends most of his days. For instance one camera I may get a buck 2-4 times during November. Pics are near dusk or just after. At spot two I got him once at 1:00 am. That tells me for certain he's bedding nearer to spot one. The relate that with your maps and boots on the ground scouting. I pay less attention to food plot pics in the middle of the night, unless it is every single night. When I used to run cameras on plots, I would get a pic of one buck using 4-5 plots over a large area at least during the rut. Sept- oct u could find a pattern on a plot. I utilize primary scrapes and funnels for cameras.

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