Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

[Babshaft]

I’ve had decent luck setting up cameras downwind from known doe bedding areas to get inventory of the area. Usually, the camera is setup on a real or mock scrape and about 10-12’ up. If I have an area that has two different bedding areas a couple hundred yards apart, I’ll set the camera up in between them. The key is to let them soak and don’t check them often.

Cool strategy man. What time frame do you use that tactic? During the pre rut/rut? All season?

I will leave it all season, but I like to check them just once sometime during the rut. This helps me determine if I should continue to hunt the area or not. I'll set the camera out in late spring on spots I either scouted during the offseason that look like good rut places or spots that I experienced good rut activity the season before. Many times it's based on my experience from the season before. Because I don't have many cameras (4-5 between the group) I pick my spots carefully. I make sure the spots I set the camera are areas that I know I can throw multiple different sits in during the year. Areas that I know I can only sit once I don't bother.

Awesome man, thanks for the help.

[Net Guy]

I’ve had decent luck setting up cameras downwind from known doe bedding areas to get inventory of the area. Usually, the camera is setup on a real or mock scrape and about 10-12’ up. If I have an area that has two different bedding areas a couple hundred yards apart, I’ll set the camera up in between them. The key is to let them soak and don’t check them often.

Cool strategy man. What time frame do you use that tactic? During the pre rut/rut? All season?

I will leave it all season, but I like to check them just once sometime during the rut. This helps me determine if I should continue to hunt the area or not. I'll set the camera out in late spring on spots I either scouted during the offseason that look like good rut places or spots that I experienced good rut activity the season before. Many times it's based on my experience from the season before. Because I don't have many cameras (4-5 between the group) I pick my spots carefully. I make sure the spots I set the camera are areas that I know I can throw multiple different sits in during the year. Areas that I know I can only sit once I don't bother.

Awesome man, thanks for the help.

Anytime!

[Killtree]

I use scouting to determine where and when to set up; I use cameras to tell me ifa buck I want to hunt is present. Outside taking inventory, or learning new properties (that's a whole different approach for me), once I get a pick of a buck I want to pursue, I am pretty much done trying to photograph him. And that picture is usually taken in a funnel leading in or out of his bedding/core area in a high percentage spot (to photograph him not kill him).... and I don't care if it is a day or night picture - I am just confirming his presence. Scouting has led me to the best ambush spots and I have trees already prepped, pictures lets me know that they are now worth sitting that season.

A lot of my trail cameras are setup over certain trails and scrape lines. I've never done it over bedding. But with hunting over a bedding area and buck sign, sometimes it's nice to know the caliber of buck/bucks are in the area. I kind of want to know if I'm after a good one. Knowing there is a good one in the area helps with confidence and keeps that fire going for me.

I think we have same goal just different approaches? Personally, I believe that you can confirm a bucks presence and use of a bedding area without setting a camera up in the actual bedding area. I just think it is too risky and you may alert the deer and turn him nocturnal putting the camera in his core area. A camera 200 yards away on an entry/exit trial to bedding can also confirm his presence without disturbing his bedding. it doesn't matter if it is a night or day pic you know where he was heading or going to bed - that is what is important. Once you know he is using the bedding area, scouting should have told you best locations to set up to kill him. I do believe first time in is best chance to arrow a buck most of the time - if he smells you checking a camera you are now settling for 2nd time in, or 3rd time in - unless you check the camera and hunt that same day. Kind of like sitting a ridge with spotting scope and seeing him enter a crop field in late august - you get a visual confirmation that he is using the bedding area without putting your scent in the area. Not sure I am explaining it well. Bottom line is that a buck may tolerate occasional scent outside his core area, but the older bucks usually become a totally different animal once they start smelling human scent in their bedding area - and once these older deer know they are begin pursued they get proportionately harder to kill IMO.

Awesome info here guys.

Dave: What's the time frame you put your cameras up, and how often do you check them? Are you using them preseason and during the season? Do you find a negative impact on bedding area use after you check them?

Thanks

If it is a property I know a good buck may be on - then I take inventory. I set up mineral licks in feb/March and put the cameras over them when I refresh in Apr/May . I have these sites 100-200 yards away from bedding but in known travel corridors to summer food sources (think blackberry patches or other natural browse). Once I get a pic and I know he lived and is still using the area (most bucks never change their core area(s)) then I am done as I have already prepped trees in the best location spots back in Jan/Feb.

If I am on a new property and just taking a firs inventory and something good shows up I want to hun this year or next, I tried go check them weekly and get an idea of how he approaches the mineral site (I seldom ever point my camera right at the licking branch or minerals but rather prefer to anticipate how a buck will approach. Then once I see him on film and get a couple pics coming in from same direction I note time. If they are evening picks I assume he was traveling from his bedding and that helps more. Morning he could be coming from a food source, water or even bedding so it is not as helpful. If he shows up during daylight I pay especially close attention because that usually indicates I am close to his bedding and just need to figure out where he is coming from. looking at maps, terrain, thickness and the photos I then start walking back a camera or 2-3 towards where I think bedding is. If I start getting pics of him in the evening heading towards the minerals once again I figure I am on target. I then may make one or two additional moves until I feel reasonably sure I am on the fringe of a good bedding area. If I plan on hunting him that year, I then try to isolate a good ambush spot at that point. If I don't care to hunt him until the following season, I will go in and try to bust him right out of his bed. That gives me the final straw. Then I pick a tree/prep it and leave him alone until the day I plan on trying to kill him. Most summer bucks have relatively small core areas IMO - and they usually just broaden their core area during the rut but will retreat back to it often. I usually set up on a funnel entering into their bedding area as I believe the best (I did not say easiest) but best time to kill a big buck in Oct/early Nov is in the AM hours. I think it is easier to do in the evening but more opportunities happen in the AM..... if your approach is solid. However, not all morning best spots are easily approached without alerting deer.

I use a couple other tactics like a good water destination spot at times to take inventory. I also have cameras soaking from Jun to Feb for areas I now a couple up and comers are in to get as much intel as possible. Once again, for me the key is to stay OUT of the bedding but set up far enough away on approach/exit to where an occasional human scent does not totally freak him out.

I run close to 30 cameras right now on a dozen properties. I have already prepped some trees and will finish that up in March. I have several new mineral sites developed and I have my old faithful ones refreshed. I will move cameras in April/May to these and begin to see if the 3 bucks I really have my eye on are still there.

keep in mind I hunt specific bucks not random bucks (they are just too far and few between down here) so my technique with cameras is towards that effort. If I was hunting Ohio, Wisconsin, Kansas, Illinois, N. Missouri - then I probably would alter as there may be several bucks in any given area I would be interested in. I would probably just stick with scouting and take a quick inventory with cameras in those places.

Wow DaveT1963, you pretty much described exactly what I do.
I try to put mineral blocks where I think bucks are gonna travel and stay 200 to 300 yards away from the bedding.
If I can place the mineral blocks pretty close to a hiking trail, horse trail, 4 wheeler trail, ect. ..., then I feel like I can get away with checking the camera all I want.

[Babshaft]

Wow DaveT1963, you pretty much described exactly what I do.
I try to put mineral blocks where I think bucks are gonna travel and stay 200 to 300 yards away from the bedding.
If I can place the mineral blocks pretty close to a hiking trail, horse trail, 4 wheeler trail, ect. ..., then I feel like I can get away with checking the camera all I want.

Right on man. There's a few areas right near a trail that I'd like to put a mineral station to get inventory. Have you seen any negative impact from checking your cameras in those areas? How often do you tend to check you cams in those areas leading up to September?

Thanks

[Killtree]

Wow DaveT1963, you pretty much described exactly what I do.
I try to put mineral blocks where I think bucks are gonna travel and stay 200 to 300 yards away from the bedding.
If I can place the mineral blocks pretty close to a hiking trail, horse trail, 4 wheeler trail, ect. ..., then I feel like I can get away with checking the camera all I want.

Right on man. There's a few areas right near a trail that I'd like to put a mineral station to get inventory. Have you seen any negative impact from checking your cameras in those areas? How often do you tend to check you cams in those areas leading up to September?

Thanks

I have seen no negative impact at all.
If it is a place deer expect to smell people then check your cams all you want.
How many times do you see deer eating grass in someone's yard at night?
Would you be worried about checking a camera every day in that situation?
If you hang a cam 50 yards from a hiking trail that sees regular use then check it all you want. A deer is not going to know that you are not just another hiker.
Hiking trails are also bullet proof entry and exit. I have set in a deer stand and watched deer cross my ground scent where I walked in on a hiking trail plenty of times and have yet to see one give it a second thought.

[DaveT1963]

Wow DaveT1963, you pretty much described exactly what I do.
I try to put mineral blocks where I think bucks are gonna travel and stay 200 to 300 yards away from the bedding.
If I can place the mineral blocks pretty close to a hiking trail, horse trail, 4 wheeler trail, ect. ..., then I feel like I can get away with checking the camera all I want.

Right on man. There's a few areas right near a trail that I'd like to put a mineral station to get inventory. Have you seen any negative impact from checking your cameras in those areas? How often do you tend to check you cams in those areas leading up to September?

Thanks

I have seen no negative impact at all.
If it is a place deer expect to smell people then check your cams all you want.
How many times do you see deer eating grass in someone's yard at night?
Would you be worried about checking a camera every day in that situation?
If you hang a cam 50 yards from a hiking trail that sees regular use then check it all you want. A deer is not going to know that you are not just another hiker.
Hiking trails are also bullet proof entry and exit. I have set in a deer stand and watched deer cross my ground scent where I walked in on a hiking trail plenty of times and have yet to see one give it a second thought.

I agree - our deer down here frequently walk along horse trails that get hit almost daily during spring/Summer and early fall. They seldom pay attention to human scent along them. Same with walking trails - the deer expect frequent encounters with human scent... so this definitely plays into my approach to getting in/out to run inventory cameras.

[Babshaft]

I have seen no negative impact at all.
If it is a place deer expect to smell people then check your cams all you want.
How many times do you see deer eating grass in someone's yard at night?
Would you be worried about checking a camera every day in that situation?
If you hang a cam 50 yards from a hiking trail that sees regular use then check it all you want. A deer is not going to know that you are not just another hiker.
Hiking trails are also bullet proof entry and exit. I have set in a deer stand and watched deer cross my ground scent where I walked in on a hiking trail plenty of times and have yet to see one give it a second thought.

Awesome man, thanks again for the help!