Trailcam advice needed

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Corsair7
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Trailcam advice needed

Unread postby Corsair7 » Thu Jul 26, 2018 4:41 am

I have (4) setups like the image below. Got these specifically for public land in hopes of them not getting stolen or sd cards being taken. In total I have 9 trailcams, but only the 4 with the master locks and python cable locks. Last season I had 3 trailcams, ran 2 of them on a private property basically all season. End of season I took one and let it soak for a week on a public spot I wanted to hunt. Did the same with the last trailcam on a different public area. Using the trailcams how I did in the late season was a great tool for me in getting a buck on the ground.

For this up coming season I was thinking of getting them set up soon and letting them soak until a week or so before start of archery season, then checking. Wasn't going to place in any bedding area. Just heavy deer travel corridors.

What would be the best thing to do with them?
Spread them out all on different public parcels? or multiple trailcams spread out on a single parcel?
Should I set them up and let them soak all year without checking them?

Or forget trailcams entirely and not use them?

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JRM KY
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Re: Trailcam advice needed

Unread postby JRM KY » Thu Jul 26, 2018 6:43 am

A lot of different options here and several variables within each. Are these baited setups? That would be first question. I utilize mine for the most part in late season after i have killed or when season goes out to gain Intel for the next season. I definitely would not put multiple cams on one piece just for scent factor. Plus that is just putting your eggs in one basket which is something I try and avoid. Probably would be better to place them on different pieces of ground and let them soak as long as you can stand it then go check and hunt accordingly. Screw ups taught me a long time ago that scouting and planning is done in late winter and adjustments are made throughout season. I have been much more successful that way as apposed to checking cams during season. Ofcourse this is different on every piece of ground according to pressure but that's how I do it here. Good luck!!!
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Corsair7
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Re: Trailcam advice needed

Unread postby Corsair7 » Thu Jul 26, 2018 9:48 am

JRM KY wrote:A lot of different options here and several variables within each. Are these baited setups? That would be first question. I utilize mine for the most part in late season after i have killed or when season goes out to gain Intel for the next season. I definitely would not put multiple cams on one piece just for scent factor. Plus that is just putting your eggs in one basket which is something I try and avoid. Probably would be better to place them on different pieces of ground and let them soak as long as you can stand it then go check and hunt accordingly. Screw ups taught me a long time ago that scouting and planning is done in late winter and adjustments are made throughout season. I have been much more successful that way as apposed to checking cams during season. Ofcourse this is different on every piece of ground according to pressure but that's how I do it here. Good luck!!!


Wasn't planning on using bait, don't want to bring unwanted attention to the setup. Same, that's what worked for me last season is utilizing the cameras for late season. Yeah, agreed, don't want to put all my eggs in one basket and leaving scent in multiple locations. Think I'll spread them out over 4 different properties and let them soak. Easier to let cameras soak if you have to drive a bit to go check them. I had good success during late archery season using the tactic of using trail cams to locate bucks deeper in the woods. One camera I set up on 3 intersecting trails near a buck bed and got some intel. Another I set up on a deep run crossing a creek, failed to make sure camera was set up right on creek... didn't get any pictures... sure learned my lesson. Thanks for the tips!!
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Re: Trailcam advice needed

Unread postby JTH » Thu Jul 26, 2018 10:59 am

I would have to agree with not putting them all on one property. I would also be a little more worried about people finding them at the time of year you are talking about more so than the late season like you stated last year. Seems like more people are scouting early than in late season. I like to take a climbing stick and put them up angling down. Out of sight, out of mind literally.
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Re: Trailcam advice needed

Unread postby Rob loper » Thu Jul 26, 2018 12:28 pm

I already have cams out in different areas i hunt. Me and another beast member are friends and share intel too so we have a few cams out ( him more than me though lol)
None of our cams are on bedding though. The Cams have been placed at known food sources or Known well used travel corridors . Cameras are also placed with a climbing
stick probably at least 8 feet high . I know guys do it but i am a nut when it comes too as little as possible intrusion too a bedding area so i myself would never put a camera
within a bedding area even a cell camera . I know it works but I am just anal like that . i try to have the least intrusions and could be mistake things around bedding I hunt as
possible
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Corsair7
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Re: Trailcam advice needed

Unread postby Corsair7 » Thu Jul 26, 2018 3:43 pm

Appreciate all the feedback so far. The pick that I posted was actually me last night getting ready to put it in the woods after work today. Had a climbing stick and that camera ready to go. Didn't get out of work in time to make the trip to scout an area and set up camera. Shooting for this Monday after work.

Actually just listened to a podcast during the drive home after work today with Greg Litzinger as the guest, http://truthfromthestand.com/deer-hunti ... ing-fiend/
In the podcast he talks a little bit about trail cams. Really like his perspective on using them. Think I'll do the same. He says he uses them to learn about deer, doesn't throw them out over bait or scent which only disrupt the deers natural way of being. He'll put them over a rub line or a scrape and let it soak. Really like that idea. Already have what I believe to be an over looked travel corridor that skirts a heavy hunted tree line along a lake/swamp and starts fairly close to a heavily tore up scrape. Plan on it being good Intel and learning a lot. Really want to work on my woodsmanship and rely on noticing the details of deer sign, tracks, rubs heights, droppings, bed size, how fresh sign is and set up based on that. I shouldn't need a camera to tell me a big buck is in the area.
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JRM KY
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Re: Trailcam advice needed

Unread postby JRM KY » Thu Jul 26, 2018 11:42 pm

Corsair7 wrote:Appreciate all the feedback so far. The pick that I posted was actually me last night getting ready to put it in the woods after work today. Had a climbing stick and that camera ready to go. Didn't get out of work in time to make the trip to scout an area and set up camera. Shooting for this Monday after work.

Actually just listened to a podcast during the drive home after work today with Greg Litzinger as the guest, http://truthfromthestand.com/deer-hunti ... ing-fiend/
In the podcast he talks a little bit about trail cams. Really like his perspective on using them. Think I'll do the same. He says he uses them to learn about deer, doesn't throw them out over bait or scent which only disrupt the deers natural way of being. He'll put them over a rub line or a scrape and let it soak. Really like that idea. Already have what I believe to be an over looked travel corridor that skirts a heavy hunted tree line along a lake/swamp and starts fairly close to a heavily tore up scrape. Plan on it being good Intel and learning a lot.Really want to work on my woodsmanship and rely on noticing the details of deer sign, tracks, rubs heights, droppings, bed size, how fresh sign is and set up based on that. I shouldn't need a camera to tell me a big buck is in the area.


This is all that matters and if more hunters realize this their success I believe would increase. A buddy of mine gets so discouraged if he dont have a pic of a buck to hunt. The people relying on bait are a fish out of water most of the time when I go out of state with them. Woodsmanship to me is a big part of the enjoyment I get out of beating a mature buck at his own game.
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Re: Trailcam advice needed

Unread postby Wizn » Thu Jul 26, 2018 11:47 pm

I like to spread my cams out on multiple properties. I place them away from bedding to get inventory. If I get a pic of a nice one I have a good idea where they are bedding based off of scouting.
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Re: Trailcam advice needed

Unread postby Tylerrewa » Mon Aug 20, 2018 1:51 pm

Hate to hijack the conversation too much but say on aerials there are two heavily used trails coming off of an island in a public cattail marsh. If I were to hang a camera on both of those trails about 80-100 yards from the edge of the island and not look at them till March would that be a bad idea? It seems like I might use an observation sit else where and let the camera’s gather a seasons’ worth of observation sits on those two main routes.

A couple posts mentioned it would be better to spread out the cameras but I feel the images from this upcoming season and spring scouting could put the peices together for this cattail marsh island. I’m not worried about someone stealing these cameras because of the county being low in population and the location and distace to these cameras.
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Re: Trailcam advice needed

Unread postby Mathewshooter » Sat Aug 25, 2018 4:33 pm

I like to put mine out around this time of year over primary scrapes near bedding areas. If you dont have any primary scrapes where you want one, make one. I've had great luck with smokeys pre orbital gland scent. Just put a few drops on the overhanging branch and be careful not to leave human scent on it(I wear rubber gloves). Run your camera on video mode and put them up in a tree angled down towards the scrape. You will get a good inventory of the bucks in the area doing this...not all, but most. I usually only put out one camera in a bedding area....sometimes 2 if its a really large bedding area, one at opposite ends. Also, dont check the camera until you go in to hunt that spot. I usually just bring another memory card with me and swap them out. Good luck.
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Re: Trailcam advice needed

Unread postby Brian1986 » Mon Sep 10, 2018 1:35 am

For me, I don't have a set way I use trail cameras. My strategy depends on what I am trying to accomplish as well as how well I know a property.

In theory letting a camera soak in a spot for 6 months+ is a great strategy, and one I use frequently. The only down side is if you set one up to soak in a spot and you have something causes your camera to false trigger (wind blowing branches/grasses, or a spot the sun shines through intensely in an area of shade, etc). I had one camera I did this with and was excited when i had 2000+ videos on it. It was quite the letdown when 95% of those were blowing branches with a sunny spot triggering them. The camera batteries died after a couple weeks, and it sat in the spot for 6months without doing much soaking. So now when I plan to let one sit for a long period of time I will usually set up two fairly close to one another (within sight distance), using one basically as a backup.
Some cameras I will let soak, others I will check when I go in to hunt a spot.

If I know a property well, I am just setting a few cameras up to get an inventory of what's there and then hunt spots I know will work. I like putting a trail camera on a well used scrape with a licking branch near bedding. For me, the well used licking branch(es) is more important to me than the size of the scrape or how clean it is. I will put cameras on scrapes like these year after year. As many guys on this forum have mentioned you will see certain bucks will show up yearly on the same set of days with the same conditions.

If I am learning a property, or fine tuning a spot, I will still put a camera or two on scrapes with licking branches near bedding. But I will also put cameras in spots that I suspect a buck using to travel to/from or is using to wind check a spot. Those locations are usually in places I can't hunt or would be very difficult to hunt due to swirling winds. (I should mention most times I am hunting hill country with 200-600 feet of elevation change.) And for me, sometimes finding a spot a buck never shows up on camera in one of those wind problem locations can be as important as a place I find a buck using. If I can find a place that never has a buck using in the morning on his way back to bed, I will try to set up in a place he does show, but will allow my morning thermal to flow downward towards the place he doesn't use.
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thepennsylvanian
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Re: Trailcam advice needed

Unread postby thepennsylvanian » Mon Sep 10, 2018 2:08 am

I was going crazy earlier in the year with scouting, i was putting boots on the ground hanging cameras, trying to locate beds and once i found one i didnt really know where to go from there.... so i asked
dan wrote:
thepennsylvanian wrote:Ok, so it's been a fast paced spring. Extremely steep learning curve, thanks to all of you and the hunting beast.

So, learning that you need to hang you cameras near food sorces to back track bucks based off their pictures, I pulled my cameras out of the woods at the beginning of May. I finally have some consistent daylight photos of bucks, granted I have no idea how big they. . . Yet.
With out knowing where the main food sources are I'm hunting big woods public land and the only ag fields are over 3/4 of a mile away on private land, I have one question. What should I do next? Now normally I'd be going back in to this area and hanging another camera looking for trees and stupid things, but that's why I haven't killed many mature bucks. So, would it be a good idea to slink back in the area and hang another camera? Or should I start hanging cameras around areas near it? I fairly certain I've found the area they are bedding, as it is as remote as you'll find on this property, on the leeward side of the ridge, and all the pictures of the bucks were following the 1/3 of the hill. I'm trying to be a smarter hunter, and trying to learn as much as possible, therefore I need cannot continue doing what I have been doing!

Sounds like you have "that" spot figured out... Next step would be to find more spots like that.

now, finding more spots could mean you hang another camera on that same property or it could mean you dont, the point is you need to find spots that make hanging the camera a benefit and not a waste of a resource! dont hang your cameras just to hang them, be patient wait and hang them where you will get the most information possible!
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elk yinzer
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Re: Trailcam advice needed

Unread postby elk yinzer » Tue Sep 11, 2018 10:36 pm

I like community scrapes near bedding simply because I know I am going to get a good survey of the bucks in the area. I leave them up until bear rifle season and take the down for a few weeks so they don't get stolen. Bears are more a concern than other hunters during archery.

I have all mine on one property, that said the property is over 200,000 acres and some are miles apart, so no, I wouldn't squeeze a bunch in a small area but there is not set rule there.

That said I also hunt other properties where I wouldn't risk putting a trailcam anywhere, other than maybe a super cheapo, just too much risk of theft.

Some I'll swap cards when I go in there to hunt, some will soak for three months. I am mostly gaining an accumulation of intel for next year and future years. There's not a whole lot of useful info to glean by the time I go check them this year.
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