when pre season camera work isnt working..

[hunter10]

This year has been quite slow compared to others. Have 9 cameras out and have checked 5 without a shooter buck and minimal buck activity in general. Usually by now I have a couple deer in mind. Do you:

A. continue to move cameras with fear of putting deer nocturnal quicker
B. Pull them and re-plant when scrapes/october lull/pre rut comes around
C. leave them soaking or pull them and just focus on pre scouted "likely" buck spots?

Never had a year like this yet. Bit frustrating

[mauser06]

My thoughts.....


Walk a field edge right before a rain storm...look for big tracks....try to figure out where he's entering the field...hang camera..check it in a few weeks right before or during a rain..then make decisions on moves...

I am kinda swing the same...but with only 2 cameras I am letting mine soak now that I have them both in their final spots for the pre-season....I may move both one last time between now and the season...same area but may fine tune them to a different trail etc...

One I thought I'd have more daytime use than it showed after the first card pull...I'm gunna check it again before the 19th. If I am not seeing good bucks in the day I'm not hunting it. First time I won't hunt because of camera Intel....I just only have one early day to hunt and rather sit somewhere i DONT KNOW opposed to sit it in a spot I know with most certainty the buck I want won't show up till after dark..


This is my first year running cameras at all...so its all new to me....I can see how there could be a struggle to even get bucks on camera..especially with no attractants like I do...but that's what I've been doing...putting them where I know deer are using and going in before a rain to minimize impact...it seems to help....

[ Post made via Android ]

[Motivated]

How were you successful before cameras? Could you do it again without them? I bet you could. I can tell you know what you are doing. It might be interesting to find out how this situation challenges you.

I think we as people gain considerable skills and then migrate to our favorite tools in our toolbox. We become specialists, but we risk becoming unbalanced in our skills and abilities. The camera is a very fun and useful tool, but it's only one of your tools in your toolbox. Maybe it is time to try something different in order to maintain a balance.

As for me--I look for tracks in new areas and dive in offseason scouting. Pics just help me match an image of a buck to his track. If it was me, I would still go for scouting now, but give it a two weeks rest afterward if you have the time. Or glass and observation sit to find a buck you would be satisfied with. You will have to keep moving, lower your standards, or hope that your cameras missed a shooter and you can connect.

Hopefully this is helpful. I do not mean to be offensive. Sometimes though being offensive just comes naturally if I type while tired. Good luck, we are rooting for you.

[ Post made via Android ]

[BigCedarJack]

I've been having a frustrating summer with my cameras as well. I got lots of bucks on camera last summer, and I haven't hardly gotten any this year. However, my cameras are out in new spots I haven't had much experience with so I automatically wonder if I did a bad job placing them?... or do these new places not have as many bucks as I hoped? After reading Rancid's post on licking branches I'm going to give that a try and see if I can pull bucks to the camera that perhaps didn't come to the minerals for whatever reason.

However, I am trying these new things in areas I don't plan to hunt this year. (Unless Mr. Big started showing up in the daytime of course) If I was doing this in areas I planned to hunt I would let them soak and use strong rain showers to check or move them.

[iowa whitetail]

Depends on the area you are in. If you are in some farm ground farmers switch what they plant from year to year and the Bucks might not be their now but will be in a month or so do to food. If your around soy beans right now and don't have pics it's a good sign nothing is their. Beans are ware the bucks are now.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Spysar]

People have hunted for hundreds of years without cameras. They are relatively new. You can do without buck pics and just hunt. You don't need a "hitlist"....

[iowa whitetail]

^ I assume that is criticism towards me since I always post a hit list. Anyway don't give up on your spots if you have had bucks in the past their, the real story comes out of what you have a chance at after they become hard horned. If I have bucks on cam from the year before I don't give that spot up till the end of sept.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[dirt nap giver]

^ I assume that is criticism towards me since I always post a hit list. Anyway don't give up on your spots if you have had bucks in the past their, the real story comes out of what you have a chance at after they become hard horned. If I have bucks on cam from the year before I don't give that spot up till the end of sept.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

That's just the way Spysar ticks. I doubt it had anything to do with you.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Edcyclopedia]

^ I assume that is criticism towards me since I always post a hit list. Anyway don't give up on your spots if you have had bucks in the past their, the real story comes out of what you have a chance at after they become hard horned. If I have bucks on cam from the year before I don't give that spot up till the end of sept.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

That's just the way Spysar ticks. I doubt it had anything to do with you.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

X2

Likely towards the hunting industry and the coining of that term/saying...

I think one of the biggest factors for cameras OUTSIDE of RUT is inventory, once rut starts all bets are off for the most part;
Your season isn't just Sept/Oct.

[JoeRE]

I would scout for tracks, do some glassing, etc, like other said and if you don't see anything promising I would say your cameras ARE working. Why?

Your cameras and other scouting are telling you hunting there early season is a waste of time, stay home or go elsewhere. Keep monitoring it, things change through the phases of the season, but for right now don't bother. That is valuable information if you time is limited.

Just the way I look at it when I don't see anything promising!

[Bigburner]

I would scout for tracks, do some glassing, etc, like other said and if you don't see anything promising I would say your cameras ARE working. Why?

Your cameras and other scouting are telling you hunting there early season is a waste of time, stay home or go elsewhere. Keep monitoring it, things change through the phases of the season, but for right now don't bother. That is valuable information if you time is limited.

Just the way I look at it when I don't see anything promising!

X2 on this.

[Bucky]

JoeRE hit the nail on the head.... don't waste your time stinking up the place and your sets until bucks show up.

Drive and spot till you find something good... then try to figure out if you can hunt it or close to it

My next #1 hitlist buck's nickname is gonna be Spysar!

[phade]

Core ranges and shifts will be taking place soon. Some deer relocate/modify their core ranges and some don't. I invariably pick up and lose some bucks on inventory starting around this time of year.

Your properties might also not be early season spots. A lot of variables. Can you legally use mineral licks or corn? At the very least they help to inventory what might be in the area.

If not, look at a cam over water holes, late August and early Sept are still somewhat warm and will get some action.

[Zap]

The whole game cam thing may be out of control.....

[Bucky]

The whole game cam thing may be out of control.....

Think of the hours you waste in an area you have no idea what is there. When I'm hunting I'm hunting high odds situations... it allows me to be a good father/friend/pharmacist and still kill bucks every year. It makes you more efficient and allows you to "hunt" year round

Game cameras are only as good as the operator... you can have $1000 in game cams and it won't net you squat if you don't do the work. There are NO shortcuts, unless you hunt tame deer in a fence



If you truly dislike gamecameras... there is a new revolution waiting in the wings. Flying drones.... coming to public marshes/prairies/open ag land near you sooner than later. I would imagine in Kansas/Iowa... they will be zipping around like flies on a pile of you know what