Trailcam tactics for capturing mature Bucks

[AlbertaBowhunter80]

Hey guys I was just wondering what are some of your preferred tactics for capturing mature bucks on Camera. Any preference as far as Location, Hight, Camouflage, scent control, Black flash vs red glow, bait, ETC?

[JoeRE]

Is your primary goal to kill the buck, or just get pictures of them? If you want pictures, can't beat a camera over mineral or bait. If you want intel to help hunt them down I think trying to get them on camera on natural patterns gives a lot of intel but you have to be OK with not getting a thousand pics a week.

I favor long term deployments to gather information on bucks in the area mostly for future years. I might get 6 photos in a week and think that was great if its the right deer. In my experience deer don't get alerted by plain IR cameras as long as they are well above eye level, so that's what I do. I don't do anything special for scent control, you will leave ground scent no matter what you do I just try to hang the cam fairly quickly and let it soak for a month or more. I used to try and do it right before or during a rain but honestly have not noticed that had much of an impact. It takes 2-4 days before I start seeing "normal" deer activity on cameras most of the time.

Lots of guys just want tons of photos and nothing wrong with that. Just make it a conscious choose of what you are going for. Do some searches on this site, lots of old threads on trail camera strategies.

[mheichelbech]

Is your primary goal to kill the buck, or just get pictures of them? If you want pictures, can't beat a camera over mineral or bait. If you want intel to help hunt them down I think trying to get them on camera on natural patterns gives a lot of intel but you have to be OK with not getting a thousand pics a week.

I favor long term deployments to gather information on bucks in the area mostly for future years. I might get 6 photos in a week and think that was great if its the right deer. In my experience deer don't get alerted by plain IR cameras as long as they are well above eye level, so that's what I do. I don't do anything special for scent control, you will leave ground scent no matter what you do I just try to hang the cam fairly quickly and let it soak for a month or more. I used to try and do it right before or during a rain but honestly have not noticed that had much of an impact. It takes 2-4 days before I start seeing "normal" deer activity on cameras most of the time.

Lots of guys just want tons of photos and nothing wrong with that. Just make it a conscious choose of what you are going for. Do some searches on this site, lots of old threads on trail camera strategies.

Joe, what is your threshold for deciding if your getting enough pics or not? Also, do you hang more than one cam or move it to be sure you captured all possible movements I.e, being sure the cam isn't missing the buck if he walks through the area but out of view of the cam?

[JoeRE]

Joe, what is your threshold for deciding if your getting enough pics or not? Also, do you hang more than one cam or move it to be sure you captured all possible movements I.e, being sure the cam isn't missing the buck if he walks through the area but out of view of the cam?

Depends on where the cam is. If its on a large primary scrape I will get multiple pics a day most of the time. I usually set my cameras to take 2 or 3 photos each trigger so while I was saying photos, I really meant trigger events...with bucks, not just does or a yote or a raccoon. If the camera is on an entrance into primary bedding, then if I get bucks coming in or leaving a couple times a week that might be pretty good. Lots of variables there, if its south wind bedding, there were 2 south winds that week, and each of those 2 winds I got a buck on camera, well that is slam dunk. Usually its not quite that clear but those are the trends I look for.

Occasionally I will park 2 cams in an area but that's pretty rare. Do I miss stuff? Yes, for sure, but the way I see it I am coming out ahead by missing some things, but covering more area and doing it lower impact and most importantly using cameras to try and CONFIRM what I have pieced together from scouting...not to replace scouting. There is probably a time and a place for saturating an area with cameras but I'm not willing to spend thousands of dollars on cams and also try to avoid that common pitfall of using cams to get 1 step behind a buck but never in front of him. Anyway, that's just how I see it....

Related to this, I use a simple formula to account for what I don't get on camera. A camera never covers 100% of the travel routes through an area. Heck 30% is pretty good I think. So I estimate in my head when hanging the cam - for instance it is on 1 of the 4 most likely travel routes into a bed. I multiply what I get on camera by that....is it perfect, no, but I think its closer than not accounting for that. Say I get a buck on camera 4 times in a month, and if it was on only 1 of those 4 travel routes holy buckets that bedding location is getting some serious use. Maybe it was used 10 times maybe it was used 20, I don't care, I probably can figure out when a high odds sit should be based on the scouting and the pics I have.

[Ghost Hunter]

On our lease. I usually put trail cameras on logging roads. During summer deer will travel logging roads in late evening an early morning. Salt licks you can get pics of every buck an doe in area for a mile circle. Trail cameras next to thick areas you get less pictures an aim more toward quality of deer. That is typical for last 15 years at farm we hunt.

Wma that is a different animal. I have one camera in some thick stuff next to water break. I checked it a few weeks back. Had 1000 pictures. Coons. birds, one big hog, does, two bucks an lots of wind pictures.

[mainebowhunter]

I run a lot of cameras. I have evolved over the last few years, really reviewing the data that I am collecting, trying to make more sense out of what the deer are doing on certain years, related to certain conditions. So if I get a buck on camera during daylight, I hunt the area.

Most of my cameras early (july through sept) are placed on food sources. As October approaches, I move cameras to ground scrapes or move cams based on my inseason scouting. Some of these spots, I have no plans on hunting in that year, some of them I do. All of my hunting happens during Sept and October. So my camera use and the data is primarily based on food patterns rather than rut patterns. When I hunt the midwest, I am 100% hunting rut patterns. I have found the rut patterns in the midwest to be somewhat predictable from year to year.

Camera use really depends on where you live. Where I live, rifle season and winter make big changes from year to year. One of my best spots, I can lose all my mature bucks in one rifle season. The only time I ever see guys on camera is in November. Its when I lose cameras, lose cards and lose stands. I have mounted them high in certain spots but after last season, I will be mounting ALL of them high if the camera is left.

There is a lot of trial and error using these cams. There are lots of methods and opinions on how to use them. But as Joe mentioned, the downfall to trail cams is getting stuck hunting behind them rather than in front of them.

[rempse2]

I've had good luck setting my woodland cameras based on terrain features. I have two different spots where a drainage cuts down the side of steep hill down to a small brook in the valley below. The deer use these spots to go up and down to the top of the hill which has heavy mt laurel and is used for bedding, when scouting these terrain features I found active community scrapes with licking branches down at the bottom of the drainage in the valley. I put some Old Smokey's Pre Orbital lure on the branches above the scrape and set my camera the first week of September and left it out until March. I got pics of several good bucks a bunch of yearling bucks and tons of doe family groups. The vast majority of buck photos were at night but it enabled me to see what kind of activity is going on and where the bucks are coming from and heading. I find that using cameras in the big woods is a process, the intel I collect then determines my next move which in this case was to climb the top of the hill and try to figure out where they are going. Once up the hill i found a subtle saddle as well as another drainage that went down the other side of the hill (the leeward side) . I set my camera over looking the saddle in March and will leave it there until the end of December. This will help me determine how many does call this hill top home and how the bucks move thru there during the rut.

[seazofcheeze]

I have a three pronged approach that had kind of evolved over the last few years through reading others strategies and my own trial and error.

First prong (Food sources on properties with history) - If I am putting cams on a property I already have LOTS of history on and know the majority of deer movement patterns through the property, I will put cams out in the summer on the main food sources for inventory. I will usually base the camera location on where I see (spotting or shining) buck(s) enter ag fields. I'm just hoping to get a few pics on a semi-regular basis (e.g. at least once every two weeks) to let me know a shooter is In the area. I won't check these cams more than once every 4 weeks (2-3 times before the season starts).

In Michigan, our season starts October 1st every year. Fall range shifts mean some new bucks show up and some that have been around all summer disappear. So I try and move some cams around the second and third week of September. I start to abandon bean fields and other food sources that get (mostly) abandoned this time of year.

Second prong (Fall/secluded food sources and scrapes) - This is kind of a hybrid approach that I will use on properties with history and new properties. I'm looking for isolated food sources (white oaks, apples, pears, strategic food plots, etc) near bedding that a buck might frequent during daylight or just after. In this case, I've already located buck bedding and food sources through previous scouting or hunting history or spring scouting that year.

I'll check these cams a little more often, but not more than once every 2 weeks. I'm looking for a few things. 1. A shooter buck 2. A killable buck 3. Seasonal timing for future seasons. In regards to #3, if I don't check the cam for 2 weeks and see a buck was using the area in an early season pattern, I will take notes and try that area early season the next season (or whatever period of the season showed increased activity) when the food source is producing.

Scrapes - I love cams on active scrapes. In the fall of 2014, around october 15-20th, I had a cam set on an active scrape. In one night I had 11 different bucks visit the scrape. This is an area I know really well, and I'm prettt sure I knew of 90% of the bucks in the area (16-18 total in a 1 mile radius). Over 50% of the bucks in this 1-mile area hit the scrape in one night, including the two biggest scoring bucks that I knew of. For early to mid-October inventory, an active scrape is hard to beat.

There are some problems with these setups...if you put the cam too close, the scrape will go dead. If you check the cam too often, it will go dead. If you hunt over the scrape, it will go dead. You get the idea. Scrapes need to be hunted in relation to bedding, with the last 2-3 days of October and the first few days of November being the exception. These are the highest odds days (based on my experience running cams in scrapes) when a buck will visit during daylight. In early to mid October MOST of the time, a good scrape tells you the buck you want to kill is around, but it isn't where you'll kill him (usually).

Third prong (prospecting) - This is very similar to JoeRe's approach and other members on the beast. I use this mostly on new or newer areas I am hunting. Areas that I've spring scouted but don't have any hunting history or maybe only a few hunts. Basically I set cameras on trails near buck bedding, trails hopefully with buck tracks, or sometimes just on terrain features/suspected travel routes (This has helped me find some buck travel routes in areas where trails and tracks dont show up well...im thinking of pine needles specifically). I usually let these cams soak 4-6 weeks and mostly I'm hoping to use this Intel for future years hunts.

There's a million ways to use cams, but this is my current approach.

[Boogieman1]

First off I don't hunt public so if theft is a issue might not wanna go my route. Also my sole purpose is just to see what's on the menu this method usually gives u zero info on patterning a buck. But will reveal a mix of day and night pics of every deer in the area. I put em on creek crossings, low spots in tight fences, open pasture gates and field edges. If I wanna see what's happening around a certain stand I hunt I mount way up in the tree I'm hunting angled down and only check it when I hunt that tree. Hope this gives u a place to start if nothing else

[<DK>]

I have a three pronged approach that had kind of evolved over the last few years through reading others strategies and my own trial and error.

First prong (Food sources on properties with history) - If I am putting cams on a property I already have LOTS of history on and know the majority of deer movement patterns through the property, I will put cams out in the summer on the main food sources for inventory. I will usually base the camera location on where I see (spotting or shining) buck(s) enter ag fields. I'm just hoping to get a few pics on a semi-regular basis (e.g. at least once every two weeks) to let me know a shooter is In the area. I won't check these cams more than once every 4 weeks (2-3 times before the season starts).

In Michigan, our season starts October 1st every year. Fall range shifts mean some new bucks show up and some that have been around all summer disappear. So I try and move some cams around the second and third week of September. I start to abandon bean fields and other food sources that get (mostly) abandoned this time of year.

Second prong (Fall/secluded food sources and scrapes) - This is kind of a hybrid approach that I will use on properties with history and new properties. I'm looking for isolated food sources (white oaks, apples, pears, strategic food plots, etc) near bedding that a buck might frequent during daylight or just after. In this case, I've already located buck bedding and food sources through previous scouting or hunting history or spring scouting that year.

I'll check these cams a little more often, but not more than once every 2 weeks. I'm looking for a few things. 1. A shooter buck 2. A killable buck 3. Seasonal timing for future seasons. In regards to #3, if I don't check the cam for 2 weeks and see a buck was using the area in an early season pattern, I will take notes and try that area early season the next season (or whatever period of the season showed increased activity) when the food source is producing.

Scrapes - I love cams on active scrapes. In the fall of 2014, around october 15-20th, I had a cam set on an active scrape. In one night I had 11 different bucks visit the scrape. This is an area I know really well, and I'm prettt sure I knew of 90% of the bucks in the area (16-18 total in a 1 mile radius). Over 50% of the bucks in this 1-mile area hit the scrape in one night, including the two biggest scoring bucks that I knew of. For early to mid-October inventory, an active scrape is hard to beat.

There are some problems with these setups...if you put the cam too close, the scrape will go dead. If you check the cam too often, it will go dead. If you hunt over the scrape, it will go dead. You get the idea. Scrapes need to be hunted in relation to bedding, with the last 2-3 days of October and the first few days of November being the exception. These are the highest odds days (based on my experience running cams in scrapes) when a buck will visit during daylight. In early to mid October MOST of the time, a good scrape tells you the buck you want to kill is around, but it isn't where you'll kill him (usually).

Third prong (prospecting) - This is very similar to JoeRe's approach and other members on the beast. I use this mostly on new or newer areas I am hunting. Areas that I've spring scouted but don't have any hunting history or maybe only a few hunts. Basically I set cameras on trails near buck bedding, trails hopefully with buck tracks, or sometimes just on terrain features/suspected travel routes (This has helped me find some buck travel routes in areas where trails and tracks dont show up well...im thinking of pine needles specifically). I usually let these cams soak 4-6 weeks and mostly I'm hoping to use this Intel for future years hunts.

There's a million ways to use cams, but this is my current approach.

Great Post!

[mainebowhunter]

I have a three pronged approach that had kind of evolved over the last few years through reading others strategies and my own trial and error.

First prong (Food sources on properties with history) - If I am putting cams on a property I already have LOTS of history on and know the majority of deer movement patterns through the property, I will put cams out in the summer on the main food sources for inventory. I will usually base the camera location on where I see (spotting or shining) buck(s) enter ag fields. I'm just hoping to get a few pics on a semi-regular basis (e.g. at least once every two weeks) to let me know a shooter is In the area. I won't check these cams more than once every 4 weeks (2-3 times before the season starts).

In Michigan, our season starts October 1st every year. Fall range shifts mean some new bucks show up and some that have been around all summer disappear. So I try and move some cams around the second and third week of September. I start to abandon bean fields and other food sources that get (mostly) abandoned this time of year.

Second prong (Fall/secluded food sources and scrapes) - This is kind of a hybrid approach that I will use on properties with history and new properties. I'm looking for isolated food sources (white oaks, apples, pears, strategic food plots, etc) near bedding that a buck might frequent during daylight or just after. In this case, I've already located buck bedding and food sources through previous scouting or hunting history or spring scouting that year.

I'll check these cams a little more often, but not more than once every 2 weeks. I'm looking for a few things. 1. A shooter buck 2. A killable buck 3. Seasonal timing for future seasons. In regards to #3, if I don't check the cam for 2 weeks and see a buck was using the area in an early season pattern, I will take notes and try that area early season the next season (or whatever period of the season showed increased activity) when the food source is producing.

Scrapes - I love cams on active scrapes. In the fall of 2014, around october 15-20th, I had a cam set on an active scrape. In one night I had 11 different bucks visit the scrape. This is an area I know really well, and I'm prettt sure I knew of 90% of the bucks in the area (16-18 total in a 1 mile radius). Over 50% of the bucks in this 1-mile area hit the scrape in one night, including the two biggest scoring bucks that I knew of. For early to mid-October inventory, an active scrape is hard to beat.

There are some problems with these setups...if you put the cam too close, the scrape will go dead. If you check the cam too often, it will go dead. If you hunt over the scrape, it will go dead. You get the idea. Scrapes need to be hunted in relation to bedding, with the last 2-3 days of October and the first few days of November being the exception. These are the highest odds days (based on my experience running cams in scrapes) when a buck will visit during daylight. In early to mid October MOST of the time, a good scrape tells you the buck you want to kill is around, but it isn't where you'll kill him (usually).

Third prong (prospecting) - This is very similar to JoeRe's approach and other members on the beast. I use this mostly on new or newer areas I am hunting. Areas that I've spring scouted but don't have any hunting history or maybe only a few hunts. Basically I set cameras on trails near buck bedding, trails hopefully with buck tracks, or sometimes just on terrain features/suspected travel routes (This has helped me find some buck travel routes in areas where trails and tracks dont show up well...im thinking of pine needles specifically). I usually let these cams soak 4-6 weeks and mostly I'm hoping to use this Intel for future years hunts.

There's a million ways to use cams, but this is my current approach.

Great Post!

That covers it pretty well!

Just want to add, I still do run cams, check them and if something looks good, I hunt. Because I have killed bucks this way. My buddies have killed bucks this way. If I have a buck that hit an apple tree 3 days in daylight, and he was there night before, I am hunting. If I see a pattern that I can capitalize on, I go for it. I just don't depend on it. I also just have to know a buck is using this place during daylight. I hunt.

Just as an example. I was scouting today. There is a lone apple tree just off some good buck bedding. Last year, it did not produce. This year, I can tell that it will. I have never hunted here with this apple tree producing. I will put a camera on it in August, check it first of September, heck I may even wait until season opens to check it. If bucks are hitting it in daylight, I am going to hunt it. I could leave it for the whole season, never hunt it. Figure out those bucks were all over it in daylight. Next year, tree does not produce. And year after, bucks are gone.

The bottom line is, we are always trying to predict future patterns. We are really trying to avoid hunting behind the deer. So if your WHOLE camming strategy is based on what you got on a cameras 2 weeks ago, could be a long season.