Interesting observations with cell cams this season
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Interesting observations with cell cams this season
This is the full first year when my buddy and I have been been able to utilize cell cams with the battery life. Been really fun to see stuff more real time. Great learning tool and heck of a lot of fun. Just want to share a few things I have learned along the way.
1. Velvet shift happens without any pressure. Nothing earth shattering here. However, I thought maybe bucks in velvet tolerated the 2 week cam checks but as soon as they were hard horned, they would not longer tolerate. So far, this appears to be false. This year, between 9.8 and 9.16 most 3.5+ bucks shifted. Bucks that were showing OFTEN in daylight have not been back in 6-8 days. Thats with 0 pressure from me and 0 pressure from anyone (near as I can tell). I have not checked those cams since I put them out August 1st. No more summertime patterns.
2. August was a month full of mostly daylight pics. Very little evening pics. September the pics are progressively getting darker. Much more movement is happening at night. Again, near as I can tell, pressure is not a factor. ALL deer seem to be moving more at night. Food sources are changing, cover is changing.
3. These cams are great for guys who WANT data but are not data guys. To sit down and go through 1000's of trail cam photos, I lose interest kind of fast. But with real time photos, I get the data daily which is a little easier for me to digest. I can mark photos and manage them daily rather than monthly.
4. I can run cell cams in tight spots close to bedding and run regular cams outside on edges. Gives me a better picture of what is happening on a property as a whole.
5. The data is near to real time as you can get. I am watching what happens NOW as opposed to 2 weeks or a year ago. For instance, my #1 target buck showed in one area during daylight and at midnight the same week. And last night, bucks were all over that area at midnight. First time all season, this buck has done something 2x in a row, even though it was at 11pm at night. Tells me the bed I hunted him at last night, 300yds from where I saw him at 11 was probably not far enough away. Monday, I will dive back in and hunt / check regular cams that have been sitting on ground scrapes since July 31.
Anyways...just thought I would share.
1. Velvet shift happens without any pressure. Nothing earth shattering here. However, I thought maybe bucks in velvet tolerated the 2 week cam checks but as soon as they were hard horned, they would not longer tolerate. So far, this appears to be false. This year, between 9.8 and 9.16 most 3.5+ bucks shifted. Bucks that were showing OFTEN in daylight have not been back in 6-8 days. Thats with 0 pressure from me and 0 pressure from anyone (near as I can tell). I have not checked those cams since I put them out August 1st. No more summertime patterns.
2. August was a month full of mostly daylight pics. Very little evening pics. September the pics are progressively getting darker. Much more movement is happening at night. Again, near as I can tell, pressure is not a factor. ALL deer seem to be moving more at night. Food sources are changing, cover is changing.
3. These cams are great for guys who WANT data but are not data guys. To sit down and go through 1000's of trail cam photos, I lose interest kind of fast. But with real time photos, I get the data daily which is a little easier for me to digest. I can mark photos and manage them daily rather than monthly.
4. I can run cell cams in tight spots close to bedding and run regular cams outside on edges. Gives me a better picture of what is happening on a property as a whole.
5. The data is near to real time as you can get. I am watching what happens NOW as opposed to 2 weeks or a year ago. For instance, my #1 target buck showed in one area during daylight and at midnight the same week. And last night, bucks were all over that area at midnight. First time all season, this buck has done something 2x in a row, even though it was at 11pm at night. Tells me the bed I hunted him at last night, 300yds from where I saw him at 11 was probably not far enough away. Monday, I will dive back in and hunt / check regular cams that have been sitting on ground scrapes since July 31.
Anyways...just thought I would share.
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- Jhand
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Re: Interesting observations with cell cams this season
I've been looking into them the last year or so but just haven't bought one. One of my friends uses them and shot a nice buck opening week by getting a pic of the buck in the area the morning he shot him. Just a little pricey for me considering i can get 3 cameras for the price of one cell cam.
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Re: Interesting observations with cell cams this season
Very cool info
“The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.”
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Re: Interesting observations with cell cams this season
Awesome info Maine. Thanks for sharing
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Re: Interesting observations with cell cams this season
Jhand wrote:I've been looking into them the last year or so but just haven't bought one. One of my friends uses them and shot a nice buck opening week by getting a pic of the buck in the area the morning he shot him. Just a little pricey for me considering i can get 3 cameras for the price of one cell cam.
Yeah. That is the drawback that is for sure. The way I use them I spend time around the fringes of the property so I can a pretty good sense of what is happening with the deer as far as sign. Because I run less intrusive cams on the edges.
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Re: Interesting observations with cell cams this season
Cell cams wouldn't be bad but leaves to much to chance to go wrong and troubleshoot. That's just my luck too. And rhe plans for them are bonkers. If there was a package type thing it may would interest me more
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Re: Interesting observations with cell cams this season
Good stuff, Maine!
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Re: Interesting observations with cell cams this season
These cameras are the future for sure. Thanks for the information.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: Interesting observations with cell cams this season
Stanley wrote:These cameras are the future for sure. Thanks for the information.
Yes they are, for better or worse....I predict in just a few years hunters will look in awe at anyone who kills a big buck without the help of cell cameras. Much like today's hunters look in awe at anyone who kills big bucks without the use of conventional cameras. Must be kind of funny to someone like you Stanley who has seen all these transitions.....
I think the next big thing after that will be drones with thermal imaging. So many are against that sort of thing right now....but I remember almost everybody being against cell cams too. The hunter's heart is weak, and maybe greedy.
Regardless interesting observation Maine. They definitely are a powerful tool for research!
- flinginairos
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Re: Interesting observations with cell cams this season
I have two of them and have seen the same things you have. It's awesome seeing what goes on in real time while keeping an eye on the weather and they how they move in relation to it.
- brancher147
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Re: Interesting observations with cell cams this season
I only have 2 spots with any cell service, but they are 2 of my best spots. I may look into these next year if I can afford it.
Some do. Some don't. I just might...
- ThePreBanMan
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Re: Interesting observations with cell cams this season
Jhand wrote:I've been looking into them the last year or so but just haven't bought one. One of my friends uses them and shot a nice buck opening week by getting a pic of the buck in the area the morning he shot him. Just a little pricey for me considering i can get 3 cameras for the price of one cell cam.
....and the financial commitment doesn't end there. Then there's the data bill monthly.
- elk yinzer
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Re: Interesting observations with cell cams this season
Interesting...question...How do you rule out that changes in patterns you referenced and the "velvet shift" wouldn't be in response to you hunting, even if its several hundred yards away? I think you said you hunted him 300 yards from his bed? Did any shifting pattern correlate to opening of hunting season at all?
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Re: Interesting observations with cell cams this season
elk yinzer wrote:Interesting...question...How do you rule out that changes in patterns you referenced and the "velvet shift" wouldn't be in response to you hunting, even if its several hundred yards away? I think you said you hunted him 300 yards from his bed? Did any shifting pattern correlate to opening of hunting season at all?
Some of these spots I have not hunted there yet. I saw the shift happen with ALL bucks, urban and regular, regardless of pressure that I put on them.
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