Trail Cam Use and Travel Corridors

[The Silence]

I have a pretty good bead on several early season bedding areas and exit trails associated with them. The problem is it's really tough to get in close enough to get an observation point.
If season opener is October 1st, have you ever placed trail cams on these exit trails, let's say August 15th, so they can soak for a while as they gather more detailed intel
such as what time, what wind direction and which bucks are actually using that travel corridor this year. Then pull the card a week before season opener so you can go in
at the absolute optimum time based on that new intel.

The same could be asked about scrapes located along those travel corridors. Thanks for any input.

[mauser06]

Going back a week or 2 before the season is risky. If a buck doesn't tolerate you being in there and moves to a different bedding area, pictures of him aren't doing you any good. The Intel would be huge if he stays and tolerates it.


What I did one season was hunt a spot early. It was during an early season in a special regulation area in mid-late Sept. I hung a camera that evening when I left. I didn't go back till Halloween morning. I brought my card reader and was dumbfounded by the pics I had. I thought the spot was mostly a rut spot but my goodness. Of course I sat there for like 8 hours and didn't see a thing...till 4-5pm a old beast emerged and somehow my arrow didn't hit it's Mark.


Anyways, the Intel there was huge. I wasn't there adding pressure. In that spot I couldn't narrow down much for travel times and patterns. It was actually bizarre that nothing made any sort of sense. Bedding in that entire area is odd. Deer are driven daily in rifle season. Bedding in that part of the township period is tough to figure out...I have my hunches they are living in people's backyards....I'm glad I moved an hour away because that area drug me down. There were some DANDY bucks but getting on them.... different story. I have pics of bucks none of us have ever laid eyes on. Others we never seen an all the sudden we kill a couple miles and several wood lots away...

If I wanted Intel that's how I'd go about getting it via a trail cam. Wunderground has a weather history feature that'll give wind data for each date. I think hourly last time I looked...so you can match the dates to the winds etc. Moon phase and times can also be looked up after the fact.

[Lockdown]

If you are going to try and use the intel to kill a buck opening weekend, I would set them 6-8 weeks ahead of time then check them mid day on opening day and swing for the fence that evening if something looks promising. You can't let them know you were there, especially if your cams are reasonably close to bedding. Don't check them a week before, or a day before. Chances are they'll smell where you walked and it could louse things up. The element of surprise is crucial.

[Hildebrand]

What if you waited till you knew you had a good rain and went and checked them then? That would help cut some scent out

[DaveT1963]

Mature bucks don't leave their core areas as much as people think they do. But what can happen is they can go nocturnal or alter their normal routines. I typically do not like to get cameras into bedding areas unless I am going to let it soak for months and then I will pull the card on my way IN to a stand. I will view the card while I am at the base of the tree for the most recent pictures. if there is nothing on the camera then I have a decision to make. However, cameras have very specific detection zones so just because a buck is not on film does not mean he is not there. Its a tool, nothing more, nothing less.

[muddy]

I dont like messing around bedding areas like you're suggesting, but I hunt more conservatively than most guys on here when it comes to bedding.

Maybe use multiple cams around the area, but further away, so you dont blow deer out when checking them?

Or go all out and throw some cell phone cams up and not have to worry about checking them unless the conditions are perfect.

[The Silence]

One particular situation the camera would be located outside of the zone they could get a visual of me because of the terrain. 150 yards of so away from his bedding.

[thwack16]

I think there are situations that allow you to do what you're talking about.

Water access without putting your scent anywhere a deer is walking is a perfect scenario.

Having cams just off a place that sees a lot of human activity. Be it a place a farmer rides equipment by or a walking or horse trail. Those cams may be further back from a bed to where you're getting night pics, but can decipher where the bed is by doing so.

Something I toyed with in the late season this year was going in and checking cams during the middle of the night. All these cams were just off bedding areas located on travel areas to feeding destinations. All these cams were placed so that my access was staying away from where the bucks should have been traveling; however, my reasoning for going in at night(besides more available time to do so) was that I knew the deer should be long gone from the area and that if a buck were to pick up my scent on the way back then it was done in the middle of the night instead of during shooting hours. I plan to do this a lot more in the coming season.

[DaveT1963]

I think there are situations that allow you to do what you're talking about.

Water access without putting your scent anywhere a deer is walking is a perfect scenario.

Having cams just off a place that sees a lot of human activity. Be it a place a farmer rides equipment by or a walking or horse trail. Those cams may be further back from a bed to where you're getting night pics, but can decipher where the bed is by doing so.

Something I toyed with in the late season this year was going in and checking cams during the middle of the night. All these cams were just off bedding areas located on travel areas to feeding destinations. All these cams were placed so that my access was staying away from where the bucks should have been traveling; however, my reasoning for going in at night(besides more available time to do so) was that I knew the deer should be long gone from the area and that if a buck were to pick up my scent on the way back then it was done in the middle of the night instead of during shooting hours. I plan to do this a lot more in the coming season.

There is a lot of truth here. What I try to avoid is doing something out of the ordinary. Example: I often will use cameras right off horse trails down this way as the bucks encounter human scent on these all the time.

I will use cameras near bedding areas either on mineral licks or travel corridors - this is mainly to take inventory but I typically do not set them into the bedding cover. I also will set a camera right where I plan on hunting - sometimes even the exact tree. I set these out during tree prep April/May and I do NOT check them until I hunt that spot. If the camera was functioning and there are no recent pics of a buck I am after, I typically will continue scouting further in. There are times where I never climb a tree that day because I just didn't see anything worth shooting of film and/or I failed to find fresh sign. The way i justify it in my mind is which is worst - to push forward and learn as I go fully aware I might be burning a spot and could bump into a shooter...... or sitting in a tree, not seeing anything and not having learned anything new about the area. In my opinion, only one is a waste of time and a mistake.

IMO - Sometimes the best decision is to NOT waste time in a tree.

[The Silence]

Great stuff guys. Really appreciate the input. What's really interesting about one of these travel corridors is that it's located in a property that gets regular use by humans.
Not the corridors or the bedding sanctuaries, they rarely get touched. In fact, these travel corridors remind me of secret passageways. A massive communal scrape is a primary
destination for many of the deer using that area. Here's the kicker: I practice with my bow, a bee keeper has 10 hives and the owner's wife has her garden all within
85 yards of one of the most obvious, rub strewn travel corridors I've ever seen. What's cool is I found a dandy shed of a buck that dropped it 3 feet in front of one of those
dandy rubs.

[Bigb]

I have cameras on a few spots like this. I set the cameras in July and MIGHT check them once during the year. I'm mainly gaining intel for the next year. It stinks to wait that long but it has helped a lot. I've killed two good bucks in the last year doing this and missed one giant as well. I have checked these cameras before but after a morning hunt and leaving my stand a touch early or later when a good rain is coming in.

I honestly leave more and more cameras up all year without checking that I ever did before especially on pinch points that I know good bucks are using. I get much more intel there than a do by trying to pattern a buck.

[<DK>]

Try your best to get in and get out of the area while they are still in velvet. Try not to scare the heck out of them and should be ok.

[Mgaspari]

What if you waited till you knew you had a good rain and went and checked them then? That would help cut some scent out

Rain won’t be enough to not possibly ruin the spot. What Lockdown said is the way to go. Go in ready to hunt, pull the card and look at the pictures with a card reader and if you see the deer your after you can set up and hunt

[Dewey]

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Did I miss something here?

[Bio1]

What lockdown said or throw a cell cam or two in there - No stinking it up that way...