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Checking Cams or Over Checking Cams

Mao

Member
1,695
109
Coshocton, OH
I have procrastinated more than ever this year with the trail cams. A week ago I put three out and I still need to get two others out. I vowed last year that I would wait a month between cam checks. I know that is going to be tough to do. It has been discussed at length on here the damage of over checking, but I was curious as to how long everyone waits between checks...

So....Be honest, how long are you waiting before returning to check your cams?

Are you resisting the temptation? Or are you running back a week later to see what showed up?

BE HONEST!
 

Mao

Member
1,695
109
Coshocton, OH
I am checking about every two weeks. I would stretch it out further but I have been refreshing bait.

That's my big complaint about waiting so long between checks. I know my bait is long gone. I put 5 buckets of apples out at each cam and I know they are all gone only a week later.
 

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,720
248
Ohio
Depends on the property. I have tried to go a month. Had been having some camera issues so started checking more frequently. Last check on one property was at 2.5 weeks. My personal property I had been checking about once a month but once my apples started to hit the ground and rot I started to go back a little quicker to replentish them. Yesterday I found out my wife took her friend and all the kids for a walk to show them the tree house over the weekend. Guess my efforts are fruitless (no pun intended). I gave her some teasing about it and her reply was "My name is on the deed too." I quickly pointed out "Oh, but it is NOT. That property is deeded in the name of the business. You don't own any of it unless we divorced. . . . at which point half is yours.:smiley_blackeye:"

The last property is one we have stayed out of unless working there. I believe we checked a couple months ago when we moved stands and checked shooting lanes. I changed the two cards there a couple weeks ago when I worked ground. Probably check one more time as we were hoping to hang another stand or two and get the seed in the plots I worked up.
 
From about May to mid August I check mine every 7-10 days. It really depends on how often I get to the property. Come mid August I slow down. My last card pull was on 8/20. I plan to pull cards on all my camera around mid Sept. At that time I will move all my cameras to somewhere between where I park and the stand I hunt most. This way I will never be messing with cameras near my stand location. During the hunting season I'll probably pull cards fairly often as I go by them heading to my stand.

I've learned the deer travel routes pretty well on my property. My camera is mainly used as an inventory tool rather than a tool to pattern deer.
 
Since mine are 6 1/2 hours away I have to wait. Generally about a month in between but if I were there I'd average about once every two weeks. I forgot to turn one on the last time I was down and to my dismay when I went to pull the card I had not a single pic of what I though would have been the perfect set-up. 2 weeks would have found that. Funny because I always was thinking anyone who would do that was just not paying enough attention....yep, that was me that day. By doing 2 weeks you then can figure out if you need to reposition the camera or perhaps completely relocate it as well.
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,855
260
SW Ohio
Honestly I originally planned on checking my 3 cameras every 2-3 weeks but have been checking them more like 1-2 weeks. This is due to having camera issues making sure they aren't sitting out there nearly a month not doing ANYTHING! Lmao

My last two pulls have been terrible due to cameras not working properly...I love hating these things!
 
Don't feel alone Chuck. I have a habit of leaving my BTC in menu mode a lot. Go back and the big purple light just stares at me. Glad I run multiple cameras.

Believe me I was soooo looking forward to those pics too. Was what I thought one of my better set-ups on a trail I thought for sure was the path a buck was taking too. Will see the next time I get down now as I triple checked each camera LOL!!
 

dante322

*Supporting Member*
5,506
157
Crawford county
I have been really good about only doing checks every 4 weeks this season. I only have 2 cams. One on eaproerty I hunt. Placed them on a mineral site so there is no need to refresh bait. As of sunday, both cams have been pulled so I have no need to go back in until its time to hunt.
 

Big Weff

Junior Member
1,089
97
Athens
I swap cards every two weeks on bait and try my darndest to leave them a month on a trail or heavily traveled area but as everyone has already said very hard not to surcome to the temptation of grabbing it after one week when you got big bucks on the brain haha
 

DJK Frank 16

Senior Member
Supporting Member
9,358
133
Hardin County
I put one out the first part of august and swore I wouldn't go back until we get a frost to kill the mosquitoes... It was horrible. But I'm itching to see what's on it so I will probably venture out there sometime this week. Usually it's 2 weeks max for me because I get impatient.
 

cotty16

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
I'm ready to throw my cameras in the river. That'll solve my issue of when to check them. It'll also solve my problem of not getting jack shit on them.

This year I've allowed a minimum of two weeks between checks and at most 4 weeks. Not that it makes it right... just what I did this year. Tried to lessen my visits.