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Trail cams

Rutin

Senior Member
2,029
0
Ina Duck Blind
How does everyone utilize their trail cams? Do you focus on feed sources, transitions, bed skirts, bait? How do you use your trail cam info to better your chances at killing target deer? Do you use scent control while hanging and checking them? Do trail cams dictate when you hunt and when you dont hunt?
 

JD Boyd

*Supporting Member*
3,173
0
Urbana
I like to put them over salt blocks early and then as they progress I make the decision if there is any thing worth shooting then I widen them out in that area to try and narrow down the travel routes they like to use. You should be able to get pics of all the bucks in your core area within the first month on cams. Now I know rut might be a little different but for early season you otta have a good idea of what you got. There has been many times I've yanked cams out of an area and not put them back till late winter. This is one reason why you can never have to many places to hunt.
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
I run the cams over salt and/or minerals from may to september, and then move them around to identify travel corridors right before bow season opens up. I only have a couple cams right now, so I have not yet been real effective using them to pin down a certain deer in particular. I'm hoping to change that this year. I also never really worried too much about scent control when hanging and checking cams... I'm hoping to change that this year as well. From this point forward, I plan on going scent free and smoking up every time I'm out messing with the cams. There's a biggun out there that I'm looking for and I don't want to give him any advantages.
 
Usually just use mine to inventory what we have lurking around on the property over minerals. I have tried using them to cover stand locations I haven't hunted but often when I am hunting all day long it can be a chore to get to the camera to check it without disturbing the area. Don't always worry about scent when hanging them over the minerals either as the camera often is up for months at a time and checked ever few weeks or so.
 

Monster Raxx

Junior Member
716
0
Minnesota
I use my cameras a number of different ways depending on the time of year.
January and Febuary my cameras are over a combination of corn, mineral, and attractant to see what bucks survived the hunting season.
March through May they are strickly on mineral sites.
June through August they are on a combination of corn, mineral, and attractant piles, water holes, clover/alfalfa fields, and the heaviest used trails going into the bean fields.
September until the middle of October they are on heavily used trails near stand locations.
Middle of October through the first week of November they are all on scrapes.
November through December they are on heavily used trails.
 

at1010

*Supporting Member*
4,943
139
I also use my cameras many different ways.

What I find amazing though is i get a pic of different bucks almost every two weeks. Even if i have the camera on a feeder I will have a big buck show up once then not again for a month.

I have found that putting the cameras on trails, plots, and food you will notice a total different amount of deer. I moved mine over a big clover plot and I had pictures of about 3 different bucks I had never seen before.
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
How does everyone utilize their trail cams?

My cams serve two purposes: scouting and inventory. I have certain cams that are only for scouting trails and other areas of interests. Those cameras rarely spend more than two weeks in a certain spot. This time of year, my scouting cams will work travel areas that I rarely see from a stand in hopes of locating a trail or corridor I have previously overlooked. Once we get closer to season, I’ll use them to try and pattern a particular buck. During the season, they will go on known travel routes, rub lines, and scrapes.

Do you focus on feed sources, transitions, bed skirts, bait?

All of my inventory cams sit on corn or minerals. My scouting cams will focus on travel routes, bed skirts, and other areas of interest…

How do you use your trail cam info to better your chances at killing target deer?

I’ll take known data points and plot them on a map, then work on connecting the dots. It seems like a good practice, but has yet to prove itself. However despite my lack of success using cams to kill a specific buck, I have amassed a ton of data points over the years that have made my hunting better. It is only a matter of time before it all comes together…

Do you use scent control while hanging and checking them?

I do from September through the season. This time of year, I do not worry about it all that much and the data as shown it really doesn’t matter. However once I get a target buck using an inventory site, I will try and time all my visits to this site from July to September before, during, or just after a rain storm…

Do trail cams dictate when you hunt and when you dont hunt?

No. I hunt when I can hunt and don’t when something other than a trial cam dictates…
 

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,720
248
Ohio
There are a couple areas I keep them out year round. Many times I do not touch them during the season as I feel they are in a bit too deep to the bedding areas/sanctuary areas. This time of the year I will go into them to freshen minerals and see how the boys are growing and fawns are dropping. These areas seem to get hit pretty good until maybe June-July and then the bucks seem to wander off and it is primarily does. Some of my best pictures of the most mature bucks come from these areas during the rut. Then again, I better make sure the batteries are fresh and the card is empty before the season. It might be awhile before I enter again. Like Jesse, i only enter in the rain in these areas as the season closes in.

The majority of my other cameras cover travel routes. We have large, open, agricultural fields with small wood lots around here. It is tough to "cover a food source" in this area. Travel routes are about the only other option unless you want to traipse through a bedding area. I find rotating the camera 90 or 180 degrees on a tree every so often will pick up a mature buck you haven't been capturing for awhile. Mature buck gets picked off once, maybe twice, and they will start to skirt that tree. Rotate, and bingo! You found the buck hasn't left the area, just avoiding the cameras. For this same reason, I will also move them to random areas at times. Sometimes I get better pictures from a trail which doesn't have near the traffic worn into it. Heavier traveled trails seem to be great for picking up does and fawns. Not always the case for the big boys until the rut though. You can catch a random big boy on the doe trails during the rut, but many times it is still just the 1.5-2.5yr old buck you catch.

Yep. Snagging the big boys on camera with thousands of acres of corn all around is just not as easy as it looks. lmao