Have used them the last few years, but not this year. I found most of my deer going nocturnal, and actually patterning me, coming to check the cameras, feeders etc. I have kept hunting journal for years, and looking back, I saw 3x more deer where I was not using cameras last 3 years.
I am only going to use 2 feeders in early season and late, good mast crops makes feeders here a waste of time. I have been putting down shoe leather and checking mast crops, like I used to do, have my blinds and treestands up and ready. When I took my best 2 deer with a bow, I never had used trail cams, one was 132" 8pt, other was 142" 10pt, but hunted and scouted hard, gonna do the same this year, wife is fired up too. All my best deer I have taken have been with a bow, none with a firearm, early bow season and pre rut here are the golden times to bag a big boy. What do you guys think?
I like the trail cams best for hog hunting. Down here in TX we can hunt hogs 24hrs a day so we hunt quite a bit at night. Especially during the summer when it is 100+ degrees during the day. The cameras give me a good idea of when the pigs are coming in to my set-ups.
Bisch
I love looking at everyones pics but trailcams are not for me. I hunt 90% public land and don't hang stands anymore.
I have a buddy with about 200 acres of prime ground that checks about 10 cams weekly and wonders why they go nocturnal. :knothead:
I love 'em, but I only check them about once every 6 weeks during the off season. During hunting season I usually have them close to stand sites and check them when I am leaving my stand. Just have to be smart about it. I still get excited to get home and see what pics I have every time. It's a lot like running a trap line.
I don't use cams or feeders. It's just not for me. Not to mention I usually hunt Avon Park Airforce Range or other public lands
I guess they are a good tool to help scout but just not something I personally want to use. I also don't use feeders but that's a different subject
My hunting gear is complicated enough without adding more things that I can lose
DDave
I have been having mixed emotions about them. I've used them since 2007, my first were chepos that cost me enough in batteries to buy 2 of the most expensive on the market. The next year I bought better ones, and killed the biggest deer of my life. Had 0 pictures of him, so they affected my harvest that year none at all. In 09 I saw a deer on camera at the first of Oct. and killed it around the first of Nov. it was kinda cool. 2010 found me hunting a ghost, my cameras caused me to pass on some nice deer that I would have been tickled with, waiting for what my camera said was there. Then in 2011 I watched one grow from April till I killed it at the end of Oct. I had over 1500 pics of this deer, he changed up his pattern 3 days before season and disappeared. I passed up his running buddy twice the first week of season and never laid eyes on "my" buck. I knew I had done it again. These stinking cameras let me know to much. I ended up running into him 400yds away on a logging road with acorn trees everywhere, I had a hunch he was there, but my camera firmed up the suspicions, killed him at the end of Oct. knowing he was in the area helped me hunt harder, and that whole full circle thing was cool.........but, They are getting to be a hassle, I leave mine out most of the year and so far they last about 3 seasons maybe 4 at best. They made me pickier about the bucks I shoot. Don't get me wrong I love the thought of a big buck in bow range but, most of the time I'm happy with a decent buck. Up until trail cameras if it got my heart thumping it was getting an arrow slung at it. It seems if I didn't know what was there I'd be tagged out early and happy with my kill, sitting on a lake somewhere with a crappie or smallmouth pulling on my line.
I guess in a nut shell I think there cool, but they cause me trouble from time to time. I'm not replacing any this year that tear up and I guess we'll see what happens.
Nice post KYKiller
Not really interested in what's there when I'm not. I prefer to take the deer the Creator puts before me. To each his own, got nothing against them and admire those who can pick out a specific deer and hunt them.
If you didn't use them you wouldn't get these cool photo's. We can't be in the woods 24hr, so it's just neat to see what I miss.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v462/Cbireley/IMAG04391_zps057d39a6.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Cbireley/media/IMAG04391_zps057d39a6.jpg.html) 2 fawns
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v462/Cbireley/PICT0041_zpse8f1379b.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Cbireley/media/PICT0041_zpse8f1379b.jpg.html)
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I just started using a trail camera last season. I learned that there are more deer than I thought there were on the sparsely wooded property that I hunt on. Made me want to hunt more often and hunt with more confidence than I had before I placed the camera out. I saw more deer while on stand, on that property, than I ever had before too, I guess because I hunted more often. It's exciting to me when I see that there are a bunch of pics on it and I can't wait to check them out. Like Huntingnut said, "It's a lot like running a trap line".
I've never really used them until I had kids. The trail cams help me find hogs and deer for my young bowhunters. I like showing them what kind of animals they have a chance of shooting.
I like piddling around with them, but I'm so stuck in my ways and hard headed, just because I see a bunch of pictures of bucks walking a trail don't make me think it's a good spot. I won't hunt this trail cause it's too open.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/Iflytrout/Trail%20Cam/NewBuck3.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/Iflytrout/Trail%20Cam/Snowbucka.jpg)
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I've found them to be a great tool in the extremely dense brush we have here. It's pretty much a jungle. So you can't just walk around looking for deer and then back off before they spot you. You can only see 20yds in most cases and that's kinda far here. So trail cans help me see more deer. I've learned once a week at the maximum can I check them or I'll bump the deer to a different pattern. Learned that the hard way.
The greatest thing ever!
It allows us to SEE what, where and when.....
I have never used them, but I really like the cool pics that have been posted here throughout the years. I actually bought one a couple years ago to see what was feeding on my vegetable garden. And although I never put it up, I certainly don't have anything against their use.
I'm only opposed to their use in MY hunting... like many other things... they cross MY line... no thanks, not for me. If others find a need for them or enjoyment in such things, go for it.
They're COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL, and almost as addicting in collecting the pictures as hunting.
They are wonderful tools but you have to be careful. Older deer pick up on them right away, whether they care has a lot to do with personality. The older bucks will generally shy away or start walking behind them. I usually put mine up for a week then move them. It's nice to know what's walking. I do not like to leave them in one spot for long periods as the deer will definitely pattern your comings and goings.
That being said, I get more pleasure from those cameras than sometimes hunting itself.
I have one and think its a Lot of fun. I typically place it in places I couldnt hunt, just want cool pictures and practice scouting. It builds confidence knowing I pick good places.
I would be a fool if I thought I could pattern a mature buck and get to the stand 5 minutes before him. The sad part is, even if it did work, I would be cheating myself.
I am out hunting to be in the woods and kill a deer, not just to kill a deer. I like the element of surprise and the unexpected.
to sum it up, I love cameras but dont use them to hunt deer for me.
More than likely its not the cams, maybe your leaving to much residual scent or the change in there enviroment.
"I have been putting down shoe leather and checking mast crops, like I used to do, have my blinds and treestands up and ready".
My first year using them. I don't use them for the hunt, but I do use them to know what is prowling within 75 yards of our isolated house. Now I know why the dogs are raising a fuss after dark. Lot of bear and deer close enough to shoot from the back door. Nothing against them if it's what you like but I like to be surprised when I'm hunting.
They are great for letting you know what is there. A person hunts harder and longer when they know a monster buck is using the land.
Just do not get overly caught up in hunting one and pass on what is a shooter in your eyes waiting for the one.
Makes a persons spirit brighter knowing just maybe.
No different then the computers or I phone's or tablet's you guys are using right now searching the web it's all in how you use them. I've seen this same thread come up year after year and half the complainers coming on six months later posting picks of trail cams. There a lot of fun and a great way to hunt 24/7 if that's what you want to do, there's a lot more to it then just throwing a camera up on a tree or at a waterhole and feeders.
Using cams are like hunting and if you have deer that are patterning you or shying away from cams or going noctournal you are probably making the same mistakes while hunting, learn from that. We continually find huge bucks on very small peices of land like 10acres or less and get in and out checking cams once a week and not spooking them by taking the same precautions we do while hunting. We've tried many different types of cams from flashing to infa red and the deer don't seem to mind, they always find them and no there there.
Anyway, we like to use them and they have shown us a lot of animals we never ever would have seen other wise. We love the challenge of finding the really big bucks and certain animals and will use them at certain times. Good luck if you try them there a lot of fun!!!
(http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac248/TmPotter47/p13-1.jpg)
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If your not getting daytime picks move your cam!
Tracy
Not for me I like to do my own scouting,and I do not have a Iphone or tablets!
Definitely the cams they pick up on. People can say what they want about it not bothering them, but where I live.......the big ones don't like it.
Don't see much need for them other than to take stock. I enjoy the excitement of not knowing!
I think they are a blast. The way I use them doesn't affect my hunting but I get to see what's around...there's more nice bucks than I ever thought! I'd never see them without the camera, to say nothing of all the cute and funny pictures of fawns running and playing, bears, coons, and whatever else comes to check the mineral block.
the difference IMO is I don't use my computer or Iphone to gain an advantage over the animals I hunt
the whole reason I use a longbow or recurve is to reject any modern gadgets and pit my woodsmanship and cunning against the animal
now before anyone gets angry I really don't care if anyone else hunts with a laser guided submachine gun, I am simply stating how I feel about my personal actions
I like seeing the photos that are captured, really like the ones from out west, elk, lions, Muleys. But as far as where I hunt there is no real reason to use one. Plus I like to be surprised and use my skills as a hunter and a woodsman to seek my goals.
Ive been using one behind my house with the kids but havent had a desire to hunt one yet. I do enjoy being flabergasted by an unknown deer while Im hunting. I think theyre awesome for the guys that like them but a terrible tool for the guys that dont like them. :thumbsup:
On the over hunted private land that we have access to there are about 30 cameras on 800 acres, not kidding. One kid that I started out with a longbow, has since gone compound, has 5 out there. Another guy and his son, the ones that ride around and harass the other hunters, have 12 they check them daily with a four wheel. Another father son have one by each of their 15 stands, stands that they just found in the public and private woods in the area. The public land around here has so many you cannot even take a pee in the woods without getting your picture taken. One fellow has three around his group of three stands on public land, three that he has not taken out in years, the local game wardens are not enforcing the permanent three stand laws. He told me that he needs them to make sure that no one is hunting in HIS area and he is going make anyone sorry that goes into his area. I am going out this fall to see how often I can get my picture taken. Private land is one thing, but on public land it is another. I think automatic cameras are an invasion of privacy whether they are placed by public officials or private individuals. If there were just a few out there it would not be a big deal, around here it is ridiculous.
They are fun. I like using them more to see what is around before the season starts or after. I just like seeing stuff on them. I have captured some cool stuff with them. I hunt where I hunt because of sign, food, time of the year, travel routes........
The only advantage I have gotten for me is figuring out a few areas were totally nocturnal for activity. I guess that saved me some hunts to figure that out. I have also confirmed what I learned from on stand in one spot I hunted for a few years, and that was that deer only came through at night or in the middle of the day in the pre-rut and rut. I know that happened a lot from experience watching the area all times of the day during the hunting season, but it was interesting to see it was very consistent day to day that time of the year and much of the rest of the year. I always figure there was a tendency for that behavior the 6 or 8 days I hunted it every year, but I had no idea just how consistent it was.
I must say I have been surprised a few times on what all I have seen on them that I never know was around. But, as a meat hunter, I shot what the good Lord puts in front of me. I only get picky if I am setting on my last restricted buck tag and the freezer is about topped off. By that time all bets are off with the rut in full swing. What you knew was around just a couple weeks or so before may be dead, moved off, or totally unpredictable.
I don't like to have them on my hunting spots for deer. I think they work real well on turkeys, bears, and people. I do think the deer figure out they are there even if I am real careful about not pressuring the spot and check them rarely. I think it is the IR light that attracts them, and then they smell some scent on them. I almost wonder if the flash is better than the IR light. Most of the deer that seem to spot my camera and become aware of it do so at night. I have been thinking about not using the light and setting it for daytime hours only.
I have found if I have a major scrape or other attractant, they will come in a lot and not be spooked so easy if they are distracted. It seems to me they move off trials with them when they wonder through slow and cautious and then pick up on the camera. I have seen deer move off trails with them even if the trial is right on top of an active human area where they would expect to see and smell people.
I am starting to think more about putting them much higher off the ground out of nose reach and line of sight. That and also putting them where they are obstructed and harder to walk right up to.
How do I feel about trail cameras? I like looking at pix that others have gotten on their trail cameras, but when they're used for hunting/scouting, they're a substitution of technology for woodsmanship. They're not for me.
Without them, you miss stuff like this. Still keeps you guessing.
(http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy241/kbetts_01/75cedb310f417f52f634182ec0306fa6_zps95c8428c.jpg)
What we need is trail microphones, so we can record what the deer are saying about us when we are not there. Sure trail cams take some interesting pictures of stuff that tantalize our imaginations, but when does the techno spy game start stealing from the adventure? Or is it all about an analysed and programmed sniper event, where all of the decisions are made in advance and where the game movement is so controlled that there is little chance left for the predicted out come? That is way the out of state outdoor TV show guys do it in Iowa that hunt on guarded land with their annual governor issued tags. It just seems like a departure from traditional archery to me.
This'll be my first year trying one. So far it has not told me anything I didn't already know.
Lots of good post about the subject.one thing they bring to the table is keeping kids interested.Thay are not a crutch or substitute for good woodsmanship.But my kids love retrieving the cards and rushing home to check them.I think it is a good teaching tool.
I enjoy mine. I just like to see what comes by.I did kill a Turkey this year I would not have probably because I had a pic of it on an island I had not planned to hunt. It is easier for a meathunter like me to let a deer go knowing there are some good ones around.RC
I enjoy mine. I use it more out of curiosity than anything. I mostly stick it up around the house to see what sort of critter my dog is barking at.
Last year, a buddy and I set one up over a hog wallow in a secluded area on public land. In the many years we hunted that area, we never ran into anyone, and only rarely, and only during turkey season, did we cut anyone's track. We figured it would be a good place to put up a camera. We left it up for 6 months straight, from the end of turkey season through October.
When my buddy checked it, there were hundreds, if not thousands of pics on it. He swapped out the memory card, but left the camera in place, thinking it was pretty well hidden.
We definitely picked a good spot. There were pics of bobcats, fox, black bear, whitetails, squirrels, possums, coons, mink, turkey and hogs, lots of hogs. In some of the last pics, though, were some bear hunters and their dogs. We have one picture of one of the bear hunters pointing at the camera. Those pics were taken about a week , maybe 10 days earlier.
When we looked over those pictures and saw the one with the guy pointing at the camera, my buddy decided he'd go back up and take the camera down. Well, sure enough, he gets there, and the camera is gone. I guess one of those fellows went back up there and took it.
At any rate, it was really neat to see all of the critters that came by that one little spot. Did it change the way I hunt? Not in the least. We put it there because we already knew game frequented that area. It did satisfy our curiosity as to how big some of those hogs were, though.
Check out the size of the honker in the background of this picture:
(http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad183/wclooper/Wadaco%20Mtn/Image.jpg) (http://s934.photobucket.com/user/wclooper/media/Wadaco%20Mtn/Image.jpg.html)
QuoteOriginally posted by pavan:
What we need is trail microphones, so we can record what the deer are saying about us when we are not there.
Hilarious! And about the truth! I almost hit the floor laughing!
Just like everything else, they can be abused. But I enjoy mine. This year I have a tag that's taken me 7 years to draw. I've got cameras up at the waterholes I plan on hunting. Through scouting I've found that cattle have ruined one hole, but through my cameras I get to see the quality of the bulls in the area. I was going to sit all day anyway, so i don't see the problem.
The other thing is they are fun. I've been able to watch bucks grow up through a friends cameras over in Kansas. You can see what one year and weather really does for animals.
If it's not for you, so be it, but I don't see it cheating. Last I checked the cameras still can't shoot a bow, although it wouldn't suprise me if someones trying to invent that :rolleyes:
Like any other tool. Use it right and it wont be an issue, but use wrong or rely on it too much and you will be buggered like crazy.
I love them. Almost as much fun as hunting. Its illogical and anti-freedom that any state would even think about banning them. Beaurocratic bull crap in my opinion. My state doent restrict them, buit I feel for those that do.
Another good use is on public land to detemine how much hunting pressure is in an area.
We have several of them and i thunk they are fun.I dont really use them to hunt with though. My dad in law is old and cant get around much anymore, so we built a cpl comfortable shooting houses for him that are set up on green patches so he can still hunt. He can only gun hunt and has to take a 4 wheeler to about 100 yards from his shooting house and walks from there.He goes out about 2 1/2 hours before dark.Last year the camera showed lots of deer comeing into his patch, several real nice bucks, but he was not seeing many. The time stamp on his trail camp showed the deer coming in almost exactly 15 mins after he left his shooting house.Thats about the time it took him to get to his 4 wheeler and crank it up. Those deer were waiting till they heard him crank up and knew it was ok to come out,lol.
I like them, but I don't go overboard. Woodsmanship is still needed to find the place to set them up. As I get older, killing a deer isn't what it once was. I still will shoot any doe that comes by, but have become more selective with bucks. With cameras, it may not help me kill a monster, but it will help me pass up smaller bucks, just knowing that larger ones are around. I'm OK not shooting a buck at all, but when I do, I want to shoot one that is fully mature.
I use a trail cam around our property at a salt lick(no hunting there)just to see who's around. Generally it is just ole Flossy and her kids. I did set it up on a coyote kill site a few years go to see who visited. You'd be surprised the critters that benefit from a kill.
I now have it set up on our compost pile. Lucy, our chocolate lab ran a bear off from there the other day.
I think a lot of people are a little confused about trail cams. They think you can put them out and automatically get a pic of every deer with in 2 miles. I have local deer that I have never got a pic of and one is 7 years old this year. I never put them real close to where I hunt and only check them midday or after dark. In my area it takes just as much scouting to get pics of bucks as it does to hunt them.
I'd like to have a few but in NJ EVERYTHING left in the woods gets stolen. People here can't leave what's not theirs alone.
They are fun, but I'd say no often than 1/2 the time do I have a buck we kill on camera. Don't believe everything the camera tells you!
I think they're a great "tool" to use along with shoe leather and scouting. Just because you get the picture of a great buck doesn't mean you're going to get the shot at him. It lets you know whats out there when you're not, and help you try to pattern their movements. Plus it's fun to share them with all your huntin buds.
I like them but had bad luck with a stealth cam core
But they are nice
Cameras are just one tool. But I don't know if I'm using them to pattern deer or are the deer using my cameras to pattern me??? :dunno: LOL. All kidding aside, I firmly believe that we as hunters can never enter the woods without affecting or interrupting deer patterns, (no matter how much scent control we use),. The more we enter the woods to check cameras or hang stands, the more we change the deer natural patterns.
I love them. Almost as much fun as hunting. Its illogical and anti-freedom that any state would even think about banning them. Beaurocratic bull crap in my opinion. My state doent restrict them, buit I feel for those that do.
Don't like them
even if I can see how helpful they can be. I REALLY hate when they are tied into a smartphone..
I'd rather hone my woods craft and wonder than have an eletronic camera tell me what I should know already.
Joshua
Only black and white pictures are traditional. :rolleyes:
Kodak Instamatic....flashcube...tripwire. The 5 day lag time to see pictures is a downer.
;)
I really dislike these threads as I think they divide us.
If I were simply trying to kill just a deer I wouldn't use them. But I am trying to kill a three year or older buck. There are so many deer in my area that I could sit a well used trail after well used trail and have my season run out on me simply seeing smaller deer that are off limits in our game management plan.
Just because I use them doesn't mean my woodsmanship suffers. I am out there more than most looking for new sign to hang a camera on I promise you. It just means when I find a spot I don't have to physically sit there and watch to see what it is that is making the sign. I move on to the next spot. Other than summer fields, feeding patterns change quickly. If you hunt that one out of many options you will always be a step behind the deer. The last buck I killed I found three hot places where deer where actively hitting the acorns. I hung cameras in all three places. Check the pictures two days later and hung my stand at the place I saw the mature buck and went in there and killed it. I was one step ahead of them.
Used PROPERLY cameras are a fantastic tool! Used improperly the deer will pattern you.
QuoteOriginally posted by K.S.TRAPPER:
No different then the computers or I phone's or tablet's you guys are using right now searching the web it's all in how you use them. I've seen this same thread come up year after year and half the complainers coming on six months later posting picks of trail cams. There a lot of fun and a great way to hunt 24/7 if that's what you want to do, there's a lot more to it then just throwing a camera up on a tree or at a waterhole and feeders.
Using cams are like hunting and if you have deer that are patterning you or shying away from cams or going noctournal you are probably making the same mistakes while hunting, learn from that. We continually find huge bucks on very small peices of land like 10acres or less and get in and out checking cams once a week and not spooking them by taking the same precautions we do while hunting. We've tried many different types of cams from flashing to infa red and the deer don't seem to mind, they always find them and no there there.
Anyway, we like to use them and they have shown us a lot of animals we never ever would have seen other wise. We love the challenge of finding the really big bucks and certain animals and will use them at certain times. Good luck if you try them there a lot of fun!!!
(http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac248/TmPotter47/p13-1.jpg)
(http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac248/TmPotter47/e9-1.jpg)
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If your not getting daytime picks move your cam!
Tracy
x's 2. Well said !
I feel too many people worry about how other people feel over legal personal decisions. Makes you life easier and happier if you play by the rules and do what you want and not worry about what someone else 'thinks'. If you do, 'they' are controlling your life.
:campfire:
I use a trailcam to take pictures of wildlife, not pattern deer to hunt them. I usually put it in an area away from stands, near a house or road crossing at times. Love looking at deer pics, nocturnal or daylight. Interesting to see deer that you don't see on stand and vice versa, and what bucks survive the season.
quote:
Originally posted by Terry Green:
I feel too many people worry about how other people feel over legal personal decisions. Makes you life easier and happier if you play by the rules and do what you want and not worry about what someone else 'thinks'. If you do, 'they' are controlling your life.
:thumbsup: :archer:
QuoteOriginally posted by Terry Green:
I feel too many people worry about how other people feel over legal personal decisions. Makes you life easier and happier if you play by the rules and do what you want and not worry about what someone else 'thinks'. If you do, 'they' are controlling your life.
:campfire:
Exactly!!
QuoteOriginally posted by Terry Green:
I feel too many people worry about how other people feel over legal personal decisions. Makes you life easier and happier if you play by the rules and do what you want and not worry about what someone else 'thinks'. If you do, 'they' are controlling your life.
:campfire:
x3