Trail Cams Why?

[George D. Stout]

It's another tool.  You know like ATV's, Treestands, Buck Lure, Cough Silencers, Scent Drippers, Shaggy Suits, Headnets, Grunt Calls, Bleat Calls, Doe In Heat Lure, Rangefinders, Bow Holders, Deer View Mirrors, Hearing Enhancers, Video Mounts for your bow, String Trackers, Stump Likker, GPS units and Microwave Popcorn 8^).  

[VTer]

I just like getting pictures of deer and other critters. During a season I usually move my trail cam around a lot trying to fill up a roll of film, by the time I get that done and actually send my film away to get it developed, I forgot exactly where I had the thing out anyways. Not exactly a scouting tool because I always forget to reset the date/time stamp too.

[Gatekeeper]

Wow George your pack must be heavy. I can see why you need an ATV.  

[Santiam]

What??

[BFinegan]

Originally posted by Herdbull:
Yes there are many uses as indicated above. I would like to add one more. For me they are humbling. I missed this buck at 15 yards two days prior to this picture. The picture reminds me to concentrate on the shot and that “….the outcome of the hunt is written in uncertainty!”
Mike
 

I like your recent Christmas buck better.

[Jeff Strubberg]

Jeff,

It really depends on where you live. Here in Michigan, bait is huge. Come October just about every gas station has bags of it stacked 6 feet high and semi trucks come in a dump sugar beets at little stores to sell. Guys will get a pickup truck load and take it to their "spot" they are hunting (really it's just shooting at that point as you can't call it hunting). I bet at least 90% of the hunters, bow and gun hunt over bait now. If they have a trail cam, it's set up on there bait pile. You just have to see it to beleive it.

CJ

I will take your word for it.  That's one state.

[rg176bnc]

You would be surprised how many bucks you never see.  As for bait its really an excuse for those non-successful hunters to whine about.  Its no diffrent than hunting over a harvested field.  They either show up or they dont.

[Widowbender]

I've been using trail cams for 12 years. I have very little available time for hunting and scouting. Trail cameras help me maximize my time in the woods. Yes, I get a lot of night pics of bucks, but it helps piece together a pattern. I have killed a few very nice bucks that the only photo I had of them, was at night. I have also gotten a lot of big buck pics during the middle of the day. I even make my own camera units now.  I know it just seems like a gadget to some, but It is almost like another hobby to me. Plus my family likes to sit around a look at the slide shows on the computer.I usually set my cams up on trails, scrapes, rub lines, field edges, funnels, etc.

David

[Scott E]

they tell you everything you need to know. When where what time and where to. To me the best scouting tool I have. Going to pick my camera tomorrow and yes it is over bait which is legal where I live. But you hunt your way and I'll hunt mine as long as every one has fun and no one gets hurt I think every thing is just fine-Scott

[T Sunstone]

I have a feeder and a camera set up at it, but I don't like to hunt over bait.  The closest tree stand is a 1/4 mile away.  I use it to help keep deer and turkeys on my place and to see whats there.  

About 6 years ago during the rut, my mother wanted me to come over for dinner and I told her it would be late because I would be hunting.  Well she said its just one afternoon so I went.  I had a camera at the stand and when I check the pictures there was a 10 pt. 160 class at 4:20 Nov. 4th.

[draco]

Cameras help you learn more about the deer in general and more about deer in your hunting areas in particular. I started using cameras this year and was totally amased at how many bucks are there. I keep a file of the differant bucks we get pictures of. After the rut started,half the bucks we had are gone.Mostly young bucks though. But a bunch of new bucks start showing up on the cameras. One big 9 pt. showed up on two cameras 1 1/2 miles apart in the same evening. A huge crab claw ten pt. and a giant six pt. with ten inch brow tines,both old deer, have never been seen by any hunters in our group even though the pictures tell us they have been there all thru the season. We would never know about these deer without the cameras.
With a little imagination in camera use they can teach us so much about the deer where we hunt. Whether I put it to use or not, I like knowing more about the wildlife,and it`s definitely doing that.   Bob

[Gene Wensel]

Like computers, cell phones, GPS units, ATVs, fast cars, hot women, scotch, etc. set cameras are not for everyone. I think of mine as learning tools. My brother shows much less interest in setting them out or checking them but always crowds me to see what shows up on the screen. There is a sincere element of personal satisfaction involved with their use. I think of their use as catch and release trapping. Aside from the fun factor, the PRIMARY reason I use them is to see what is on my outdoor menu. Its a whole lot easier to pass up a decent buck knowing there is a giant in the neighborhood. A trail camera set on an edge scrape the last two weeks of October will reveal over 75% of the bucks in the area. That fact alone makes them very valuable to me. How can they be used as learning tools? There are almost too many ways to list. Which scrapes are used most? Are scrapes really used that much by doe deer? When? Do multiple bucks check certain rubs? Cameras determine sex ratios and age structure. They determine preferred food sources. How many elk use any given wallow? Which waterhole has the biggest or most pronghorns? I know several guys who worried themselves sick searching many days for a wounded buck only to discover later with relief (via trail camera) that their shot was only a flesh wound. Got a dog trashing your garbage can? Identify WHICH dog. Got dogs running deer? Prove it to your neighbors. Which brands of scent work best? Got bears hitting three baits ten miles apart? Know which one has the most or biggest bear. Think there is a sasquatch using a wilderness waterhole somewhere in Oregon? Go for it. I will not go back to Africa without a set camera. Aside from being a learning tool, they are just plain fun.

[Bill Carlsen]

Well, said, Gene. My wife and I have several and we just find it fun, just plain fun, to see what we have around the house..which we rarely hunt. This year we purchased 23 acres of forested wetland that borders a river and is surrounded by large tacts of privately owned, mostly posted land (meaning it is not disturbed) and is a known area for deer and moose and an occaisional bear. Not knowing what the deer heard really "looked" like we set out some cameras. We found that we had at least 8 antlered bucks and numerous does. Interestingly enough, while the bucks did show up at night most of the pics we got of them were in daylight hours, usually in the AM. Here's a couple.

 

 

 

 

Since we have only had the property for a short while we have not "learned" it very well and have only recently gotten the surveyor's plot plan. This winter we will be scouting, picking tree stand sites (we have two huge white oaks about 80 yards apart on one of the property lines) and making some trails to get in, out and thru the property more easily and quietly. Having the trail cam pics of the deer in the area makes the work ahead of us all the more exciting because we now know for a certainty the deer that are using the property on a regular basis and have a sense of how they use it. We love our cameras and plan on getting a few more.

[Bill Carlsen]

Ted: Trail cameras are traditional at our house. Actually, since the cameras have come into the market place they have saved me a lot of time simply because I can determine which stands are "useless" during the hours I am able to hunt. They are a good tool and I find they add excitement to my hunts because I actually have solid info on what deer are actually using the areas I hunt. I have learned, for example, that a number of stands that I hunt that have been "hot" in regards to deer sign, etc., are really low percentage stands to hunt at different times of the day. Here in NH we have a healthy but not dense deer herd. Finding deer and getting shots is not a daily occurrence so I use the cameras in order to make the best use of my hunting time.

[trapperDave]

simple, they are fun, educational and you can include your children when putting them out and checking them and it gives a reaonable idea of what kind and how many deer you have around

[trapperDave]

they also make great security cams when ya have someone messin around your property(woods or home)

[randy grider]

expensive food plots ? has anybody priced corn lately ? looks like you could raise food plots cheaper than buying corn, and it looks alot better than the feedlots i see posted in alot of these trail cam photos. The biggest problem i see with baiting is it concentrates animals in a small space to the point the are eating and crapping and eating each others cooties. Looks like a good way to spread diseases to me. I guess its legal in Kentucky, but not on public land. Why is that ?

[Dan Reeves]

I really enjoy my trail cams, I find them both educational and entertaining.
For one thing, I have two youngsters (2 & 4), this severely limits my hunting time. The cams sort of hunt for me, the kids and I set them up, move them around, bring the memory cards home and they sit on my lap as we browse the pictures on the computer.

We set them up over our "expensive" food plots and salt licks mostly - biggest bang for your buck. Each batch has at least one picture of my kids and me approaching the camera, some of my favorites are back when my son rode in one of those baby carrying belly packs.

Just another way to enjoy the great outdoors.

[bluegrassbowhunter]

Originally posted by randy grider:
expensive food plots ? has anybody priced corn lately ? looks like you could raise food plots cheaper than buying corn, and it looks alot better than the feedlots i see posted in alot of these trail cam photos. The biggest problem i see with baiting is it concentrates animals in a small space to the point the are eating and crapping and eating each others cooties. Looks like a good way to spread diseases to me. I guess its legal in Kentucky, but not on public land. Why is that ?

Corn may not be exspensive to plant but the equipment needed to get it in the ground is....

[killinstuff]

After watching this thread I'm starting to think maybe a trail cam isn't so bad. I sure do like the pic's being posted, the Elk and Bobcat pic's are great and that bunny looked tasty. But many of you have comments on bait and/or food plots too. Here in Michigan, bait has changed a whole generation of hunter from knowing woodsmanship and how to hunt to being a suger beeter. Instead of learning deer patterns, they hunt for a good tree first to set up their treestand, start a bait pile and wait for the deer to come to them. Where's the hunting? It's shooting at that point. I know this can't be stopped because of the huge amounts of money spent on bait each year and if a guy thinks that;s what he needs to do to be successful that's cool with me but I am teaching my two kids that there are other more rewarding ways to kill deer then when they are munching a suger beet 15 yards away and still shoot your two deer a year. I'm not saying I'm better then the next guy. I just think it's a shame that the "art" of hunting is dieing.