How do you feel about trail cams?

[koger]

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

[Rob W.]

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.  

[Huntingnut]

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.

[HighTecRedNeck]

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

[Dave Lay]

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

[damascusdave]

My hunting gear is complicated enough without adding more things that I can lose

DDave

[kykiller]

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.

[Firstarrow]

Nice post KYKiller

[Shaun]

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.

[Craig]

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.

   2 fawns

 

 

[ishoot4thrills]

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".

[tomcat8910]

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.

[Hoyt]

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.
 
 
 
 

[Hoyt]

 
 
 

[southernwoody]

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.

[vintage-bears]

The greatest thing ever!

It allows us to SEE what, where and when.....

[ronp]

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.

[Bowjunkie]

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.

[BowDiddle]

They're COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL, and almost as addicting in collecting the pictures as hunting.