Trail Cam strategies

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OldFarmBuck
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Trail Cam strategies

Unread postby OldFarmBuck » Tue Sep 07, 2021 1:14 pm

Trial and error has led me to several changes in my trail cam strategies over the years. Especially when it comes to identifying travel changes prior to season. One of the biggest issues I had in the terrain (mountainous hardwoods and timberland) I hunt in is nailing down specific spots within funnels and pinch points to catch my target bucks as they transition from summer travel to early fall and pre-rut movement. For years I would put my cams out in areas I suspected were being used and most often it would take me several weeks to get the intel back that I needed. The thing is I had the suspicion that the intel I was getting was only a half truth. So, a couple of years ago I tried something very aggressive with my trail cams. I would load up a particular travel point (pinch point or funnel or head of a draw) with 3-5 cams. I would try to cover the entire travel corridor within that shrinked down area. Instead of my target deer moving thru the area 1-2 times in 15-20 days they were going thru there 6-8 times in 15-20 days. It was eye opening intel to say the least and it changed my hunting strategies immediately. I’m telling this to see what other ideas y’all have on trail cam strategies for the preseason. Thinking outside the box type of strategies that can give you a better chance at killing that mature buck you’re after. Let’s hear them.


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Re: Trail Cam strategies

Unread postby <DK> » Wed Sep 08, 2021 1:26 am

Great post

Last year I decided to cut down my range of cams and hang 2 cams on the same tree facing opposite directions. I knew they slipped past those cams more often than I thought.

I started doing this bc a good buck picked off my cam during the summer but the other bucks he was with would still come through. I caught his rear in one pic and he definitely started skirting it. I have not added that many cams to one location tho.
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Re: Trail Cam strategies

Unread postby RadioHunter » Wed Sep 08, 2021 3:18 am

ive always suspected this was the case but didnt want to use all my cams in one spot.

when you compared one camera to another at these same locations, do you see the same deer on all of them or how often does only 1 camera pick the buck travel up? if you had to guess, what percentage of buck travel would 1 camera get from each particular route? might help in figuring out the odds
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Re: Trail Cam strategies

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Wed Sep 08, 2021 6:09 am

I’ve never had enough cameras to blanket an area. But I have been in a tree and witnessed first hand exactly what u are talking about. Typically I see this kind of activity on side hill drainages. I tend to put my camera right at the header. But time in the tree has shown many bucks will just travel above on top of the ridge while others funnel around the header.

My main camera strategy is to force deer in front of my camera. Not always possible, like the drainage headers I mentioned. But a lot of the times it is. I also have better luck mounting my cameras about 15’ up in a tree. Seems I get a much larger view and often catch movement way off in the background.
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OldFarmBuck
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Re: Trail Cam strategies

Unread postby OldFarmBuck » Wed Sep 08, 2021 7:22 am

RadioHunter wrote:ive always suspected this was the case but didnt want to use all my cams in one spot.

when you compared one camera to another at these same locations, do you see the same deer on all of them or how often does only 1 camera pick the buck travel up? if you had to guess, what percentage of buck travel would 1 camera get from each particular route? might help in figuring out the odds


When comparing the cams I rarely caught them on more than one cam. Bucks would rarely follow each other unless they were really young 1-2 yr old. Does were always together in a line.

during the summer to early fall transition I would typically get 2-3 bucks together but maybe not on the same cam but definitely around the same time. Usually my target buck was following one of them but not on the same path and he was typically 15-45 minutes behind them. As the fall progresses I would still catch the sub bucks traveling semi together. Same cam would catch them but they’d be 10-30 minutes between them and by now my target buck would usually be going the opposite direction they were and at different times. Usually mid day 11a-2pm if I got any movement at all from my target buck during the day. During the rut it was like intel overload.

I would say if you’re only putting out 1 cam you’re getting 20% of the movement coming through. It was trial and error. When I went to 2 cams my intel doubled. When I went to 3 cams it went up a little more. When I went to 4-5 cams saturating the place the intel went up 10 fold.

One other thing I found to do is face 2 cams towards each other in slightly different angles and compare the images. You’d be amazed at how many times that blank image from one cam will end up being something worthwhile on that opposite cam.
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Re: Trail Cam strategies

Unread postby Deerkins » Wed Sep 08, 2021 1:58 pm

Good intel, thanks for sharing.
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Re: Trail Cam strategies

Unread postby PApublic1187 » Fri Sep 10, 2021 1:01 pm

Boogieman1 wrote:I’ve never had enough cameras to blanket an area. But I have been in a tree and witnessed first hand exactly what u are talking about. Typically I see this kind of activity on side hill drainages. I tend to put my camera right at the header. But time in the tree has shown many bucks will just travel above on top of the ridge while others funnel around the header.

My main camera strategy is to force deer in front of my camera. Not always possible, like the drainage headers I mentioned. But a lot of the times it is. I also have better luck mounting my cameras about 15’ up in a tree. Seems I get a much larger view and often catch movement way off in the background.


This is interesting. Can you send me what the pictures look like if you have any? I’m very curious and may give that tactic a go.
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Re: Trail Cam strategies

Unread postby Swedishbowhunter » Fri Sep 10, 2021 1:23 pm

I love this kinda stuff, I am burnt out on the "where would you hunt on the this piece" bs that has saturated the fb beast page. People looking for an easy button instead of digging thru the info that could easily answer their questions for themselves. Anyway, great post and I think this is what saves a lot of bucks from even being hunted much. IDK how many people I have heard say, "I am not going out as I haven't had a shooter on camera in 2 weeks!!!" Now you had 5 cameras on 1 funnel area, can you imagine when someone has 4 cameras on 200 acres and they think there isn't anything worth hunting?
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Re: Trail Cam strategies

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Fri Sep 10, 2021 1:50 pm

PApublic1187 wrote:
Boogieman1 wrote:I’ve never had enough cameras to blanket an area. But I have been in a tree and witnessed first hand exactly what u are talking about. Typically I see this kind of activity on side hill drainages. I tend to put my camera right at the header. But time in the tree has shown many bucks will just travel above on top of the ridge while others funnel around the header.

My main camera strategy is to force deer in front of my camera. Not always possible, like the drainage headers I mentioned. But a lot of the times it is. I also have better luck mounting my cameras about 15’ up in a tree. Seems I get a much larger view and often catch movement way off in the background.


This is interesting. Can you send me what the pictures look like if you have any? I’m very curious and may give that tactic a go.

Sure. Both from last seasons rut.

Image

Zoomed in a bit so u can see. But buck was a good bit away and my camera 15’ up in a tree. Was a another deer that tripped the camera. But caught him by friendly fire.


Image

Now this one is bout taking away options. Basic inside corner of a cattle pasture. Creek runs approximately 75 yards behind it on the east side. I built a fence with trot line snaking through the trees with a 10 yard gap between that and cattle fence. Deer can easily jump either fence, yet they don’t!
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Re: Trail Cam strategies

Unread postby PApublic1187 » Fri Sep 10, 2021 1:54 pm

Boogieman1 wrote:
PApublic1187 wrote:
Boogieman1 wrote:I’ve never had enough cameras to blanket an area. But I have been in a tree and witnessed first hand exactly what u are talking about. Typically I see this kind of activity on side hill drainages. I tend to put my camera right at the header. But time in the tree has shown many bucks will just travel above on top of the ridge while others funnel around the header.

My main camera strategy is to force deer in front of my camera. Not always possible, like the drainage headers I mentioned. But a lot of the times it is. I also have better luck mounting my cameras about 15’ up in a tree. Seems I get a much larger view and often catch movement way off in the background.


This is interesting. Can you send me what the pictures look like if you have any? I’m very curious and may give that tactic a go.

Sure. Both from last seasons rut.

Image

Zoomed in a bit so u can see. But buck was a good bit away and my camera 15’ up in a tree. Was a another deer that tripped the camera. But caught him by friendly fire.


Image

Now this one is bout taking away options. Basic inside corner of a cattle pasture. Creek runs approximately 75 yards behind it on the east side. I built a fence with trot line snaking through the trees with a 10 yard gap between that and cattle fence. Deer can easily jump either fence, yet they don’t!


Very cool, how wide does the field of view seem to be from up there? It looks like you can really see what is going on and cover a wider area. Seems to be a really good tactic for long soaking for intel. The second picture as well, basically forced by the cam and that statement about the deer not jumping the fence is spot on. Path of least resistance seems to be the winner in most cases if it gets them where they want to be. Thanks for sharing the pictures I really appreciate your time.
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Re: Trail Cam strategies

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Fri Sep 10, 2021 2:17 pm

PApublic1187 wrote:
Boogieman1 wrote:
PApublic1187 wrote:
Boogieman1 wrote:I’ve never had enough cameras to blanket an area. But I have been in a tree and witnessed first hand exactly what u are talking about. Typically I see this kind of activity on side hill drainages. I tend to put my camera right at the header. But time in the tree has shown many bucks will just travel above on top of the ridge while others funnel around the header.

My main camera strategy is to force deer in front of my camera. Not always possible, like the drainage headers I mentioned. But a lot of the times it is. I also have better luck mounting my cameras about 15’ up in a tree. Seems I get a much larger view and often catch movement way off in the background.


This is interesting. Can you send me what the pictures look like if you have any? I’m very curious and may give that tactic a go.

Sure. Both from last seasons rut.

Image

Zoomed in a bit so u can see. But buck was a good bit away and my camera 15’ up in a tree. Was a another deer that tripped the camera. But caught him by friendly fire.


Image

Now this one is bout taking away options. Basic inside corner of a cattle pasture. Creek runs approximately 75 yards behind it on the east side. I built a fence with trot line snaking through the trees with a 10 yard gap between that and cattle fence. Deer can easily jump either fence, yet they don’t!


Very cool, how wide does the field of view seem to be from up there? It looks like you can really see what is going on and cover a wider area. Seems to be a really good tactic for long soaking for intel. The second picture as well, basically forced by the cam and that statement about the deer not jumping the fence is spot on. Path of least resistance seems to be the winner in most cases if it gets them where they want to be. Thanks for sharing the pictures I really appreciate your time.


The top pic (field of view) was taken late November. In October it’s a different animal and I probably couldn’t see 15 yards in any direction. But after leaf drop it really expands my view. I’ve caught some real studs on camera over the years by pure luck. I don’t have any high dollar cams with fast trigger speeds. Getting the biggest view I can helps me. I can capture the buck chasing the doe that tripped the camera. Just what works for me..
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Re: Trail Cam strategies

Unread postby OldFarmBuck » Fri Sep 10, 2021 2:49 pm

Pudster wrote:I love this kinda stuff, I am burnt out on the "where would you hunt on the this piece" bs that has saturated the fb beast page. People looking for an easy button instead of digging thru the info that could easily answer their questions for themselves. Anyway, great post and I think this is what saves a lot of bucks from even being hunted much. IDK how many people I have heard say, "I am not going out as I haven't had a shooter on camera in 2 weeks!!!" Now you had 5 cameras on 1 funnel area, can you imagine when someone has 4 cameras on 200 acres and they think there isn't anything worth hunting?


Yeah if you only have a few cams on a big piece of property like that would be frustrating. If you didn’t just get lucky and catch the right buck at the exact right time you’d likely abandon it and move on. I was having trouble a couple of years ago with a really good buck that I kept getting pictures of in my summer food plots. Yet I never could nail down where he was coming from or going to. It aggravated me too pieces. Finally, I ditched my one cam on each travel corridor approach and went to putting 4-5 of them on the same corridor. Right off the bat I got him slipping in. He was using a rocky drainage that I swore there was no way he was going through. The last edge cam on my set of 4 caught a faint glimpse of him.

Another weird trick I found is put them facing each side of a lone blown down tree in hardwood timber. More often than not they’ll gravitate to that blowdown. Even if the woods around it offers good cover.
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Re: Trail Cam strategies

Unread postby brancher147 » Fri Sep 10, 2021 11:02 pm

OldFarmBuck wrote:Trial and error has led me to several changes in my trail cam strategies over the years. Especially when it comes to identifying travel changes prior to season. One of the biggest issues I had in the terrain (mountainous hardwoods and timberland) I hunt in is nailing down specific spots within funnels and pinch points to catch my target bucks as they transition from summer travel to early fall and pre-rut movement. For years I would put my cams out in areas I suspected were being used and most often it would take me several weeks to get the intel back that I needed. The thing is I had the suspicion that the intel I was getting was only a half truth. So, a couple of years ago I tried something very aggressive with my trail cams. I would load up a particular travel point (pinch point or funnel or head of a draw) with 3-5 cams. I would try to cover the entire travel corridor within that shrinked down area. Instead of my target deer moving thru the area 1-2 times in 15-20 days they were going thru there 6-8 times in 15-20 days. It was eye opening intel to say the least and it changed my hunting strategies immediately. I’m telling this to see what other ideas y’all have on trail cam strategies for the preseason. Thinking outside the box type of strategies that can give you a better chance at killing that mature buck you’re after. Let’s hear them.


I tried a similar strategy this summer putting 6 cams in 2 small areas. It was interesting and I will definitely be doing that again next year. One area is a funnel up a steep mountain ridge point with cliffs and boulders. This trail is the only way up and is worn down very deep from many years of use. Last year I had a bachelor group of I think 13 bucks and 6 or 7 shooters using it. This year I put a cam there, another one about a hundred yards away below a huge boulder and another one lower down the ridge above a couple hundred foot cliff. Interestingly enough the bachelor group did not use the same trail as last year, but I picked them up on the other 2 cameras.

The other location is a ridge the deer travel N and S and I put one camera upper 1/3 on a creek crossing, one middle on a creek crossing, and one lower on a break in the fence. The buck I was looking for (and I had 2 years of history with) never showed (at least not yet) but I did pickup a good buck from last year and it was interesting to see how he used the ridge, and it was a little different than I expected. But makes total sense especially now that I found some of his bedding overlooking my access....

I must say though, I thought this method would help me really learn something and it did I guess. It helped me learn still just how random these big bucks seem to move in the mountains. I have heard of people lining up trail cam pics with wind to get a pattern and I am getting none of that. It has helped me confirm suspected bedding, but as far as movement from bedding and direction of travel I don't feel like I learned much more, even knowing the destination food source in one area.
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Re: Trail Cam strategies

Unread postby OldFarmBuck » Mon Sep 13, 2021 2:20 am

Boogieman1 wrote:I’ve never had enough cameras to blanket an area. But I have been in a tree and witnessed first hand exactly what u are talking about. Typically I see this kind of activity on side hill drainages. I tend to put my camera right at the header. But time in the tree has shown many bucks will just travel above on top of the ridge while others funnel around the header.

My main camera strategy is to force deer in front of my camera. Not always possible, like the drainage headers I mentioned. But a lot of the times it is. I also have better luck mounting my cameras about 15’ up in a tree. Seems I get a much larger view and often catch movement way off in the background.


Some sound advice right there. I’m trying the cams up higher as well and getting better results.

In the terrain I typically hunt the deer don’t use established trails very often. Usually the only established trails are on steep side hills and the mature bucks don’t typically use those.
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Re: Trail Cam strategies

Unread postby saint1480 » Fri Sep 17, 2021 4:38 am

This is the nugget in the forum I have been looking for! i have found a couple areas that are looking like great travel routes and put cameras on them with marginal results. It in turn caused me to not hunt some areas. I am 3 years into hunting so i am by no means an expert but I have been doing my homework and the pieces are SLOOOOWLY coming together. I too run my cameras high, it was a measure of ensuring they didnt get stolen or see at all. That being said, I have seen more deer in some cases because of the wider field of view. I have grabbed a couple Tascos and always put them high and go a month or more in between checks. One are I got decent traffic on I will 100% be adding a couple more. I have 1 buck that went through the same spot in 3 days within minutes of each other. The pictures are like a copy in fact. A couple big fellers from last year have shown up again, (at least I think they are the same) and 1 picture/video of each from last year is all I got, 1 more of each this year. The original post/idea now has me thinking I would have seen them more... I am not for naming deer but these 2 got a name, Lord of the Forest and The King. Both seem to be older and walk around like they own IT ALL.

Great post and great feedback from everyone. Good luck this season

Nick


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