Trail cameras and scouting

[Jlabelle92]

Really trying to expand my knowledge base on hunting white tails for next season.

gonna be throwing up some trail camera’s while doing some post season scouting, just curious what kind of tactics guys use when scouting as well as placing cameras out.

things Like:
- how many cameras per 100 acres would you run?
- how far apart do you place them?
- do you place in bedding areas? Heard that’s a no go, possibly spooking deer out the area.
- after late season scouting and placing cameras, when would you head back in to pull cards and “re scout” the area to see what has changed?

etc etc…

no such thing as too much information.

[Sam Menard]

Both bucks and and does have home ranges that exceed 100 acres so, depending on the lay of the land in your area, you might not get a lot of images of different deer.

The number of cameras and their placement will depend on your property and the surrounding land. I suggest that you place your cameras over mineral licks (bury a mineral/salt block with only the top showing. For 100 acres of solid bush, 3-4 cameras should be more than enough. Less if there are fields.

Without seeing a satellite image of your property and the surrounding area, it’s impossible to help you more than that

[gbk]

Really trying to expand my knowledge base on hunting white tails for next season.

gonna be throwing up some trail camera’s while doing some post season scouting, just curious what kind of tactics guys use when scouting as well as placing cameras out.

things Like:
- how many cameras per 100 acres would you run?
- how far apart do you place them?
- do you place in bedding areas? Heard that’s a no go, possibly spooking deer out the area.
- after late season scouting and placing cameras, when would you head back in to pull cards and “re scout” the area to see what has changed?

etc etc…

no such thing as too much information.

I would put out "as many"as You can afford.There is no such a thing as to many cameras out there
Heavy trail intersections,creek crossing,fence crossing,staging area-all are good spots.Salt lick-from Marc til late August is a good spot for inventory too.Heck-if You will bait,one must go there too.
I would go in,do my thing ,and get out..Do not touch anything if not needed.You can spary camera with some fancy scent eliminator-but i never saw benefit of it,so dropped that money pit. Rubber boot and clean clothing is all what you need.


I would not vorry about your intrusion-you can not fly,and you want cameras out!

As far as bedding areas-put one there too.Now.
Check cards ealry January.
You will gaing invaluable info for 2024 season.Dec pictures-for next Dec.

Check cards every 3 months or so.Watch your intrusion from mid Sep.though!
Once i took the card out late Nov from a camera over 5 scrapes,peed in one scrape (to see the results)and in 8 hrs there was a young buck doing his thing like i was never around.He was crossing my path many times.Few hrs later there was a larger buck-that guy seemed shy when he crossed my path...but if i am there,he would be down.Alas-all this movement happened at night-so i was not there.Now-mind You -there was ZERO daytime activity in the area of those scrapes since late September( ever )yet the camera had 6 different bucks visiting frequently (plus 3 does with 2 fawns).Always in the dark.Road is just 30 m away.....so i guess ,that is that.
At least i know ,the spot is excellent for inventory-and useless for hunting.

You should start heavy scouting for the next season January 1st2024 .
No worries about disturbing the deer for months to come.
Good luck

[werner.reiche]

IIRC - you're in 55A - an area where there is significant deer migration to the deer yards. What you see from here into January-February-March won't be that applicable to deer season Oct 1-Dec 15th.
If you are trying to scout a large area, cameras closer than 1/4 mile (440 yards) apart will likely have the same deer - so about 1 every 500 acres. Don't worry about disturbing bedding areas this time of year. Before and during deer season is a whole other issue. Do you have cell coverage there? Cellular and solar (Flex-S) is the way to go then. You can monitor the camera all year without visiting it. Give the deer a reason to be in front of the camera - a mineral lick or similar.

[Sam Menard]

Something else to think about about trail cameras: why do want to put them out? To get an estimate of the deer population or is it to pattern them. You don’t need many to get an idea of the number and sex/age. As for patterning then, then you can put out more at strategic locations.

Personally speaking, I don’t put much effort into patterning as bucks are very erratic when I hunt in mid-November. Just knowing that there is a good buck in the area (as evidenced by 3 or 4 widely spaced trail cameras- <800m apart) is enough to get me out there.

[FishHog]

Something else to think about about trail cameras: why do want to put them out? To get an estimate of the deer population or is it to pattern them. You don’t need many to get an idea of the number and sex/age. As for patterning then, then you can put out more at strategic locations.

Personally speaking, I don’t put much effort into patterning as bucks are very erratic when I hunt in mid-November. Just knowing that there is a good buck in the area (as evidenced by 3 or 4 widely spaced trail cameras- <800m apart) is enough to get me out there.

Agreed. Trail cams are great fun and I have lots. But other than a bit of an inventory I don’t think they are going to help your hunting all that much. In fact I think they are harmful for lots of people who put to much faith in them

[johnjyb]

For our camp, the cams are really just portable entertainment centres. We see bucks that come through the area, but the majority harvested have never been seen on the cams. We usually have about 13-15 cams out spread over a little under 100 acres of field/cedar/soft maple swamp.
John

[Gilroy]

The big value in trail cameras to me is they instil confidence in the hunter and your area. If you have them placed in decent positions, over bait, near apple trees,oaks you will have a good idea of how many does and fawns you have in the area. Towards the rut you will see the wondering spikers and smaller bucks. I agree you might harvest a big buck you never saw at any time on a camera but that is the nature of the beast, the big bucks are smart and are good at avoiding danger and being nocturnal. If you have does around at least you have a shot a seeing a buck and sticking out those cold sits.