Who misses the days when trailcams didn't exist? I love checking mine and looking at the pics but man do I miss finding a good looking spot and back then I would still hunt and you just never knew what you were going to see. Actually seen more big deer by still hunting. Now I know every deer that's on the property I hunt until rut kicks in. Don't know if I could part with them now but I do think its spoiled us lol.
I think it would be cool if they didn't exist but since I've been hunting they've been around just everyone not knowing and expecting a monster buck to walk out is better then a guy bragging about how big his bucks are to a guy who sees nothing but does on his cams but it is like Christmas morning every time I put the SD card in my laptop haha
Yeah I agree I mean one spot I have is terrible early season for buck. Lots of does and last year I had 13 does there, I would check camera once a week until I got a pic of the first buck then I knew it was time to start hunting there and killed a decent eight out of that area that done everything I'd never seen one do before. He snort wheezed then buck growled at the end of the s/w. Then a small ten came in and he snortwheezed 4 or 5 more times before I deflated his snortwheezer lol.
They definitely give hunters a great idea of whats out there and sounds like an exciting hunt I think were both looking for a little rumble haha
I can't see going back to no cameras after having them for so long. They really allow you to know what lurks around, and lets you decide whether or not to pass certain deer. Be a bummer to kill a 150" deer, then watch a 180" deer come by 10 minutes later.
Yeah I know it helps. But I know if I go out and check my cam on my way to stand and don't have anything on it then its hard to sit there. I don't think I could go away from using them now but I do miss the excitement of not knowing also. Almost like Christmas was when you were a kid compared to teenage years where u pretty much knew what you were getting.
But then you also have to think, if there have been no deer in front of your cam, why do you have a stand there? If they have been there earlier, but not the past week, I still know they are in the area at least. I just tell myself that, and I'm good to go
Simple solution... stop running cams. Cameras or no, specific deer in an area on any given day is an unknown. You're apt to have a booner walk in front of you the day after not having any pics of anything but wind blown weeds or have pics of a dozen bucks for a week and see nothing on Saturday. That fact kinda makes the entire question mute.
I wouldn't want to go back simply because it has become it's own hobby. I really don't base to many of my hunting decisions on what I see on my cameras. Blessings.........Pastorjim
You can run trail cams and continue to still hunt. If you think they are hindering you in any way, change how you use them. You want excitement of not knowing what's out there, hunt a new location. I'll never stop running trailcams. It's too damn fun
A booner could consistently travel your property and not trip a single camera ever....seriously I've hunted numerous times and had cameras within sight but they wouldn't have shown any of the movement I saw...
Well, that's the problem I don't want to quit using them, I'm not saying there bad or anything. I'm addicted to them as far as checking them and getting pictures of not only deer but bear, coyote, bobcats and whatever else might pop up on them. I was just asking if anyone else misses how it used to be. Theres just so much more things to depend on in archery today then say 15 years ago or 10 for that matter.
Okay, well then my simple answer is no. The longer version is I can leave my cell phone at home, I can either not use my cams or set them out someplace I won't hunt. The only difference between now and 10-20 years ago is me and the technology I choose to use. If I want to re-live past conditions all I need to do is get a cheapo bow and some aluminum shaft arrows and build some crappy wooden stands and I'd be golden. That just doesn't sound appealing to me. I'm a firm believer in the ideology that the golden years are in the here and now.
Pretty much this. Trailcams are a hobby for me, much more than a tool for scouting. That's just me, though.
I enjoy checking the cameras and a that goes with. As others have said it is sort of a hobby now. That being said there are times where I feel it might better for me to back just hunting without having seen the pics, that way if I don't see a specific deer that I had on cam, I would be disappointed in not ever seeing it during the season.
