A little ahead of myself this year but I welded up additional camera theft-deterrent boxes for the new cams I bought and went out to the leases and made everything ready. Now I wont step foot on the property until Sept 13 (WI bow season opener). Today I will unbox and few more chain-ons and sets of climbing stick I bought last year and let them air out in case I see sign telling me to set up in another location. I usually leave my stands out year round (chains and locked installed) If it weren't for the heat and bugs and current drought, I would really enjoy this pre-season ritual.
Im not like (what appears to be) the majority here that disrupt the woods, educating deer with repeated visits to their trail cam. I put them in and ignore them until season opens. My cams will no sit for 1 1/2 months and should I happen by a can in the course of a hunt I will pull the card.
WOw...where the heck did this come from? I'm glad you can do whatever works for you personally but with the superiority and conceit you projected in that out of the clear blue post, it looks like you're trying to pick a fight? Whatever works works, not sure why you felt compelled to try to dis what others do or how they do it...seems strange.
Its only an observation based on reading many threads here. Nothing more. Nothing to get upset about. Nothing to fight about. THere was nothing harsh in my words and I wont be held responsible for knee jerk injuries. I too used to make the mistake of over checking cams and disrupting the woods with my intrusions. Ive learned not to do that any more. My trail cam days go back pretty far. Before I was using acuatal 35mm film cams I was using trail timers.
Denying responsibility after the fact doesn't help. You said it was wrong...you said it was a mistake to over check cams and disrupt the woods. That's your opinion and you're welcome to it but it doesn't make you necessarily right. You flat out stated that your technique was superior to "most everyone else's" on this forum. If you can't see how that is perceived as harsh and picking a fight then you need help. Lots of guys here have history with monitoring deer that goes way back to and even past trail timer days, me included. It just seemed really odd to post that without any sort of cause.
You are manufacturing what you want to see. That's cool and all if you are into that sort of thing. I most likely don’t use cames like a lot of others. I only use them to catalog and inventory the population. I don’t use them to create “hit lists? LOL or to monitor antler growth or to name them like pets by calling them the really impressive sounding names we see in the trail cam area. (you will note that I neither inferred nor implied that those actions are wrong) All of my cams are set on video mode because I don’t really care so much about the sex of the animal and what time it tripped the trigger. Im more interested in behavior of the deer with one another, dominance in bachelor and doe groups, patterns, etc. so I don’t want to disrupt them or educate them to my travels into their home. That’s just how I go about it. At no time did I say the way others go about it is wrong. After hunting for about 40 years Ive learned a bit and found that for my tastes, over checking cams had more of a negative effect than the perceived positives of running cams. My guess is that in time, others will come to that conclusion. There are no wrong or right ways, just different ways of doing it. You are free to rail and manufacture a jihad, just don’t expect me to play along.
I think there are a couple ways to approach the intrusion into the deer woods. One would be your way, only enter the woods while hunting. Meaning there was no human signs throughout the year so the deer can feel safe in that area. The other would be to use the land for whatever and not worry about disturbing the deer in the off season. I think there are arguments in favor of both ways of thinking. My way of thinking is that the deer that are used to a bit of a human presence will be less on alert once I enter the timber during hunting season. I'm not a threat to them 8 months out of the year. They see me and smell me on occasion and they remain safe. They are conditioned to accept the fact that we share the land. Now, you can always over do it and push a more dominant and intelligent buck off the property, but I'm willing to take that risk by checking my cams every couple weeks.
I believe it's this particular statement that has you coming off a little pompous. Kinda comes off as the "I'm smarter than the rest of you" mentality, whether you meant it that way or not.
We all need something to believe in. I support your desire to believe in whatever you wish whether it be correct or not..
