I have been seriously considering to stop using trail cams, I fell into a trap this year and have in the past to hunt certain areas based off trail cam pics. I have several regular and cell cams. I haven’t had much on cam at my main prop I hunt, so I haven’t hunted it that much. I know deer are there and the cam only catches a small portion of the areas, but it still is in the back of my mind. I think they are robbing me of the excitement of hunting and then I’m always looking to find deer rather than hunt. I keep bouncing around to different places hanging cams and moving stuff around rather than hunting. Don’t get me wrong I still hunt a ton and I hunt areas where I don’t have cams. I just think I need a mental break from them and just go out and have fun. I have also been putting too much emphasis on killing specific deer and it gets exhausting. I’m gonna revamp my mindset for next year while I still continue to tag some deer this year. I just canceled my cell plans on my cams today, so will see how that goes. Anyone else get caught beating their head against the wall with cameras?
I agree with everything you said! Trail cams are like a lot of things in life - when used properly in moderation they can be super useful and fun. When they start taking over your better judgement and affecting the way you hunt, it's time to dial it back a bit. It's hard to do, but you need to base your hunting decisions on a lot of factors other than just trail camera data. They are but one small piece of a much larger puzzle.
I do agree, was using them for awhile and in moderation to my decision making. Seems like the busier I get the more emphasis I put on them and it’s been a busy year!!
A more suitable line to how I feel is that I have less motivation to hunt certain properties based off trail cam pics or lack of trail cam pics. It’s definitely warped thinking and I need to snap outa it!
I only have 1 cell cam. I use it on a scrape/corridor to see what I got in the way of big bucks. 2 or 3 others that get hung by my stands to monitor movement. I usually only check them going to the stand to hunt. The only time I use them is during season. I used to run 10 to 12 all year long. Its a lot easier on me when bucks I watch all summer long disappear. I try and always hunt the best stands based on the wind. Caveat to this for me is that at 65 I don't run and gun any more.
I’m a ball of ADHD haha, I run and gun and I’m all over the place. Most years hunt 2/3 states. I need to scale it back no doubt!
I don’t have any cell cameras but I can easily see how bad they would be for me personally. But I do run around 25 regular cameras on my property. I mainly use them for inventory of what is running around and which plots are being used at certain times of the day. Good luck with cutting the cord so to speak, you will probably feel better and have a lot more fun.
I run 10 cell cams, 5 here and 5 in Ohio. I don't use them to tell me where to hunt though. For deer hunting they are more or less just for inventory. Outside of that, they have morphed into their own hobby. I use them year-round to get interesting or unusual photos of all wildlife. I love using them for waterfowl in the spring and for capturing raptors all year-round. Sent from my SM-T500 using Tapatalk
I like trail cameras mainly for getting great wildlife pictures. I rarely use them for anything more than that. At 50 y.o. I'm still like a kid at Christmas when I get to check what pics I may have on them. My parents bought my 9 y.o. son his own camera last year and he is always excited to see pics too, especially on his own camera, I love how much his having his own camera has increased his excitement in checking the pics. Our property simply does not hold bucks, only does, so I rarely get a mature buck picture until the rut starts. I kind of like it that way, as I never know what might show up, but it does suck for hunting much before the rut really hits. This is a one deer a year State so I try not to hunt too much before the rut so I don't get burnt out or too tempted to shoot a doe and burn my one and only tag. I will move a camera to scrapes once they show up, but more because I want to get a picture of a nice buck than because I think a buck will visit it in some patternable way in daylight. About the only real hunting info I get from cameras is on a bear bait, they do a great job of showing how many bears are hitting it, what consistency they are hitting it, what sows may or may not have cubs, and what good boars or cool color phase bear I may want to target.
I like to leave cams out for a long time without looking at them. Months. Get a gauge of the number and quality of bucks in the area. Not sure how much it helps me but it prevents me from constantly looking at them. More future intel for building hunting spots.
I have 2 cams out now on Public, while I do have tree locations I hunt near them, I really dont use them as a 'hunting tool', if that makes sense ... they are NOT cell cams, one I have checked once/switched cards, the other I havnt been near since I put it out in Sept. .. if I get to them to pull cards fine, if not fine .. Ill leave them till the batteries die and I'll pull them come spring ... I do have one cell in the closet, havnt put it out, its a cheapie from Spypoint LM2 .. 2nd guessing getting the thing as cell reception down there sucks, glad it was only $59 and supposedly the battery life is short on it compared to my other two Browning regular cams .... I should have researched it before purchase on TrailcamPro ... 'se la vie' ....
Getting that O dark thirty pic of a big one and never seeing him in person definitely messes with you.
Been running cams for years. Usually put them out early summer till Decemberish. Many years of seeing a one n done biggie. I do have one Reveal cam over a main yearly scrape. First year I've actually layed eyes on the vast majority of buck that I got pics of. One thing about a cell cam is how easy it is to keep track of what " phase" of the rut is happening. For instance, from about Oct 20_ Nov 4, that scrape had at least one good buck on it daily. Since nov5, it has completely went dead for mature bucks. Does it every year. Bout Nov 20, it gets visited often again by mature bucks that are still alive.
I have never killed a deer because of a camera. Ever. But I have cell cams and I too get caught in the trap. I didn’t see many deer this year but the ones I saw plus the buck I killed were where I had no cameras and hunted on instinct.
I haven’t killed one off a cell in that given moment, but I have killed deer based off of regularity and travel tendencies early in the season.
Even better for me has been trying to decide which stand to hunt, picking one, and then getting pics of a shooter in front of the one I didn't go to. It's happened to me multiple times this year, including this past weekend. Makes you question your abilities, and sanity, at times.
15 min before legal shooting time , I am pretty sure this guy walked perfectly in front of me. Mind games. Only camera I had out this year an it’s messing with me.
