Completely depends on the deer. I've had deer bolt from them, and booners stand in front of the camera to take 25 pictures in a row, at night. Some spook, and others don't care.
Not all IR's spook them... some make a small noise,some don't.... I was visiting with Andre D'Aquisto last year and checked out his camera set up... He runs about a dozen cameras on each of his properties. He was using the cuddebacks and about 30% of the deer looked to be spooked, and most were staring at the camera. (we gets hundreds of pics weekly) He said it made a noise the deer were hearing.... Then he showed me his Predator IR pics... world of difference. none of the deer in any of the pics were even looking at the cameras... He switched all his cameras and sold the cuddebacks. I bought a predator right after that to, and it has worked great for me... Personally, I think if you use the cameras correctly, and keep them well away from your hunting areas, it won't matter a lot if the camera spooks them a little. But, I would lean towards bothering the deer as little as possible till kill time. Every little advantage helps. Maybe your only spooking 5% ... to me that would be 5% to many. especially if the one you spook is the one your after... Way back when I used to use the flash 35 mm cameras I used to get one pic of a big eyed big buck staring at the camera usually dated the day I put it out and not one more pic of him in that spot... Granted, I hunt some pretty heavy pressure public lands, but I believe the deers wariness is just a magnification of whats happening on light pressure private...
The IR's with the tiny red lights and the camera's with the regular flash all spook deer. Not all deer spook but some do. That's the exact reason I went with a Reconyx, no red lights or white flash at night when taking pics. The camera doesn't make a sound either when taking pics.
Easily Bob. Depends on what Reconyx were talking about but the trigger speed Is by far the quickest out there, the one I have Is a 1/5th of a second. Most other camera's are In that 1 to 2 second range for trigger speed. The one downfall on these Reconyx camera's Is that there spendy.
Jees - For the cost of a camera you could have come to NH for a bear & deer hunt??!! Your words are like tiny little knives!!
I was perched in my climber one morning about 15 minutes to daylight. I had a small button buck browse by and the camera snapped a few shots of him. He postured up and walked towards the camera. It startled him more than anything and raised some curiosity. I believe if it had been a older mature buck then he might have bolted. So, what many have said some do and some don't.
