I get one day off work every 7-10 days where i can realistically check all my cameras. Being an addicted enthusiast, i have a pretty solid system. I have alot of cameras in easy to check, high human traffic areas. I dont check my best cameras every week and during hunting season i only check them when im in that area hunting. Between my brothers and I we run 40+ on 5 different huntable farms. Its a great off-season hobby.
Each camera is different. I won't go out of my way to check one unless have reason...typically try and let soak for 3 to 4 weeks. If at the property working or hanging stands and pass one I will always check it.
I have 2 that have been sitting for 10 months... Lol Hunting land is 2 hrs away and between my job, my wife's schooling, and 2 kids, they're not easy to check often. Set them last year, but with the limited time, I hunted around home on public land instead.
Live and hour and half from where you hunt! My camera sits for sometimes over a month at a time over the summer.
The cameras can be a curse in a way if you have more than one plot and camera set up especially if the stands are within a couple hundred yards of each other. You sit at one stand site and don't see much, the next day you check your camera and while you were there the deer were at the other plot. It will grind your gears a little.
Living 2 hours away from where I hunt and working 12 hour shifts 3 or 4 days a week helps! Plus I have my dad that lives where I hunt so he usually checks them about once or twice a week and keeps me informed.
That desire to check them regularly will always be there. especially when you start getting really good bucks on camera. When that happens, I limit how much I check that particular one to keep my scent trail at a minimum.
I live 4 hours from my lease, so it makes it hard to check them all the time. I'm sure I would have the same issue if I lived close to my property!
I'm only ,16 and when I got my first and still my only trail cam I had the same problem. I didn't need a ride and I could check it every day and I know that's not good. I live in western NY so after the big November storm I didn't check it to much because I could barely walk out to it. You've got to just keep yourself from going out and you'll eventually get used to it. I still get an itch every once in a wile but I force my self to wait it's not easy. Good luck!
I check mine when I feel like it. That's usually once a week but i have gone longer or pulled some of them every other day for a while if I happen to be close to one of them. I generally try to stick to a week or so. I've never had a big urge to check them more that once a week.
I try to start away for at least 2 weeks at a time. But I agree it is hard. The addiction is real too.
I put out 2 cams this year and left em for a week to see if I had the height right. One of them was a bit high as it was on the side of an old grown up woods road that the deer now use as a travel route. I readjusted and try to leave em for 2 weeks. The temptation will always be there but longer is better. The idea of a cam that sends the pics to you would be nice as it keeps your scent out of your hunting area. I also noticed the second time that I put the cams on video that I had more pictures as in the summer the small deer like to play and run by the cams and set them off. I will be going in again in a few days and put them back on photo and wont touch them til Sept 10 as season opens on Sept 12 here. Good luck and it will get a bit easier as the novelty wears off on your first cam.
One downside of waiting to check cams for 2+ weeks is that so many things can happen... I run 4 cameras on my property. I let them sit 3 weeks this time before I checked yesterday. One of them I left on "detection mode" (0 pics taken) and one was knocked down by raccoons. Just have to make sure you are careful and thorough before leaving them sit.
Lol, well, I wouldn't be thrilled, that's for sure. Other than that, I haven't been able to hunt that property very much in the last few years. The last 2 years, I have thought things finally came into place to where I could hunt it, so I put up some cams, and then things fall through and next thing I know it's spring.
