Leave them up or take them down... why or why not? I usually take them down ahead of time. Less things to stink up the woods and less things to do. Also by that time I pretty much know whats lurking and where. I was considering leaving them up this season and moving them to some remote spots that I "wonder" about. But again, I don't want to disturb more than I have to. I'm 50/50 on it.
Well considering all the information I've gathered from early season scouting on my trail cameras is about to go out the window I will keep my cameras up. Not that I will really be able to "pattern" deer during the Pre rut/rut - but I can get an idea which areas are seeing more activity than others and what time of day. One thing I noticed last year during the rut, I had a bunch of new bucks show up on my property. Deer I hadn't seen all year long, heck once the rut was over they pretty much vanished.
We leave them up and on a path to or near one of our stands. If somthing nice showed up over night the person checking the came texts everyone else with size/direction of travel etc. It helps with motivation to sit all day, especially during the rut.
Leave them up. Youre not going to shoot a nocturnal deer, but youre not going to know if theres deer moving in the daytime unless you have cameras up.
I leave mine up just to keep track of my herd. There’s a lot of hunting pressure surrounding my woods and I sleep better knowing that my hit list bucks are still alive. They all so provide me with time frames of their movement. Keeping track of the does is very important since once the rut kicks in you'll want to be where the does are at mostly. They also serve as security devices to catch trespassers.
i move thwm to a differnt place just about every week i have roughly 15 spots here on long island and i cant hunt em all but my camera can hunt em al so i move em around quite a bit to see whats cookin in various locations
I leave them up, but once the season starts I only check them if its raining out or if I'm hunting that nearby stand.
I'm going to leave mine up for two reasons. 1. To see whats coming in when I'm not there 2. When I get there I'll switch it to video so i can have some footage of what comes in and hopefully a kill shot so I can slow down and see where I hit for sure.
I leave mine up, but only on field edges. I can drive the 4 wheeler right to it, leave it running, switch cards, and be out of there in no time.
I run some, but not near my stands or even the trails leading past my stands. They are typically left at field edges as stated above or edge of bedding areas where I am not set-up. Just a personal preference to reduce the human scent/pressure as much as possible. It seems to have worked in areas that I hunt that receive moderate to heavy hunting pressure over the past couple of seasons. Why let the deer pattern you? With that being said I have one property I hunt 2.5 hours away that I am the ONLY bowhunter so I have no problems with setting up a camera closer to my stand a month before the season and then checking the few times I actually make it to that property to hunt. The deer on that property are very photogenic. My flash cameras do not seem to bother their daily routines as the same deer show up every day nearly.
I leave mine up all season and will move them around to various locations as well. I only check a camera if I'm hunting in the vicinity of it and only place a camera if I'm going through the area or hunting that area, minimizing disturbances and scent as much as possible. I picked up a little WGI camera this season that I really like so far. I think I'll keep that one in my pack since its so small and use it for watching scrapes or scrape and rub lines I find during season.
Leave them up if you can. It's good info to know what's around when you're not and to tell if there have been pattern changes in what is moving and when.
I've narrowed it down to leaving the cameras up all year long at places the deer "have" to stop and pose, if they want to eat or drink. For me, that's a water hole, a food plot and a mineral site. The best one is the water hole. I've stopped busting through the whole woods chasing deer with cameras.
I run them all year. I'm constantly moving my cams and always scouting. Even when I tag out early, I still run them so that when my next tag for the year is valid, I have information on my next target. I can kill 6 bucks per year in my state if I chose, so, I like to stay up on what's happening where I hunt. Additionally, I have a lot of hunting property, and, they're spread our over the state. I cannot effectively scour them all, all year; I use the cams for this.
Why would it make a difference for cameras to be left up during hunting season? That I dont understand but I leave mine up all year long! I enjoy the pictures from fawns, does, bucks in velvet to hard horn, and even knowing when they shed off the antlers. Even the other critters are enjoyment for me to see. During the season I hunt and then swap out memory cards then out I go. Now with the camera I have I should be able to get some video with audio during rut and can not wait to catch some!
leave them up for sure, when the bachelor groups break up you will get some deer from neighboring grounds that you have never seen and rutting bucks that travel from miles away that will never be back again.
