During the hunting season 100% of my TC photos are during daylight hours for all age class of bucks. This may be due to the fact that my cameras are set for day time only during the season.
Man, this is kind of a broad question, for me. I have cams placed around destination food sources, in bedding areas, trails to and from bedding/food, scrapes, rub lines, feeders, fence/stream crossing, etc, etc.. Needless to say, the locations see movement at different times of the day, so, there really is no constant, here, unless we broke it down to cam locations.
During hunting season only, what percentage of trail camera photos do you get during daylight hours of 1.5 y/o bucks? 40% During hunting season only, what percentage of trail camera photos do you get during daylight hours of 2.5 y/o bucks? 15% During hunting season only, what percentage of trail camera photos do you get during daylight hours of 3.5 or older bucks? 10-15%
Per your last post Scott... I'd highly suggest watching a video interview with Lee and Tiffany at the ATA show posted on AT I believe (I'm sure a quick search would find it)... He spends most of his time talking about this very subject, and his findings paired up with those of Don and Kandy Kisky and how checking trail cams affected movement on both of their respective farms, and the results they experienced when they altered their movements/checks.
Is there any way to enlighten us with what they said/found without directing people to another website?
You know I don't normally try to do that JZ... it was about a 10-minute answer though on the subject; Lee spent a great deal of time developing his answer and it was quite a good interview. In missing all the finer points though and boiling it down to its most simplistic terms... he and Don found that checking trail cams once a week or more DID in fact alter deer movement. Not only did it alter movement, it was actually forcing deer off their respective farms and their neighbors were killing their big deer they were trying to keep on their own land.
Follow up thought: Lee went on to say that nothing has changed the way he hunts more than the trail camera. While he's become very conscious of spending too much time checking them too frequently, he emphasized how important they were in putting big deer down. He said he NEVER gets excited about seeing a big deer in a night-time pic... but the INSTANT he shows up in the daytime he moves in on him. Usually within a couple days he can get him on the ground after that.
I've been saying this for years. I believe younger hunters who can't control looking at trail cameras every week see far less mature bucks. I check cameras maybe once a month and these cameras are over mineral licks for inventory purposes. My property isn't large enough nor has the bedding area to hold mature bucks on the property. We've worked on this by cutting down locust trees, planting 40 acres of NWSG, planting 15000 trees and planting 2 acre food plots. We are beginning to see more deer, more frequently use our property but I won't set trail cameras in areas where I plan to hunt because I don't want to scent up the area at all.
Did he clarify this was his opinion only and there obviously is no way to prove such a direct correlation?
my cams are still out, most i can drive right up to them and almost reach out the window of my truck and change sd cards and go. I have found that my big deer didn't even get on there feet until first week of November, My ground is mostly crops 300 ac with ditches and small creeks and valleys separation the fields maybe 20 ac of woods total broken into small 2-5 ac parcels I stay out of the wooded areas and hunt the funnels and tree lines leading to and from the woodlots, so my cams are setup where the deer funnels are some are on fence lines and pinchpoints some of my pics are what look like feeding areas pics are actually spots deer are forced to expose themselves to get from woodlot to woodlot along single tree lines separating fields,yes there are stands and cams in these area's and we kill plenty of large bucks as they travel along these natural and forced travel routes, during rifle season the deer will go out and live in the middle of the corn fields in a low spot because people are walking thru the wooded areas It's pretty easy spot to hunt, when i go to my brothers ground it is 90 percent woods and i am like how do you hunt this mess... I have 9 cams and i am going to go to daylight only pics next season after seeing deer look at the cam and turn around and leave never to return to the funnel i was hunting, I was running alot of 15 sec video clips and the deer do catch the ir flash and react to the cam, I have been using some black tape to tone down the flash but some of the deer still see it so i am thinking of shutting down the flash or taping over it for next season. most cams in pic mode we dont see the deer react to the cam because of 30 sec delay most cams have but not all deer will but it seems the older bucks do on my cams. I am going to run some test on my cams here at night with the ir flash to see how many i can cover and still get a pic.as i say i may cover or turn the flash off completely for next season I often put cams in places i would like to hunt but have not for what ever reason over the years and some surprise wile others confirm my apprehension to spend time in the spot. One other thing I have always thought that staying out of a area was the thing to do until the rut... and it is. but my cams show me i am not the problem- cows,neighbors looking for cows,and this is turning into a weekly thing this year.Also trespassers,atv's shed hunters,arrowhead hunters,cave explores thinking that no one else is combing the woods is nieve at best.The weekend before rifle every idiot from my own family to the next door neighbors are stomping thru every inch looking to put up there rifle deer stand,and disrupts all normal patterns the deer have. sorry for the rant, here is a couple of pics. cows,brother,nephew,and a decent buck in the same spot during rifle season, my brother was hunting a hundred yards away and never seen this deer.
I get very little daylight of any bucks. I do not set my cameras in areas would expect daylight movement.
During hunting season only, what percentage of trail camera photos do you get during daylight hours of 1.5 y/o bucks? 18% During hunting season only, what percentage of trail camera photos do you get during daylight hours of 2.5 y/o bucks? 7% During hunting season only, what percentage of trail camera photos do you get during daylight hours of 3.5 or older bucks? less then 1%
Good read guys. I start running my cams from mid August to January usually. I'll go in a couple weeks before season, usually mid September and pull cards, refresh batteries, etc., then I'm out of there until sometime in late October. I'm very careful about scent throughout and have always checked camera at noon when I expect the least amount of movement to avoid bumping a deer while checking. I've also checked cams while walking into a stand in the dark. I figure I might as well do while moving in and not have to go back for it and spread more scent than necessary around. My sighting are all over the place really. It also depends on where the cam is located. Heavy travel corridors, I haven't seen the drop off during season from bucks or does. As I said, I'm checking these cams about once a month, which IMO, is hardly pressuring deer. I have a particular cam over my primary rut stand that I do check more than this simply because its on my way to my stand and I can do it quickly in the dark while going in. Seems to work for me.
My only question is......if Lee's not checking his cameras so much (due to fear of running them to the next farms), how's he know when a mature buck's showing up in the daylight.....and that it's time to move in on him? I don't use trail cameras during the season.....and didn't use them at all, last year. No reasoning....other than a mild case of indifference.
Not speaking for Lee obviously, but perhaps he has a camera that emails him the pics? I agree with what you are saying, how do you know the buck is in the area...w/o going in the area to check the camera?? Double edged sword there.
