The use of trail cameras!

[Kaiser878]

I love to look at photos from trail cameras. I think they are awesome, and there is no doubt very useful tools. I have this weird hang up though about using one to aid me in my hunting. I did set one out for the month of August, and as a lot of you know I did capture "The Luck Ten" with the trail cam and I later killed him. Mind you I had already set my stand in that area where I killed him earlier in the summer, prior to hanging the camera. I set the stand in may and was curious if there were any deer cruising the area! I feel almost like I am cheating if I were to use one all year and hunt based on the photos I receive. Now before someone starts to wet themselves here, I am not saying it is wrong! I am just stating that I have a complex about it, and it is a battle I face with MYSELF!!!!

The part I enjoy most about whitetail hunting is the thrill of seeking out a whitetail, finding his routine and placing myself where I need to be to harvest him. I do all this based on what I think is "good" deer sign. If I were to use a trail camera I would feel as if I were using less of my hunting knowledge and more technology. Now I do realize I am shooting a compound bow with a release, so I guess I am already incorporationg technology into my pursuit. Something just bothers me about hunting over a trail cam. Has anyone else ever though about this???


I plan on taking a youth out next weekend, I also plan on putting a cam out behind my house this week just to see what is coming through the area! My one buddy is going to let me use his cuddeback. At this point, I have shot my buck and I am now curious what is hitting the scrapes in my back yard!

[Slippy]

so, you're on the fence about trail cams? Its definitely a big tool, just like food plots and stuff. Big bucks get big cause they are rarely detected by humans, with that said, I see the possibility of 200" deer declining.

[Beentown]

Hey Kaiser I see where you are coming from. All of my cams pretty much stay stationary (field edges). I place them just to see whats out there. I guess there is one stand that is near a camera but the stand was their first. It is pretty much a gun season stand. I know I could move my cameras around to pin point there movements but...2 problems with that in my mind. First the guilt I "May" feel shooting my first B/C and not knowing if I could have done it on my own. Second, I am a scent freak and don't want to be traipsing through the woods to get the pics.

Beentown


Disclaimer: I do not or would I look down on someone using cameras too hunt and kill any deer. Too each is own. This is only my opinion and not tied to this site or any of its members. Any legal/ethical questions should be shat into a pan, fried, and put onto bread for you to eat:D

[Kaiser878]

I placed a cam out today behind my house. Again, I am not hunting the area. I am curious about what is in the area! I plan on checking it friday. I Will post pics for everyone to see. There is just some sort of guilt involved! haha

[coonskinner]

well i doan see the trail cam as evil as baitin/with nutrients tuh enhance antler growth an controlin the deer...some call this qdm...i refer to it as qbm...but when you add all this up...ok lets throw in scentsmoker since some believe it illiminates the deers ability to smell you...but i doan see its effectiveness as much as baitin...baitin is not well recieved by those that doan hunt but believe we should hunt...i have asked hundreds an yet to fine anyone that hasnt sed...that ain huntin...or that ain fair...and i agree...:rolleyes:

[benehunter]

I completely understands your feelings. I feel the same way with range finders.

[OhioHunter88]

There is just some sort of guilt involved! haha


Use one enough, you will become addicted, and it will be like christmas whenever you go check it. This time of year i just put them over scrapes and watch all of the different bucks. I dont think it really helps kill a deer, but it could help you understand the deer's core area.

[Beentown]

No more advantage for me until after gun season. Pulled all my cameras and perm stands. Trespassing and things coming up missing are common during the week so I guess no guilt for me if I get one of the big boys this week:mischeif:

Wish I lived close enough and had the time off work to bust every trespassor.

Beentown

[Deehntr56]

IMO, we as hunters stive all the time to find a new way to determine what a Buck or Bucks will do, and what the deer in our area are doing to out smart them.

What makes this any different than a great new bow that shoots an arrow over 350 Fps?

Food Plots?

2x7 Leupold Scope on a Fully Rifled Barrel Benelli Super Black Eagle?

New Camo? Scent lok clothes?

Doe in heat scent? Rattling Horns, and Grunt calls?

All are tools used to help us be better.....or we think we can be better:biggrin:

I always enjoyed figuring out the local bucks in our hunting area. I usually read sign, terrain, travel corridors, bedding areas, secondary trails that bucks use only and tried to piece together what he was thinking as he traveled through his territory, and determined at least to some extent where and how they traveled, slept, fed and used speicfic areas for breeding based on doe core areas and home range. I don't do it as much any more for various reasons, but I still can hone in on a good buck after some time in the field and trying to think like he would and predict patterns. Sometimes I get an opportunity, and sometimes I don't...that's why it is called hunting!

I don't know. I don't use the trail cams regularly, I just still enjoy going head to head, straight up...just somehting I have enjoyed doing and did pretty well with.

For me, the more time I spent in the field learning and observing, generally produced good results. I just enjoyed it, and wished I still had the time.

If it floats your boat, and it's legal.....why not?

[jackalope]

I know what you mean Kaiser. I would love to use one but there is this small still voice that keeps saying, boy, you sure your doing this fair. I have a fast bow, shoot carbon arrows, I have to draw the line somewhere and I guess for me it's trail cameras. After getting my ass handed to me by the deer this year though, next year I may have to kick it up a notch.. Bowhunter 1023 said he has never had a cam help him kill a deer. I can buy that.. I can't see how it would help you kill one. But it could defiantly tell you what is in the area. If that what you are using it for then to me it's not different than glassing a field preseason, or hunting an observation stand. I'm slowly coming to grips with using one, maybe this spring

[HuntNWOHIO]

For me personally, I have tons of private sections to hunt that the majority of them usually have a decent buck. I like to put out cams early to see what is in the general area. Once I know there is a shooter buck in that block or around a certain 3 of 4 sections I spend my time there. This only helps me in the way that I don't spend 3/4 of my season sitting in a place that doesn't house a big buck. I don't place them on trails or under my stands, just on the field edges to see what comes cruising in.

[TheCream]

well i doan see the trail cam as evil as baitin/with nutrients tuh enhance antler growth an controlin the deer...some call this qdm...i refer to it as qbm...but when you add all this up...ok lets throw in scentsmoker since some believe it illiminates the deers ability to smell you...but i doan see its effectiveness as much as baitin...baitin is not well recieved by those that doan hunt but believe we should hunt...i have asked hundreds an yet to fine anyone that hasnt sed...that ain huntin...or that ain fair...and i agree...:rolleyes:

Coonie, just to spin off this a bit without getting too off-track, I do think there is a difference between QDM and "trophy management." QDM is more than just letting bucks grow, it should apply to the deer herd in your area and not just the buck population. I do think there are a lot of people who say they practice QDM but are really just trophy managers. Improve the deer herd as a whole with nutrition, buck:doe ratio, and allow deer to mature, and the trophies will be a result. Killing bucks with "inferior" genetics and only working towards improving the quality or score of bucks on a property is not QDM, in my opinion.

Back on track, I very rarely hang cameras where I specifically hunt like most of you. I prefer to put cameras in "fringe" areas where hanging, removing, checking, and monitoring cameras is far less intrusive. I use cameras for inventory, basically. I just want to know what is in the area, I am not out to pattern deer or make them easier to kill. What it does do for me, is shows me what is there. That makes it easier for me to pass up a decent buck because I know I can do better. This worked out earlier this year when I had a huge-bodied 11-pointer that we had photos of inside 10 yards from my stand. I let that deer walk because there are several better deer on the place that we have on camera, so the decision to let the 11 go was much easier.

[Photog]

This is a very interesting topic. I don't own a trail cam and I am not sure if I ever will. I also suck at scouting. I really don't know what to look for. I know, many of you are thinking "but that bruiser button buck HAD to be because of dozens of hours in the field!" I wish it was, but to be honest, I am clueless on HOW to scout properly!

I doubt I get a trailcam because I already do have one artificial advantage: What deer in its right mind would see that Geo Metro and think "awww crap! Team Photog is in the woods! Tread lightly!!!"?????

[CritterGitter]

Photog,

I have countless hours of scouting and scouring the woods and putting it altogether and I have shot 0 deer this fall. lol

It's just another tool to use. Some say there are to many gadgets and tools and stuff and it's cheatin or whatever. I say that's huey. You gonna set up on a an oak flat, or a food plot and both are food sources. You gonna set up on a corn field edge...........no deer the day I did that last week and the wind was in my favor. Guess I was cheating, but it didn't seem to help me get a deer. I know lots of guys use the trail cams and don't get the deer they see pics of. Guess they are cheating, but don't seem to get any advantage of it. Is it really cheating? My way is not the only way. This applies in all of deer hunting. I think the one thing we can all agree on, is that we want to hunt free range deer within the established regulations. We do that and it's all good.

[Slippy]

Photog,

I have countless hours of scouting and scouring the woods and putting it altogether and I have shot 0 deer this fall. ....

...well, maybe you're in there too much and burning it? :confused:

There is such a thing as too much scouting. Just because you put your time in and more, doesn't make a deer a sure fire bet, you have to be smart about it, and be lucky.

[CritterGitter]

...well, maybe you're in there too much and burning it? :confused:

There is such a thing as too much scouting. Just because you put your time in and more, doesn't make a deer a sure fire bet, you have to be smart about it, and be lucky.

This is hilarious! Maybe I should have clarified. My scouting has been spread out over 16 years of hunting some of it in and some of it out of season. I don't think I burned up any spots this year. Though, I did intrusively scout in one area that I was certain does not hold a 2.5 yr old. My scouting confirmed this theory.

[buckstar25]

Fair chase is up to the the individual....:whistle: I agree 100% with ya Kaiser.