Hunt 365 August 2019-Game Camera Strategies
Technology has transformed whitetail hunting. That’s probably an understatement. Go to any deer classic these days and the hunting industry is finding solutions to problems hunters never even knew they had. I laugh at the trinkets and gadgets we hunters will spend our hard-earned money on. With all these laughable technologies available today, there is one that has truly transformed the way we hunt and the ease at which we can put together strategies to hunt.
When I first started using game cameras, they were a lot of fun. But I was a skeptic. I didn’t understand the power these game catchers had, but I did understand the potential risks. Back in those days game cameras used 35mm film and bright flashes to take night pictures. The 35mm film required constant checking of the cameras and the white flash had the potential to spook deer. Buying 35mm film and the developing was costly. Constantly checking the cameras led to increased hunting pressure on the deer in the form of leaving scent behind and bumping deer while checking the cameras. The white flash and noise the cameras made also spooked deer. The negatives that early cameras had far outweighed the benefits, but those early cameras sure taught me about deer behavior.
I don’t bring up my experiences from 20 years ago to reminisce in the old days, or to date myself with readers. I bring it all up because even with today’s newest cameras, the risks still remain when using game cameras. A solid game camera strategy today allows us to learn from years past and make these tools very helpful, while minimizing potential risks.
Early Season Strategy
My early season strategy revolves almost entirely on food. Mature bucks and does alike should be on a very patternable bed-to-feed pattern during the early portions of the archery season. Does and younger bucks are pretty easy to kill this time of year leaving their beds before daylight (they bed close to food to begin with) and making their way to evening food. Older bucks might not leave quite so early and prefer to bed farther off from their main food source. Cameras help me figure out which pattern my target deer are using. Putting cameras on main food sources away from cover will help me identify which food source is the most active, maybe even which food source has a target buck on it. Putting the camera on plot scan and watching the whole plot the last few hours is one method, or using the standard motion feature along trails leading out to food seems to work well. Setting several cameras on the edge of an exterior food source like soybeans or alfalfa can usually pick up your target deer.
After picking up a target animal, I’ll predict which path they are taking to get from cover to main food and start placing cameras on those routes. For me, I’ve already created several staging area food plots that lead out to my exterior food sources, so this is where my cameras go. Because I have history on my farms, I’m already pretty familiar with how the deer will move and travel to and from bedding and their evening destination exterior plot. In fact, I’ve manipulated my plots, bedding, and staging areas to promote this travel to my benefit. Placing cameras in staging area interior plots just confirms for me what I already think will be their travel pattern. It also helps with identifying specific travels of individual deer, thereby allowing me to target a certain buck I might be chasing. I locate these staging area cameras where I can get in to check them without bumping deer or leaving more scent behind than I have too. My staging area food plots are very small making it possible to catch most deer traveling into and through these small food sources. Early season is all about finding that bed-to-feed pattern and exploiting it. Cameras placed along travel routes and staging areas are a great way to find a good buck traveling during the daylight.
Pre-Rut to December Strategy
Not very long after season opener each year, I’ll begin switching every camera I have away from trying to predict feeding patterns to monitoring scrapes. Fortunately, the areas I target are still the same in that my small transition interior plots are still prime targets. But I’ll also start placing some cameras on scrapes right in funnel areas or adjacent to fence jumps or other travel routes bucks will start to use around mid-October. By monitoring scrapes, I pick up most of the bucks on my farm and I can see where they are spending the most of their time. By monitoring scrape activity, I can many times target a specific buck working a specific area. If he’s frequenting the area on a morning pattern, or afternoon pattern, I can move in when the wind is right and take him. When scrape activity suddenly drops it is also a great sign that local does are coming into heat. I won’t move my cameras off of scrapes until December, although I will move my cameras from one scrape to another if it seems like that particular scrape went cold. Bucks will use scrapes from season opener until well into December. By monitoring buck activity on scrapes with your cameras, many times you can put together a plan to take a target buck and you can more accurately determine when bucks are starting to breed does, another piece of data you can use to switch tactics from hunting travel patterns and to key in on doe feeding and bedding.
December, January, and into Spring
By the time December roles around, I’m once again placing my cameras back on food sources or on travel routes going to and from food. The goal is simply to narrow down an ambush setup. There is a difference though during this time of year…you must use extreme caution to not allow the over-use of cameras to spook the deer you are hunting. Mature bucks especially have no tolerance to pressure during the late season. It is for this reason that I generally place my cameras outside of cover and transition areas and instead place them at late season food sources like standing corn or beans. Plot scan mode works great this time of year to find and target a mature buck. Once the season ends, don’t yet pull your cameras as continuing to run them until antler drop will give you a great inventory of bucks that made it through the hunting season.
10 Tips for Better Game Camera Success
1. Never check your cameras when doing so would allow your scent to blow past cover where deer might be. When you are checking cameras, you shouldn’t be bumping deer…this including anything you might do that allows them to see, hear, or smell you. Remember this when putting out your cameras. They should be placed in areas that allow for low impact ways to check them. The biggest mistake I see hunters making when using game cameras is checking them in ways that puts pressure on the deer you are hunting.
2. Check cameras during or right before a rain event. This will remove or lessen any scent you might leave behind.
3. Check cameras during periods of heavy winds, this will mask any noise you make and lets you get in and out easier without being detected.
4. Placing cameras in areas you might walk past while entering or exiting stands for hunts is a great way to reduce the overall times you enter the field…thus again lessening the impact you have on the deer.
5. Use no-flash cameras or red, dark, or black flashes to mask your cameras to other hunters and to deer. White flash cameras have a much higher chance of spooking deer. Try mounting your cameras higher on trees making them less exposed; this will help in lowering the chances of spooking deer and being located by other would be thief-hunters.
6. If possible, mount your cameras facing north. This will help to make daylight pictures better. When you have a camera on plot scan, always find a way to mount the camera facing north…or if you are watching evenings only face them north or east. Never, ever face a camera south or west when you’re using a game camera on plot scan mode.
7. When monitoring scrapes, remove other possible scrapes in that same area. This will force bucks who use that area to scrape and use the licking branch where your camera is located. For about 15 years now, I’ve been using this method to maximize the efficiency of my cameras while on scrapes. For example, if I am monitoring a small interior transition plot, I will make sure there is only one scrape at that food plot. All other licking branches will be removed making the scrape or mock scrape where my camera is located the only scrape left.
8. Don’t assume because you haven’t gotten a picture of a target buck that he’s not there. Most times, if we monitor scrapes on our hunting grounds with multiple cameras we will catch most or all the bucks in that area, but not always. I have countless examples of seeing mature bucks that never showed up on camera. Or, showed up on camera after most or all the season is over. Cameras tell us a lot, but not everything that is going on. This is especially critical when determining where to hunt. Don’t necessarily rule out great spots just because the closest camera isn’t being hit hard.
9. Don’t think you have to buy an expensive camera to get results that will help you. I’ve used some pretty cheap cameras that have helped me to collect great data. A camera that shows day and time is essential, but all the other features aren’t necessary. Also, picture quality is only as important as the desired use of those pictures. A poor-quality picture that gives the hunter the necessary data you need…like what buck it is or isn’t, is all that’s required. If your goal is hunting data, then picture quality only needs to be good enough to distinguish different deer. If your goal is social media bragging rights, well then that’s a different story.
10. To keep your game cameras working year to year, try the following: Always transport your cameras in a padded bag. The electronics in game cameras are very susceptible to getting banged around with the circuit boards being damaged. When checking cameras during the rain, do your best to keep them dry. Keep paper towel on you and wipe away any moisture on the battery pack. And, lastly, always put your cameras in a zip-loc bag when bringing them in from the cold to warm areas. Wait for the camera to acclimate to room temperate while in the bag…this will prevent moisture from condensing on the inside of the cameras when brought in from the cold, which will ruin them in short order.