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BSK

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I used the older buck camera event data from my "Time of Day" research to plot the dates on which I get the most buck camera events. Over 8 years (2014-2021), the graph by date (November through December) looks like the graph below. Interestingly, some "peaks" in buck photographs kept showing up on certain dates, and these dates correspond strongly with some of our tradition best days of hunting. Those dates are noted on the graph. What was even more interesting was what showed up when I reanalyzed the data using only good acorn years versus poor acorn years. The early peak of Nov. 2 is a product almost exclusively of good acorn years. The peak around Nov. 7 is a product of almost exclusively poor acorn years. The peak around Nov. 17 shows up in all years. I have no idea why acorn crops would produce these different peak dates early in November.
 

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Some of decreased daily events could be attributed to a significant % of the area's bucks getting killed as November & December progress?

While the ups & downs may correlate with more roaming vs. actual breeding?
 
My 2 biggest bucks to date were killed on November 10 and November 17! Less then 200-300 yards from each but different seasons.
 
TheLBLman said:
Some of decreased daily events could be attributed to a significant % of the area's bucks getting killed as November & December progress?
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That and the effects of cumulative hunting pressure on the property.

TheLBLman said:
While the ups & downs may correlate with more roaming vs. actual breeding?
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Absolutely. And for reference, peak breeding on this property generally falls somewhere around Nov. 15. Notice how around that date in the data is a "lull." Why? Because my camera locations aren't set up to catch chasing activity! Simply a matter of camera placement.
 
peytoncreekhunter said:
Just a thought, are the cameras in acorn areas only. So the bucks would frequent that area more for acorns in good years?
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Nope. I try to cover a lot of bases. I am primarily running cameras to inventory the buck population, but I spread cameras across scrapes back in the woods, scrapes along field edges, cameras pointed into food plots, cameras on trails and old skidder roads, gaps in fences, habitat and terrain bottlenecks, anywhere that concentrates normal deer traffic.
 
Thelonegoose said:
This is the question I have. As well as, any data on pictures in the "woods" vs. pictures overlooking food plots?
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I've got the data all broken down by camera set-up and even by the behavior the bucks are displaying in the images, but I haven't started analyzing the data on those criteria yet.
 
Below is the same graph broken down by good acorn years and poor acorn years (the orange line is good acorn years, green line poor acorn years). Each of those data sets has four years of data in it. Notice how several of the November peaks exclusively occur in poor acorn years, and a couple only in good acorn years. I also think it's interesting that this data confirms what we had strongly suspected, in that buck activity in December is much more muted in a poor acorn year. Considering that in the past the property's primary draw was acorns, in a poor acorn year, deer tend to leave the property post-rut (no acorns and the few small food plots are eaten to bare dirt by early December). We're hoping to mitigate that by massive habitat changes.
 

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BSK said:
Nope. I try to cover a lot of bases. I am primarily running cameras to inventory the buck population, but I spread cameras across scrapes back in the woods, scrapes along field edges, cameras pointed into food plots, cameras on trails and old skidder roads, gaps in fences, habitat and terrain bottlenecks, anywhere that concentrates normal deer traffic.
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Wow, how many cameras do you run typically.

And.... I'd hate to have your AA battery bill..... lol
 
peytoncreekhunter said:
Wow, how many cameras do you run typically.

And.... I'd hate to have your AA battery bill..... lol
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No you do not want my AA battery bill, considering I only use lithium batteries. Generally it's about $250/year. Amazon.com is definitely my friend! I will look until I find bulk deals where Energizer Ultimate Lithium AAs can be had at around $1.60 each, and then buy a couple hundred dollars worth.

I've always tried to run 7 or 8 cameras on 500 acres. I've found I can get a very good buck inventory on a property if I can have one camera for every 80 acres, and the fluidity to move them frequently.
 
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This is all good stuff and I appreciate you sharing your results. Makes me wonder what goes on my property and has given ne some ideas to try out with my camera set ups. Always learning on TNDeer!
 
BSK said:
No you do not want my AA battery bill, considering I only use lithium batteries. Generally it's about $250/year. Amazon.com is definitely my friend! I will look until I find bulk deals where Energizer Ultimate Lithium AAs can be had at around $1.60 each, and then buy a couple hundred dollars worth.

I've always tried to run 7 or 8 cameras on 500 acres. I've found I can get a very good buck inventory on a property if I can have one camera for every 80 acres, and the fluidity to move them frequently.
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I hunt 135 acres. I usually put my cameras ( 5 total ) on 3 known good doe areas/trails and capture a fair amount of bucks on camera in those areas. The other 2 cameras I'll put on scrapes ( the scrapes that are always at the same spots every year ) when they open up. Do you think this gives me a fair account of bucks on my property? What other advice can you give for me to do?
 
peytoncreekhunter said:
I hunt 135 acres. I usually put my cameras ( 5 total ) on 3 known good doe areas/trails and capture a fair amount of bucks on camera in those areas. The other 2 cameras I'll put on scrapes ( the scrapes that are always at the same spots every year ) when they open up. Do you think this gives me a fair account of bucks on my property? What other advice can you give for me to do?
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I think that sounds good. You can't beat traditional scrapes for inventorying the local buck population. I don't know how "new" bucks to the area find these scrapes so quickly, but they do.

I also think monitoring some "doe" areas is a good idea. There are some bucks I ONLY get on food plots at night. Not one picture/video of them on scrapes. Why that is, I have no idea.
 

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