Trail cameras, more harm than good?

[Football Hunter]

when running these cameras, do you often recognize individual deer and even groups?

have you got enough cameras out in key locations around the property that you can make an educated guess as to how many deer your place holds and their patterns, or are these cameras merely taking random pics of deer passing through your porperty?

I own a few cameras, but right now they are all in my garage...lol. I plan on putting a few out during august and september...mainly because the landowner has never had cameras on his property and wanted to see some pics....so i agree to put a few out ..also, I think it would be cool to simply leave them out for about a month, then go get them out and see what I got on them....

like many said here before, if might be hard to resist the temptation to go check them every weekend, but I think I can do it..

I was just curious about how much USABLE data you really get from cameras ?

Usable, meaning that you identify a particular deer and can tell by where he shows up and how often he shows up that he is indeed living on your property or spending a great amount of time there. Do you get enough data to develop a particular strategy to hunt the deer or are you just getting pics of him, but can't figure out any pattern....

I doubt that most here hunt large enough tracts of land to effectively use cameras to pin down particular deer movement, right? More often than not, these deer cross your property and aren't permanent residents...right?

I guess what I'm asking is this....have you ever noticed particular deer on cameras repeatedly and noted times and dates and was able to get a rough guesstimation about his daily travels, thus patterning him? maybe get him on different cameras at different times of the day and thusly be able to tell more about when and where he goes...?

thanks

Yep,Ive noticed a few bucks over and over at the same spots,but rarely at the same time of day,or on consecutive days.And usually,the bigger they are,the darker the background seems to be

 

[BSK]

when running these cameras, do you often recognize individual deer and even groups?

Yes, all the time. I may get well over 100 pictures of an individual buck during the hunting season.

have you got enough cameras out in key locations around the property that you can make an educated guess as to how many deer your place holds...

Yes, any time from the beginning of August through the end of January. But the total number of deer and the identity of individual bucks changes through the season.

...and their patterns...

The deer in my area don't have patterns, beyond favoring certain types of features for their travels.

...or are these cameras merely taking random pics of deer passing through your porperty?

On rare occassion, we will get a picture of a buck one time or several times during one day, and then never again. But surprisingly, these bucks "just passing through" are fairly rare. The most common "just passing through" bucks are yearling bucks during the Yearling Buck Dispersal (YBD) process, which usually occurs in mid-October.

I was just curious about how much USABLE data you really get from cameras? Usable, meaning that you identify a particular deer and can tell by where he shows up and how often he shows up that he is indeed living on your property or spending a great amount of time there.

From a deer management standpoint, trail-cameras produce THE BEST data of any data collection technique available. And yes, I get enough data to know approximately where the edge of a buck's range is. However, from a hunting standpoint, little usable information other than learning how deer use habitat and terrain features in the area, as well as telling you what size/age bucks are using the property.

I doubt that most here hunt large enough tracts of land to effectively use cameras to pin down particular deer movement...

First you have to assume bucks have particular movement patterns. In many areas, few bucks have those kind of predictable movement patterns.

More often than not, these deer cross your property and aren't permanent residents...

Even if a buck's range is not entirely contained with a single property, you can get pictures of that buck very regularly. It all depends on how much time he spends there.

I guess what I'm asking is this....have you ever noticed particular deer on cameras repeatedly and noted times and dates and was able to get a rough guesstimation about his daily travels, thus patterning him?

In area without much open agricultural habitat, bucks rarely move in set patterns.

 

[Boone 58]

:crazy: