Kyle from Mississippi asks,
Topic: How Often to Check Trail Cameras:
Bill, you talk about waiting until the first of September to put out your trail cameras, because the deer are transitioning from their summer patterns to their falls ranges. My question is, once you’ve put them out, that only leaves about 3 more weeks to find your target buck(s)- at least until the season starts- so how often are checking your cameras without too much intrusion on the mature bucks? Every few days? Every week? Etc…
Bill responds,
Kyle,
In Iowa you can run bait in front of your trail cameras but you can’t hunt over bait so that sets up a timing issue here that might not exist elsewhere. I have talked to my local game warden about this several times to make sure I am on the right track. So, I start my cameras over a single bag of corn. Then four days later I pull the card and pour out another bag of corn. Three days later I pull the card again and either pour out a third bag of corn or pull the camera.
Generally, on the second card pull I have my laptop in the truck or on the ATV and look at the images on the card to decide what to do next. I am looking for mature bucks. If I find them, I may either pour out another bag of corn and try to learn more or, if I have some history with buck and we are getting close to the season, I may move the camera to a nearby scrape, fence opening or put it on a small food plot in time lapse mode. These are all decisions I make on the fly after the second card pull.
I keep moving cameras (I only have a limited number of cameras) until I find a couple mature bucks to hunt and then I figure out (understanding Iowa’s baiting laws) how to come up with a way to keep tabs on the buck to see when/if he shows daylight activity as I approach the season. Most times, the October 1 opener passes without me having a target to hunt. No big deal. I go out to a few spots to shoot does while I keep trying to find mature bucks to hunt right up to about October 25 when I stop running cameras and start hunting all day.
So, to answer your question, I check my cameras every three days. I only place them in openings I can drive to either with a four wheeler or my truck and I always wear wader pants to keep scent to a minimum around the cameras.
Now, with the Cuddelink cameras I will probably run them past October 25 because I don’t have to spend nearly as much time checking cameras nor intrude as much into my hunting area. I can just set one camera close to a road and pull the photos from the other cameras to that one. Everyone eventually comes up with their own strategy on trail cam scouting, this is just mine. Good luck. (9-13-18)
