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Best practices for camera/weather data analysis

LAKY said:
I would narrow in your time frames to an hour on each side of whatever criteria you are using. Also, I'd maybe add in location specific data to look at, like scrape in cover, scrape in feeding area, night time feeding area, daytime feeding area, slope aspect, ridge, bottom, etc. Multiple columns to take into account locations that may have multiple features. Looking forward to what you find.
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Definitely looking into tighter windows. Adding other weather related data points. I think 85% or more of my photos are daylight. Got to throw some other camera data in there. Get as much of a sample size as possible.
 
BTaylor said:
From both listening to the MSU podcast breaking that study down and talking in person with Dr. Strickland, the primary focal point was distance and rate of travel. While that has relevance for hunters, imo, it is not the most relevant thing to focus on. What we are most concerned with is when a particular deer is most likely to show at a specific location and is there any predictability in the direction of travel. Type of location, time of season and imo, solunar timing and weather all come into play along with estrous cycles of doe groups and hunter pressure. Too many variables to be very precise but trail cam data can show you trends and a trend gives you something to work with. I would rather bet on a trend as opposed to "I think I will go climb at this spot cause it looks good." Most folks are not willing to do the full data gathering to look at as many variables as possible but simply letting cams soak and marking a calendar for the days when the buck or a buck you would be happy with daylights at a certain location, esp around the rut. That historical data gives you a trend to work with assuming conditions are similar. In other words similar mast year, a logging crew didnt move in, etc. Those type things can make that historical cam info pretty much useless for that particular season.
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I’m going to hunt every chance I get because I love it. I think the goal for me is to find behaviors and patterns and see if that is replicated in other places. Are there patterns? If not, I’ll grind it out in a tree.

The scouting can take care of the locations and the data can help identify the time or timing. I’m considering going video mode on the cameras this year to gather more info than a photo can provide.

The hope is to maximize odds which is increasingly important if your time is limited. I still want hunting to be fun though. Some of the fondest memories are the early years where I walked into the woods with no information and an abundance of optimism. Probably not the highest odds approach, but it never took the fun out. There was always that last 30 minutes of daylight hope.

I’ve learned so much from other peoples efforts. If nothing comes of my own effort that’s okay. I can say I tried. It’s July. The new sight is dialed in. The topo lines are blurring together. It’s a good change of pace.
 
BeauWPS said:
I’m going to hunt every chance I get because I love it. I think the goal for me is to find behaviors and patterns and see if that is replicated in other places. Are there patterns? If not, I’ll grind it out in a tree.

The scouting can take care of the locations and the data can help identify the time or timing. I’m considering going video mode on the cameras this year to gather more info than a photo can provide.

The hope is to maximize odds which is increasingly important if your time is limited. I still want hunting to be fun though. Some of the fondest memories are the early years where I walked into the woods with no information and an abundance of optimism. Probably not the highest odds approach, but it never took the fun out. There was always that last 30 minutes of daylight hope.

I’ve learned so much from other peoples efforts. If nothing comes of my own effort that’s okay. I can say I tried. It’s July. The new sight is dialed in. The topo lines are blurring together. It’s a good change of pace.
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I only run cams in video mode but I am not running them over chum. Just be cognizant of limbs or weeds in front of the cam that could be a recurring wind trigger. 8GB cards will be maxed at about 100 ten second video clips. A small limb or big weed in the wrong spot can fill up a card quick.
 
BTaylor said:
I only run cams in video mode but I am not running them over chum. Just be cognizant of limbs or weeds in front of the cam that could be a recurring wind trigger. 8GB cards will be maxed at about 100 ten second video clips. A small limb or big weed in the wrong spot can fill up a card quick.
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That’s right. No chum for me. All public land. I like to run them over scrapes, pinch points and adjacent to bedding areas. Anywhere with a likely high traffic count. I’ll always break off any obstructions causing false triggers. It happens regardless on high wind days when everything is bent over swaying. Wildfire will trigger a camera. Learned that.
 
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This data is +/- 4 days of new and full moon. The pct column is for daylight or shooting hours so technically 30 minutes before til 30 minutes after sunrise and sunset.


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I think the type of area monitored has more to do with the movement times than anything else. Night time bedding and feeding areas are going to have less daylight movement. Daytime bedding and loafing areas are going to have less night time movement. I think it's really important to classify the location type. If you're seeing more daytime at a particular camera than others, it may have more to do with where it's located than the moon, weather, barometer, wind, etc. What location types does that buck move more during shooting hours than others, and under what conditions? It may be he moves more during shooting hours in a transition area when the moon is underfoot, but less during shooting hours in a feeding area when the moon is underfoot. The moon being underfoot may see both less and more movement depending on location type.
 
LAKY said:
I think the type of area monitored has more to do with the movement times than anything else. Night time bedding and feeding areas are going to have less daylight movement. Daytime bedding and loafing areas are going to have less night time movement. I think it's really important to classify the location type. If you're seeing more daytime at a particular camera than others, it may have more to do with where it's located than the moon, weather, barometer, wind, etc. What location types does that buck move more during shooting hours than others, and under what conditions? It may be he moves more during shooting hours in a transition area when the moon is underfoot, but less during shooting hours in a feeding area when the moon is underfoot. The moon being underfoot may see both less and more movement depending on location type.
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Completely agree!!
 
With today's technology, cell cameras, apps for cell cameras, I'm surprised wind direction isn't built into the image data strip.. I get temp and barometer. Why not wind direction?
My cameras are Browning. Maybe another brand already provides this.. dunno
 
I'm a weather nerd. Always trying to make correlations. I've got the latest Ambient Weather Station on top of the barn at the farm.. my draw towards weather stems from fishing. Not bobber and worm cane pole.. Real fishing. Off sportfish boats chasing blue marlin. The moon 100% affects fishing. The effect of the moon on fishing is real. The week before and after a full moon.. more blue marlin are caught off St. Thomas in the Fall for decades. Same for Bermuda, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Dominican, in the summer. To the point of owners of the boats I worked on flew their private jets home the other 2 weeks of the month. We would fun fish with dudes from the marina... Not as many bites... This scenario has been the same in the fishing industry for 60+ years.
I'm always trying to make some type relationship between fish and deer and moon. ...and I don't have anything to report.
What I do have, that works, more than weather, wind direction, and time of day, is calling them in.
Not to derail this thread... I LOVE this weather topic.
Calling in deer is the secret weapon. It trumps everything.

With that said, I will be following and hopefully contributing constructively to weather, wind, and everything else.
 
BTaylor said:
Southern third of the state?
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Middle third. I can see why you asked though. At least I think I do. Late rut comment?

I looked at my data and I always like hunting around Thanksgiving, any time for that matter. It’s just a vibe, but not peak rut activity in my opinion. I would point to late October/early November. Maybe some doe fawns hit that sexual maturity weight in late November around Thanksgiving? What is it, 65 lbs for reproductive hormonal maturity to have a heat cycle?
 
Several years ago I went through all my trail camera photos of mature bucks and mapped the photos out with all the weather data I could find. I used weather underground’s historical weather feature. The photos were separated into groups based on location. I noted the apparent direction of travel, time of day, moon phase, current weather, immediate past and future weather, wind speed and direction and made note of any other details that seemed relevant. From all the data I compiled the most useful and Interesting intel i found was that there was a specific bedding area that mature bucks were very likely to go to around high speed wind events. Most of my other findings corroborated things I’d already been aware from field observations and scouting - such as the way conditions impact direction of travel in a particular area. Perhaps the most profound realization from my data mapping was that my system was inadequate. Using a single trail cam, or even a couple of trail cameras in one small area paints an incredibly limited picture. If I wanted to truly study the movement of mature bucks in a small area, I would need a fleet of trail cameras - and then compiling the data would become an increasingly daunting task.

As hunters I think anything we can do to expand our understanding of deer is valuable and potentially increases our odds for success. My own experience mapping deer behavior by comparing photographs with weather data proved to be very interesting and informative but also marked a shift in the amount of significance I placed on trail camera photos. Because I primarily hunt in places that are accessible to other hunters I’m not interested in using the amount of trail cameras that would be nessesary to conduct a more thorough study.
 
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