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Deer Chasing Lows

I once had a camera in the woods for three months. I went in at noon to pull the card. A really big buck jumped up...he was bedding not 10 feet from the cam. From the looks of the bed, he'd been there for a while. I didn't have a single pic of him on cam.
 
Honestly, I don't pay a whole lot of attention to whether I'm seeing deer or not this time of year. Right now, I'm seeing a ton of deer on public land, but I realize these are summer patterns with no stinky predators (hunters) in the woods. Come opening week, which is a month after squirrel season opens, these patterns are going to change.

I just scout the outskirts of potential areas, and then once the season opens plan on hunting my way in and setting up on sign. Also I keep several 'potential' hunting areas in different counties, so if I get surprised, like say a huge hunting camp crops up 50yds from where I plan to hunt on the morning I plan to hunt, I have other places to go. Yup learned that one pretty quick.

Just keep it fun and you will do awesome.
 
You've already gotten alot of good advice on here but I figured I'd throw my hat in the ring too. I've been hunting public land in PA for 40 years, it's about all I know.

I've quit putting cameras out in the Summer because I've found it to be pretty useless for figuring out what bucks will hang around in the Fall. In the big timber, they always seem to split up out of their bachelor groups in Sept or early Oct and then you never see most of them again. It's nice to get those bachelor group pics but it can be deceiving because many will move to their Fall range, which can be a couple miles away. The Penn State/Game Comm deer study has confirmed what I've been seeing, that many bucks will transition to their Fall range.

I spend more time looking for bedding areas and setting my cameras up on trails leading in and out of these areas. Most times I leave the camera there all season and use it for intel for the next season. Scrapes on trail intersections near these bedding areas are my favorite place to put cameras. I see quite a bit of daylight mature buck activity in these locations. I've actually been keeping a spreadsheet of daylight mature buck activity to see if there is any kind of pattern. My results are no surprise, daylight buck activity on my cameras starts to peak the last week of Oct. into the first week of Nov. From Nov. 10 or so until mid-Nov it quiets down. Then there is an increase again around Nov. 16-19. I assume this is when bucks are trying harder to find one more doe to breed.

Anyway, don't lose hope because you're not getting anything decent on camera yet. Once the rut kicks in there will be bucks traveling from a couple miles away looking for does. I'd spend more time looking for fresh sign in late Oct./early Nov. and setup on the fresh sign.

Cameras are a nice tool, but they certainly only paint part of the picture.
 
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Here is an interesting article/video for anyone that's interested. This deer study has really confirmed what I've been anecdotally observing on my own. It is fun to watch how these bucks move from one month to the next. You can see how the bucks move much more in early Nov. than they do in Oct.

 
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We start September 1st so we're locked in on food. My buddy is running cams on traditional trails that circle bedding and I'm on trails to food sources and/or their way to/from bedding. I'm about 2 to 1 on buck pics vs him. He also traditionally hunts the same spots/stands. I move to the deer.
 
This is why ive always preferred to wait to within a few weeks till game time to start scouting. Knowing what's around is nice and all but other than does, which is nice to know as the bucks will be chasing them later, theres no guarantees theyll be around come hunting time. Plus with cameras, it just points your spots out to competition
 
Jeez man losing hope already, I haven't really even really turned my thoughts to hunting yet. Still focused on fishing and summer fun. Supposed to get a cool snap here the next few days that may get the juice flowing a little and I may sneak out to do a little scouting. Summer bachelor groups have zero intel value for me, once they shed the fuzz and set up in their fall areas and what their food options are going to be then is when I start paying attention.
 
Jeez man losing hope already, I haven't really even really turned my thoughts to hunting yet. Still focused on fishing and summer fun. Supposed to get a cool snap here the next few days that may get the juice flowing a little and I may sneak out to do a little scouting. Summer bachelor groups have zero intel value for me, once they shed the fuzz and set up in their fall areas and what their food options are going to be then is when I start paying attention.

I haven’t lost hope, just had a bad day and this time last year I was seeing more, but plenty of time for all that to change!
 
I wouldn't worry to much, I'm getting ready to put some cams out this weekend. Deer go through a lot of changes in September around here, bachelor groups start breaking up, crops get harvested, early acorns start to drop and people pressure will ramp up. I have a couple cell cams but the rest usually just soak all fall and I'll grab them after the season(I may check a few if I know I'll be close to them).
 
Really as long as you haven't heard about EHD hitting your area by now is the biggest thing... My drive of 10 miles home yesterday i probably counted thirty deer, mostly does with twins on my way home.
 
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