Trail cam tactics

[ThePennsylvanian]

I'm coming to the realization that I do not know enough to locate/identify buck bedding. So I need to start figuring out how to "best" use trail cameras on public lands. As always, I realize that is painting with a broad brush, but what i am looking for is different ways yall use them and adapt from there.
I know you dont want to have them where you expect to hunt. That said, with the small window that the camera covers, and my inability to identify bedding, how should I setup up in relation to the info the camera provides?
I currently have 6 cameras out, that haven't been checked since probably sept, maybe early October on some. Long soaks are not an issue for me, I have enough discipline to let em sit. I have a enough cameras to cover a bunch of public parcels near me, which I have plenty of public very close!
So I guess I'm looking for:
Where to set up to help me begin to understand bedding?
When should I be checking?
How close should/can cameras be if I use multiple on one property?

I can't really use Dan's tactics because of the fact I dont understand the relationship to bedding. That and the lack of fields on public around here

 

[kyler1945]

Find well used deer trails, with buck sign on or nearby, and set up trail cameras on them. Identify travel patterns/direction of the bucks. Then tie that to bedding - they typically bed during day, are more active at night. So whichever direction they are heading in the morning hours is likely the direction of their bedding. Move that direction to the most likely bedding areas. Set up trail camera on trails leading into those bedding areas, and identify if the deer you’re after are using them.

Note - you’ll be leaving scent, and your human activity, on top of deer travel corridors. Do so wisely. Every deer has a certain amount of human scent they’ll tolerate before changing behavior patterns. Your deer are different than other deer elsewhere. So only go as deep as necessary to get the intel needed.

My personal advice is to leave trail cameras on areas that the deer visit at night (food sources or travel corridors like human acces trails). Then if I confirm there’s enough deer movement in the area for me to hunt it, I walk in and find the deer and hunt them.

Cel cams add a new dimension - you can breeze through a bedding area, drop a camera, and never touch it all season. Your magic pocket brick will let you know if you’re in the right spot.

 

[MJH]

following...
I have a different version of the same problem.

 

[mattfish]

X2 following. Thks for posting great question.

 

[neonomad]

Maybe reassess the public you’re hunting (topos, satellite, scout, etc) and commit to the #1 and #2 suspected bedding spots, find what looks like the main trails, and focus three cameras within each spot? Or focus all six as a perimeter on one area... Once you locate a good trail (or several) to bedding pull all but one or two cameras out, and repeat the process somewhere else? This could be done almost any time of year, yes Sept-Dec is best, some bedding will change, but a lot will stay the same through the year. Mid winter might be the worst time, depending on local food availability. If you did this for 2-3 months per iteration I’d think you’d have several bedding hotspots identified by next season.

 

[neonomad]

I had two cell cameras on a large farm this fall, within 60 yards of each other trying to understand a pinch point in the timber. Nothing. Two weeks ago I moved one camera 30 yards to a different trail and sure enough the big boy is there. If I wanted to understand this spot faster I prolly should have just committed more cameras to this small area for a couple months.

 

[peteherbst]

If you’re sort of stumped, the best thing I’ve done in those situations is just find a deer trail and follow it until it becomes a cow path. Once you see that, you’ll likely be getting close to bedding. Slap a camera there and leave it.

I don’t typically check my trail cameras in season. It doesn’t give you any info for this season, but next season it could give you some insight on how they’re using that area. Could.

 

[philsanchez76]

This was my first season running cameras. I’m totally not an expert, but they have helped me kill 6 deer so far this year so I think they can be of great help. Running 6 cams across 3-4 pieces of public land. I had no idea what I was doing so I started in the spring during turkey season. That way there was plenty of time for the deer to forgive me after intruding all over their areas. If I was out in the woods turkey hunting and I saw some really good deer trails or sign or just saw a whole bunch of deer in an area: I’d drop a camera there and then go back and check it 3-4 weeks later. Finding deer trails was the most productive. I’d just keep following them until I found more trails and eventually super thick areas where you could see grass and leaves laying flat which were deer beds. Some spots were total whiffs with very few deer and other spots were 10-12 different deer per day. By the time hunting season rolled around I just drilled down on the spots that yielded the most or best deer pics. This worked great in September, October and November. Now that it’s december and there are no leaves, the deer are using completely different areas. So now instead of hunting I am kind of back to scouting. I think cameras are just tools to help us new guys get on deer faster. And also I agree with what Kyler said in that your presence and scent will affect the deer and may make them change their patterns. In the summer they tolerated a lot more of my presence. One day after I was in there they’d be back to normal. Since gun season here I’ve noticed that it will take weeks for them to get back to any normal pattern. All about keeping that pressure to a minimum.

 

[IkemanTX]

You want to learn buck bedding on public land.....
start scouting through properties with the wind at your face during the time of year you want to hunt it. That’s what I did last year when a whole bunch of ground I had scouted was underwater. I was forced to scout in-season.

It put me on deer so well this year, I couldn’t even believe it.

As far as cameras, I try to put them on deer travel paths in pinch points (away from human traffic) I set them by mid/late July and try to not check them more than a couple times all season.

 

[DaveT1963]

I do ok with the few cameras I run

 

[neonomad]

This was my first season running cameras. I’m totally not an expert, but they have helped me kill 6 deer so far this year....

Lol sounds like you catch on pretty fast.

 

[philsanchez76]

Lol sounds like you catch on pretty fast.

Haha. Thx. I am out hunting at least 3 sits a week so I’ve had plenty of opportunities to fail too. Also God has blessed me with super thick deer density here in middle Tennessee.

 

[btsnhos]

I have cameras set up in the swamps in FL and in the mtns in NC and I use the same tactics for each spot for my camera setup. When I find a rub/scrape I immediately look for more sign around it like a trail or another scrape/rub. If I can't find any other sign in the area I disregard it. If I find another rub or scrape within about 50 yds along with a trail then I will put a camera on the trail looking down the trail towards the rub or scrape. From there I use onx/scout to find the thickest/nastiest brush in the area and then look for a trail coming from it or look for a bed in it, if I find a trail coming from the thick brush going towards the sign I will put a camera up on there and, so far, it has worked out well finding where the bucks are bedding. In FL they generally bed in the swamp areas, in west NC it seems that they bed in the thick brush on the side of ridges about 2/3 the way up the ridge and on each side depending on the wind. Also when I set up the cameras I use a climbing stick and put them about 9' up and angle them down so they don't get stolen, I attach them to a tree using eye bolts and I usually hang them very close to where I am going to hunt. I hang them just after the season (January for NC, March for FL) when the sign is pretty fresh and I check them after a few months usually around July. If there are bucks on them then I don't touch them and will pick them up sometime in season. If there are no bucks or deer on there (I shoot does too because meat is meat) then I will pull them and try somewhere else but I wont disregard the area because cameras never show the full photo and I hunt on sign during the rut. When I check them I have a set of scouting clothes that is scent free and I try to get in and get out asap with minimal interference. For your last question I use as many cameras as I can to help build a picture of the area, sometimes I just need one for a trail that is leading to sign, other times I will use four in an area the size of a bed room all facing different cardinal directions to help build a picture of where the deer tend to travel (which always changes depending on the season). What I look for in a buck bed is a small open spot in the middle of the brush, it has taken me alot of time to ID these but once you find a couple you'll start recognizing them alot easier. Mark Kenyon has a good article on buck bedding with good photos, i've attached a photo of one I found the other day right next to three scrapes and a rub. Hope this helps. The first photo is a setup I had for a hunt I drew, the second is a buck bed, and the third/fourth is a trail leading to a scrape.

 

[peteherbst]

I have cameras set up in the swamps in FL and in the mtns in NC and I use the same tactics for each spot for my camera setup. When I find a rub/scrape I immediately look for more sign around it like a trail or another scrape/rub. If I can't find any other sign in the area I disregard it. If I find another rub or scrape within about 50 yds along with a trail then I will put a camera on the trail looking down the trail towards the rub or scrape. From there I use onx/scout to find the thickest/nastiest brush in the area and then look for a trail coming from it or look for a bed in it, if I find a trail coming from the thick brush going towards the sign I will put a camera up on there and, so far, it has worked out well finding where the bucks are bedding. In FL they generally bed in the swamp areas, in west NC it seems that they bed in the thick brush on the side of ridges about 2/3 the way up the ridge and on each side depending on the wind. Also when I set up the cameras I use a climbing stick and put them about 9' up and angle them down so they don't get stolen, I attach them to a tree using eye bolts and I usually hang them very close to where I am going to hunt. I hang them just after the season (January for NC, March for FL) when the sign is pretty fresh and I check them after a few months usually around July. If there are bucks on them then I don't touch them and will pick them up sometime in season. If there are no bucks or deer on there (I shoot does too because meat is meat) then I will pull them and try somewhere else but I wont disregard the area because cameras never show the full photo and I hunt on sign during the rut. When I check them I have a set of scouting clothes that is scent free and I try to get in and get out asap with minimal interference. For your last question I use as many cameras as I can to help build a picture of the area, sometimes I just need one for a trail that is leading to sign, other times I will use four in an area the size of a bed room all facing different cardinal directions to help build a picture of where the deer tend to travel (which always changes depending on the season). What I look for in a buck bed is a small open spot in the middle of the brush, it has taken me alot of time to ID these but once you find a couple you'll start recognizing them alot easier. Mark Kenyon has a good article on buck bedding with good photos, i've attached a photo of one I found the other day right next to three scrapes and a rub. Hope this helps. The first photo is a setup I had for a hunt I drew, the second is a buck bed, and the third/fourth is a trail leading to a scrape.

Pretty good info here. Thanks for sharing.

 

[CptFrank]

The Southern Outdoorsmen Hunting Podcast - EP. 122 - Backtracking Bucks with Jeff Homan, Deer Hunting Strategy on Stitcher

Jeff Homan's trail camera strategy goes against the grain of most of the advice that we typically hear in hunting media today. By checking his cameras every few days and backtracking deer to their exact bedding locations he has had incredible success on killing mature bucks on one of Alabama's...

stitcher.com

The above link is a podcast where the guest outlines a very different approach to trail cam tactics. The cliff-notes version is that he places his camera on a bucks trail and then follows the buck back a few yards at a time until he starts seeing the buck in shooting light on camera. Once hes close enough to the bed he goes in and hunts that deer. I dont employ this tactic and definitely wonder how he gets away without spooking everything, but it is interesting none the less.

 

[btsnhos]

The Southern Outdoorsmen Hunting Podcast - EP. 122 - Backtracking Bucks with Jeff Homan, Deer Hunting Strategy on Stitcher

Jeff Homan's trail camera strategy goes against the grain of most of the advice that we typically hear in hunting media today. By checking his cameras every few days and backtracking deer to their exact bedding locations he has had incredible success on killing mature bucks on one of Alabama's...

stitcher.com

The above link is a podcast where the guest outlines a very different approach to trail cam tactics. The cliff-notes version is that he places his camera on a bucks trail and then follows the buck back a few yards at a time until he starts seeing the buck in shooting light on camera. Once hes close enough to the bed he goes in and hunts that deer. I dont employ this tactic and definitely wonder how he gets away without spooking everything, but it is interesting none the less.

I think he gets away with it because "...he has had incredible success on killing mature bucks on one of Alabama's highest pressured pieces of public land." The deer are probably used to alot of people in the area so they don't get spooked IMO that would a tough one to pull off on an area that doesn't have alot of people hunting it.

 

[DaveT1963]

I'm coming to the realization that I do not know enough to locate/identify buck bedding. So I need to start figuring out how to "best" use trail cameras on public lands. As always, I realize that is painting with a broad brush, but what i am looking for is different ways yall use them and adapt from there.
I know you dont want to have them where you expect to hunt. That said, with the small window that the camera covers, and my inability to identify bedding, how should I setup up in relation to the info the camera provides?
I currently have 6 cameras out, that haven't been checked since probably sept, maybe early October on some. Long soaks are not an issue for me, I have enough discipline to let em sit. I have a enough cameras to cover a bunch of public parcels near me, which I have plenty of public very close!
So I guess I'm looking for:
Where to set up to help me begin to understand bedding?
When should I be checking?
How close should/can cameras be if I use multiple on one property?

I can't really use Dan's tactics because of the fact I dont understand the relationship to bedding. That and the lack of fields on public around here

FYSA - we plan on covering in depth how we use cameras for inventory, isolating buck bedding and establishing travel patterns in our 2020 scouting video series.

 

[ThePennsylvanian]

FYSA - we plan on covering in depth how we use cameras for inventory, isolating buck bedding and establishing travel patterns in our 2020 scouting video series.

Awesome! I'll be "patiently" waiting on them....

 

[philsanchez76]

The Southern Outdoorsmen Hunting Podcast - EP. 122 - Backtracking Bucks with Jeff Homan, Deer Hunting Strategy on Stitcher

Jeff Homan's trail camera strategy goes against the grain of most of the advice that we typically hear in hunting media today. By checking his cameras every few days and backtracking deer to their exact bedding locations he has had incredible success on killing mature bucks on one of Alabama's...

stitcher.com

The above link is a podcast where the guest outlines a very different approach to trail cam tactics. The cliff-notes version is that he places his camera on a bucks trail and then follows the buck back a few yards at a time until he starts seeing the buck in shooting light on camera. Once hes close enough to the bed he goes in and hunts that deer. I dont employ this tactic and definitely wonder how he gets away without spooking everything, but it is interesting none the less.

I loved this episode. I tried this in a piece of public this year. And it partially worked. I mainly had does on camera and very few bucks. But as season progressed I noticed my pics were getting later and later until they were all night pics. So I’d move the camera further in and bam, daylight pics again. Then a week or two went by and all night pics. Repeat and move camera further and got daylight pics yet again. I was able to kill a 6 point in this area due to the camera work. He wasn’t huge but great fir such a small High pressure public piece. The thing is I was never able to repeatedly get on buck, just does. But where the does we’re hanging out, eventually the bucks were too.