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Trail camera placement concern

mattfish

mattfish

Active Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2015
Messages
169
Location
Pittsburgh Pa
I set up a camera last year on well used trail on public Land I hunt. In July got some real bruisers on the camera. It was set about 30 yards off of what I suspected as a creek crossing area.

I ended up pulling that camera believing I knew they were there so I could hunt this travel trail when the winds/ thermals were favorable. Hunted it couple times but other action pulled me away from the area. I eventually hung it back up during archery and got less pics but still productive.

Fast forward to this winter, I placed the camera on tree about to fall into the creek. I got over 400 pics of deer in March. Some were repeat pics of deer just lingering. My concern is that some deer 100% knew that camera was there and were spooked by it. Posed and ready to jump outta their own hides! Others just stared around the area.
Do I dump the camera? It’s literally eye level with deer. If you were standing in the creek it’s chest level.

Great pics really cool. I’m worried because I know I got big bucks cruising through the area in July. 90% of the pics were daylight photos.

Got over 400 pics of deer in one month in March. Both buck and doe. Some had already shed one bruiser had not. Probably only handful of pics were deer knew it was there. But enough pics of deer standing in the area looking around.

Are they listening to my camera go off? Is that the reason for the curious looks in front of my camera?

Don’t wanna blow the area up unnecessarily. I could put the camera to work elsewhere. If I raise it up it’s gonna be really high. I have it low so I can get the photos.

My concern is do I have enough data for the time of year I’m interested in? During hunting season got a handful of pics along the original trail.

I moved right to the creek to start to understand the travel pattern better. I also added a second camera on the other side to nail down the direction of travel. My hope is to backtrack the travel pattern to find either the food source or bedding.

This is in mountain country in Pa so lots of mature timber and nomadic deer. I wanna make sure I’m not invading unnecessarily but not pulling out to soon either.

Any thoughts?
 
Personally I would use the data I have, and move the camera to a new area. However, I would make sure I knew my exact tree, and wind I needed to hunt the area. Unless I had a cell camera then I would put that in there really high in a tree angled down to help me time when to go in there.
 
Yeah I would either figure out a way to get that camera higher so they don't spook or pull it and use it toward your back tracking efforts. I'd absolutely try to do what you are thinking and back track the deer to bedding. Not sure how many cams you have, but maybe take 2-3 and spread them out on some trails back from this creek crossing and keep setting that net of cameras further and further towards suspected bedding. I have used this tactic to figure out which trails get used the most often out of certain bedding areas. Although you always run the risk of your pressure pushing them to different trails etc.
 
For cameras, I really like getting the cameras high and quartering to the main trails if you're set up on a trail.
 
I guess hanging it high and letting it soak for awhile isn’t a bad idea. I was considering getting out of there and pushing further back.

Having it higher is gonna be a must if I keep it in there. Just wondering if I have enough data already to move it away from there all together?

But the only way to know that is keep in use in that area and collect more data.
 
What benefit do you think you'll gain by the additional data? More data is generally good but the benefits may not justify it.
 
I have seen bucks, and some does, skirt cameras. Even if it's just changing the trail they are on by a few feet and continuing on the original. Deer all have different temperaments. July and March pictures don't interest me for anything other than inventory and maybe a rut spot if you want to hunt that way. I'd walk every inch of the ground I had access to and figure out where those bucks bed, if I found multiple beds I thought could be a deer I'd like I will systematically hunt them all. Hanging it high will help you, camo it with hot glue and moss or bark whatever as well.
 
I always have trouble with pulling cams after getting antsy, but the longer I let them soak the better the data I get at the end. I have started to embrace the idea that either I should move them actively in an effort to backtrack deer movement, or I should just let em sit all season and then use that info the following year. Too often I have used last week's pictures to hunt this week, or only let the cam cook for a month and missed so much activity.
 
SNIPERBBB said:
What benefit do you think you'll gain by the additional data? More data is generally good but the benefits may not justify it.
Click to expand...

I agree! Kinda the ping pong game I’m playing in my head. Like you said what more do you need to know?
Is it worth the risk? I appreciate your thoughts.
 
BackSpasm said:
I always have trouble with pulling cams after getting antsy, but the longer I let them soak the better the data I get at the end. I have started to embrace the idea that either I should move them actively in an effort to backtrack deer movement, or I should just let em sit all season and then use that info the following year. Too often I have used last week's pictures to hunt this week, or only let the cam cook for a month and missed so much activity.
Click to expand...
Again the ping ping game in my head!

I have other cameras so I’m back tracking currently just to verify my suspicions. It’s been two weeks since I moved one of the cameras in the area to verify the direction of travel.
I was entertaining prepping a set this weekend and moving away from the crossing with one or even two more cameras.
Little antsy about the frequency of visits though.
Pretty sure not many others are tromping about in there this time of year. But one never knows for sure.
 
I would hang the camera about 10 to 12 feet up in a tree. I have yet to have a deer spook using this method.
 
Although I usually do prefer to hang 'em high, I notice that the photo quality is often not as good, but that may not really matter in a lot of situations. Just the fact the the camera is higher, it's now farther away from the subject. Cameras are already a bit too wide-angled to get decent close-ups unless you are right on top of the animal. And tines will look shorter when the camera is high. Not a big deal for doing a survey of use, but it seems like a bit of a trade-off when I hang high.
One other trade-off is you won't get pics of deer in the background when the cam is pointed downward. Sometimes when cams are at ground level, one deer will trigger the camera, but the cam will capture the image of another deer that's not actually the one that would have triggered the cam. High cams have a smaller trigger zone and field of view so just be aware that you might get fewer pics.
An up-side to a downward angle is it's a little less critical of the direction (compass) that it points. Cams pointed to the South (at ground level) sometimes don't work out so well for mid-day pics due to being pointed towards the direction of the sun. North facing cameras are generally preferred. Downward cams minimize all that to an extent.
 
I always like to put my cameras on video mode. 3 of my cameras have a hybrid mode where it takes a picture then video but I don't use that feature that much. I use 5 Browning cameras along with 2 Exodus cameras. The video mode lets me pause and zoom in. Putting my cameras up high doesn't effect the video quality.
 
I use cellular cameras, 6-10 feet from the ground. The cellular advantages are great for reducing human scent deposit from checking cameras on foot.

However, mature bucks will pick the camera off or they coincidently get their picture taken staring at the camera up high. I use foliage like pine or large branches to place behind the cameras to angle them down and make it look like natural concealment as much as possible. It seems this only happens in pressured areas that i hunt. Pressure is approximately 5-6 bow hunters, on 40-60 acres of public.


For non pressured areas or reduced pressure (2 hunters on 80 acre) I could put a photo booth in and the deer wouldn’t care.

I think understanding your area, the pressure and simply gathering the intel on what time of year to hunt the area might help when to target the area. The camera will help with this but you may have to take a year or two to figure that out. Then once you do, hopefully the area doesn’t get clear-cut and you have relearn.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Take a stick with you to get it up high. I agree with @SNIPERBBB you've got a great crossing nailed, put it somewhere else and get more potential spots. You gonna share some of those pics with us in the Trail Camera section?
 
Have you let one soak over the hunting period? Bucks can change there habbits as the season moves on. You might find they only travel through there in March. I would hang one up higher and let it soak through the hunting season. That way you can use that Intel for the following year. You need to know where they travel during hunting season. If better sign pulled you other places, to me that means they felt the pressure, or just travel another way during hunting season. Lots of guys seem to kill them the following year doing the same thing they did the year before.
 
I stopped moving cameras and just buy more. The only time I move cameras is when I am not getting pics. I put cameras in places I don't plan on hunting, to see if I should actually be hunting them. Cell cameras are a new game to me and are freaking awesome! I also let them soak for months. Deer you are seeing in July are not going to be in the same place or pattern in October.
 
I’d the Put the camera higher and down wind of the creek crossings. If anything else it sounds like a solid place to get an inventory on the local herd.
 
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