So after a 6 seasons of using trail cameras on and off, some seasons heavy, some little, and some not at all, I’ve come to the following conclusions:
1) you don’t need them. trail cameras are only as good as the scouting you do and the sign you read. You won’t get any meaningful pictures of deer if you cant read deer sign, and if you can read sign, you will kill deer there without pictures.
2) they are fun. I love seeing what goes on in the woods when I’m not there. So for that reason alone, they are cool.
3) A mock scrape is key! Putting up a mock scrape in front of your camera in a place that has well worn deer paths and good sign will draw the deer ever so slightly to your camera. Hang a branch, scrape the ground, piss in it
5) your scent kills your hunt: every time you step in the woods the deer know you were there. It doesn’t matter what you do for scent control. Rain doesn’t wash it away. It takes weeks and the deer remember. For this reason, Visit off season (spring/summer).
6) cell cams are worth it: put that cam up in the summer, watch from your phone and leave that area alone until you hunt. Constantly checking cams makes it so deer won’t visit your cam.
7) cams are best for the next season, not the one you’re in: use your cell cams as intel for the following season. Put them up in areas you don’t hunt, hunt other places, and use all the pictures from that year to recon for the following season. Pattern the deer and other hunters
8) lock em up, hang ‘em high: don’t let people steal your stuff, don’t let ‘em know where you hunt
9) save your batteries: photo mode over video mode. Single photo mode. 1min interval. Medium/low sensitivity. Use a solar panel, battery attachment, and good batteries. Longer batteries means less time changing them, and less scent in the woods.
10) don’t only hunt your pictures: pictures are great, and can give you info, but they can keep you chasing deer that you may never see again, and keep you from hunting other areas that may give you better luck and better intel.
that’s my 2 cents. Good luck!