Letting camera soak

[Swamp_bucks]

How long do you let a camera soak?   I just put one in today for a spot I know of a big buck and found 4 beds that are good buck beds wore down to dirt.  I have a camera sitting on the trail leading out of the bedding area.  Don’t expect many picture until fall since it’s so thick and I don’t think the bucks will hang out in there with their antlers growing.  I also put lithium batteries, 1 shot burst every minute.

it’s tucked about 5yards off the trail and about 5ft up so it doesn’t bother the deer as much. 

anyone have good luck doing this? Plan is to go in mid July and make sure camera is still working and doesn’t have any limbs in the way. Then I’ll stay out until December except to hunt.

[GreeneHunter]

I leave mine up year round ( private property ) and just swap out SD cards and batteries occasionally !

[doebuck1234]

25 minutes ago, GreeneHunter said:

I leave mine up year round ( private property ) and just swap out SD cards and batteries occasionally !

I'll 2nd this.cool seeing what's out there year round..fawns,velvet bucks.

[sbuff]

I leave mine up year round,  I get 8 months on cheap Ray o vac batteries. 

What camera was it ?

[G-Man]

Mine are up year round, i only place them in travel/ feed areas  and places that have easy access to  check cards. If i were going to put one  up near a bedding area it would be daytime photos  only.  And be a cell cam..  yes deer either see, or hear the  infrared ,black light bulbs warm up or go off.  Not worth spooking a good buck , and yes they will avoid a camera  ( ive gotten mice buck on cam only to have it dissapear , a another camera at 180 or 90 to original usually picks up buck skirting  it) 

If i know a good buck is in area thats good enough for me. I just enjoy the photos more than hunting at this point in my life and the photos get other giys in camp all riled  upnespecially the young ones.. 

If you have easy access  every  couple of weeks , hard access  i would go a month. Best bet imo if your trying to pattern is to get a top quality ceĺl cam.  

[Robhuntandfish]

for me cams go up in late July, then I check them once in August and once in Sept, then I pull cards in areas i am hunting when i am already there.  But our property is always interesting.  We usually only have 1-2 bucks on cam all summer.  Once season starts we will get 8-10.  Which I guess is better than the other way around. 

[Kmartinson]

8 hours ago, Swamp_bucks said:

How long do you let a camera soak?   I just put one in today for a spot I know of a big buck and found 4 beds that are good buck beds wore down to dirt.  I have a camera sitting on the trail leading out of the bedding area.  Don’t expect many picture until fall since it’s so thick and I don’t think the bucks will hang out in there with their antlers growing.  I also put lithium batteries, 1 shot burst every minute.

it’s tucked about 5yards off the trail and about 5ft up so it doesn’t bother the deer as much. 

anyone have good luck doing this? Plan is to go in mid July and make sure camera is still working and doesn’t have any limbs in the way. Then I’ll stay out until December except to hunt.

Sounds pretty good. I bring 1 xl hawk climbing stick to make sure no one can steal my cams withoout working for it. I cut some wedges to put behind the cams for a good downward angle.

I'm doing main trails just below bedding after turkey season. I moved cams in April for turkeys and tagged out, but usually the last few hunts of the month I'll move them to soaking spots. Now I'll just make sure I move them before July and if they aren't cell cams I'll check them when I go to hunt in early October. It works well for inventory and for that first sit. After that I rely on cell cams and try to stay low presure until it's time to be aggressive. 

I'll also have them on food sources and major travel corridors. This will be my first year trying food plots( there are many corn piles around my lease that I want to circumvent by making food in the core of my property. I will have cams all over these plots.

[Paula]

2 hours ago, G-Man said:

Mine are up year round, i only place them in travel/ feed areas  and places that have easy access to  check cards. If i were going to put one  up near a bedding area it would be daytime photos  only.  And be a cell cam..  yes deer either see, or hear the  infrared ,black light bulbs warm up or go off.  Not worth spooking a good buck , and yes they will avoid a camera  ( ive gotten mice buck on cam only to have it dissapear , a another camera at 180 or 90 to original usually picks up buck skirting  it) 

If i know a good buck is in area thats good enough for me. I just enjoy the photos more than hunting at this point in my life and the photos get other giys in camp all riled  upnespecially the young ones.. 

If you have easy access  every  couple of weeks , hard access  i would go a month. Best bet imo if your trying to pattern is to get a top quality ceĺl cam.  

Would love to walk your property looking for shed

[Swamp_bucks]

3 hours ago, sbuff said:

I leave mine up year round,  I get 8 months on cheap Ray o vac batteries. 

What camera was it ?

Just the cheap Tasco from Walmart. Didn’t want to put a nice out on stateland that long to have it get stolen even though I doubt anyone will go into where i have it.

I would of liked it farther into the swamp but I have to walk past the mama bears den and just don’t want to test my luck.  I guess I’ll see what happens

[BizCT]

3 hours ago, G-Man said:

Mine are up year round, i only place them in travel/ feed areas  and places that have easy access to  check cards. If i were going to put one  up near a bedding area it would be daytime photos  only.  And be a cell cam..  yes deer either see, or hear the  infrared ,black light bulbs warm up or go off.  Not worth spooking a good buck , and yes they will avoid a camera  ( ive gotten mice buck on cam only to have it dissapear , a another camera at 180 or 90 to original usually picks up buck skirting  it) 

If i know a good buck is in area thats good enough for me. I just enjoy the photos more than hunting at this point in my life and the photos get other giys in camp all riled  upnespecially the young ones.. 

If you have easy access  every  couple of weeks , hard access  i would go a month. Best bet imo if your trying to pattern is to get a top quality ceĺl cam.  

He's handsome and would look fantastic on my wall downstairs

[BizCT]

I, too, do year-round.

[phade]

The risk with doing that is overgrowth. If I am going to set cams on or around buck beds it will be done in the thick of summer heat and growth. At that point you know where and how to set or even trim to avoid grass and weeds.

I don't often do the beds but rather trails leading to and from that bedding area in general. I find that it lends itself to more use and a slightly wider net, with less intrusion. I do occasionally set up on beds but in most instances the intel is less useful and I do it more for the photos and challenge in areas I know come season, the pressure will kill it.

This is one of my two down times for cams, the other post shed to pre-season turkey. I usually set volume on or around July 4. Vegetation is thick so you know what you are dealing with and bucks are more easily IDed, etc. 

All that said, I set a cheap cam on our Missouri ground before we left. I'm hoping it is still there and would love to see the pics off of it. We really only get there to hunt - no summer prep, so that cam will have been out a long time when checked.

This year, I'll likely set up a cell cam on external/solar and do it right and be mentally prepared for it to be stolen cost-wise.

Last year we were getting our Ohio ground set up and that took alot more time, and still much more to do there. It left me unprepared to set cams efficiently in Missouri for a long-haul. This one is on a fence post up high in an open area where I "think" I'll be OK with summer grasses. It is loaded with lithium and the biggest card it'll take on a 30 sec or one minute rip.

Edited May 18, 2022 by phade

[sbuff]

Great point on vegetation growth for a new camera location .

Understood about a cheap cam on state land . I hate that people even think about stealing them. 

 

[fasteddie]

I leave most of my cameras up year round . Since I have had a problem with one of my knees , I haven't checked my cameras in Walworth and Geneseo in several months . No doubt many of the batteries are probably dead . I need to do something before batteries corrode . 

I won't put the CoddeLink cameras back up until September . 

[Buckmaster7600]

I probably have 20 cams out in the Adirondacks all are on signpost rubs. There’s some that I probably haven’t checked in 4-5 years.

I almost always have a camera in my Fanny pack early in season and if I find some good signpost I’ll throw a cam on it. If I make it back to it that year or the next they’re usually still running with good batteries.
Last year this buck was 7 minutes in front of me while I was tracking him and he walked in front of the cam that had been out for 2 years.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Daveboone]

Year round and check every 2-4 months off season, about every 2 weeks through most of hunting season but weekly the last week or two . Really more for my own entertainment than anything.

[Kmartinson]

1 hour ago, Daveboone said:

Year round and check every 2-4 months off season, about every 2 weeks through most of hunting season but weekly the last week or two . Really more for my own entertainment than anything.

Do you feel like that changes deer movement?

[Daveboone]

Not at all. I have had pics of deer within the hour of changing it. Keep yourself clean, dont handle everything in sight. Of course, if you put up a camera in a new place and visit it frequently during the fall when they are most on edge, it probably makes them more cautious around the area. 

[Lucky118]

22 hours ago, G-Man said:

Mine are up year round, i only place them in travel/ feed areas  and places that have easy access to  check cards. If i were going to put one  up near a bedding area it would be daytime photos  only.  And be a cell cam..  yes deer either see, or hear the  infrared ,black light bulbs warm up or go off.  Not worth spooking a good buck , and yes they will avoid a camera  ( ive gotten mice buck on cam only to have it dissapear , a another camera at 180 or 90 to original usually picks up buck skirting  it) 

If i know a good buck is in area thats good enough for me. I just enjoy the photos more than hunting at this point in my life and the photos get other giys in camp all riled  upnespecially the young ones.. 

If you have easy access  every  couple of weeks , hard access  i would go a month. Best bet imo if your trying to pattern is to get a top quality ceĺl cam.  

With the string around his base it looks like someone tried to tag him already

[LET EM GROW]

Camera soaks are great. Just make sure you have a good trustworthy cam. I just pulled some cams that were put out last September.. I set them in spots i am hoping are going to achieve the desired goal.. And I love it when it all works out. I usually leave them out at least for the season intended, refresh re juice and put it back out for the next scouting season. My browning's all still have battery power that were put out before deer season. on alkaline batteries  

[G-Man]

13 hours ago, Lucky118 said:

With the string around his base it looks like someone tried to tag him already

Shredded bark lol.  He was actually killed by neighbor 

[Swamp_bucks]

On 5/18/2022 at 8:49 AM, phade said:

The risk with doing that is overgrowth. If I am going to set cams on or around buck beds it will be done in the thick of summer heat and growth. At that point you know where and how to set or even trim to avoid grass and weeds.

I don't often do the beds but rather trails leading to and from that bedding area in general. I find that it lends itself to more use and a slightly wider net, with less intrusion. I do occasionally set up on beds but in most instances the intel is less useful and I do it more for the photos and challenge in areas I know come season, the pressure will kill it.

This is one of my two down times for cams, the other post shed to pre-season turkey. I usually set volume on or around July 4. Vegetation is thick so you know what you are dealing with and bucks are more easily IDed, etc. 

All that said, I set a cheap cam on our Missouri ground before we left. I'm hoping it is still there and would love to see the pics off of it. We really only get there to hunt - no summer prep, so that cam will have been out a long time when checked.

This year, I'll likely set up a cell cam on external/solar and do it right and be mentally prepared for it to be stolen cost-wise.

Last year we were getting our Ohio ground set up and that took alot more time, and still much more to do there. It left me unprepared to set cams efficiently in Missouri for a long-haul. This one is on a fence post up high in an open area where I "think" I'll be OK with summer grasses. It is loaded with lithium and the biggest card it'll take on a 30 sec or one minute rip.

I did find the trail leading out of the bedding area and put the camera there so I didn’t bother the bucks to bad hopefully.  One of my hunting partner and I have to really get in there together to break it down completely and find a setup in the next week or 2.  helps having someone with the same mind set and style of hunting to bounce ideas off.