How Do You Use Your Trail Cams?

[Doc]

So what is the purpose of your trail cam pictures? Are they animal inventory studies, scouting activities for upcoming hunting seasons, Patterning specific deer? Or do you use them for wildlife photography in general? I have known people who used them to identify trespassers. I used one to find out what was digging up my tulip bulbs (turned out to be squirrels by the way). I also used one camera to see what was tunneling under the back wall of the barn.

Part #2- Do you have any accompanying programs that analyzes the sightings on the game cameras. Things like spreadsheets and such that use data and patterns from the pictures taken.

[GreeneHunter]

I use my trail cams for a cheap way to attain home security . I've switched from the regular flash to the infrared flash .... works pretty good ! I know when the fox come around the house at night and when the woodchuck under my shed comes out and when the UPS guy delivers my wife's QVC crap !  Yeah home security we have ..... LOL

[rachunter]

i use them to see whats around and which direction there coming from there's two main runs on my property.i just put three on a finger going into a swamp on state land i'm going to let them sit until late august.once the season starts i stop using them.i did use one during turkey season to see if there was any down by my pond.

i use to set a file of the bucks,but when the rut kicks in it all changes anyway.

 

[growalot]

Just for enjoyment and to catch tresspassing people and their pets.

[jman22]

I use mine for everything you mentioned, inventory, scouting and patterning. In the summer cams are on usually on field edges or other food sources that are easy to access. I'll check them once every 4 weeks if I can make it that long. I don't like to check them too often.

Once sept and oct roll around I'll move some to perennial scrapes and others to some good cruising trails. Most of these are in spots that I can check while I walk into a stand to hunt. Again,  I don't like to check these too often. 

Post season it's back on food sources to see if I can find bucks that survived the season. 

I also put a few cams deeper into the woods on trails near bedding. I'll especially do this during the 1st yr of hunting a new property. I ll put them out in late summer and let them sit until the season is over without checking them.  I just started doing this last yr as per the advice of some very wise trail cam guys. I'll take info from those pics and apply it towards next season. Helps me see how the deer move through a property.

If the following season I get pics of some of the same bucks during the summer , I'll go back and look at the dates, times, wind direction, etc.. that those bucks moved through during the past fall.  Im really only concerned with daytime movement. Oftentimes those same bucks will move through on roughly the same days as the previous yrs. Not a exact science by any means, but SOME bucks do follow similiar patterns from yr to yr. This is especially true really early in the season when still on feeding patterns and also when they are cruising for does in late oct and early nov. I've had the same buck come through the past 3 yrs on almost the same day in the middle of the night in early Nov. Have never seen him on cams before or after that one yearly encounter.  Pretty cool.

Once gun opens, I don't pay much attention to the cams, as we get heavy pressure and most of the movement turns to night. 

I dont have a great system for analyzing the pics. I print out some blank calendars and write the times that bucks of interest moved through, along with wind direction and any major weather or pressure change. I'll look back at those from previous yrs to try and figure out patterns. 

[fasteddie]

I use them to capture pics of what is in the woods . I enjoy seeing pics of deer , fox , yotes , turkeys , tresspassers , etc .. 

I often set up a couple cams when we go away on vacation . Just in case .

When I see one of the bird feeders trashed I set up a cam and usually see where a raccoon is busting up a feeder .

I find the pictures entertaining !

[Swamp_bucks]

Use mine just to see whats running around on my lease.  I also like to use them on stateland i've never hunted to make sure im in a descent spot. Plus the land owners like to see the animals they have running around and they like to make sure know one is tresspassing while im not there.

[jman22]

I'll add that my cams also act as critter detectives.  Last yr I had a pic of a woodchuck 4 feet up a tree. Pretty comical.  

[Nomad]

I have one dedicated to female runners in my neighborhood , other than that just to see what's running around the woods.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Mostly I use mine just to get an idea of what bucks are around, and just for the fun of looking at unique pics and videos. I have been able to pattern bucks to some extent, but I only check mine every 2 weeks, so during the season, the information I get from them in that respect is useless much of the time. This year Im going to take the leap to a couple of cellular cams, so my information will be more relevant.

[LET EM GROW]

Mine are used for wildlife observation obv.. but deer and Spring turkey mainly. I run them to see what bucks mad it through winter, and i absolutey love watching deer grow mostly bucks lol. I have A LOT of history with many different bucks through the years.  Trail cameras are a hobby of mine, i enjoy them as much, or more than actual hunting sometimes lol. I have used them to monitor my seasonal dead end road for poachers before, with success. But I do not like using them for security purposes unless I have them concealed well. I have one spot i hang a camera for early season and late season, that watches a trail the deer use to cross the road to get from bedding to my big food plot. The cam is up on a bank pointed down as they cross the ditch, and will also pick up vehicle traffic as well. Double whammy  

[genesee_mohican]

I use mine mainly to capture cool pictures of wildlife. I target bobcat, deer, bear, fishers and it's a lot of fun. It's great to see what the deer heard looks like, but I don't get too excited when I get a photo of some nice bucks, because the area where mine are set up is pretty large and I rarely if ever see the big ones when out hunting. Most of the older deer pics are night time. The two cams I've had out all June are on bear and cat trails where I've had success in the past with getting photos. This time around I have my Browning cams set to take 1 min video, so I'm really looking forward to see what has passed by this time around.

 

[turkeyfeathers]

Just got into using cams last year. Have 3 Cabelas brand I paid $120 per. Have set on 70 acres. I use them to feel like Christmas on every check , turkey, coon , fisher , fox , coyote , deer. I enjoy being in the woods and seeing critters. These help me see them when I'm not out there. Yes I use them to see what deer are out there in hopes of seeing them during gun season. BUT, still waiting to see one of those big ones during season. They switched to invisible mode week prior to youth season. 19 bucks and a few dandies in one weeks check one week before the youth season. All day pics. Poof , no deer seen in 3 days of youth. All in all just fun to use them.


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[wooly]

I try to use my cams in a variety of ways depending on the time of year, critters in season, and most importantly.... my mood and effort I'm willing to put into them any given time of the year.

Obviously for deer inventory and patterning when I'm in a deery state of mind.

A few other uses I've enjoyed deploying cams for have been setting them over winter carcasses for predators and scavengers.

Fox den set ups in the spring to observe activity outside the den.

Waterfowl in the swamps in the spring.

Cams over decoys.

Cams to film hunts (with no success thus far)

Cams over cams to observe whitetail reaction to a ground level cam and different flash styles.

Cams over scrapes, rubs, licking branches, scent wicks, drippers, mocks...etc..

Cams over watering holes.

Cams over beds.

Basically, cams over any fresh critter sign or activity that peaks my interest whether it proves to be hot or not.

 

I've never been crazy about setting up cams to catch general random movements of critters just by chance one walks by. Always looking for that one attraction that puts an animal up close and personal to the cam to pick out all the details I'm looking for so setting up with this in mind is always priority #1 for me.

Most of all, I'm after good pictures and video that I can learn a little more than an animal walked by my set up.

No special programs for me other than logging all my favorite pics in my pbase gallery and you tube channel for vids. All the information I need to know at that point is documented in the EXIF data and time stamps on the images and clips.

[phade]

I use cams to help kill bucks. I think the last year I killed a buck I didn't have on cam and know of was in 2011.

Every buck me Moog and our buddy killed was on cam last year as well.

We will do the same again this year.




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