Getting upset!

[Forest Hunter]

I have had my camera out since the beginning of august. On a heavy trail i would get at LEAST 1 deer picture walking by each day. On average I'd get like 20 pictures of deer walking by the trail each day. Now I just left it for two weeks and it took a picture of me walking up to it and I haven't had a deer for two weeks. It is like they just disappeared. Since it took a picture of me walking up to it it's in working order.

I have pictures of raccoons every day on there of them walking by. I think they must b a factor for the deer dissapearance but idk. I want to try and get my first buck with my bow this year. Now I'm just gonna be happy with a deer in general.

Any thoughts on my deer disappearing? Please any help I will be thankful over any suggestions.

[Dom]

they are watching you

[G-Man]

food source changed..

[Gthphtm]

The weather has been changing a lot, periods of rain,then hot and sunny,cold nights warm days.the deer sense the changes and look for better food source as said above to keep going during the lousy weather..

[Doc]

You are not the only one that has experienced this. There are several threads scattered around this site that are saying pretty much the same as you and asking the same questions. Guesses have ranged from changing food sources to competing neighborhood food sources to the unusual wet weather we have had this summer, to external activities upsetting the deer's routine. Apparently your guess is as good as anybodys.

I have noticed and documented the same kind of thing through comparisons of last years trail cam pictures compared to this years. It's pretty dramatic. It's got me a bit confused too. However, one thing I know is that last year's local harvest was not all that impressive so I'm sure the deer have not vanished. What ever it is that have moved them just becomes one more additional challenge this year to locate where they have shifted to. I'm working on that right now in my area ....... franticly .... lol.

[burmjohn]

Check where the deer trails are, and put the camera there.

[G-Man]

this time of year even without bad weather, or anything the deer shift patterns everyear. Thats why i would love to bow hunt oct 1!! the bucks are still in their summer patterns that have been observed all year. A lot of people see this every year. i see it on cams every year.. some nut tree is dropping and the deer are there. then an apple drops and the deer go there.. thats why its huntingu'll hunt the current food source and you find them!! if all you had to so is set up on 1 trail and shoot a deer that walked by.. what fun and tormenting thoughts would be given to your mind then ....lol

[nyantler]

I'm sure some of you are aware of this and are cautious about it.. but do others realize how much scent you leave going to a from your trail cams.. in each location? Just walking on teh trail that you have your cam set up can change deer pattern if you aren't careful about your scent.. especially this time of year when the woods are most active with hunters.

[G-Man]

yes joe. i agree with you i keep my camera on a main logging road that i travel almost everday year round and check them once every 2 weeks. I've said it for years as i watch the army of weekend warriors 2 weeks before the season banging up stands , trimming up trail/shooting lanes, shooting guns, riding 4 wheelers, just the wood smoke coming from chimineys,scouting the woods,even small game hunting while scouting for deer, let alone car and truck doors slamming. Its so quite the rest of the year i think everthing in the woods knows somethings up!!! Imagine sitting in your living room and then for 2 weeks waching a parade go thru it on weekends.. bet you'ld get upset!! Game does the samething.... My friends don't like it but i dont let them come down for the 2 weeks before the season just so the place is quite. we hang out stands in july and august and try to stay out of the wood till season...

Edited October 6, 2011 by G-Man

[fasteddie]

I have a camera set up on a friend's property and have gotten pics of deer on various days . My friend has mowed the trail , walked the trail , his son and DIL have walked the trail yet the deer are still passing through .

[nyantler]

Exactly G... it's like going through your house banging pots and pans.. anyone that lives there is gonna notice.. it's no different in the whitetail world... and when talking about bigger bucks.. forget it.. they won't tolerate even a little commotion before packing their bags for a safer location.

[G-Man]

eddie, but my guess is they do it everyday or nearly everyday it like a buck watching a farmer work around the barn everyday it will ignore him but let him leave the barn and start walking across a field and it will be gone!!

[nyantler]

I have a camera set up on a friend's property and have gotten pics of deer on various days . My friend has mowed the trail , walked the trail , his son and DIL have walked the trail yet the deer are still passing through .

yes on a trail that they are use to having a lot of activity on deer may adjust.. similar to how urban deer adjust to the abundance of human scent in the area.. but in the deeper woods and on there own deer trails you can bet you wouldn't be getting many deer passing by a camera that has a bunch of new activity.. oops you beat me to the punch G

Edited October 7, 2011 by nyantler

[G-Man]

I have a friend up the street with a camp and he asks why the bigger bucks are down by me. I told him well u come down bring the kids and the dog. you might be working on a stand but the kids and dog are bombing around the woods on the atv or out scouting/plinking. i leave my woods alone and let the neighbors "getting ready" push the deer to a nice quiet zone which just happens to be where i'll be hunting when season opens.. I've had turkeys dissapear as weel in the spring from well know roost areas..took a while to figure it out..the elderly woman down the road was walking her dog on "the nice loggong roads on the top of the ridge" a polite please dont walk the dog there from april till the end of may and sept thru deer season solved that.

[arrow nocker]

and it all changes when they start chasing the does trying to get some tail.It just takes one doe to come through at night,and a buck hot on her trail in the morning.You never know.Right now they might not be there,in three weeks who knows?

[erussell]

Hang it close to the road and around houses. They are getting plastered all over the roads around where I live There is a dead fawn just down the road from my house that looks like someone rolled it up like a cigerete

[Grizz1219]

My pics dropped to a 1/3 of what they were before acorns started falling... I'm going with change of food source...

[bubba]

I am just starting t0 see pics on my cam. I moved it to a new location last friday evening next to a stand that was put up 3 weeks ago. I rode the atv back and set it up. I went back sunday afternoon rode the 4 wheeler back and changed sd cards. I had 9 deer pics all walking within 10 feet of the new put up and trimmed out stand, mostly between 8 and 845 am and 515 and 6 pm. One a deent 6 point. I think sometimes we way overthink and analyze what we are doing. Deer patterns change with the season and weather changes and food sources. After the neighbor cut his corn field, deer moved again. All I know is which stand I plan to be in the saturday morning.

Edited October 12, 2011 by bubba

[Lawdwaz]

Maybe all the city slickers, flatlanders and weekend warriors should buy up some country property and move in full time. That way they won't be traipsing through the woods in messin' up all the hunting?

[RangerClay]

Deer and coon will not feed side by side and I have pictures to prove it. That could be your problem but its probably a change in food source.

[jusputtn]

What G Man said, food source changed. Every notice that you suddenly start seeing deer in open fields in July and early August, when they're wearing their reddish summer coats. Then all of a sudden you don't.

[grampsretired3]

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