It's not the scent. After a rain or snow fall, scent is pretty much eliminated.

Like I said.....never put one on a trail.....(for long). I just keep it on the mineral site. I guess they very well could get used to seeing the flash (for another deer) and not associate it with danger.

Who the heck knows?

From what I have found from running cameras for the past 5 or 6 years, it all depends on the deer. I have set-up my cameras on trails, mineral sites, bait piles, natural food sources, ect.. and it doesn't really seem to matter where it is or what kind/size of deer. I have had mature bucks that feel perfectly comfortable at the cameras while I have had young bucks that were spooked and avoided the area. Around this area, scent isn't important, the deer just don't associate human scent in the woods with something to be scared of simply because of their close interaction with humans on a daily basis.

This guy was only photo'd once on this property even with the use of a bait pile...



This guy was photo'd many times on the same property with and without the use of a bait pile...



Different property, with the use of bait, this guy only show himself a few times over the course of several months



Same property, different buck, this guy showed himself almost daily



This guy on a trail, showed himself once



This guy on a trail, showed himself frequently as I have more pics of him than any other buck.

Another thing I forgot to add in my previous post is a person's can't be checking these camera's all the time. Try if you can once a week or once every 2 weeks if you can. I know, its hard to do this cause you wanna see the pics so bad!

Greg, I have been using trail cams for years and the only advice I can tell you what not to do is put pics of Germ up next to your cameraor you only get pics like this.

Looks like it was taken after a spooning session..... note the ruffled fur!! [:-]