I put mine out last week and will run them through December, I will run 3-4 homebrews. Battery capacity on most of these are such that I can run them 6 weeks at a time without checking them if need be. Some are over food plots, some are over peanut fields right now, field edge travel lanes that can be checked by driving up to the cam in mid-day. No scent, no muss, no fuss.

Later on in the season the cams will go more into my hunting spots, I pick up and drop off on my way to the stand. I mean, if you are putting scent down going to your stand anyways, then you might as well have a cam up also and get some info, right? At least that is how I do it. I had pics of three good deer last year that I would never have known about if I had not left them up during season.

I will also put them up over naturally started scrapes that I have "doctored up" a bit.

I put one out last week near my best stand. Its less than 300 yards from my house, so I have a really hard time staying out of there to check it. [8D]I checked it sunday, had 4 pics of nothing. Not sure what happened, probably the fact that I'm running a $50 cheapy from Wallyworld. After having one stolen from the same spot, I just can't justify buying a high end camera.

I am seriously thinking about putting one out for the first time at my main hunting spot. We’ll see. I never see nice bucks there over the summer thru my other scouting, I’m curious to see if the cameras pick anything up.

You can't scout at night, but your trail cam can.

Istart puttingmine up along field edges at this time of year. My favorite is freshly cut hay feilds - the new growth attracts more deer after a week or two, and since the hay is so short after cutting, edges are also used as travel lanes because it is not as thick in the woods this time of year. It seems to me that at this time of year deer in my areaspend almost all their timein 'edges' - more so than any other time of the year

I should add that I check mine every two weeks - and almost all the pictures/vids are taken within the first 5-7 days. Based on that....I dont put mine near my stand sites[:-].

Wanna bet?[8D]

Rybo does.

In states that allow the use of spotlights, there is NO BETTER WAY to get to see bucks that are in the area. In MI we can use spotlights and it is a lot of fun. No such luck on lights in IL, but that is definitely a good thing IMO, with so much cropland andvisibility.

On the ranch we hunt, we keep them out year round but dont check them often, I check mine every 6-8 weeks. Then again we have a lot of exotics that will carry antlers throughout the year and we hunt them all year!!!

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You can't scout at night[/blockquote]


You got that right. Spotlighting is my biggest tool to get a rough idea of what's lurking in my areas.

On a side note...even though I use it, I think it would be better off in this state if it was made illegal. At least starting Sept 1. I'm guessing the gas prices will deter a lot this year. The road in front of my house becomes a circus, as do most other popular viewing areas.

I have been off and on over the years with the cams... I have been steady the past two years however....


When I finally locate a good buck thru glassing, I waste no time to formulate a plan thru aerials and or topos todecipher the lowest impact fringe area setup that would still allow me a legitimate chance of the buck walking in front of.

I want to see what I am working with asap before someone moves in a bumps the buck.

It works for me.

One of my cam setups last year was stupid hot..... Then I was getting pictures of some guy and his wife and sometimes his kids walking past my cam about 3-4 days a week to go check theirs that they put 50 yardsaway frommine.... The setup went cold.... Had I not got it out early I would have missed a hot setup before it was wrecked.


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