I use them and believe they help me with getting an idea of what is running around but not so much of patterning a buck. It gives me the confidence in knowing a certain buck is using the area but over the 10 years or so I've been using cams I rarely get a buck doing the same thing 2-3 times. Here in 5b PA they just randomly move around for the most part. Amazingly enough I get pics of a good many bucks I never see while hunting and vice versa. I've been fortunate to kill some bucks that I've had pics of but they didn't help with which tree to get in - other than the confidence to keep hunting a certain area.