Lack of bucks on trail cam - adjust hunting plans??
 

What would you do about this situation?

I have scouted and am very familiar with one property in my hunt club. There are two other properties which are further from my home, but I am not familiar with them at all in terms of where the deer movement is.

On the familiar property I saw more bucks last year than I have ever seen in a hunting season. It is 700 acres and I saw at least 6 different bucks. This year I am using a trail camera for the first time and I only have one small buck on camera. The camera has been out for about six weeks in two different locations and I have about 1000 pictures of raccoons, does, foxes, and coyotes, but only one small buck.

Reading this forum I have heard other guys say they didn't get any bucks on camera until late September last year.

So what I am debating is whether I should move properties based on lack of buck pictures. The other two properties are about 2 hours from my home, whereas the one I have been scouting is about an hour, which is a big difference for me. Also, there are only three more weekends before the archery season opener, so there is very limited opportunity to scout and use the camera to see what is on the properties.

What do you think?

If you saw bucks there last year, they must still be around. Most likely you just do not have the trail cam set up in the right spot. Do you have an established salt lick you can set the camera on?

I would just stick to your plans, take a doe early if that is all that you see, and when the rut comes the bucks will appear.

When in doubt I always go back to my proven spots. I think I would still go and throw a camera on the other property just to see what is happening in there. Get yourself some buck and doe interdigital and buck and doe preorbital scent and set up the camera there. You will get pictures. Your best luck will be at an active scrape.

I would stay on the familiar spot while trying to learn as much as I can about the new spot. You stated that you have gotten a lot of doe pics. Well if there are does there, the bucks will eventually be there too. Good luck.

Blessings......Pastorjim

I used deer cain black magic which seems to be very effective at attracting does, foxes, and coyotes.

Both spots the camera has been in are spots where I saw bucks last year.

I think yall are right, this property cannot be entirely absent of bucks. It must just be an anomalie, and hopefully I will see them as the rut gets started.

I have the camera now in a third spot that is a dirt road with a major deer crossing, and I will check it in a week or two.

This is the second week without any Bucks coming in to feed after months of a consistant pattern of showing up at my spot. Still lots of Does with fawns in tow coming to the sight though. I know the Bucks are still in the area so I'll plan to hunt them like before and in the pre rut and rut press them harder. For now I hope to take a Doe or 2 and fill the freezer back up. Like you it concerns me that they arn't around of late but I'm sure there is a natural reason why they have all moved to a different food source.

Velvet shedding, bucks will be on the move for sure.
Now is just about the time to move the cams to traditional scrapes and buck travel routes.

I'd sit tight, where there are does there will be bucks eventually.

I am with the others, I would sit tight. If you have the does, the bucks should show up. But I think I would move the cam to your other spot just to see what is around that spot.

I have been using the aid of trailcams for scouting for 20 + years now.
You need to scout/put other cams in new area's just in case. But dont abandon the area's you currently have confidence in. What I do if I dont have pics of shooters during shooting hours in a paticular area from the 2 weeks prior to the season to the start of it, I wont hunt that particular area during the early season. But I will still check my cam in that area every week or so just in case. ( because area's in the deer woods can get hot or go completely dead in a matter of a couple days) It doesnt matter if I have pics of 10 different shooters in July, August, early Sept etc. because unless I have rubs etc., I wont invest any of my precious hunting time in that spot unless I have proof that a shooter is frequenting the area during shooting hours.
I pretty much use this philosophy during the entire season ( with the exception of the rut) also never base a hunting area etc. based on what you experienced there last year or even last month for that matter!! All 6 of those bucks could be dead or living 5 miles away by now. ( That is called HOPING not HUNTING!!) But also dont give up on the area entirely because if those bucks started showing up in Oct. last year they might show up again this Oct. but there is also just of good of chance that they never show at all.
Trailcams dont lie and hunt 7 days a week, 24 hours a day and do not give off the scent of a meat eater. So if they cant see shooters neither will you (outside the rut) Pike

Is your trail camera close to the deers trail?
If its not put it about 15 to 20 foot from their trail.
Then pour some Deercane in front of the trail cam.
I have mine in between two deer trails that run parrale with each other, about 20 feet from each other.
It started out just does, then the bucks started showing up.
These are from April 2011,







This next one is a good one. :barmy:



Now these are from August 30th, to September 4th - 2011,

Seems like a good strategy. It would be easier to employ if I had more than one camera.

Also, for the record, I wasn't suggesting that the same bucks that were on the property last year would be there this year. It just seems to me that if a property is attracting and holding bucks one year based on various factors including cover, food, and hunting pressure, chances are it will be holding a similar number of bucks the next year unless something has changed.

If you only have one cam leave it in that area the rest of the year but scout new areas for fresh buck sign (rubs,scrapes, droppings etc.)
Dont take anything for granted when it comes to the deer woods!! Just because their was bucks last year means nothing for this year other than you should invest a good amount of time thru out the season keeping tabs on it.
For example: I have one area that I have hunted since I was 16. I killed a good buck there that year and seen numerous bucks. The following 2 years I seen a few bucks but nothing like the first year. The next year I had bucks every where again and killed another good buck. The same thing happened over the next 3 years, nothing the first 2 years and killed a good buck the third.
I couldnt fiqure out what was going on until I realized that the neighboring farmer planted a huge field bordering the property I hunted in corn every 3rd year ( I was very aware that he planted it but didnt realize the affect it would have on the area the following year) and left it stand each time until after the PA. rifle season. And as soon as the orange army invaded the woods the deer would head for the standing corn and wouldnt move during daylight hours until after the season ended. The standing corn protected the majority of the deer so alot of bucks would make it thru the season. The point im trying to make is any slight change in weather, lack of or too much rain, mast crop, human presence, logging nearby can affect an area and most of the time you wont realize it until its too late and after you invested alot of your precious hunting time hunting a certain area. At my club we are permitted 4 stands at one time, I can move those stands when ever I choose but I must take down the same amount of existing stands prior to hanging stands in new area's. It is very rare if I dont start the season with atleast 2 new stand locations ( some times all 4) out of the 4 stand locations I ended the season with the previous year.
You cant take for granted whether and area is going to be hot from one week to the next week let alone one year to the next. Like I said earlier, doing so is hoping not hunting. Deciding where to hunt based on past experiences is the reason why some of our members kill a buck every 3-5 years and others kill a buck each and every year. Good luck. Pike

J pike, thanks for your time and knowledge.

I had pictures of a few nice Bucks on our Farm...then they pretty well disapeared,eventually they will start moving and leaving scrapes and rubs and traveling around looking for the Doe's.Patients and smart scouting is Your best strategy in the long run.