I bought a cheap Stealth trail camera and I know that it makes noise when it takes a picture. Would it be a mistake to put the camera by my feeder? Even if it takes a picture every 5-10 minutes?

Each deer is different. I have saw in pics some fleeing, others stick their nose right to the lens. I see guys all the time putting them over feeders. I would say try it if you notice a decrease in activity pull it.

i would go with the post above

If there's something there they really want to eat, you couldn't drive them off with firecrackers. Seriously, they will adapt to some godawful sounds so long as no actual harm is coming to them.

That's true. Now if you can get your trailcam to sound like a bow being shot you'll be set. Good for those follow up shots or shot on a second deer!! haha

Clever!

We have been putting cameras out for the last two years and have seen all sorts of reactions out of deer. We have many times caught the same deer on film even after it ran away the first time or just stood there. We had one doe that got three pics in a row with a minute wait between pics. The first she is walking by, the second she has turned and is walking toward the camera, the third is of her nose as she pressed it against the camera.

I just got a roll back from my cam and they did'nt seem to mind the noise or flash!

SF

I'm almost done with a home brew cam(2 years in making). It's mounted inside a PVC electrical box. Not sure what the shutter will sound like when up and running.

Anyway - my suggestion was maybe pack foam(or similar material) around cam,leaving sensor and flash exposed?? That should deaden the shutter.

---You'll never know just how close to that the gimmicks are! There is actually a 'call' on the market that produces the sound of a feeder going off! If that doesn't tell us something about the direction we're going in , then I don't know what does!