HELP!!! Did I scare him off????
 

Ok...here's the story....

I've hunted a small 115 acre tract of farm land for the last 11 years and taken a couple really nice bucks. I keep 2 feeders going year round with corn, and try to keep mineral/salt licks available in the spring and summer.

We've had almost zero rain this year so far, and all I've been getting is pictures of hogs at my feeders. So, I thought I would move one of my Cuddeback's to a game trail off the edge of a field that I have a feeder on.

Went back to check picture after only 3 days and had 4 different bucks on camera with one being a really nice 8 point. All the pictures were during one day. One buck and a couple doe in the morning, and the other bucks in the late evening/night. With a couple more months of growing, the 8 point should be really nice this deer season.

Here's my problem.....It's been 10 days now since I got those pictures, and I haven't got a single picture since.

I don't know if this is a trail that is used very little or if I got my scent in the area and spooked them away.

What do you folks think?

Should I just leave the area alone for a couple weeks before I go back to check my camera?

If it was me, I would stay out of there as much as possible before the season. I'm not saying that you scared them, I just like to keep my traffic to a minimum where I plan to hunt. I'd try to give it a few weeks before you go back to check it. This is just what I like to do................good luck, hope you get one of those bucks this season.

I don't know if it makes a lot of difference, but I leave a camera out for two or more weeks at a time before I check it for pictures.

Since it's only been 10 days a couple things could have happened. I think the most likely is that it's a trail that possibly isn't a "real" high traffic area and by you moving back onto the trail you pushed em' off. I'd leave the camera alone for a couple weeks and they should go back to using it. Thing #2 is if it is a real high traffic area and your deer seem to have dissipated, stay out of it and don't pressure the deer. Hope this helps.