Lack Of Bucks On Trail Cams
 

So this weekend I went up to my 2 hunting properties to do some work. cut shooting lanes, hang tree stands, etc..

We'll i went out and checked my trail cams and i noticed the severe lack of bucks on my cams. last year I had 15 different bucks on my cams at one property by the opener of bow in mid October. This year all I have seen so far is a 6pt and a spike.

Am I being overly concerned? Do you think it is just too early to be seeing the bucks? Has anyone else ever had this problem, how did it turn out?

thanks guys

Everything changes in the rut

I think alot of guys have been having the same problem. Me included.

How do you have your cameras mounted on the tree? I know this is going to sound crazy but I've started getting a lot more pictures after I did this:

Instead of placing the camera right off the ground almost level with the deer, I've started mounting my cameras about 7 foot in the tree angled downward. I don't know why this has been working for me but it definitely has...

try giving it a shot.

Last year i hardly got any buck pics at all until about the end of september. After that i got plenty of them.

The weather is a major factor when dealing with these early season scouting problems... For instance last week in Iowa, during the day it was god awful hot out... the deer dont use their normal patterns during adverse weather. Our deer elected to stay closer to the water source rather than go all the way back to the bedding areas.

we do that too if you have a camera with a flash on it it helps a lot it wont spook them as bad looks like lighting in the sky to them instead of a flash level with them heres a pic of a buck that grossed 175 that we took a couple years ago.

Thanks guys,
thats an interesting idea with mounting the cameras from an elevated position. I might have to give that a try. Hopefully the next time up i start seeing more bucks. Maybe a move of the cameras is in order as well.

I am right there with you, I have only had 3 this year...a spike, 4 pt. and a 6 pt.....at least I have does coming in consistently so eventually I will have some boys chasing.

I've only got one buck on camera so far - a four point.

This is my second year hunting the property and my first year using trail cameras. Last year I saw at least five bucks while hunting, the most I have ever seen in a single season by far, so I was imagining my trail cam having at least a dozen pictures of bucks. It hasn't happened yet, but archery season doesn't start until October 1.

I've watched a Buck go from nubs to a full blown 8 over the past several months and he has never gone more than two days without showing up on my trail cam. He was not there after a weeks worth of pics this last go around,so something has changed his movement. If he's not there this week then I'll know a little of what your feeling,two other bucks have not shown up again also. I know he lives in the area because I nearly shot him last year so I'll be looking for him in October even if he avoids my camera between now and then. I guess thats what makes it hunting after all you try to do to get them to be where you want them when the moment of truth comes.

You wonder sometimes . . .
 

if we keep getting more and more modern technology, it will help, in the end, to reduce hunter participation in hunting itself.

Were hunters of decades ago, more inclined to hunt a piece of ground, just because of their non-knowledge of what actually was on the land. Or are we going to see many, with picture information, avoid hunting, because they are absolutely sure, that no deer, worth shooting, is on the "back forty acres".

What happens to the hunters with lease money invested, and they come up with zero chances of harvesting that above average buck they seek, before the hunt even starts.

I would say the location of the camera's. Me and my hunting partner set ours in different locations on the property we hunt, only 600 yards between the 2, on the same hill. Both on good runs, but he has all does and fawns, with 1 spike and 1 4 pointer. I have had a few does and fawns, and 4 different 8 points, a 6 point, and a few smaller ones. Just has to be in the right spot. Also i only get pics of the big bucks 1-2 times a week, almost never more than that.

i haven't had a buck on camera for over 2 weeks now! i live right next to a state park, big one over a thousand acres and normally i have about 10-15 shooters on camera and all i have is a doe and 2 fawns