OK, so while I was checking my trailcams the other day I was as usual scanning thru the images checking out what bucks were roaming my area. Afterwards I reset the camera and began walking back out of the woods. On my walk out I started thinking about how the trailcam has changed the way we hunt. I started thinkin back to not so many years ago and how different things were pre trailcam. I am an avid scrape guy-I love hunting scrape lines and making mock scrapes. A few years back that meant time on stand and the great anticipation of what bucks were making scrapes, what time they were there,etc. It seemed like almost a MAGICAL moment when you finally laid eyes on what buck was hitting them scrapes. Now we stick a camera on it and presto-we get the deers identity, time, moon phase, temp and so on. Now dont get me wrong I LOVE trailcams and think there an amazing/invaluable tool and dont in any way guarantee success takin a deer you get pictures of. That being said, a part of me liked and misses that old feeling of anticipation as to the mysterious scrape/rub makers roaming my areas. I dont want to start a thread on the way technology changes everything. Guys that hunted pre trailcam and now that use trailcams-whats your feelings on this???

If you are hunting a big piece of land with agriculture that holds the deer, and using multiple cameras, you may know most of the bucks that are on your property before you ever see them.

I only have one camera and I hunt several different medium size pieces of land. The chances of me getting a buck on camera before shooting it are not nearly as good.

Trail cams make me more excited.
Because I know theres a chance of getting something that I know is there, and not guessing about it.
JMHO

X2! I love my trail cams!

I'd have to say the best way for me to answer that is a camera takes away from the surprise you get when you see a nice buck for the first time but it gets you more excited to see the deer and when you get a good pic you get more anxious to hunt it.

agreed with the above 2 or 3 post's.

It also stops me from wasting my valuable time in an area they are not when I am.

Dont get me wrong guys- I much prefer hunting with trailcams and get pumped when i get a good bucks pic. Alls im sayin is trailcams definitely have taken alot of the mystery out of deer hunting. And to an extent I kinda miss that mystery.

I think the trail cam has made it an even greater mystery for me. Yes I see deer that I know are around, but then I start to wonder how many bucks are there that I didn't get a picture of. There are always deer that seem to appear out of nowhere that i never had on camera. Plus the excitement and anticipation I feel every time I check the camera is worth any mystery that may have been taken away.

Trail cams are probably my favorite peice of hunting equipment. Plus once a year we can always count on likely being suprised by a buck we have never seen before. That magical time is called the RUT.

The few weeks of the year when you just NEVER know whats going to come by, and all those bucks you have on camera, will be chasing does for miles and miles.

I love knowing whats ont he property and trying to plan my hunt around the deer. It builds so much anticipation trying to fool that deer IMO.

Everything probably changes every ten years, leaving aching memories of how things use to be.

And you'll never get universal agreement on the past. Some folks were never there.

Besides, wait til they get these cams to show simultaneous and multiple digital images on the advanced personal cell phones. Why a hunter will be able to call in an attack from a UAV( manned aerial vehicle for the old folks) on any antlered deer, who dares to show his face, in a ten mile perimeter. Then someone will really fondly think of -the past.