Trail camera stats
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 7
Trail camera stats
I got invited to hunt on a farm about a month ahead of gun season (peak of rut here in MD). Not enough time to glass fields in the evening and walk edges mid-day, so I bought my first trail camera. Set it out about a week before opening day, and, evidently I liked that spot much more than the deer did. Re-set it on Dec 4 (during 1st week of season, which closed on the 13th), and downloaded the card today. Muzzleloader season starts up on the 20th.
So, what do you guys like to see this time of year as far as proportion of encounters during shooting hours vs. non-shooting hours. For example, over the past 8 days, I had pictures from 20 encounters and 9 of those were during shooting hours (usually last half hour of day). It's actually a good mixture of bucks and does that were passing the camera during shooting hours. Only three pics taken in AM, two of those were this morning.
Any other things to pay attention to?
So, what do you guys like to see this time of year as far as proportion of encounters during shooting hours vs. non-shooting hours. For example, over the past 8 days, I had pictures from 20 encounters and 9 of those were during shooting hours (usually last half hour of day). It's actually a good mixture of bucks and does that were passing the camera during shooting hours. Only three pics taken in AM, two of those were this morning.
Any other things to pay attention to?
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,926
A pre-trail cam hunter
Certainly a trail cam will give info on if any or what deer were present. But is it the info sought.
Is a big buck there? Is a buck only coming at night? The camera already tracks how long the wait can be? And what if the deer comes at different times?
The trail cam has all the positives and a lot of negatives. And are you "forced" to stay where you saw a deer on camera, and avoid going to a place where the deer may be that day.
In the old days there was a lot of uncertainty. And uncertainty created hunting moves for the hunter. They did for me. Sometimes I wonder if that system was better. And what if the hunting season is different from the preseason, how do we measure the meaning of the trail cam?
Are we really taking a measure of the deer. And will that only take some years to digest.
Is a big buck there? Is a buck only coming at night? The camera already tracks how long the wait can be? And what if the deer comes at different times?
The trail cam has all the positives and a lot of negatives. And are you "forced" to stay where you saw a deer on camera, and avoid going to a place where the deer may be that day.
In the old days there was a lot of uncertainty. And uncertainty created hunting moves for the hunter. They did for me. Sometimes I wonder if that system was better. And what if the hunting season is different from the preseason, how do we measure the meaning of the trail cam?
Are we really taking a measure of the deer. And will that only take some years to digest.
Last edited by Valentine; 12-21-2014 at 04:08 AM.