Who Does NOT run Trail Cameras?

[denimdeerslayer]

I dont.

[lovemylegacy]

The way I see it humans are lazy and will take the easiest route most of the time. Cameras require a little extra effort that some are not willing to give. i.e. finding a spot to hang the cam, mounting the cam to a tree/bracket, pulling the sd card every time you fill feeders, looking at the pics, changing batteries every 6-8 months. Cameras require even more effort for those who are not camera/tech savy. The new technology scares ALOTTA guys off.

Yeah I guess. I figured I was the most untech, savyless, yoakum out there. Its worth having a 24/7/365 scout that's always watching. The anticipation of knowing whats there that might show up is worth the effort to me. Plus, building a catalog of available deer and being able to judge their health is another plus. It also helps me find better areas to hunt and verify if its a daytime or nighttime travel area.

I can relate to "the want to be surprised" frame of mind.

Thanx for the reply.

[Bowtech32]

It is like a drug, I can’t give up my TC. I almost enjoy running them as I do hunting

[hound dog]

If not for trail cameras, I would not have known we have trophy axis, aoudad and nice fallow deer. (that I never see when sitting out)

[whitetailfanatic]

No cameras, No feeders of any kind, just hunt like it was 1972,be surprised?

[oldtestamentman]

I'm considering running mine only from Thanksgiving till end of season. Nothing good starts to show before that except my doe. I may do some in July to get a fawn count.

Once the rut kicks in it is nice to see what is showing up. I saw some good bucks on camera that never came in when I was hunting. Good to know just what I got passing thru out there.

[jerp]

I still run cameras but I've changed my strategy a bit. At feeders I generally just get the same thing over and over - pigs, does and coons. (and lots of pics of nothing) I have started putting my cameras on trails in the woods and in thicker cover. I don't get near as many pics but I am more likely to get a surprise buck - one we would never see at a feeder.

[CaptainDave]

The way I see it humans are lazy and will take the easiest route most of the time. Cameras require a little extra effort that some are not willing to give. i.e. finding a spot to hang the cam, mounting the cam to a tree/bracket, pulling the sd card every time you fill feeders, looking at the pics, changing batteries every 6-8 months. Cameras require even more effort for those who are not camera/tech savy. The new technology scares ALOTTA guys off.

Sort of, but not entirely. It's not necessarily being lazy either. Actually, trail cams can make one lazy by hunting less if they aren't seeing anything on camera. Not everyone hunts a 1K plus acre managed property and wants to use photos to dictate shooters versus passes. Yes, there are other various reasons for trail cams, but you get the drift.

I hunt a couple hundred acre low-fenced place; just myself and one other. Sure, we ran cameras the first couple years to see what was out there. However, after being on this place for multiple years, it just wasn't worth the effort if other chores needed to be done.

Yes, it was nice to see a few monsters show up on camera; actually some of the biggest deer ever caught on camera were never seen in person. Had a few that were only caught in one picture ever as well. Cameras made it easier to pattern hogs and when does were hitting the feeders too.

However, we both ended up getting caught up with work. Turned us both into weekend warriors. It didn't matter what was or wasn't on camera as hunting time was limited to begin with and I was going regardless if I had a day off. Actually kind of took a little of the fun out of it if you had a day off coming up and cameras were showing little activity.

On top of that, it seemed every year one of the older cameras would crap out and a new one needed to be purchased and put into the rotation. Last year, we used the $150 on corn rather than buying a new camera.

[Gunnyart]

Now that I run a cellular camera it's exactly like getting to hunt every day of the year from 200 miles away. And, because I have rechargeable batteries and a solar panel on it I never have to pull cards or change batteries.
I also love seeing how the deer progress throughout the year day by day. Also, I have a camera angle that has my buildings in the backdrop so I can see if anything looks amiss.

[Jmh05]

I was running cameras pretty hard several years in a row. During that time none of my 4out of 5biggest bucks that I killed were ever seen on cam before killing them.

[oldtestamentman]

I've only had my place a year and I want to archive the bucks. Last year I had 12 different bucks on my 21 acres. The land was vacant before I bought with an open gate for years near Kingsville. No telling what kind of pressure it had. Now that I've fenced it off with a high cedar gate and a fence blocking my main sendero from the county road, I expect the deer herd to mature. My only competition is NAS hunters and they only hunt weekends and usually stop hunting after the 2nd week of season. I had allot of nice 8s last year that I can't wait to see on camera in the Fall.