It was the third day of Iowa’s archery season 2020. Early enough in the season that I knew I had tons of time and hunting yet to come; but at the same time, I felt a sense of urgency with the hunt. I was getting pictures of the biggest buck I have ever had the opportunity to hunt. He was using a draw on my farm working his way out to some lush alfalfa. The pattern was holding into the season…at least for now. The game cameras I had placed on my farm toward season opener were primarily located in and around transition food plot areas. Like most years, the plan is to catch (or cut off) a big deer on his way to destination food on an evening hunt this time of year, and I was hoping my game cameras would point me in the right direction. They were!
Why Game Cameras
If I had to choose one thing that has made it easier to locate and hunt big deer, it is undoubtedly a game camera. The amount of information they can provide a hunter is multiple times more than what you could ever have gotten from simply scouting in years past. The quality of bucks on your farm, estimates on population, deer travel directions, time of day of use, knowing when a target buck is now daylight active all made possible by using game cameras. And it’s fun. It’s a great way to build excitement with the hunt. Using a game camera correctly and they can be a valuable tool in helping a hunter. Use a game camera frivolously and you can actually hurt your chances of tagging a buck of a lifetime. The information you gather can be priceless, but only if you can do it without letting them know you’re there!
Location
When game cameras first came out, I was part of a hunting camp of friends. One of my buddies bought one. For me, it seemed too expensive for the information it could provide. It was a model that triggered a 35mm camera inside the unit, which required that you take and develop a roll of film each time you wanted to see the results. This meant checking the camera almost daily, replacing the film, then heading off to the one-hour-delivery service. The pictures were fascinating! All four of us would huddle around and pan through the photos.
As we continued this process on a daily basis, our success at catching deer on the camera would plummet. After repeated visits, bumping deer while going to and from the camera, and leaving scent behind, I couldn’t help but wonder if checking the camera was helping or hurting our efforts. It was so fun though! But those early years taught me one thing for sure; checking a camera all the time, paying no attention to any strategy on how to actually check a camera without putting pressure on deer, was hurting us. It was like we were doing a push on our farm every day just to check that camera. It was addictive, but not helpful.
This is a long version of me trying to say, it has been my experience that in order for game cameras to be helpful in providing all the information we want them to, they have to be located, checked, and used in a way that allows us to not disturb the deer you are hunting. This can be very tricky. But it doesn’t have to be. I love to locate my cameras on fence lines, in my transition plots, or other edges that offer clean entry and exit to place and check them. If I have to place a camera inside the timber to monitor movement at a stand location for example, I will only check that camera when I can do so guaranteeing I won’t bump any deer. This is typically only on very windy days or when I actually go in to hunt that stand.
Talking about windy days; it is also important to understand that when you are walking around on your hunting property, every deer downwind (for about 200 yards) of your location is being alerted to your presence. If you are doing this on a regular basis and you ignore where your scent is blowing, you’ll burn out your farm as fast as if you were hunting that way. This is why locating cameras on edges works so well.
Monitoring trails or food plots are pretty good locations for a camera, but a scrape at these locations is even better. A scrape will congregate deer activity to one location where your camera can be most efficient. At many of my stand and camera placing locations, I’ll have a scrape or make a mock scrape. This is a great addition for hunting, but it also serves as a great way to narrow down activity for your camera. If more than one scrape is present in that area, I will remove all the licking branches at every scrape besides where my camera is at. This way any deer that wants to use a scrape in that area is forced to use the one that I have left.
If possible, I’ll place my cameras where I can check them without ever having to go by what I’m monitoring, or crossing the area I’m monitoring. This makes it possible to leave the least amount of scent behind. For example, I have several cameras placed overlooking a mock scrape or a transition plot where the camera is almost right at my stand. That way when I enter the area to hunt, I can check the camera, swap out SD cards, and get into the stand. I don’t have to cross any trails or cross the transition area to look at my camera.
Lastly, the best time to check a camera is on a very windy day when the wind is in your favor. A second favorite of mine is during or right before a rain event. This way any scent left behind is washed away. A third great time is when entering that area on a hunt. Remember, that checking cameras is just like hunting. If you are bumping deer or leaving scent behind while doing it, your farm will get burned out.
Paying Off
The giant main frame 12 point I was hunting in 2020 was using a small, less than perfect transition plot on an almost daily basis. One game camera on the plot confirmed that at least through late September, he was still using this pattern. But his exact travel pattern to that transition plot was still not a guarantee. But knowing the farm, and past experience with travel patterns my guess was he was using my main draw leaving my cover to the west, and traveling east to his main food source. Or, he was using a smaller draw to the north and traveling south. All I needed was a north wind to hunt the first, and an east to hunt the second and I could make a play on him!
On October 3rd I got an east wind. My money was on the other draw, but this night saw me in a red oak on my north draw. If the bruiser was using this draw on his way to my transition plot (where my camera was catching him just after dark), I would at least catch a glimpse. It was better than that. Near sundown, he came up the draw in a bit of a hurry and slowed as he entered more open cover. The shot was only a few yards, and I heard that perfect thwump sound it always makes on a perfect hit. It is doubtful that had I been moving cameras around trying to pinpoint that buck’s location and exact travel pattern that I ever would have gotten a shot at him. Instead, I let my game camera find the buck and point me in the right direction. In the past, I would have made the mistake of trying to make my game cameras do the hunting for me. Not this time. A more passive approach of cat-and-mouse paid off big! This has been my experience with using game cameras with great success.
