Articles
Trail Camera's Part II
by Jeff Burleson
Writer for South Carolina Sportsman Magazine
How to choose and set up a trail camera
Over the last decade, trail cameras entered the technological reformation making leaps and bounds. The simple point and shoot film trail cameras are almost obsolete in today's market, but for good reason. While the film cameras took exceptional, clear pictures, the digital camera is much more efficient and an overall better system to use in a trail camera system. The extensive memory capacity of digital cameras is right in line with the needs of a trail camera user. Ranging in price from $50 to over $2,000, the first-time trail camera buyer could be a bit overwhelmed. However, with some features more important than others, a good trail camera can be economically acquired. As for the different brands available on the market, most cameras have similar housings, similar features, and a similar prices. Choose a camera with a quick trigger speed, long range flash illumination, long range trigger distance, includes date/time stamp, easy to use, water proof housing, removable storage, and extended battery life. Other features, such as: built-in viewer, extremely high pixel density, moon phase, temperature, etc. are nice features to have on any trail camera system,but tend to not be necessary to get good pictures.
“I found a great buck using an area and I kept checking the camera every few days to see if he had lost his antlers. One day, one of his sheds was laying in the corn. Knowing the other could be close by, I looked all around until I found it about 150 yards away. Thus, even if I hadn't have found the first shed in the corn, I would still have seen him on camera without it, so I would have known to go and look for it...I now do this all of the time to really find lots of sheds with the aid of the cameras,” says Hunt.
Management Tool
While trail cameras provide a mountain of information about when to hunt and where to hunt, they also catalog most of the resident deer on the property as well, including: doe abundance and most importantly, an accounting of bucks. Cameras identify the diversity of bucks and abundance of does on the property. Preseason camera surveys allow the manager to develop harvest prescriptions on each partition of the property and even specifically identify specific deer to protect, to cull, or to target as a trophy.
“If you are waiting on a 150-inch buck, but all you see are 100-inch bucks on camera, chances are you are out of luck. However if you have been shooting those 100-inch buck, but you start seeing 120s on camera, you know that if you just wait, you can do better,”
|says Jeff Hunt of Lowcountry Hunting Lodge.
“...it can really helps your hunters to decide what to shoot. If you show them lots of great 120-130 inch bucks on camera, most good hunters will then pass the medium bucks up, but if those same hunters think that all you have is 100-inch bucks, they are not going to hold out, but instead shoot. Camera survey are imperative if you are truly looking to grow bigger bucks, because hunter management is just as important as deer management,” says Hunt.
Fortunately, a good camera program and catalog of bucks in a stand vicinity provides the hunter with an extra level of confidence that he would not have without the photo album of bucks to look out for. Hunters become better hunters by letting smaller bucks go. Hunters also increase their ability to intercept the big ones on the prowl while hunting for longer durations than before from their new found confidence resulting from camera surveys.
Phillips of Black River Plantation sets up each camera for three to four week periods and checks them in two week intervals to reduce exposure in the deer woods. Phillips is a true believer that deer can easily pattern hunters going to and from the woods, especially older, mature bucks. From his experience on the plantation, he best entry time into the woods with the least detrimental effects is at night. “Deer don't spook as easily or pattern you as easily at night,” says Phillips. He replenishes food piles, checks cameras, and moves temporary tree stands primarily at night.
“Deer will quickly pattern hunters moving to and from stands during the daytime especially during the usual hunter entry points, early morning, late morning, early afternoon, and just before dark.”
Phillips also pays close attention to his scent when checking his cameras too. Deer will quickly associate danger with human scent when they are disturbed. Scent control is a must when checking cameras to prevent a disaster. Whether checking cameras during the day or at night, extreme caution should be used to prevent a disaster. Actual camera placement can also be devastating if placed too close to refuge areas on the property. “Bedding areas are crucial for deer to keep sacred and free of human scent. Trail cameras placed too close to these areas or within bedding areas will bump the big mature bucks you are after,” says Phillips.
Big mature bucks are spooky anyway for good reason. The old bucks get old from being weary and alert to dangerous signals. Phillips discourages anyone from placing cameras too close to bedding areas.
In fact, McCrea of Big Woods Outfitters pulls all of his cameras by October 1st to “allow everything to quiet down” as he puts it.
Lunar Feeding Cycle
There are many theories about what causes deer movements to increase and decrease, including, weather patterns and lunar cycles. As with many theories, the lunar feeding cycle is preached as gospel for some and ignored by others. All living things on earth are affected by the moon. The lunar feeding cycle basically is a theory that the moons position over the earth predicts feeding periods for all fish and wildlife throughout the 24 hour day. Nature's time clock strikes at four different intervals with two major and two minor feeding periods. The major feeding periods are precisely when the moon is directly over head and secondly when the moon is directly underfoot. The two minor feeding periods are the two periods between each of the major feeding intervals. The gravitational pull of the moon on earth triggers a feeding period that generally lasts two hours for major periods and one hour for minor feeding periods. The date and time stamp provided by modern trail cameras provides valuable data showing deer movements throughout the day that give opportunity to test the effectiveness of changes in weather patterns and lunar feeding cycles. A comprehensive trail camera plan on a property will provide the necessary data to prove that deer are directly affected by changes in weather and lunar effects. “Ever since we started using trail cameras, they confirm what we have thought all along about deer movements. They become more active during major and minor feeding periods and also when cool weather moves in. Deer seem to get energized and walk more frequently,” says McCrea of Big Woods Outfitters.
McCrea also can recall higher success for his clients during major feeding periods and just after cool fronts pass through the area. The use of trail cameras clearly validates the effectiveness of lunar feeding periods on deer hunting.
This story was reprinted with the permission of South Carolina Sportsman Magazine
Check out the South Carolina Sportsman Magazine website for some great outdoor articles.
Writer for South Carolina Sportsman Magazine
How to choose and set up a trail camera
Over the last decade, trail cameras entered the technological reformation making leaps and bounds. The simple point and shoot film trail cameras are almost obsolete in today's market, but for good reason. While the film cameras took exceptional, clear pictures, the digital camera is much more efficient and an overall better system to use in a trail camera system. The extensive memory capacity of digital cameras is right in line with the needs of a trail camera user. Ranging in price from $50 to over $2,000, the first-time trail camera buyer could be a bit overwhelmed. However, with some features more important than others, a good trail camera can be economically acquired. As for the different brands available on the market, most cameras have similar housings, similar features, and a similar prices. Choose a camera with a quick trigger speed, long range flash illumination, long range trigger distance, includes date/time stamp, easy to use, water proof housing, removable storage, and extended battery life. Other features, such as: built-in viewer, extremely high pixel density, moon phase, temperature, etc. are nice features to have on any trail camera system,but tend to not be necessary to get good pictures.
The big question is to use a standard flash or an infrared flash model. Many users believe that the flash spooks deer and other believe that it has no effect. The infrared models tend to be more expensive. Some deer react differently to the camera than others, but logically, the infrared versions would appear to have a lower impact on the deer than traditional flash models. However, the infrared models require a slower shutter speed for night-time shots than the traditional flash models that can be a problem if the deer are on the move causing a blurred shot. There tends to always be a trade off between one unit over another.
Some camera units have heavy duty metal lockable enclosures custom designed to protect the camera from bears and thieves. Bears will quickly destroy a camera if they get their hands on it.
Only use high quality batteries. Cheap batteries will not last very long in the variable environmental conditions.
Cameras should be set up from one and a half to three feet off the ground. The higher off the ground the fewer smaller game that will be captured on film. Never set camera up where it will catch sunrise because the infrared trigger may falsely trip.
Be conscious of what is in front of the camera. Usually the infrared trigger will trip moving objects out of range of the flash at night, yielding empty images. Place the camera with a backdrop or something to stop the infrared trigger within the flash zone.
As with any new toy, the best shots are taken after a trial and error period to determine the best places to set the cameras up and when.
Shed Collectors Best Friend
As the season comes to a close, surviving bucks continue their natural cyclic drop of their prized head gear, but still have to deal with people roaming the woods. The post season is a prime time to scout out the secret buck hangouts that were once protected as refuge during the season and also sheds began to become the next quarry. Jeff Hunt of Lowcountry Hunting Lodge jump starts his late season surveys to figure out where to shed hunt. Most of their stands bait piles are abandoned for the year with the exception of a few bait piles that concentrates the deer during this time of the year. Deer during the winter months are finished mating and are looking for a significant and constant food source. Hunt only baits a few sites across his hunting property to concentrate his deer, making it easier to find sheds in the vicinity of the food source.“I found a great buck using an area and I kept checking the camera every few days to see if he had lost his antlers. One day, one of his sheds was laying in the corn. Knowing the other could be close by, I looked all around until I found it about 150 yards away. Thus, even if I hadn't have found the first shed in the corn, I would still have seen him on camera without it, so I would have known to go and look for it...I now do this all of the time to really find lots of sheds with the aid of the cameras,” says Hunt.
Management Tool
While trail cameras provide a mountain of information about when to hunt and where to hunt, they also catalog most of the resident deer on the property as well, including: doe abundance and most importantly, an accounting of bucks. Cameras identify the diversity of bucks and abundance of does on the property. Preseason camera surveys allow the manager to develop harvest prescriptions on each partition of the property and even specifically identify specific deer to protect, to cull, or to target as a trophy.
“If you are waiting on a 150-inch buck, but all you see are 100-inch bucks on camera, chances are you are out of luck. However if you have been shooting those 100-inch buck, but you start seeing 120s on camera, you know that if you just wait, you can do better,”
|says Jeff Hunt of Lowcountry Hunting Lodge.
“...it can really helps your hunters to decide what to shoot. If you show them lots of great 120-130 inch bucks on camera, most good hunters will then pass the medium bucks up, but if those same hunters think that all you have is 100-inch bucks, they are not going to hold out, but instead shoot. Camera survey are imperative if you are truly looking to grow bigger bucks, because hunter management is just as important as deer management,” says Hunt.
Fortunately, a good camera program and catalog of bucks in a stand vicinity provides the hunter with an extra level of confidence that he would not have without the photo album of bucks to look out for. Hunters become better hunters by letting smaller bucks go. Hunters also increase their ability to intercept the big ones on the prowl while hunting for longer durations than before from their new found confidence resulting from camera surveys.
No deer hunter or deer manager should go any further without incorporating a trail camera plan into their hunting strategy. In fact, most people that start using trail cameras, immediately increase their level of enjoyment in the woods and become just as excited about checking the camera as perched in the stand. Trail cameras, placed timely, strategically and managed properly, will improve any deer hunters overall success, management ability, and overall enjoyment.
Risk Avoidance and Scent Control
Phillips of Black River Plantation sets up each camera for three to four week periods and checks them in two week intervals to reduce exposure in the deer woods. Phillips is a true believer that deer can easily pattern hunters going to and from the woods, especially older, mature bucks. From his experience on the plantation, he best entry time into the woods with the least detrimental effects is at night. “Deer don't spook as easily or pattern you as easily at night,” says Phillips. He replenishes food piles, checks cameras, and moves temporary tree stands primarily at night.
“Deer will quickly pattern hunters moving to and from stands during the daytime especially during the usual hunter entry points, early morning, late morning, early afternoon, and just before dark.”
Phillips also pays close attention to his scent when checking his cameras too. Deer will quickly associate danger with human scent when they are disturbed. Scent control is a must when checking cameras to prevent a disaster. Whether checking cameras during the day or at night, extreme caution should be used to prevent a disaster. Actual camera placement can also be devastating if placed too close to refuge areas on the property. “Bedding areas are crucial for deer to keep sacred and free of human scent. Trail cameras placed too close to these areas or within bedding areas will bump the big mature bucks you are after,” says Phillips.
Big mature bucks are spooky anyway for good reason. The old bucks get old from being weary and alert to dangerous signals. Phillips discourages anyone from placing cameras too close to bedding areas.
In fact, McCrea of Big Woods Outfitters pulls all of his cameras by October 1st to “allow everything to quiet down” as he puts it.
Lunar Feeding Cycle
There are many theories about what causes deer movements to increase and decrease, including, weather patterns and lunar cycles. As with many theories, the lunar feeding cycle is preached as gospel for some and ignored by others. All living things on earth are affected by the moon. The lunar feeding cycle basically is a theory that the moons position over the earth predicts feeding periods for all fish and wildlife throughout the 24 hour day. Nature's time clock strikes at four different intervals with two major and two minor feeding periods. The major feeding periods are precisely when the moon is directly over head and secondly when the moon is directly underfoot. The two minor feeding periods are the two periods between each of the major feeding intervals. The gravitational pull of the moon on earth triggers a feeding period that generally lasts two hours for major periods and one hour for minor feeding periods. The date and time stamp provided by modern trail cameras provides valuable data showing deer movements throughout the day that give opportunity to test the effectiveness of changes in weather patterns and lunar feeding cycles. A comprehensive trail camera plan on a property will provide the necessary data to prove that deer are directly affected by changes in weather and lunar effects. “Ever since we started using trail cameras, they confirm what we have thought all along about deer movements. They become more active during major and minor feeding periods and also when cool weather moves in. Deer seem to get energized and walk more frequently,” says McCrea of Big Woods Outfitters.
McCrea also can recall higher success for his clients during major feeding periods and just after cool fronts pass through the area. The use of trail cameras clearly validates the effectiveness of lunar feeding periods on deer hunting.
This story was reprinted with the permission of South Carolina Sportsman Magazine
Check out the South Carolina Sportsman Magazine website for some great outdoor articles.