[birdman]

Trail Cameras: Truth or Consequence
by Les Davenport


Trail camera use and technology has exploded over the past five years. Do they uncover a property's true potential for producing trophy whitetails... or spook the very deer we're trying to hunt?
Finding a cure for the common cold will probably happen before hunters fully understand how trophy-class whitetails so easily evade us during hunting season. Undoubtedly, it's the variables which make this sport tough. Mature bucks are individualist and react differently depending on hunting pressure, weather, buck/doe ratio, food source, and terrain. If tagging a trophy buck were easy, most of us would take up another sport.
No matter an ethical sportsman's approach to collecting a mature buck, even the most consistent hunters suffer a hundred-fold more defeats than successes. It's about the challenge. Without that challenge, it's doubtful that a record-book whitetail would be the most sought-after trophy in North America. But is that challenge lessening with trail camera technology?

The left photo was taken with a pioneer trail unit offering the limited flash distance of an off-the-shelf digital camera that needed to be perfectly aligned in the unit's case. The right photo was captured at 10 yards by a trail camera featuring a large built-in flash and a self-contained, brand-specific camera.

Do trail cameras spook deer?
There's probably nobody better to answer this question than wildlife biologist Ron Willmore of Lincoln, Illinois. You may remember that Willmore was the guy who first filmed the world-record Albia, Iowa, non-typical eventually taken by Tony Lovstuen. Willmore initially captured the huge whitetail on film under an oak tree. He set the 35mm trail camera to flash day or night.
Ron was in a tree stand near the camera when the deer showed up before sunset. The old buck jumped, about-faced, and headed for the brush when the camera flashed and advanced its film. He stood in the brush looking back at the oak tree wondering what had just happened. The big abnormal stayed there until four other bucks walked under the oak and began feeding. He then returned to the oak and allowed the unit to finish its roll of film. Willmore's camera scored additional rolls of the buck during the coming weeks.
This particular Iowa buck grew comfortable with the camera, but this is not always the case. Willmore knows of more than one instance where trail camera owners saw deer bolt at the flash and never again return for a photo session. There's nothing etched in stone with whitetails other than generalities. Response to a trail camera falls in four categories: indifference, curiosity, caution, or alarm.
One of the key elements in placing a camera, says Willmore, is not leaving human scent on the camera or in the immediate area. Deer often investigate a camera's flash or its film winding noise. This is especially true at night. Whitetails are very curious animals by nature. It's only when human scent is thrown in the mix that a whitetail forms an association which computes to danger. Many of my photos show the same mature deer with their noses within inches of the camera casing when the flash went off. Always use scent-free rubber gloves and spray the unit down with a scent-depressing product during placement.
This young buck was first to come into a mock scrape attended by a trail camera. No human scent on the camera or in the area convinced him to investigate.

If a particular buck proves to be camera shy, it's wise not to place a unit too near its bedding area or close to your tree stand locations. Instead, place it in a transitional or feeding area where the buck visits long after sunset. Other options are using 800 film and no flash with 35mm units, setting digital units for daytime only, or purchasing one of the newest designs with night vision recording. The night vision option has less range than a flash unit, but it's considerably less telling.
Strategically Using a Trail Camera
New camera owners need to thoroughly understand their unit before heading too deeply into the woods. Reading even well-written instructions is only half the battle. Correct aiming, adequate subject distance, proper time and date settings, and battery life all need to be learned by repetitive use before achieving consistent results. No matter the brand or model, its owner must learn a camera's effective photo view cone in relation to the timing of its triggering device. This becomes even more important for night use due to flash range.

Once camera intricacies are understood, it's then time for serious field placement. Prior observation of a buck in a given area is an upfront advantage. Otherwise, you'll need to find large tracks on trails, near waterholes, or around food sources for best positioning. It's not wise to place a trail camera on public ground unless it's tucked in a remote area prior to the hunting season. Things left unattended on public ground have a way of walking off.
Affixing a trail camera to a tree is a common placement. The best results, however, are obtained by mounting the unit on a movable pole. This allows easy relocation after discovering that the camera's effective view cone is too wide or narrow at the point of triggering. A pole can also be tilted forward or back to allow for exact aiming.
Trail cameras offer two types of triggering devices, simple motion detection and passive infrared (PIR) heat detection. First-generation cameras offered only motion detection. These early models commonly snapped whole film rolls of blowing branches. The most advanced designs use motion and heat sensing and both must activate to trigger a photo or event. They're still not foolproof on sunny days, but this newest design definitely records more wildlife than scenery-only photos.
Timeliness of camera triggering is a major consideration when placing a unit. Many of the less expensive trail cameras trigger slow (3-6 seconds) and produce more butts than heads. The Cuddeback brand was one of the first to perfect quick triggering.
Fast triggering units can be placed perpendicular to trails at about 5-10 feet from deer movement. Slower-responding models are best placed at the same distance, but at 45-degree angle to the trail allowing more time for a deer to be in the trigger zone. Setting the camera's aim high enough to pick up just the top half of deer will avoid needless shots of coyotes, turkeys, and squirrels.

Placing a unit near a trail, but at an angle, allows more time for a deer
to be within the triggering zone of the camera's effective view cone.
Checking camera results too often is a detriment to hunting a specific buck or area. Deer quickly wise up to human attendance in any given spot. Digital units can record well over 200 shots before new batteries weaken, therefore it's important not to invade deer domain any more than necessary.
Without question, the most productive placement of a trail camera for buck photos is near an active scrape. The key word is "near." It's better to aim the camera at an incoming or outgoing angle to the scrape as opposed to directly at it. This is especially true if the camera is set for one-minute intervals or less. Consecutive flashes of a trail unit could run off some mature bucks, especially if they're in transit from another area. Also, with a 35mm unit, aiming the camera directly at a scrape often depletes a film roll on smallish, more active bucks.
Other productive spots for camera placement is were a soybean field meets a corn field, on waterholes, along rub lines, on salt licks (where they're allowed), next to white oaks with dropping acorns, and adjacent to any green patch before frost. Wherever you place a trail camera, remember that retrieving the film or memory card without disturbing deer is crucial to your hunting success.

.

[D Winkler]

Here is an interesting piece of information I saw earlier along the same lines.



http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=2628212