Should you pull your deer camera?

[Marcus Taplin]

I would like to know everyone's thoughts on pulling your camera before the season? Should you do it? Or doesn't it matter?

[Quackaddict9]

for what reason(s)?

[Marcus Taplin]

I just hear about people going up and pulling their cameras...just wondering if there is a reason.

[goblueM]

I sure hope not, hahah I just bought one today and we're 3 weeks into the bow season...

[DHost21]

I leave mine all year round. Even through winter to see when they start dropping antlers too. I see no problems with leaving it up

[bety0108]

Pull it to save $150 AND to miss out on the best ever monster buck pictures!!!??? The most amazing pictures are taken between Oct 15th and Nov 15th!!!!! Fighting! Rutting, stinky, dirty old bucks that have not slept for days because they have only one thing on their mind!!! Not worth it in my opinion. You can get another camera at Cabelas, but never a once and a lifetime picture.

[mnviking28]

I will definitely agree with the leaving it up, although it definitely adds to the frustration factor when you get those pics at 2 or 3 am of a monster and never see him again. Every year during rifle season I get at least 2 or 3 pics of different big boys at that time of the morning and have absolutely no clue where they came from or where they go. My only thought is that they are "visitors" that are coming through looking for does. But, that being said, it is really cool to see them too.

[slimngrizzly]

Id keep them out! The battery life of many cameras takes a hit this time of year, but for sure, its THE BEST time to get pics of a true swelled up MEGABUCK thats new to the area!

Not to mention setting a camera on a scrape over the next couple weeks is the perfect place to get an inventory of the bucks in your area, even if they are primarily at night!

[96trigger]

I have heard that with flash cameras, once you get a nice buck on it you should pull so as to not spook it. I don't do this, but I have noticed that as the year goes on, less and less deer get "caught" in front of the cameras. I don't know if does spook them or not. I know that I will no longer buy flash cameras. I will only purchase infrared and see if that makes a difference. This year, the deer actually changed their trail to go around the camera. I don't know if this is a coincidence or not. I just turned the camera and will see if there are more pics now. I will not be taking them down until the end of November.

[slimngrizzly]

I have 9 flash cameras and now down to 2 infrareds. I do not like the infrareds. My experience is some deer are camera-shy but whether its flash or infrared makes no difference, they know they're there! I wouldn't advise having a camera right by your stand though because many of the deer will avoid the immidiate path in fron of the camera.

Flash or otherwise, a camera will not "spook" a deer out of your hunting area, but it may slightly alter their travel patterns.

This is what ive found to be true for what its worth.

[Bear55]

I leave my cameras out but never where I hunt. Those big old bucks can be a little camera shy, often the scent you leave behind checking your cameras again and again scares them away.

I think others might pull them this time of year because a lot of people are in the woods and they don't want them to get stolen.

[B. Amish]

it might not be the flash that they get alerted to and avoid, it's probably a combination of the camera scent and human scent from checking the camera.

i know one of my camera's makes a clicking noise when taking a picture. talk about a red flag to a deer. i had it set to video once. and all of the videos showed the deer running away from it. now that camera stays on a salt lick and never really moves.

i also put all my cameras in places where i can drive right up to them with an atv or vehicle. in farm country they are so used to vehicle scent, i think it helps in not alerting them to the camera.

all of the infareds still have that red glow that the deer can see anyways. so, i'm not sure if they have any advantage over a white flash. other than better battery life.

[sticknstring]

I agree. I get the same reactions to my IR cams as the flash ones. I prefer the white flash cams myself as I like the night color pics. I keep my cams out in front of my stands. It's neat to pull cards and get a better look at the buck you watched from stand the other night or just get a feel of what times deer are using that area. I try to keep my cameras 15' away from the trail and will often place brush in front of it so the deer can't smell it. Seems to work well for me.

[slimngrizzly]

I think you guys are right on! So many people worry about "will the flash scare them or the glow scare them"...... trust me, if your worried about spooking the deer, the scent you leave along with the disturbance to the woods is FAR MORE crucial than the camera itself.

[96trigger]

Thats all good to know about the IR. I leave my cameras out and I have all of them within 100 yards of my stands. I also prefer the flash cameras for night pics, but can't help but notice the # of pics usually decreases the longer the camera stays out there. Could be due to a number of reasons. I don't check them very often, I know that scent is a big factor but I would think that given a day or so, my scent will disappear and shouldn't be a factor. I know that the deer don't avoid the area, but it does seem like some will avoid the camera where others will be in front of it constantly. It never fails, one or two different pics of a certain buck or a certain doe, but then I might get 30-40 of another that comes back time and time again. Right now there is a lot going on in the fields and woods, so it might have more to do with that than just my camera flash. However, its obvious that they notice it, how often do you have the first pick be a natural and the second pick they are looking right and the 3rd pick they are gone or you see the tail. Maybe I should quit setting mine on a 3 picture burst.

[Musky Buck]

I have noticed I rarely get that 2nd shot of a mature buck, 1.5 year olds seem to nearly pose for me, but the older savvy veterans I rarely get a 2nd shot even if they are still hanging in the area. I shot 1 that I did get that 1 picture of, he was just hanging in the thicker areas and abandoning trails, almost just cutting across trails sniffing them, until the 30.06 barked. In the winter etc. I get the big bucks multiple times and they don't seem to care, I put it on a natural spring of water where they can drink anytime. Interesting stuff guys. I am convinced I have infrared they can really hone in on it, they are almost always just staring at it, after a minute there are no follow up pics. Time to find a decent groundscrape and see what's around.