how often do you check your cameras???

[Christopher Quast]

I'm curious to know how often other hunters go check their cameras before the season??? The land I hunt is more of a pass through area more so than a bedding area and where are some of the best places to hang and also the best hieght to set them at. I just got my Moultrie 4.1mp last year in august so I'm pretty new to this whole deal although I did get quite a few pics last year but only few of bucks and I know there are a fair amount of bucks around my area and this is my last question do you tend to get more buck pics with the flash on or off cause I really think the flash spooks the bucks what is everybody's opinion on these subjects???????

[Tippman]

I check mine from every few days to couple weeks but I have them positioned in areas I don't have to leave much trace getting too. The flash does spook deer sometimes but seems more often does not in my experience.

[jlm]

I agree, flash spooks some deer. If you do a little research on the net, it is pretty much a given that this is true and expected. You might want to take a look at IR cameras, this is a solution to conventional flash cameras. Good luck!

[Mark Christianson]

I would disagree that flash spooks deer in my situation.

My cameras are out almost year round. In my opinion, the deer I am getting pictures of are used to it. I have pics of the same buck at a mineral spot for several minutes. And thats normal.

I think that if you are in an area where there is "normal" human activity that flash wont bother them either. What I mean is that if you are in an area where you frequent the location a lot, of if human activity is there constantly, flash isnt going to upset them.

If you are up in the big woods of northern MN, then a camera flash that comes out of nowhere is probably going to surprise the dump out of a deer. But even with that, I refuse to believe that deer is going to vacate the area completely.

[PerchJerker]

I agree with BLB, the flash isn't going to frighten away the deer in most cases.

I have my cameras set to take photos every 45 seconds. Last year I got about 22 pictures of a nice buck over a span of about 20 minutes. He was just standing on a trail in the woods getting his picture taken, and in the last photo he is walking out into the food plot right past the camera. It was the middle of the night and the flash went on every picture. I got another photo of him later in the year.

I have some other bucks (young ones) that I can recognize by their antlers and seem to get 2-3-4 photos of them on every memory card.

This was in the big woods in northern Minnesota, where there's not too much disturbance by people.

[colonel42]

I also agree with you guys. I've had my camera out for the last month and a half. I check mine once a week. I have had many pictures of bucks thus far. I have mine set to take 3 pictures five seconds apart every minute. Yes, I have caught the deer looking straight at the camera when the flash goes off but the second and third pictures of him he is still saying cheese. By the way Mark your three part mix has done wonders. I have two cameras out and have used it at both sites. Pretty nutz how in the middle of the wood can turn in to a pasture of tracks.

[Tippman]

In the three years I've been using trail cameras I would say that about 30-40 percent of the bucks appear to have spooked from the flash. The does very rarely do. This number probably seems high to many of you but it's what I've found in the areas I hunt where nobody else uses trail cameras and there aren't much for people around.

I have dozens of pictures where there is a deer (mostly bucks) in the first pic with a flash and then you see the butt end with tail up in the next or no deer at all. And these aren't the ones walking through, in the first pic they were stopped at minerals or scrapes. So in my experience they definately do spook from the flash at times. I'm sure closer to urban areas and with many people are around it's different though.

[Scott K]

Here are 3 pictures in a row from my camera with a flash, 45 seconds apart from last fall, sure look like something spooked him! It was also my last pictures of this buck, I had others that visited frequently!

[Christopher Quast]

hey wanderingeyes was this pic taken on private land or public cause the area looks really familiar

[Scott K]

The pictures are taken from private land, they are taken from my land in northern wisconsin.

[archerystud]

I also think the bucks are more tolerant of flashes prior to losing their velvet.

I usually put my cameras out during the summer and pull them out of the woods once bow season starts. I check them about once a month.

I would like to get an IR camera. I will leave one of those out during the season if I get one.