How Long?

[DeanoZ]

When scouting potential stand locations with a trail cam how long do you capture pictures for?  I've been leaving my cam up about 3-5 days to detect bucks in the area, before moving it to another location if none show up.  I figured if a buck is consistantly traveling through that location I should have at least one or two pics of him in a 3-5 day period?  Is my thought process flawed?  Bear in mind its the post rut and the deer appear to be bedding in the thick stuff.  I have a lot of potential area to cover and only one camera and with the season winding down I really need to quickly pattern where they are going.

[thebaran12]

If i know that deer are traveling in that area a lot I will leave it out about 2 weeks just to see what is in the area. But you maybe right with your idea too, i might try that.

[HoneyHole]

Deano, you're trying to do the work of multiple cameras with only one. It won't work. You're better off letting your camera ride on the hot spot and save your coins for more cameras. I know it's not what you want to hear, but you're possibly screwing up your hunting by constantly being in the woods changing locations. 

[DeanoZ]

Thanks for the feedback HoneyHole...I see your point, but what I'm trying to do is eliminate areas that are not productive.  the spots I put them in I have no idea if they are hot spots or not...and they may have been hot spots during the rut or before the rut, but now may have subsided.  If I'm reading your comments correctly it sounds as if the concern is about contaminating the area with my constant presense in the woods?  That won't be an issue as the areas i place the camera at are far apart and I enter the woods at different points to check the areas.  I guess my question was, at what point or what level of activity do you consider a spot productive or not based on what the cams show?

[cdn1]

Deanoz I think that the best way to eliminate unproductive areas is by leaving your camz for about 2-3 weeks at a time. The Cams should tell you how good the areas are by the number of pics they capture or by the event counters. IE) if you leave your camera for 2 weeks and capture
100 pics and 200events then by my standards you should have an exceptional spot. On the other hand if you only have 15-20pics you might want to try another spot. Let the cams work for you, rather than checking them for pics every few days and disturbing the areas. It only takes one
to many encounters with human scent for the herd to go on alert. Don't forget your cams can only cover a small area of woods, 15-30ft diamater
there could have been a deer picnic just outside of that cameras area of
coverage. Let the cams, as we say in Canada "stand on guard for thee"
to tell you how much activity is occuring. My 2 cents cdn1

[PrairieShadow]

ORIGINAL: HoneyHole

Deano, you're trying to do the work of multiple cameras with only one. It won't work. You're better off letting your camera ride on the hot spot and save your coins for more cameras. I know it's not what you want to hear, but you're possibly screwing up your hunting by constantly being in the woods changing locations. 

 
I agree,
 
I've got a couple locations that get very few pics for at least a couple days after i have been in there. Try and leave your cams up until you cant take it anymore and have to go check them. I try and use 2 weeks as my minimum.

[DeanoZ]

Two weeks eh?  After two days I'm itching, lol!!!  Ok patience is the order of the day, and i see what your saying.  I guess I never really figured that checking it no less than once per week would scare them off.  Thanks for the feedback guys

[shadow]

I also agree... 2-weeks. And get a few SD cards that way instead of taking the camera out of the woods you can switch out the card and relocate the camera. If you can buy a couple camera's. the Wildviews are relatively inexpensive and offer decent pictures, good enough for anyone to know whats on the property, and I found battery life on my Wildviews to be excellent. Here's a couple sample pics from my Wildview

[DeanoZ]

got it...and I do have a second Sd card which i pop in, but I always take a digital cam with me so i can preview any pics on the spot.  I'd like to take this post a step further...so now you've collected pics of deer after a two week period.  What kind of activity do you look for before you decide to hunt that particular spot?  For me I've already taken my doe and now I'm looking to take a shooter buck.  So if during that two week period you saw one or two pics of a shooter buck would that justify hunting that spot?

[HoneyHole]

ORIGINAL: DeanoZ

got it...and I do have a second Sd card which i pop in, but I always take a digital cam with me so i can preview any pics on the spot.  I'd like to take this post a step further...so now you've collected pics of deer after a two week period.  What kind of activity do you look for before you decide to hunt that particular spot?  For me I've already taken my doe and now I'm looking to take a shooter buck.  So if during that two week period you saw one or two pics of a shooter buck would that justify hunting that spot?

Look for time of movement mainly. My Moultrie I-40's have a time,temperature, and moon phase stamps on the pictures. The temp stamp really helps to understand movement in relation to weather.