Trail cameras have the ability to be true game changers for scouting. They can alert us covertly to mature deer in the area or they can alert the deer to us being in theirs. It’s up to us to determine which.

Here’s how we can avoid having us or our cams spook the deer we’re actively trying to hunt.

Cams and Placement

It all begins with the cams placement and the quality of the cameras themselves. Simply put, if one is going to place a cam in a high-impact area, cell cams are the way to go, or repeated trips in must be paired with bad weather to reduce encounters and wash away our intrusions. Other than must-get intel from high-impact locations, the goal is to be able to get to the cams, swap chips and get out without a deer knowing we’re there. Anything else risks our cams working against our goals of better hunting.

For cams that make noise or are spooking deer with their flash, setting the cams 6+ feet off the ground and setting them to just one-shot bursts does wonders to reduce the number of deer they spook.

Considerations

Next, many of us wouldn’t think of climbing into stands without doing our best to treat our odors, head to toe. That’s awesome, but many of those same hunters are placing stinky cams next to their stands. At the same time, more than a few are wearing seriously stinky shoes or boots, that we’d never wear into the deer woods hunting, and handling their cams with stinky, bare hands.

Now, one doesn’t have to go to the same scent control levels we do for hunting. Since we won’t be lingering, spraying our boots and gloves down with Scent Killer before heading to or handling cams is generally enough for dealing with our odors, unless the cam is in a high-impact area. Then, taking full odor control steps can be warranted, as well as timing the trips in to when bad weather shuts deer movements down and washes away more of our own sins.

For our cams, they really should be wiped down with Scent Killer Field Wipes before being placed in the deer woods. Also, if the cams are stored for a period of time, pick an air tight container and store them somewhere other than inside the garage, where they pick up all sorts of nasty odors.

Speaking of odors, the only ones I want around my cams are those created by the scent dispersing from my Magnum Scrape-Dripper or the Key-Wick hanging in the frame. During the rut, the scent drippers are filled with Hot Scrape, Golden Scrape and even Special Golden Estrus. Outside of the rut, a scent like the curiosity drawing Active Cam can be very effective.

Conclusions

Cams can help or hurt our hunting efforts. Following these simple guidelines goes a long way to being sure our cams are working for, not against us.

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