Early summer is always an exciting time for avid hunters all over the country. Hopefully you are just wrapping up a successful spring turkey season, and now it’s that exciting time of year to put some fresh batteries into your trail cameras and get them out as your next hit-list bucks’ rack starts shaping into form. Many of us will rush out to our favorite spots to put up our cameras and start checking them religiously waiting for that one picture of a buck that’ll haunt your dreams until you can climb into your stand in October to have a chance at harvesting him. I myself have fallen into that trap in the past; I throw up a few cameras and like a kid waiting to check for presents under the tree on Christmas morning I have no patience and check them as soon as I get the chance. Is it exciting to see pictures? Heck yes. Are you ruining your chances at harvesting a mature buck by constantly checking your cameras? An even more emphatic HECK YES. This year do yourself a favor and put a little more thought into when and where you put your camera’s, and even more importantly HOW OFTEN you check your cameras.
Bedding Areas
Setting up a trail camera in a bedding area can be tricky since you’re obviously running the risk of bumping deer out the area, so that’s why I like to setup trail cameras in bedding areas very early in the summer. First, locate a primary bedding area(s) on your property, and by primary bedding areas, I mean bedding areas that are extremely thick and provide enough cover for deer to bed in them all year around. Once you have located a primary bedding area, wait for a day that is extremely windy and lets you approach the bedding area from the downwind side. Once you have entered the bedding area (hopefully without bumping too many deer), quickly put up your camera and walk out of there on the same trail you came in on. If you do by chance bump a couple deer, I wouldn’t worry about it too much due to it being early summer, and you approached from the downwind side. They probably don’t even know what you were and will most likely be back in that bedding area within a day.
Make sure the camera that you put in the bedding area has fresh batteries, because the most important factor when it comes to setting up trail cameras in a bedding area is to let that camera sit all summer long. You don’t need to be walking in on the bedding area twice a month to check your camera; let that camera sit until late summer. This will test your patience, but if you can control yourself and let it sit there for a good 8-10 weeks, that camera will most likely give you the most accurate inventory of the deer you have on your property. Not all deer hit the same food sources or travel the same paths, but if you only have one or two primary bedding locations on your property, there’s a good chance most of the deer on your property will use the bedding area sometime throughout the summer. Those 8-10 weeks should provide you with a good inventory of most of the deer in your area, so there’s no need to check that camera again and disturb the bedding area before the season starts. You’re better off pulling that camera and replacing it on a food source for the late summer/early fall months.
Food Sources/Field Edges
Field edges on food sources are probably the most common spot to put up a trail camera in the summer months, and that’s not by accident; this can be another great way to get an inventory of the deer on your property. It all really depends on how many food sources there are on your property and the properties that surround you. If the food source on your property is the only food source in the surrounding area, a couple trail cameras on the edges of the field can be a great way to find out how many mature bucks you have in the area. If you find yourself hunting a property that has multiple food sources or is surrounded by other properties with multiple food sources, then your chances of getting an accurate head count of mature bucks in your area are greatly decreased. Mature bucks usually live in a very small core range, which means once they identify a food source to hit in the summer, they usually stick to that food source unless they get bumped out of it. Therefore, if a buck chooses a food source that your camera isn’t on, then chances of you getting a picture of him are slim to none even if he is bedding on your property.
Putting cameras up on food sources is much easier than slipping into a bedding area and putting up a camera because you don’t really run the risk of bumping any deer unless you decide to be a knucklehead and walk out there in the last couple hours of daylight. I recommend putting it up in the middle of the day when deer movement is at a minimum, but still be conscious of the wind direction and make sure it’s not blowing in the direction of a primary bedding area. Many hunters check their cameras on field edges weekly; this year try to have a little bit more patience and check it once a month. This will keep your scent at a minimum and give you a better idea of deer activity in accordance with wind direction, temperature, pressure systems, and moon phases throughout the month. If you check it once a week, your scent is thrown around more often and could throw off the deer movement and give you inaccurate data when it comes to deer activity. Put that camera up in mid-June, keep your checks to once a month, and let that camera do its thing until the season starts; if you get lucky you might be able to pattern that big guy hitting your food source and shoot him opening night!
Heavily Used Trails
Heavily used trails between bedding areas and food sources often go overlooked in the summer months. What if that giant mature buck is bedding on your property, but using an overlooked trail leading to a food source off your property? Chances are you aren’t getting pictures of him and won’t have any idea he is there once the time the season hits; which can lead to making a mistake and bumping him off the property. I believe one reason most hunters don’t put their cameras on trails is because it usually doesn’t produce a large quantity of pictures. Guys want to check their cameras and see 3,000+ plus photos they can scroll through, which is understandable. I say quality over quantity though and putting trail cameras on game trails can lead to very quality pictures.
Those trails are there for a reason, deer are using them and using them often. Putting a camera on a trail that is leading off your property could give you an idea of other deer on your property that aren’t utilizing your food source. Put a couple cameras on trails leading to food sources you don’t have access to in the early summer and let those cameras sit for at least a month. Check them in late July and see what kind of pictures you’re getting. By letting those cameras sit there for multiple weeks, you’ll get a good idea of what deer are heading off your property to feed in the evenings. This is an excellent way to get a full inventory of the deer on your property once you combine these pictures with pictures from your food source camera.
If you have one takeaway from this, it should be that you need to do whatever it takes this summer to have some patience and stay away from checking your cameras on a weekly or biweekly basis no matter where your cameras are located. Try to keep it to once a month, and I truly believe you’ll like the results. Continue to setup your cameras on the edges of your food sources, but also try something new this year; sneak into a bedding area or put a camera on a heavily used trail in the middle of the timber. You might like what you see on the camera, and if you play your cards right you might like what you see on your wall next year!
Crawford-Summer Trail Cam Locations.jpg = By taking a risk and putting a trail camera up in the middle of a bedding area, I was able to learn that this giant was bedding on a small piece of private property I hunt in southern Michigan. This photo was taken in late September just before bow season.
