You’ve heard the cliché before from real estate selling: “Location, location, location.”
Well, the same is true for placing trail cameras. It only makes sense to put a camera where you think deer will be moving, but sometimes an odd location can yield some unexpected results. So, once in a while it pays off to play around with a camera spot or two just to see what turns up.
But standard locations to place cameras include:
• Trails — Active trails are prime. Use care when scouting, being sure to minimize disturbances and maximize scent control. The idea is to not spook deer out of an area before you can capture them on the camera and hunt them.
Look for active trails coming out of woods, cutovers or thickets into a feeding area or food plot. Search around the perimeters of ponds, creeks and ditches where rainwater drains to bigger drainages. Cruise slowly down fence lines bordering timber or other cover.
Check these spots after a rain to see if there are fresh signs of use.
• Food plots — Place cameras where deer tend to gather. Food plots or acorn flats are perfect for this. The old adage still holds true: Where does gather to eat the bucks are soon to show up. Large groupings of deer yield more information.
If there are no trees nearby, use a metal fence post as a camera mount.
• Funnels — Anywhere travel routes narrow is a place to put a camera. Especially scout out creek crossings. And check out any type of utility rights of way. Do the same where two or three different types of habitats converge or parallel each other.
• Rubs — What better evidence of a buck\’s presence than a rub or a scrape? Rub lines are especially good places to hang a camera. Be sure the camera placement captures the rubs.
Though not always a guarantee, a buck rubbing a line can mean the deer is there to stay for a while. Just don\’t hunt right over the rubs.
• Scrapes — Scrapes prove a buck has been there. A nearby camera is very likely to catch the action, though it mostly likely will be at night or early morning. Be sure to monitor the time stamp on the photos. Keep a careful eye on a scrape camera.
Once the scrape action ends, this could mean the rut is about to happen. Be mindful there can be more than one scrape cycle in a deer season.
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