Trail Cameras

This year will be our first year hunting on the family's new property.  So we are starting from the very beginning and trying to figure out the perfect place to hunt.  About two weeks ago we hiked the property and saw quite a bit of deer and elk sign.  We made our best guess on hunting spots and placed four trail cameras around the property.  After only one day we had several deer images, giving us faith in our initial choices.

We have let the property sit for almost two weeks now.  I can't wait to go hiking this weekend and collect our memory cards from the trail cameras.

If you haven't used trail cameras before I would highly recommend them.  Two years ago we placed trail cameras on a friend's property.  He thought that he only had a few deer and an occasional moose passing through because he didn't see much wildlife when he was hiking around, we bet him otherwise.  Within the first few weeks we had photos of hundreds of deer and at least 8-9 different bears with only two cameras.  If you place the right cameras in the right areas your property will come alive.  On top of that you can find out their patterns and it will help you know what time you need to be in your stand so that you are not scaring deer out as your packing in.

Where should you place a camera?  It will take a bit of guess work at first, but placing a camera is no different from choosing a tree stand location.  Look for deer sign (trails, bedding areas, tree rubs, scat, prints...) then place the camera a little off the trail and position your lenses so that it will get a wide view of the spot you've chosen. 

A quick note...bears (at least the ones we've encountered) seem to be very curious about the trail cameras.  We've had several cameras pulled out of their trees by bears:

So I strongly recommend looking for a camera with an outer-housing that will allow you to chain it to the tree.  Use a light chain and lock, the bungee cords we used at first were not strong enough.  Once you've secured your camera to the tree, give it some time then enjoy your photos.  You never know...you might capture some amazing moments.