Summer is an excellent time to begin running cellular trail cameras to scout bucks.
How do I get trail cam photos of every buck on my hunting property? That’s an important question that requires answering many other questions. But good locations, attention to detail, and the right trail cameras and accessories can make all the difference in your trail camera program’s effectiveness.
When I first started hunting, we only had 35mm trail cameras. By the time the photos were developed, the intel and movement patterns were ancient history. And then came a digital rendition, which had an actual digital camera inside a weatherproof housing. I could check pictures at the camera location, which was pretty neat, but the trigger speed was like 6 seconds. In other words, that dinosaur provided just as many blank photos as photos of deer.
Whether you use them or not, modern trail cameras drastically change the way that we hunt. No trips to the department store’s photo desk, and no more visits to pull cards. Cellular trail cameras deliver instant results.
As good as cellular trail cameras are, they don’t automatically capture every buck roaming your chunk of woods. A lot of details and strategy go into a successful trail camera program. To that end, here are some tips that can put more buck images on your phone.
Where legal, mineral licks are excellent for inventorying deer herds.
How Do I Use Cellular Trail Cameras Over Mineral Sites?
Summer bucks are very photo-friendly. Be sure to place your cellular trail cameras by mid-July or sooner. If legal, feeding minerals and/or supplements creates a hub that bucks cannot resist and makes an excellent camera location to take buck inventory. Does and fawns crave the nutrients for overall health, and bucks need them for that and antler development.
Set the camera delay to at least a few minutes, because one deer will likely spend at least that much time feeding. You don’t need a picture every 10 seconds. Also, consider setting the cameras to video mode. If you want to adjust your cellular Muddy or Stealth Cam camera, you can do so in the Command app.
Water sources can be great locations to photograph bucks anytime ice is covering them, but summertime in the heat can be especially productive.
How Do I Use Cellular Trail Cameras Over Water Holes?
Water sources also make excellent summer trail camera locations, especially in a drought. On public land, use HuntStand’s Hybrid and Natural Atlas base maps to identify water, but also be sure to scout in person, as some obscure waterholes won’t show up. Locate a small, solitary water source, and it should be rife with buck activity.
If you own a property but doesn’t have a water source, consider adding one. Also, if you have a tractor with a bucket or a mini excavator, all you need is a pond liner, and if the soil has enough clay, you won’t even need that. If you don’t have equipment, consider renting. It might cost $200-300 per day, but it should only take a few hours to put the pond in. In some cases, filling it might be the most difficult logistics. As for the camera’s delay, one minute is usually a good starting point.
Green food sources, such as clover or alfalfa, draw lots of bucks during the summer and warmer fall weather.
How Do I Use Cellular Trail Cameras Over Food Sources in Summer?
From summertime through early bow season, set cameras on food plots and soft-mast trees. Deer eat like crazy all summer long to bulk up for the fall, making alfalfa, clover, chicory, and soybeans great camera locations. Position your cameras where deer enter and exit the most frequently, and in a week, it’s likely all or at least most of the deer will walk in front of those cameras.
Field edges and soft-mast trees don’t always have ideal trees nearby on which to hang your cameras, but with a Solar Camera Mounting Post by Wildgame Innovations ($37.99), simply place your camera where you want.
As seasons shift, be sure to cover new food sources with your trail cameras.
How Do I Use Cellular Trail Cameras Over Food Sources in Fall?
Now that you have a recipe for summertime trail camera success, be prepared for the bucks to throw you a curveball. As bucks shed their velvet and more food sources become available (hint, hint: acorns), patterns will shift, and bucks might vacate food sources they frequented all summer. Call an audible with your trail cameras.
Scout for acorns. With your binos, glass the oak treetops for acorns. Also, watch for acorns on the ground or the telltale signs of deer activity below oak trees, such as fresh acorn caps and rooted-up leaves. Place cameras under trees with obvious feeding activity. Don’t forget to hang some trail cameras on ridges, benches, and saddles in the vicinity of acorn-producing oaks, too. At the feeding area, a delay of two to three minutes should be good, but on the travel routes, I’d set it to 10 seconds. You also might want to use video mode for easier antler assessment.
Are you leveraging the best locations at the different points of the year in order to capture the most bucks on your trail cameras?
How Do I Use Cellular Trail Cameras Over Pre-Rut Sign, Such as Rubs and Scrapes?
Although the rut is weeks away, it is also a good time to scout for fresh scrapes. If bow season is open and you find screaming-fresh scrapes, go ahead and hang cameras over them, but be sure to hunt them the first time the wind allows, as bucks are very susceptible to this now versus compared to during the rut.
If you find an area with obvious deer traffic and you believe bucks are using the area, create a mock scrape using some scents, such as Buck Bomb’s Scrape Kit ($13.99). Mock scrapes make excellent trail camera locations during the pre-rut, and most bucks cruising through will hit them. I usually have the camera delay set to 30 seconds or less (even down to 10 seconds), as bucks rarely spend much time on scrapes, and a new buck could come to it relatively fast. Video mode provides the best antler perspective.
The best trail camera locations don’t always have ideal trees on which to hang cameras, which makes a portable mounting stick a worthwhile tool.
How Do I Use Cellular Trail Cameras During the Peak of the Rut?
The rut brings on a whole new dimension. I prefer to leave cameras on scrapes from early October through November. Towards the end of October and into November, I fully anticipate new bucks to pop up on the scrapes. Cameras on scrapes also tell me when bucks go into lockdown. Often, a scrape or mock scrape will have daily buck activity, and then abruptly go dead, informing me that breeding is in full swing.
During the rut, funnels and travel corridors, especially ones that connect bedding areas, are good places to catch cruising bucks. If you get a buck on camera that you want to kill, your window of opportunity could be slim. He’s likely in the general area and will cruise through again, but maybe only once.
Food sources with consistent doe traffic are great during the rut. When temperatures are higher, try green food sources, such as clover, alfalfa, or winter wheat. In cooler weather, corn and soybeans are king. You might have to wade through lots of doe photos, but you’ll get a good sampling of what bucks are in your hunting area, including new ones moving through to scent-check does.
Even during the rut, the oldest and wisest bucks don’t typically run around in the wide open all day long, as some folks misconceive. I’ve interviewed dozens and dozens of successful hunters who’ve taken giant bucks, and I’ve learned that the really old bucks tend to have smaller rut areas. There are exceptions, of course, but the oldest bucks sometimes even have a specific spot that they push does to during the 48-hour lockdown period.
If you’ve gotten to know a buck or two from several consecutive years of scouting and hunting them, hopefully, you’ve identified some lockdown locations and can hang trail cameras there for kicks, too. During the rut, I want my camera’s delay set as low as it goes, because it’s possible that multiple bucks could run by a camera within minutes or even seconds. I want to capture images of all of them.
In the fall, shift trail cameras as deer transition into new patterns.
How Do I Use Cellular Trail Cameras During the Late Season?
A lot of hunters lose enthusiasm by late season. In my opinion, this is perhaps the best time to keep your trail camera strategy and hunting going strong. With the primary rut over, bucks will be on winter food sources: corn, soybeans, winter wheat, brassicas, and out west, hayfields. Count on it.
If there’s snow on the ground, it will be pretty obvious where to set your trail cameras, given all of the tracks. If not, study the food source for feeding activity and scat. Get your cameras up and be sure to rig them with a solar panel, as cold winter weather can drain batteries fast. Two great options are Stealth Cam’s 3,000MAH FieldMax EX Solar Battery Pack ($119.99) or HME’s Trail Camera 12V/Solar Auxiliary Power Pack; $99.99).
Hunting over food sources during the late season is unforgiving. Unlike the rut, being in the woods as often as possible can actually hurt your chances of taking a great buck. Deer have been hunted for two to three months, and they don’t tolerate pressure at this point. If bumped, they might continue hitting the food source at night, but the mature bucks might vacate altogether. Rely pretty heavily on trail camera intel as far as when to hunt.
Be mindful of scent when handling trail cameras.
How Do I Keep Deer from Smelling My Scent Around Cellular Trail Cameras?
Now that we’ve discussed top locations to capture every buck in the area, let’s address some fine details that can significantly impact your success. First, anytime you go into the woods and hang a camera, swap a card, or replace batteries, wear rubber boots like Muddy’s DV8 13” Non-Insulated Boot ($159.99) to minimize odor contamination. Always douse your boots with Scent-A-Way Max Odorless Spray ($11.99), and be sure to spray your hands before touching the camera.
I mentioned the benefit of lengthening battery life with solar panels during the late season in low temperatures, but solar panels are great because you can keep your trail cameras going all year with virtually no woods visits. Remember, the more you visit a camera location, the more commotion and scent will disrupt your results.
Stealth Cam’s Revolver Pro 3.0 360° Cellular Trail Camera is arguably one of the best ways to see what you’ve been missing, especially on field, food plots, and other open areas. See sidebar for more details.
Pair your cell cameras with external power sources, such as solar panels, to maximize battery life.
What Are the Best Cellular Trail Cameras on the Market for Inventorying Deer Herds?
Stealth Cam’s Revolver Pro 3.0 360° Cellular Trail Camera
- Six cameras in one: Great for fields, food plots, clearings, and water sources where deer enter and exit from unpredictable locations. With 360 degrees of detection and coverage, you won’t miss deer.
- Get it now: Photos and videos can be transmitted on demand for instant intel.
- Go long: The Revolver has a 100-foot detection range.
- Choose your quality: Select from image resolutions ranging from 4-40MB.
- Take command: Manage data and camera settings remotely via Stealth Cam’s Command app.
Muddy Matrix 3.0 Cellular Trail Camera
- Reliable network coverage: Two preinstalled SIM cards provide automatic connectivity to AT&T or Verizon, whichever provides the stronger cellular signal at the camera location.
- Bring your data to life: 36MP images and 1080P full HD video, complete with audio, enhance buck identification. On-demand data transmission is possible at the push of a button.
- Settings and sharing: Do it all within the Command app.
- One with nature: The distressed camera shell blends seamlessly with tree trunks.
- Quick setup: Just scan the QR code.
Wildgame Innovations Terra XT 2.0 – 3 Pack
- Killer value: Get three trail cameras at one great price.
- Wireless connectivity: Reliable coverage is provided by Verizon and AT&T networks.
- On-demand photos and videos: Yes
- Settings and data management: The user-friendly HuntSmart app puts the camera’s back end at your fingertips
- High-quality images and videos: Images are captured at up to 24MB, and videos are shot in crisp 720P resolution.
- Don’t miss: A fast 0.5-second trigger speed puts more subjects in the center of the image for easier review.
How Do I Capture Every Buck in My Hunting Area? All of the Above.
No matter how many trail cameras you have in the field, it’s always possible that a buck can slip through the cracks. But stay persistent and keep a journal, and you can improve your trail camera program every year, which can influence your hunting success. The insights and tips we’ve discussed here will get you started.
