Whenever I get out to the lease, I always try to get there around noon and immediately check cameras to see what the current action is like. Do you guys do that as well, or do you just roll in and only go to your spots when getting into the blind/stand?

In hill country, NTX Just roll. Camera don’t mean nothing in Nov.

Now— I check and hunt via them sept/oct and late dec and Jan I check them.

I won't check cameras for areas I will be hunting that evening, but will check ones on the other side of the ranch

This is why I've started switching everything over to cellular cameras. No need to check anything, I've been watching them all week.

I don't think that's true. Your camera will tell you wether deer are coming into to that feeder for corn, or wether they are ignoring it. I checked my camera the other day, and had no deer at the feeder in a few days. So next trip I'm sitting in the brush. I usually check my camera every couple of weeks.

I typically wait to swap the cards after a hunt. Figure while i'm leaving ill grab them on the way out. I only check them max once a week, most of the time is every other week.

I check mine usually after I am done hunting. I need to put my Moultrie Modem and Moultrie Game Camera back up so I can check it from home, but I have to bring a ladder in and mount it at least 12’ off the ground with a swivel mount so I can get good reception with it. Lately I have been hunting late mornings till the evening so I haven’t had time to put it up, so hopefully I get a deer early so I can finally get it all set up during daylight. The Moultrie camera junked out on me so I had to send it out and get a replacement in the middle of Bow Season. Oh Joy lol. I have two Cuddeback cameras and they have been great so I think I am going to go with their CuddeLink cameras that let you designate one camera that can collect all the cameras photos and then you can download them from up to 1/4 mile away from the last camera in the chain. It’s free to download pics and you can pay and do their wireless plan if you want to. Then they sell a mobile unit that can be used to download them all to it for free.

The camera will only tell you:
Big bucks in velvet are patternable,.
Then in Oct once they shed velvet, they become less patternable
Then come mid nov and early dec. they rut and don’t come to specific corn sites. Total random if they even come to corn. Biggest is the “ IF”
Then in late dec they become patternable as they seek food sources to recover.

Cameras just give you an idea of what was there once. Hunting via game cameras is bound to disappoint and even cost you.

I have a deer I watched this weekend that hasn’t been on camera in four weeks, still not on camera. Watched him bedded with a doe on side of the mountain, two days in a row.

Don’t hunt via game cameras during non patternable times, it’s only tells you what was in a 15’x15’ area once apon a time.




This deer below was never on game camera, his hot doe was in feeder pen, he came in the corner but never with in camera funnel.

That boy's part Elk it seems

Once a week and more than once they have given me information on what stand to hunt.

Yelp he was a nice mature high beamed deer.

Don’t over think the camera in general. End of the day it has a very minute coverage on a very seasonal unpredictable opponent.

I get to hunt every other weekend so I will make it to the lease usually after work. I will hunt the following morning and after that hunt I will pull cards and run through them to see what is on them. I will typically pull cards after my last morning hunt as well before going home.

I agree with what BOBO says for my place.

Cameras during late summer/early fall help me to know some of what lives on my place and help during bowseason.
Come late October, it’s a big fruit basket turnover with bucks coming and going from who knows where. I’m gonna be in one certain stand for most of November anyway so while what’s on the cameras is interesting, it’s not really helpful for hunting. It’s just what was at that spot at that moment in time. Just gotta be there hunting.

Others’ mileage may vary with feeders, more patternable deer, etc.

I only use cameras to see what may be out there. I don't set them up over a feeder, but love to set them up looking down trails, creek crossings, scrapes, etc.

I check mine after the last morning hunt and replace with a different set of cards.

Getting to where I don't even want to worry about cameras. Sort of like the surprise of it all. Seems to be even less stressful dealing with cameras and I was only running 4.

I had two lease's 30 minute from the house and check twice a week before season to see what the pattern was

I always get to the lease at night, collect all cards on cameras at about 10 pm. This lets me know what to try to do for the weekend, best evening or morning stands.

We had pics of mature bucks prior to gun opener. They were caught on trails, not near feeders. Many of the bucks I've seen were never on camera at a feeder.

My point is, even this time of year, if you are running 3 cameras, and one is full of pictures every day and the other 2 aren't. Hunt the area where there are deer on camera every day.

I check mine in the middle of the day, usually every two days. I live on the property I hunt.

I also set my cameras on Video mode and leave them that way. You can tell so much more about your subject matter that way.

Like flintknapper, I hunt on the little place we have, so checking TC's isn't an issue, when I do pull cards while hunting, it is usually on the way in for an afternoon hunt, other than that around once a week or so.

Try to grab my cards mid day and will hand corn the area on the way out.

Usually the first day I get to camp or after the first hunt. I carry multiple cards, so I just swap them out and view the pictures later. If I'm filling the feeder, I'll swap the cards at the same time.

After the morning hunt on Saturdays.