I did last season without cameras, and it was fun, I enjoy the surprise.

But truth be told, anyone that thinks cameras are picking up every single deer that comes into an area is just lying or foolish. Even with multiple cameras on a specific set up, there will still be some surprises that show up in the margins no camera picks up.

I sue my cams more as a way to tell when the protein is gone and when pigs need popped. The pigs are so sporadic on my place it makes doing any work on them not fun. but if i see a ranod couple days in a row or a lone boar frequenting a feeder, I will make an effort.

I enjoy looking at bucks as they come thru on cam, but I have no doubt the cameras I have set up (and the timing frequency of pics 1/min) is not picking up every buck out there.

I used my phone last season to save some bucks from the chop list tho, decent 4-5 yo that could be much better outside the drought and with some more age. So pics in general can be very useful for management, but I am not being specific with only just game cam pics.

I never started. I love NOT knowing what is out there.
Adios,
Gary

Not me
I like seeing what I'm missing out on.

I live on my ranch so I see with my own eyes the majority of animal life here. The cameras just supplement that. During the rut, dozens of new bucks show up and it’s helpful to me to have the cameras running. Tracking predator numbers is very helpful too.

On my last Texas lease, some used them a lot. Me, not so much. In 10 years I think we only shot 2 camera bucks, but quite a few more that just showed up. I did have a big 11 that I wanted, but couldn’t go the entire week that he showed up at a feeder daily .

I use them and enjoy seeing what shows up at the feeder and how many. All the deer don't come to the feeder. Think it was 2 years ago I shot a very nice buck that had not been on any camera all season.

Accuracy while running a deer census doesn't come easy as it takes a lot of time, money, and effort. Training to learn to perform a census also takes patience with a lot of mistakes and frustration. Reading about different procedures and processes helps but nothing beats experiences with time learning. No one that I know of goes through the steps that I follow to get the precision needed for the accuracy that I have learned through the many years and experiences. To put down on paper what I've learned through the years I would have to write a book...which would probably just as frustrating.lol
If I had to pass on the most important thing about counting deer it would have to be just enjoy the experience and don't worry about anything else. During the experience you will learn a lot about deer you never thought about deer doing. I would recommend performing a census every year. The census process became a hobby in itself and grew every year.
Good Luck!

I enjoy seeing the pictures, and I never had any illusions that I was seeing everything.

I date back to my first camera being film that had to be developed. My wife would pick up the pics and the attendant would tell her that I had a good one show up. I think she enjoyed them as well. Fast forward to the cell cams that I quit using a couple of years ago due to it driving me crazy. Nothing like sitting at camp mid day and your target buck is at your feeder sending you selfies. I no longer use them and anticipate the unknown of that monster buck no one ever sees walking out for me.

Still use a couple of cameras, like others have said I don't rely on them I am just curious to see what is coming up to the feeder and to make sure I am not getting a lot of hogs in the area.

Mostly I just download all the pictures on my pc, so I will have something to do later that night when I am down at the lease during the off season. (me flipping through pictures on my pc) "coon, coon, dove, coon, sparrow, doe, coon, doe, more does, porcupine, doe, ringtail cat, landowners dog, BUCK!!! doves, doe.........etc)

My lease is 230 miles from my house, so it’s nice to have some idea of what’s happening, especially if we want to zap a few incidental pigs after doing the maintenance work.

Still use ours, still like them. Still get surprised every year with animals never on the cams and still get to enjoy seeing the things we would never know existed without them.

How small of places are they? I’d say maybe your attempts to close in on them are why you are chasing them away.

Who knows, my home place is 23 acres I have a feeder and protein feeder out. I have a ton of deer hitting the feed and water all spring/summer long. Sometime just before deer season they vanish except for the wee hours of the night. I’ve been here 3 years and never shot at one.

Just in case my batteries go dead, I also pay a squirrel to watch for me

I have some of the pics printed and put them with my Wildlife Management Tax statement. I load that thing up with all kind of pics.

The April issue of Deer and Deer Hunting magazine included a good read on game cameras with the key point being the need for a strategy to the get most out of them. I suspect the strategy followed by the vast majority of Texas deer hunters is nothing more than putting a camera at their feeder just to see what shows up to eat. Nothing wrong with that but it can eventually lead to boredom after looking at photos of the same deer for months on end. And how many times has that nice buck you've been watching at your feeder all summer suddently disappeared once October rolls around. With just a little more effort and thought, they could expand that strategy by using an additional camera to find out what isn't showing up to eat. During the rut and after all the shooting has started, mature bucks will often scent check feeders for estrus does from a safe distance and never appear on camera. Find an area away from the feeder on the downwind side of prevailing winds and you might be surprised at what your camera uncovers. Another strategy that I've used successfully is to use cameras to confirm bucks are using certain travel funnels and pinch points, or routes that seem safer to them.

Using cameras to only watch feeders is like buying a hammer to only drive nails. While it's good for that, it comes in handy for lots of other work.

I’m not giving them up, we hunt different properties in Texas and Oklahoma at different times of the rut and their the only way I know what’s going on at any given time. They give us a pretty good idea what’s around but every year we have unknown bucks show up during the pre rut, rut and post rut so they simply tell me when to hunt a specific location at a certain time. We don’t pick a deer and stick to it but I’ve got 2 I’d give one of my testicles for if they’d show up during the daylight when I’m sitting there
I use them for timing not hunting specific deer but the mileage may vary with your uses,,

We use cameras as our main management tool - helps greatly with aging, etc. No member of our lease can put their own cameras up (we are community stands) - our group puts the cameras out and checks them and any member is welcome to help put them out and check them - we have designated days when we go pull cards and any member is welcome - we then share all pics will all members - has worked well for us over the years

I get where some folks would not want to rely on them. One thing we do not allow is cameras to be out during the season - we pull them all up before the hunting starts

Hold on there Numbnutz. We need to find you an additional hobby.

Good move that evens the playing field and keeps people focused on what's on their own plate.

Yes Sir! That is exactly why we do it

I kind of have, especially during the season. I do like to put one out right after the season as I start protein to see what bucks made it through the season alive.

My county likes to see protein feeder pics, one for each quarter, in the Wildlife Valuation report. I put in one pic of one feeder each quarter. (I fill 3 to 4, depending on how much the feed store can cram in the hopper trailer.) So far, so good.

One of the best uses of game cameras IMO.

Might put one on my gate so that I can see who's coming onto the ranch or at least who is trying to get on the ranch.
Adios,
Gary

we do that also - leave cameras out for a couple of months after end of season to see how they are doing