I’m thinking I’m gonna try a season without. The properties I currently hunt are relatively small and have been running cams for years. I get a lot of pics, which give me a good idea of what’s around. But the second I see a buck on a cam that becomes a target, it seems to never work out. I can pattern best I can by the sightings on camera and when I adjust, he goes the opposite. We targeted a buck in Montague county last year that managed to dodge us at every turn. I know the cameras don’t capture everything and there is always a possible element of surprise but I feel they also strip a lot of the hunting experience from you. You may pass on a good buck because you have a better one on camera, but if you didn’t have the camera pics of the bigger one you would have shot the first and been totally happy. Anybody still go old school and keep the technology out of it?

I have fewer cameras than I once did. Probably won’t quit using them though.

I quit using cameras several years ago

I like to be surprised now

To me, too much tech can certainly be harmful but game cams havent gotten to that point yet(for me). Depending on how they are used it certainly could be an issue.
The guys I hunt with all agree that kiling the right deer and not killing the wrong deer(usually age) is very important. That trumps about everything else and cams are a great way to help ID certain deer and allow the group to all come to a consensus on which to kill and which not to. Of course, there can always be "surprise" deer and that makes it exciting.
It also adds an entire extra element to the overall experience. Just looking at deer we have chronicled over the years and watched how they develop is a fun game to play and you can play it at any time on your screen without having to go to the woods.
Everyone wont agree but thats just one more example of Huds list of how we are all so different on here.

Same here.

I will run one every now and again on a protein feeder or during the pre season but otherwise don’t use them to aide in hunting.

The last lease I was on, everybody was enthralled with the cameras (non-cell) the first month maybe of the first season. Then it was basically me looking at them. Then I learned to not show things to the resident "deer expert", aka our "manager". They can cause problems when all the blinds/sets are shared. Just like on here, getting two people to agree 100% exactly the same way, much less 4, is difficult. Hell, you can't get all 4 people to put the dam cards back in properly and remember to turn it back on. Then some would let their kids do it. (Okay, one of our guys had a serious focus problem.) I guess the cell cameras that send to a group might fix that problem. I do admire the guys that review all pics together and come up with a unified plan of what to shoot. 'Not my style, but I do appreciate the system.

On my place, I put a camera, of some sort, at each set, starting mid-September or first of October, whenever I start up all the corn feeders. They help me know where axis are coming through, if there's any other random exotics drifting through, and which feeders the pigs are keeping the deer from eating at. Usually, one pop at a pig and they'll go nocturnal.

During the summer, just a few tell me what pig traps to bait. It's not a perfect system, but I'm continually improving my game.

Using cameras or not to use them: I wouldn't hunt without them as you acquire a lot of information and knowledge. If you rather not to use them then it is the game you chose. I want to get the most out of my hunt each day and night. I harvest a buck about every two or three years and the reason is I hunt for the buck of a life time and the unusual buck. For me it would be so boring to hunt just going to a blind and see the same deer each day. I...get the most out of hunting as I am continuing changing my techniques until I see different and more deer. I do not see the same deer each hunt as I get older I learn different tricks.It is a game that I play such that each hour I am expecting what the next minute will bring in the blind and on cameras.
I would be so disappointed in myself if I didn't give it all I've got as it is the hunt that I'm after not the kill as I let trophies go that other hunters would love to kill. Cameras add so much to the hunt 24 hours a day. I get excited to go through the pictures each day just as I do for each minute I'm in the blind and I look forward to the next day as I hunt every day I can which is about 4 days a week and it never gets old.
Good Luck

I kinda agree as I like surprises also. Mine are now mostly to check varmint and cow activity around my pens to see what's tearing up what. I did have a bunch put out last season after one of my feeders got shot up.

I put them out for our game surveys, but I rarely check them other than for that.

I wanna know what my options are because I might pass on something I wouldn't otherwise. I use them to formulate a hit list but I have never used them to influence where or how I hunt, just targets.

I like the cameras simply for the pictures. Other than giving me an idea of what kinds of animals are out there I really don't use them in any way for actual hunting.

Im much happier that I no longer run them. only point I see in them is early season amd late season just to see what you have. Rest of the season Im all in on suprises

As I rarely shoot bucks any more, the camera tells me where to send the grandson for his buck. I only have 2 Tactacam Reveal SK cameras out right now.

where is the thrill of the hunt if you already know what is there, thats just me, a bunch of the hunters i hunt with use them and go crazy with it , watching game cams from there desk at work. one thing they are good for is keeping the quail hunters from wheeling up and blasting your feed pen while your not there

Because I don't use feeders at the landowner's request, I keep several cameras running during the season to keep track of what deer are using which trails. These also tend to let me know what the deer are eating by what browse is available at the time. During the off season, I keep just a couple running, including one at the tank to check for hogs and another on the most heavily used trail. The one at the tank is a cellular camera that has earned me several next evening hog kills.

I never get photos of bucks during the off season, but start seeing them religiously starting in late September and early October once hunter pre-season activity picks up the area. Because I keep the ATV parked until there is meat on the ground and always walk to my stands, I'm convinced the small, 80-acre tract is where the bucks run to hide once the shooting starts.

Here's an example of one of those pre-season buck photos.

Via my cameras enjoy seeing the variety of game on my place. Yotes, turkeys, quail, bob cats, badgers, and deer,

Like knowing my resident bucks however rarely take a buck I've seen on camera, Most bucks harvested are during rut transiting my place checking out my does.

I like pics purely to see what is out there or coming through but don't strategize my hunting by them. I don't want to ever put myself in a "paralysis by analysis" situation. Don't do it in work, my golfing or anything else either. Enjoy the surprises and chance in life I suppose.

I mainly use them to pattern hogs on a feeder. We are using fewer than we used too. We like seeing different species of animals that come through

I wouldn’t hunt whitetail without cameras. They are an important and necessary part of my management plan. I can’t manage doe numbers, age classes, pigs, and herd health without them. Knowing what deer lives or visits the land doesn’t make it not a surprise when they show up.

For example - we had 12 bucks over 5.5 last year on camera. Throughout the whole season (October - February) only 5 of those bucks showed up in daylight on camera. 4 of those 5 showed up on daylight while we were actually at the ranch and only 1 of those 4 was actually seen in person and killed by us. it was very much a surprise having my buck step out that morning, knowing which deer it was didn’t take anything away from that. On the contrary, having 3 years of history made it more special.

I also could not manage my deer herd without cameras. Cameras play an important roll in my deer senses as it is the most accurate process to determine numbers of bucks, does, and fawns. Cameras determine when I'm getting in trouble with the population and gives me a solution to resolve those problems. Camera census is the only prof when P&W goes off in a wrong path of over harvesting bucks or does. Just complaining without real numbers will get you nowhere! P&W cannot tell how many deer are present in any one area as the only thing they can determine is their are deer in an area or not. P&W makes an attempt to determine if the herd getting larger or smaller...that may take two or three years of low numbers of deer or three numbers of too many deer in any one area. P&W may relay on hunters wanting more doe permits. Hunters determining they need more permits may also be wrong as not all hunters may not have an accurate count either.
Once you start using cameras while using a proven method to determine a herd definition you will learn how wrong some surveys are just not reliable.
Cameras are necessary!

Without a camera how will you ever prove Big Foot is real?

Just thinking or maybe musing.

With only 133 acres, I can’t manage much. But, I enjoy the cams. I have 6 feeders and 3 hunters. I’m one and enjoy hunting but don’t feel like I have to kill anything to have enjoyed myself. I don’t enjoy sitting and seeing nothing. The 5 places adjoining me are not hunted. At least, not legally.

The deer appear to be healthy and I generally have 2 feeders throwing protein or corn and seldom worry about cams. Pigs appear to be eating more protein and/or corn than deer. At this time, pigs have left my place but they will be back. Crows take a lot of the corn so I’m only throwing the corn at night or late afternoon.

Considering selling the place. At 80 yoa, I really can’t do it the way I used to and hate to be dependent on others; no matter who they are. Without a wildlife exemption to help with taxes. I couldn’t afford to keep it.

White trash trailer house really needs work but still keeps the rain out and I’m no longer in shape to do it. That sux but wife has quit whining/ bitching/complaining about it.

Its our getaway place and I despise the idea of being stuck in the metro mess.

I use them, but don't live by them. I enjoy seeing who is showing up and what is happening around the feeder.

Cameras only show you what was there, not what is to come. Cameras are great. I use them. But, most of the pics are at night and I almost never see the animals when I'm hunting that I see on night cam pics. And, if you don't run cameras you can save a lot of money by not buying batteries and paying cell plans.

we have cameras running pretty much year around on 3 different places (12-15) but I usually pull cards & replace batteries and then forget to review the pictures. Usually months later when I am getting ready to replace batteries & cards, I scan thru those previously pulled, keep a few pictures and wipe for re-use. Some of our hunters live by their cameras, and share with the rest of us, especially on target bucks and those that are NOT on the hit list that show great potential that could catch you off guard. We do likewise when we remember to check the cards.