[{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/blog\/dont-fall-into-the-trail-camera-trap-this-time-of-year\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/blog\/dont-fall-into-the-trail-camera-trap-this-time-of-year\/","headline":"Don\u2019t Fall into The Trail Camera Trap This Time of Year","name":"Don\u2019t Fall into The Trail Camera Trap This Time of Year","description":"When it comes to trail cameras, you can easily fall into a trap of relying on the information they produce to plan 100% of your hunts.","datePublished":"2018-10-17","dateModified":"2018-10-16","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/author\/hagosto\/#Person","name":"Hector Agosto","url":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/author\/hagosto\/","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7bfedbdc5ef3ed8f8df91eb37e1ffbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7bfedbdc5ef3ed8f8df91eb37e1ffbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Legendary Whitetails","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"http:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/logo-legendary-whitetails.png","url":"http:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/logo-legendary-whitetails.png","width":522,"height":226}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Trail-Camera-Trap.jpg","url":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Trail-Camera-Trap.jpg","height":1508,"width":2500},"url":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/blog\/dont-fall-into-the-trail-camera-trap-this-time-of-year\/","about":["Hunting"],"wordCount":834,"keywords":["Hunting Strategy","Public Land","Tips"],"articleBody":"One of my favorite things about deer hunting is checking trail cameras. I know some hunters out there that aren\u2019t big fans, but I\u2019d venture to guess that a large majority of you reading this like to check trail cameras and see pictures of bucks just as much as I do. The thrill of flipping through an SD card can be pretty exhilarating, especially when you land on a photo of a mature buck. When it comes to trail cameras, you can easily fall into a trap of relying on the information they produce to plan 100% of your hunts. The goal of this article is to dissuade you from hunting like this, and not to fall into that trap, especially this time of year.Night Time Photos During early and mid-October, no matter where your trail cameras are, this is when you\u2019ll get the most nighttime photos. Daylight trail camera photos will probably become less and less, but don\u2019t let that deter you from hunting. Depending on how much property you have access to hunt, you can look at it a couple different ways. If you are able to, take that information you are getting from a buck showing up during the cover of darkness and try to figure out where he\u2019s coming from. Is there any type of move you can make to push back closer to his bedding and possibly have a run in with him during daylight?In other situations (like mine currently) I\u2019ve got photos of a couple different mature bucks, mostly at night, but I\u2019ve only got permission on a very small piece of private and I\u2019m not able to push back closer to bedding because that\u2019s on a property I cannot hunt. However, I will be hunting that stand when conditions are perfect, correlating with a cold front. I\u2019ve got a few daylight photos, as recent as a few weeks ago, so I know when the right conditions present themselves, there\u2019s a chance one of those bucks will come by during legal shooting hours, and that\u2019s when I need to be in the stand.Trail Cameras Tell only a Small Story As amazing as trail cameras are, what I always stress to people is that they are only telling you a small part of the story of what\u2019s going on in the world of deer. Though they can help, don\u2019t use them as a crutch. This time of year, most mature bucks aren\u2019t moving very far during daylight, and if your trail camera isn\u2019t in the right spot, a buck could easily be walking by every night just behind the camera or out of range.If you have the ability to scout a new property, what I like to do is go in and scout for hot sign. I might set up where I think is a good spot, and when I leave I\u2019ll throw up a trail camera. When I come back to hunt again, I\u2019ll check the camera and correlate what I have on it with any new sign or lack thereof that I see. If I can confirm an identity of a buck through a trail camera, that will give me a better idea of what\u2019s in the area. If I don\u2019t get a mature buck on camera, but there\u2019s still really good sign, I might move the camera and continue to hunt the area. What I\u2019m really getting at here, is that if there isn\u2019t a mature buck on camera, don\u2019t automatically write the spot off.Final Thoughts So often, hunters won\u2019t even hunt an area until they have daylight photos of a buck. I think that strategy can be flawed, especially during early and mid-October. The problem is if you wait until you see a buck move in daylight, you could be too late. I\u2019ve got three different bucks on the same trail camera that I would shoot no question. Most of the photos are an hour to two after shooting light in the evening. I\u2019ve got intermittent photos of them in the last hour of the day over the course of the last month. If I waited right now until I got daylight photos again, I could miss my opportunity. Instead, I know they are in there, and when I\u2019ve got the right conditions, I\u2019m going in to hunt them regardless if they\u2019ve shown up in daylight. I want to be in the stand the next time they move through in legal shooting light. If I wait for daylight photos, I could miss out on my chance. Don\u2019t fall into this trap during the month of October."},{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/#breadcrumbitem","name":"Legendary Whitetail's Blog"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/blog\/dont-fall-into-the-trail-camera-trap-this-time-of-year\/#breadcrumbitem","name":"Don\u2019t Fall into The Trail Camera Trap This Time of Year"}}]}]