Game camera and spooking deer

Doh41 · #1 (**permalink**) 10-21-2011, 09:37 PM

Does anyone hunt near their game camera? Or should remove them so they dont spook the deer. On most of my pictures the bucks seem to be nervous when the camera goes off.

timberghost · #2 (**permalink**) 10-22-2011, 07:33 AM

I bought a cheapo at Walmart and the darn think makes a noise when it takes a picture. Kind of like a Polaroid camera. I don't know if the deer eventually get used to it or not. I have hunted near cameras before and have had great success too.

thomasmgp · #3 (**permalink**) 10-22-2011, 08:55 PM

I have top of the line cameras but I never see anything when I hunt and they are active. If I plan on hunting a certain stand I turn off the camera the day before. My last memory card had 150 pics in just 2 days with as many as 6 deer in a pic including 2 nice bucks but as soon as I got in the stand didnt see a damn thing lol. Also theres a reason most of the pics any trial cam takes have the deer looking straight at the camera.

You dont have to remove them just flip the switch to off.

Win73 · #4 (**permalink**) 10-23-2011, 03:40 PM

Look at these four pictures and the time span. They were taken from 5:12 to 5:21, a span of 9 minutes. There was another picture in the group that I didn't include because you can't see the bucks antlers. I have the camera set to take three pictures each time it trips. So that buck was flashed at 15 times in 9 minutes. It didn't seem to worry him too much.

I do leave my cameras out year round and don't turn them off. Just replace batteries and rotate memory cards.

tator · #5 (**permalink**) 10-24-2011, 08:25 AM

Deer often think that the flash is lightening and that the loud BOOM of a gun is thunder.... now granted.. when rifle season starts and they hear alot of BOOMs, they quickly know what's up. This buck in these pics is clearly used to the flash.

I hunt next to my trail cams, never thought about turning them off.

Hellbilly · #6 (**permalink**) 10-24-2011, 10:55 PM

there not spooked by the cam something else has them spooked and any little thing sets them off.Have you been out there walking around? have you seen any sign of yotes? Is there other people in the area? It didnt bother this little guy and as many pics of him I got its seems he likes his pic taken

tomlightfield · #7 (**permalink**) 10-25-2011, 04:53 AM

I have many pictures on my cam with deer almost touching the cam with their noses, it doesn't bother them.

gfdeputy2 · #8 (**permalink**) 10-25-2011, 04:58 AM

OH NO A WGI Cam.
j/k hellbilly hope you are having good luck with it
a lot of pics I have gotten over the years actually look like the deer like the camera & are posing for it
I have noticed that some new deer to my area I get a couple pic's of then don't see for a week or so most come back
I don't know if they get spooked or were just checking out the area

on_the_fly · #9 (**permalink**) 10-25-2011, 06:27 AM

i can say i also have pics of deer kissing my cam and it seems to not bother them at all in pic mode. the 32 red led's flash on and of they come check it out and it flashes again in their face two morw times lol, BUT in video mode in 15 or 30 second clips i got clips that after about 4 seconds of the led's being on the deer start to become alarmed and do run from the camera, all the bigger bucks ran from it in video, most of the big does, and well the yearling usualy just fallow suite to the elders so mom runs they run for the most part. so i do not use video mode at all any more

turner · #10 (**permalink**) 10-25-2011, 11:58 AM

We've not noticed what loked like spooked deer in our pics, so I tend to believe that's not too common. We checked the cam after setting a couple stands the other day. Last picture before we pulled the card was this one, 3 hrs before we arrived. Not the big boys we got a while ago, however it's nice to see them moving during daylight hours!