Positioning Trail Cameras

First off, there is a lot more to it than just strapping it to a tree and pouring some type of feed or attractant in front of it if you're trying to get it to take a picture of a mature buck that you are wanting to hunt and hopefully harvest at some point. You can't depend on your cameras to do all the scouting for you, you have to get out and do some walking and looking around so that you know where to position the cameras. First off you want to think about where your feeding sources and bedding areas are. Knowing this will narrow down your such for finding your deer herds natural travel habits. Once you have figured this out a key thing to look for is topographical changes, for example deer have a tendency to walk the bases of hills and ridges. Also you should look for changes in timber, like where it may go from open hardwoods or pines to a thicket, because deer will walk along side these edges of the thickets. Google Earth is a great way to find both of these without having to do any walking. Now that you have your search narrowed down because of these factors you will be able to scout without just making circles and leaving scent all over the place. When you are walking these edges of thickets and bases of ridges some great things to look for is obviously tracks but lots of the time in the woods there are any tracks because of all the leaves on the ground so now you have to pay careful attention to things such as rotten logs that have been stepped on repeatedly or when it is a heavily used trail it almost looks like a rut in a road where the leaves are considerably lower from being stepped on. Also, you can often find areas coming from thickets that are very obvious where deer come out of them, it basically looks like a hole in the bushes if it is used frequently. Lastly if there is an old fence running through an area you want to hunt you can find pieces of hair stuck in the fence from the deer crossing them and rubbing up against it. Once you have compiled enough of this information you are ready and prepared enough to go put out your cameras in areas that you can feel confident will produce a buck worth harvesting. Below is a picture of a deer that I got on camera this week and if I had not done the proper scouting last February I wouldn't have known to put my camera in this spot.