After 14 years of using trail cameras to locate, pattern and form strategies for killing mature bucks, this whitetail expert shares his common-sense approach to getting good trail camera photos.
By Bill Young
This awesome 18-pointer in full velvet was photographed near a mineral lick on Georgia's Banks Farm in late August 2005. In early September, Loy Banks arrowed the monster, which netted 171 6/8 Pope & Young inches.
Photo courtesy of Bill Young.
Daylight was just breaking on a late-December morning. I had been in the "Basket Stand" overlooking a clearcut for more than 30 minutes, waiting on the first rays of sunshine. It was a clear, cold morning, and expectations were high.
As time passed, the deer woods revealed a quiet, uneventful morning. Finally, at 12:19 p.m., I spotted something in the clearcut that hadn't been there earlier. It was half a deer rack about 150 yards away. A quick look with my binoculars immediately told me the deer was a 9-pointer that would score in the mid-140s.
You probably wonder how I could be so sure of what I was looking at. The answer is simple. I had already seen this buck several times in trail camera photos. Technology has come a long way in deer hunting!
Today's wildlife trail cameras are fun and entertaining -- you never know what wonderful and sometimes crazy photographs may show up. But trail cameras are more than just fun; they've become a useful tool for managing deer herds. And we've also learned how to employ trail cameras to find, pattern and sometimes kill the most "unkillable" of bucks -- those ghost-like mature whitetail bucks that go unseen on many big-buck tracts across North America.
HOW'D WE EVER DO WITHOUT THEM?
I've been using trail cameras in my home state of Georgia for more than 14 years. They've become my passion. Certainly it makes hunting much more enjoyable if you know there's a chance of shooting a quality deer in your area. On the hunt just mentioned, before I started using trail cameras I would have been out of that stand by 9 a.m., headed to the Waffle House for breakfast. Now I know better.
Do you always harvest the buck you discover in your pictures? No, successfully shooting a mature buck is always a challenging task. But I do know one thing. We have not harvested one trophy buck on our farm in Georgia during the last 10 years that wasn't first caught on camera. I typically run about three trail cameras year 'round, and when I really get after it, I'll have eight to 10 running at the same time. My average number of pictures taken in a single year is between 2,000 and 3,000.
As the director of operations for Banks Farm in Morgan County, Georgia, I work on land that is very well managed. It holds plenty of mature bucks. Make no mistake, though, these deer are hunted, and they are as wary as any mature bucks anywhere in the country. But the cumulative effect of years of experience gained in using trail cameras has made it much easier for me to locate and then attempt to pattern mature bucks on our farm.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT CAMERA
Cost is always an issue, and the old saying "You get what you pay for" has never been truer than when it comes to buying a trail camera. I've used $100 cameras and I've used $500 cameras, and I've had various successes and failures. I would not recommend any of the inexpensive cameras costing under $125. The high-end Moultrie, Stealth and Bushnell cameras all work well for the person who wants to get quality pictures at a reasonable price. These cameras usually run between $160 and $275. And although the technology is getting better every year, the main downfalls I've found with these cameras are relatively short battery life and a slow reaction time.
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