What's Your Game Plan?

Technology is a funny thing. While some people fully embrace it, others do everything in their power to ignore it, holding out hope that it will refrain from creeping into their lives so they can proceed with minimal disruption. Then there are the folks that fall squarely in the middle — the ones that are fully aware of its presence and accept that it’s part of their lives but have no intentions of “keeping up with the Joneses” when it comes to the latest and greatest of anything.

Come to think of it, these are probably the people that own smartphones, Smart TVs, and other things of that nature, but never use — or even know how to use — any of the features that make them “smart” to begin with. For these individuals, if they can make a phone call to work colleagues, send the occasional text to family and friends, and watch the local news or their favorite baseball team every night, they’re completely content.

So, what’s my point here? Well, it’s simple really. In the hunting world, I feel that participants fall into one of the same categories I’ve outlined above. First you have the traditionalists that prefer to hunt in the same clothing, with the same weapon, in the same spot that they have for the last 50 years. If they own trail cameras at all, they’re going to be ones without cellular capability, and one of their favorite activities remains heading out to the woods to pull SD cards.

The idea of that, though many of us don’t do it that way anymore, is a very refreshing concept if you take a minute and think about it. At one point or another, we all participated in that same manner.

The next group of hunters probably have an impressive group of trail cameras in their fleet, perhaps a mixture of traditional units and the ultra-impressive cell cams that are all the rage these days. Chances are that they easily know enough to sync them to the appropriate app on their smartphone, and spend a lot of time — especially as the season nears — making a big-buck hit list. That, however, is where it usually ends — and while there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, there are still a lot of people that leave some impressive technologies untouched simply because they don’t understand what it is that these programs do.

The last group is occupied by the ones that embrace it all. If it’s available, they learn how to use it to their advantage, and in a lot of cases they end up finding more success in the field because of it. These hunters are the ones that will be jacked up about reading the rest of this article about a new technology more hunters need to be utilizing — if they aren’t already addicted to it, that is!

Without further ado, let’s check out the Moultrie App’s “Game Plan.”

GAME PLAN

That brings us to last November in the Texas Hill Country where I was part of a media hunt with Moultrie’s Mark Olis. While we were waiting to head afield one afternoon, we started an in-depth conversation about everything Moultrie had available at the time — and what would be coming next. I’m a seasoned user of Moultrie game cameras, as well as the Moultrie App which ties them all together.

What I hadn’t fully explored at the time was a portion of the app called “Game Plan,” but one thing was certain — after getting the rundown from Mark, I decided that this was something I needed to share with my hunting buddies.

To put it simply, Game Plan is Moultrie’s predictive deer movement model. Now as most hunters already know, there are other such models on the market. I can already hear the skeptics making claims that this one is probably just like all the rest of them. I can tell you with certainty that isn’t true. From a dollars and cents standpoint, Game Plan comes included with your Moultrie cellular camera subscription if you choose either the Pro Series plan or the Hunt Planning Plus plan. And looking at it from the operational end of things, it’s a 1-of-1 kind of program. Nothing else on the market today works in the same manner as Game Plan.

So, what’s the difference? Well, for starters it uses the built-in data from every image taken by a Moultrie trail camera in the local area, including weather and time of day.

“There’s no other predictive deer model like this,” Mark explained. “Game Plan uses inputs that are known to affect deer movement, so drops in temperature and things like that it has built in. But the thing Game Plan has that others don’t, (we’re) taking localized data from your cameras — and if there are other Moultrie cameras in your area — it’s also pulling that data in and tracking buck movement. That information is coming into the system, and it’s getting fed in to give you a readout of when deer are moving.”

Impressed yet? I certainly was. To me, the bottom line is this: this is a predictive model driven by localized data, not random theories or other forms of general guesswork.

“That’s what Game Plan does,” Mark said. “It tells you when to be in the woods and it’s using actual deer movement from the trail cameras to give you that predictive model.”

HELPFUL TIPS

Data Control: This is my favorite aspect of Game Plan. With it, you control how much data you’re given. You can set up as many Moultrie trail cameras as you want throughout your property, and Game Plan will put it all together to form a complete picture of your entire acreage. The more cameras you have in place, the more data you receive. This tool allows you to make smarter decisions with more precise intel, not only predicting when you should be in the woods, but where the most activity is going to be on your hunting property any given day.

Remember, you’re not only getting the information of where your target bucks have been, but you’re also being shown where they’re likely to be next.

All data is individualized at every camera location, so you’ll quickly be able receive peak movement times wherever you’ve decided to place a Moultrie camera. Think about how many conversations you’ve had with friends and family about certain tree stands being a “better morning spot” or vice versa. Since every camera or stand location that is marked in the app is part of the Game Plan ecosystem, any suspicions or theories will either be confirmed or debunked.

Here are even more helpful features of Game Plan:

Animal Recognition: Thanks to AI, Game Plan identifies instances of buck movement and places them in their own individual folders, saving you from manually sorting through thousands of photos that you might be uninterested in. In doing so, it also ensures that important information about deer movement won’t be missed.

Wind & Weather: Every hunter knows and recognizes the importance of scent control, especially during archery seasons. Game Plan does, too, and follows wind and weather on a 10-day interval. Not only will this help you decide when you want to be in the field, but it also helps you to choose the best stand location for staying downwind of approaching game.

Pressure: The final thing I’d like to touch on is pressure on your deer herd. Over the years, there’s been a thousand articles written about avoiding your best stands until conditions were exactly right to minimize unnecessary pressure. Thanks to Game Plan, never before have we had accurate enough information to convince us when it’s best to stay out of the woods completely. Sudden weather activity is bound to pop up from time to time, and Game Plan is able to adjust its predictions very quickly. Now, you can either alter your plans to hunt from a different location where activity will be better, or bag the hunt completely if need be and hunt another day. If conditions call for it, you’re better off staying home then trouncing through the woods and spooking deer when chances of success are already very low.

CONCLUSION

No matter where you hunt or what kind of hunting you participate in, Moultrie has been a household name for a long time. From feeders and trail cameras to attractants and accessories, it’s a brand that has withstood the test of time. Today, the Moultrie App is what brings everything together, whether you’re trying to manage a large property for long-term success or chasing a single trophy buck on a couple acres that you have permission to hunt.

The next step toward your ultimate goals is to integrate Game Plan into your hunting routine. With more intel than ever before at your disposal, I can say with complete confidence that you’ll be glad you gave it a try.

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