I'm late when it comes to using trail cameras.I've finally got a couple and have been using them the last couple years.I get lots of pictures but never of the real good ones that I know are living there. Most of time they are over mineral licks with corn sometimes.The area I hunt is huge but is 95% cutover that's as thick as it comes.The deep draws where they didn't cut is where the cameras are.The only thing I can figure is bad luck in a way I can kill them but can't take their picture.

I'd rather kill them without pictures, then to get pictures and not kill them...I get by pictures on trophy rocks/black magic in the summer and scrapes during the season...

During the season, cameras on trails leading to any concentrated food sources, trails in and out of thick cover, any terrain/habitat bottlenecks, and as the rut approaches, scapes. I get my best buck pictures over scrapes, primarily from one month before to one month after peak breeding date for the area.

x2... The bigger deer I always get on camera are either on corn before season starts or on scrapes pre rut. If you're still killing them I would't worry to much about it.

Depends on what you are trying to accomplish. If you are just using cameras as a scouting tool, then I agree. But if you are using cameras as a management and data collection tool, then I want a full inventory of bucks using the property.

Good point....I only have about 240 acres to hunt and have been running up to 3 trophy rock/black magic sites during the summer. However, I get a picture of every buck on the land on one of these 3 sites....I'm only going to run the one camera this year...

I also got a picture of the entire "hit list" from the summer on a single scrape from mid Dec to mid Jan this past season...and no new "hit listers"....I found that interesting...

Scrapes in October/November are golden. You can "rack" up on pics quick.

I am in the same boat as ridgestalker. I do not care what I do , I can not get a mature buck on trail camera either .

L.Thompson,

Your experiences are a perfect example of just how different bucks' "range fidelity" can be from location to location. I've seen properties where a summer inventory is all that is needed, with every buck easily captured on film, and little if any change in buck population occurring from summer to the hunting season. Yet, on the other hand, I've also seen properties that experience extrem variation in buck population/identity from summer to fall hunting season. I've even seen properties that experience a complete "swap" of bucks from summer to fall, with none of the bucks using the property during the hunting season being bucks that used the property in summer. Why these extremes in behavior exist is still a mystery to me.

But knowing whether bucks on your hunting property display strong fidelity to the area or not can be critical to hunting decisions.

In most of my experiences we have an extreme shift in individual bucks from summer into fall.

BSK,

The 2 biggest bucks I have gotten on camera in my 4 years of using them were in the summer of 2010...However, They dissappeared in August and Sept and have yet to be seen again....I'm still hoping/praying they will return but it's coming up on 2 years now so I'm getting doubtful...I'm pretty sure they haven't been killed or I think I would've heard about it...Maybe this is the year they return and I get to shoot them with a gun instead of a trail cam!

But for the most part, I get pictures of the same bucks throughout the summer and hunting season...I will get a couple different 2.5s during the rut but have yet to get a "new" mature buck on camera or on the ground....Plus every buck that has been killed off the land in the last 3 seasons, I have a picture of at some point...

Add me to that list. Other than in Illinois, I rarely get a picture of a mature buck and I have absolutely no idea why. Pretty much my entire game camera career (I've had them for about 6 seasons now) I've been hunting on places here in Bama that are fairly well managed and have some mature bucks around for sure. I've gotten to the point that I don't even go through the trouble of running mine anymore because deer hunting in Alabama sux anyway. I'm going back to the good ol days of simply stalk hunting/scouting every time I do get out and go and saying piss on a bunch of headaches associated with treestands, game cameras, etc.

I have always tried to keep tabs on big deer by their tracks.You never know whats on his head but it seems to work out.There was this guy tresspassing on me couple years ago and he had out cameras.Well he got a picture of a 148 in 9 pt and started showing around town.I got the picture and reconized the area was actually close to where I'd hunted the year b4. Well the guy gets what he got coming to him open day muzzelload and I killed the deer during the rut.Lol But knowing what those feet had on its head made the huntin alot more fun that year.Guess that is what got me hooked.

A close friend sent me a picture two years ago of a deer in Colbert County that was only seen one time on camera. The individual with the picture was very trust worthy and I believe him with all my heart that the photo was actually made where he said it was. The area was about a mile from me and the deer was absolutely unbelievable. He asked me to refrain from showing the picture or telling anyone about it because there were several other hunters with access to property surrounding the area the picture was made in. Two years later and the deer has not been killed nor has anyone gotten on camera a deer of this caliber in our area. He has simply disappeared from the screen. The photo was made on the edge of a clear cut that was like a jungle. It was the best sancturary you could ever imagine. The photo always encouraged me to stay until I could not see and go when the weather was bad in the event he popped up at the last second.