Trail cams continue to help hunters

With the end of summer coming, deer hunters are looking for any signs to find where the deer.

It’s the end of summer and serious deer hunters have been, or will be soon, scouting for deer. The usual methods of watching food sources with binoculars, looking for trails or other deer sign are still being used. But there is now the new dimension of placing trail cameras in likely spots or in areas where we have seen deer this summer.

Some of my very successful friends like Dick Cooper or Pat Salerno have had them out for some time and are excited about the results so far. There is more to using deer cameras than simply seeing the deer on the camera, although it is encouraging to know that there are nice bucks in the area. Of course we must remember that those deer may not be in that same area later in the season as crops and food sources change or the rut starts.

In addition to knowing that there are deer worth hunting in the area, you can gain knowledge without spooking the bucks or alerting them to your presence. Properly placed cameras can tell you what they are feeding on, although that may likely change in many cases. With a camera or several cameras you can find their entrance to the feeding area, the routes that they use, and the direction that they are coming from.

Knowing this, the hunter – especially a bowhunter – will try to determine the “staging area” where the buck stays under cover while checking out a field before entering it. He or she may use cameras to determine the routes a buck takes to enter or leave a feeding area, in addition to the times.

All of this helps determine the areas where a hunter may place a tree stand. Even if the hunter knows the routes, it is important to know where a stand will offer a good shot without being seen or have their scent give away the location and spook deer. Sighting and shooting lanes are also important considerations. Some routes may be used only in evening while the others are the ones that deer leave the site well before sunrise.

Even for those who still hunt or track deer in the big woods like Pat and Tony Salerno, the legendary Adirondack hunters, trail cams are a vital tool. As Pat once remarked, if you are going to start hunting three miles back in Adirondack mountains, you want to know if there are big deer in that area that are worth your time and effort.

Pat uses the traditional methods of looking for sheds, tracks,