What's the best answer for increasing daytime trail cam pics of giant bucks? Don't hunt or step foot on your land, during the hunting season. While not hunting is not an option for most likely you or I, keeping the deer from ever knowing you are on your land, is the root of the 5 best tips to increase your daylight trail cam pic collection.
*Sure, an old doe is pretty wary herd creature. However, keep in mind an independent thinking reclusive monarch has been the most targeted daylight deer in the woods - and has survived despite! To learn how to outthink him during shooting hours, check out Predicting Mature Buck Tendencies.
Targeting Daylight Trail Cam Pics
1. Hidden Trail Cam Position
My favorite trail cam setups that have produce a large supply of daytime pics have been at least 6' off the ground, with a hidden profile.
2. Using Caution Around Scrapes
What is the highest risk trail cam location? A spot where every buck in the neighborhood comes to visit. Your access and trail cam position efforts have to be perfect around a scrape, so that you can make sure your favorite daylight trail cam setup doesn't become a source of nocturnal frustrations.
3. Complimentary Trail Cam Access
The absolute best time to access a trail cam to check the batteries or change an SD card, is when you are already in the woods and along the same route, while traveling to a stand location. Make sure to keep your impact to extremely low levels, by never adding to your hunting season hunting impact, just to check a trail cam.
4. Owning The Daylight Food Source Movement
Whether you are trying to create the best quality herd in the neighborhood, experience the best hunt or collect the most amount of daytime trail cam pics as possible, you have to own the afternoon food source movement, during the hunting season. The Fall afternoon food source movement, is the daily pattern where deer leave their bedding areas, and visit their preferred destination food source roughly 60-90 minutes before dark. If the hunting season mature bucks on the land you hunt don't get their pictures taken until 2-3 hours after last light or later, then your ability to increase your daylight trail cam pic collection most likely won't happen, until you make changes to your bedding, travel and food source habitat. The #1 culprit for creating nocturnal movements, is the amount of human impact on your land. Keep in mind that I have experienced it can be fairly easy to control the daylight feeding movement, on my own personal hunting lands of 40 acres or less. The size of your land is not typically the problem!
5. Sniper Hunting Tactics
When should the deer know you are hunting them? Only when you pull the trigger. If the deer can see you, hear you or smell you (any of those 3) 90% of the time you hunt, then drastic changes have to made in order for you to start collecting daytime trail cam pictures.
*When it comes to accessing your trail cams in complete stealth, I highly recommend you check out a super stealthy, FatKat electric bike!
Conclusion
Whether you are accessing your land, hiding your cams, being careful where you set up, or are using low-impact habitat and hunting techniques, mature bucks have to feel like they own a little slice of daytime movement, that isn't intruded on by you. The bottom line? Not hunting is not an option for me and probably not for you. However, until you pull the trigger, the deer have to feel like you have made that choice to vacate your land, in order to increase your daytime trail cam collection.
