GMMAT

The other dimension the camera gives you over the shed is repetition. He will drop those antlers, once. If he's in the same area multiple times.....the camera will note that for you.

dukemichaels

Perhaps.. but where I hunt a mature buck will not make the same mistake twice.

I have seen several occasions where a buck changes his movements and goes around my camera. His tracks have told the tale. Those SOB's.

125py

trail cameras show the exact time place the deer was there, sheds just show he was there at some point who knows when. BUT i love shed hunting and trail cameras

GMMAT

So Duke.....you think the mature bucks are afraid of cameras? Interesting. Why do you feel that to be true? Why would he associate that camera with danger and avoid it?

dukemichaels

Not afraid of cameras per say.. but without question weary of them.

It's more than likely the scent of them and the scent I leave behind. AND I am a scent free fanatic! While many never get spooked. On rare occasion some due. And its that some that is enough for me to back off!

I'll be honest I no longer use cameras in the woods I hunt. Haven't for the past 2 seasons now. The scaring of any one mature deer is enough for me to take them out altogether. I don't like to give the deer an excuse.. I like to keep my hunting and human pressure very low. In Novemeber I'll show them I am around and begin to hunt aggresively. But cameras are just not welcome with me any longer.

GMMAT

I buy that, Duke.

BTW....I set my camera a few hundred yards from the woods I hunt (closest point) on my mineral site.....and NEVER in the woods I hunt. I don't wanna be tempted to check it! Mine goes up for a few weeks in the Summer....then back on the shelf.

shed33

Sheds, concrete proof of his "score" and a good indicator of his winter core area, which in some locals means year around...area others not so much. Here in the big woods I hunt, Sheds of a big mature buck almost always equates to a "special" area he really likes, not always but most of the time. The exception being.....If find a big set of sheds in an unseasonably hvy snow pack winter, I am more hesitant and would need more evidence to consider the finds as in his core area. Sheds will almost always tell you what food source that buck prefers in winter too.

Game cam pics. I really like but dont like flash bulbs or frequenting a bucks core area too much. Human odor etc. So for me its infared cameras and longbattery life. I like this scenario as to not tip off an old buck. Usually here, hes lives alone and has alot of space to himself.

I'll sharethis, I now have bowkilled 8 bucks with at least one or more of their sheds. The most I have two sets too and he laid them down within 100 yards of the year prior.. I;ve killed them all very close to the shed finds.. within a1/4 mile, oh and only 1 of them during the rut...all the rest outside of the rut..

Good post Jeff, interesting insights being shared..

GMMAT

Hey I know how imoprtant shed hunting is to you, Troy....and it's NO cut on the practice AT ALL. I have a LOT of deer, here....and I can't hardly find any! I found ONE SPIKE, last year!

TEmbry

its the insight gained WHILE shed hunting compared to what you gain from walking in hanging a camera and walking out... shed hunting you cover the scouting of the ENTIRE woods, not just the 30 ft diameter around a camera.

that being said, i have yet to finda shed idk, but i think they just dont exist in my woods

shed33

You know Jeff, one reason I brought this up is...because I think it pays off a lot more for say a guy like me that hunts the big country/mountians... versus the smaller acreages, flatter ground were southern and northern faces would be much less dramatic?

Here the equation usually falls into a bucks core area being on both sides of a mountain... the northern werefor 9-10 months out of the year he hangs...were its thick and nasty and the southern for a couple months he hangs..hvy snow and preferred winter browse..etc.......he'll use both sides though for escape! its funnyhere, you can have 2-3 feet of snow and 100 yards away over the top of the mountain have 2-3 inches! just due to exposure..

and your right..I'd be pissin into the wind trying to locate a big bucks core area if I didnt have either sheds, game cams or both.. to much room out here..