By Brandon Wikman
Early season challenges even the most demanding whitetail hunters with a new set of rules to the game of success.
Scouting has got to be placed as the most critical aspect and tool to achieve your desired goal. Summer brings a unique opportunity for outdoor enthusiasts to evaluate your hunting area and whitetail herd. This is an ideal time to break out your Moultrie game cameras and begin strapping them to trees. It is never too early to get a jumpstart on opening day.
Most seasoned hunters have found the most luck placing their cameras on field edges, mineral stations and food sources during the muggy summer months. The majority of photographs will be early morning or late evening snapshots considering most deer are bedding snug to the food sources. It makes no sense at all to risk polluting an area by rummaging through bedding areas just for a snapshot. Your main goal should be capturing as many images as possible without disturbing the entire herd.
Hunters go through drastic efforts and measures in the fall to keep the deer from detecting us. We simply don’t want them to be able to pattern our ever move. A mature deer does not care about whether he smells you disturbing his area in the summer or fall – he just knows he’s been disturbed period.
Placing trail cameras on field edges makes sense for several reasons. Deer need to feed. The odds are very high of snagging some great pictures of a lot of deer on a summer food plot or even watering hole. Secondly, deer have come to tolerate a little human scent in the field considering tractors, trucks and farmers pass by often. Deer have come to expect the small dosage of human scent around these particular areas.
I’ve had a lot of luck driving my truck directly to the camera, letting it run and taking only a step or two to pull my card. This leaves the area as unpolluted as you can get. It will completely eliminate you from sweating, brushing against trees or grasses and make it a quick in-and-out process.
If you want to eliminate the possibility of contaminating your camera area completely, then Moultrie’s Game Management System is the way to go. With this system, all you have to do is login on a secure site, view your images when you want and reap the rewards come fall.
Be sure to get your hands on your trail cameras and start putting them to use. As I said earlier, it is never too early to get a great start on the season.
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