YtailFreak
Active Member
Me and more guys than you think. 160s aren't all that uncommon, and its not everyday we get a chance to chase a 200" deer.
tall@wide
PMA Member
Agreed. If I'm after a 200, I'll pass everything but him. If I don't kill anything that's ok. It was fun trying. I actually had a 200 on one of my farms in 2020 (first time ever having a 200). He only used my place late season and was nocturnal. He bedded in a spot making him difficult to kill and I never got him. I passed a 170 that January because I was after the 200. I don't regret it at all.
CurtisWalker
Well-Known Member
You guys are also more than the every day hunter.
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Buckscrape
Well-Known Member
So, if you are in an area that "should" grow a 200 incher and you know of a 170 mature buck in that same area, are you going to pass on the 170 if you get the chance at him hoping that there could be a bigger one that's just shy of your cameras? Honest question.
For me if I have history with a deer and he's mature (6 or older), he's an automatic target.
For me if I have history with a deer and he's mature (6 or older), he's an automatic target.
CurtisWalker
Well-Known Member
Where I hunt first 4+ year old buck to walk by and give me a shot is getting an arrow.
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tall@wide
PMA Member
Only way I would pass up the normal mature bucks would be if I knew a 200 was using my farm. Otherwise, I develop the target list of mature bucks and I'll target one of those. I'm to the point now that if I do not kill a buck I don't mind. The fun part to me, is trying to get the old, high scorers on my farm. If I cannot get a mature buck on a farm, then that is frustrating and is becoming a more common theme in Illinois. If you are a bowhunter solely chasing mature, good genetic bucks, it can be a frustrating task. Don't get me wrong, I will target an old cull buck too, but the high scorers are more fun to me personally.
Cell cams or regular cams. I am of the firm opinion deer can sense cell camera and avoid them. I too have physically watched it.
Our Cell cams we noticed deer seem to pick off a lot easier....that being said, when we dont take our cell phones to the stand we seem to have a lot better success rates too...Maybe because we arent playing on them all the time
CurtisWalker
Well-Known Member
Both. They seem to pick the cell cams off faster though. Not just one brand of cell cam either.
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hesseu
Well-Known Member
Interesting. I've got a cell cam on my driveway, and darn near every night I have the same does walk down the drive way crossing it at 1:30 am. I usually will get 2-3 pictures of them because they stop to take a few bites and then move on.
CurtisWalker
Well-Known Member
Does don’t tend to care as much but the bucks sure do. Someone needs to do a study on it.
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scottonbuck
Well-Known Member
Absolutely! I have watched deer come out of their skin when they get anywhere near a cell cam. Coyotes as well, If a guy wants a good scrape to dry up throw a cell cam near it LOL
scottonbuck
Well-Known Member
Also a lot of the Big bucks that guys get pics of on Cell cams it always seems the buck is on high alert and is usually followed by a picture of the buck running away. I actually ditched the cell cams and went back to the el cheapo cams that the deer can give two craps that they are there.
I started putting them 10' up in trees when possible
Don Higgons has commented on this extensively.
There is zero doubt in my mind about it. My old school cuddeback E2 cameras get far better pics than my cell cameras.
Daver
PMA Member
Huh? I did not know this, but it is very interesting. I do not have any cell cams, so I don't know a lot about them.
hillrunner
PMA Member
Interesting take on the cams, I'd like to see how and where guys are setting them up that put the mature bucks on edge. I never see a buck that I don't already have on cam. I have quite a bit of confidence by mid-October that I know of all the bucks I'll be hunting that fall. I'm almost never surprised by a buck I don't recognize when I'm in the stand. The last couple bucks I sent teeth in were 7 and 6 years old and I could fill a photo album with pictures of those bucks through the years. I'll get multiple pictures throughout the year of the same 5+ old bucks, same spots, same cameras, over and over. In fact, I can pretty much predict every year where most the survivors from the year before will show up on camera and about which week they'll show up for the first time. I don't put out any summer trail cameras so I don't know about that.
As far as the 200 inch conversation, I'm 100% sure I have never had a 200 using a property I hunt on while I was hunting it . I have never seen one or had a picture of one. They have been killed fairly close by on other properties and even on property I now own before I owned it. I am patiently waiting my turn.
As far as the 200 inch conversation, I'm 100% sure I have never had a 200 using a property I hunt on while I was hunting it . I have never seen one or had a picture of one. They have been killed fairly close by on other properties and even on property I now own before I owned it. I am patiently waiting my turn.
Hawk32
PMA Member
I don't disagree with the whole cell cam thing but I also watched a 3 year old absolutely destroy one our cell cams (cudde) last fall. Must of thought it was a rub post or something because he went to racking it like mad. By the time he was done the cam was laying 10 ft away, solar was 10ft the other direction, and post was bent to the ground. I should have shot him in the rear instead of throwing a stick at him cause he ruined both cam and solar.
So one story of many. I've had a camera at one of my pinch points on my farm for 5 years. Camera is tucked into some brush. Not out in wide open in your face. I had a normal cuddeback there for multiple years. I have a deer that I am very familiar with walk by this camera almost daily without issue. Last year I swapped it out to a cell camera. I got ONE more picture of that deer. He was looking right at the camera and looked bug eyed. I NEVER got another picture of that deer at that location. The deer did not leave the farm, he just avoided walking down that trail... ever again.Interesting take on the cams, I'd like to see how and where guys are setting them up that put the mature bucks on edge. I never see a buck that I don't already have on cam. I have quite a bit of confidence by mid-October that I know of all the bucks I'll be hunting that fall. I'm almost never surprised by a buck I don't recognize when I'm in the stand. The last couple bucks I sent teeth in were 7 and 6 years old and I could fill a photo album with pictures of those bucks through the years. I'll get multiple pictures throughout the year of the same 5+ old bucks, same spots, same cameras, over and over. In fact, I can pretty much predict every year where most the survivors from the year before will show up on camera and about which week they'll show up for the first time. I don't put out any summer trail cameras so I don't know about that.
As far as the 200 inch conversation, I'm 100% sure I have never had a 200 using a property I hunt on while I was hunting it . I have never seen one or had a picture of one. They have been killed fairly close by on other properties and even on property I now own before I owned it. I am patiently waiting my turn.
One more real quick.... put a cell cam on a soybean plot that is set up for late season. I watched 20+ deer come down a deer trail, walk AROUND the camera, and get back on the trail. Not one, not two, about 20.
As such, I would not recommend putting a cell cam near a premium hunting location. I think they work fine for mineral stations, security, etc. Putting them higher up in tree does seem to help.
Hawk32
PMA Member
This is probably a stupid question but when you say cell camera would that include the cudde back cameras that are linked together or just the main cell cam. I guess I haven't noticed anything different running cudde backs vs old school cams but I've never really thought about it either.