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The right amount of days to let a trail cam to sit out?

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phillipulrich

New Member
i have a trail cam out on a trail. ive read in field and stream that 2-4 days is how long a cam should be out. i was wondering if these days are correct. also when its spring\summer how long should the cam be out.
 
During the season I check them every weekend or every other. During the summer i check them around once a month depending.
 
Wait as long as you can stand to wait, then, wait some more.. The less pressure you put on your hunting area during the offseason months, the more deer you will least likely educate. Try to check them mid-day. Put them on the edges of cover so you won't spook as many deer while checking them.
 
I have external batteries on my cameras, and have them out usually 2 months at a crack during the summer months. I do not run any cams during shotgun seasons, and usually after they drop I dont run them either. Its easy to leave them that long when I live 4 hrs from where they are hung. Otherwise when they were 5 minutes from the house it was about every 2 weeks, and they were usually about dead with c batteries in them.
 
I agree on waiting as long as you can. I know it is hard to wait.....but wait. The less disturbance on the area the better.
 
Welcome to the site. I have left cameras out for 7 months at a time, not sure why the reccomend 2 to 4 days? I think the deer wouldn't have a chance to get acustom to it doing that? I assume that is your question, not the frquency of checking them?
 
It all depends on the time of year and what your set up on.During the summer watching soybeans I will check them at least once a week to make sure its in the right spot. During season over scrapes or the mock rub trees on feeding fields about the same, at least once a week, to make sure everything is still up and working and to get the info for which fields I should be hunting. I like having as much of the field/clover as a background to see when and who is useing it. If the cameras are set on trails in the timber, which I dont like to do, leave them as long as you can. Deer seem to avoid cameras on just trails unless they are mounted high up, pointing down.
 
I like to leave my cams a minimum of 2 weeks in the summer most of the time I let them go 3-4weeks. In the fall I try to check them every 2 weeks or when ever I happened to be hunting near that camera.

Last year I checked the same camera 3times in the same week becuase I had to walk by it to get to my stand. In all the articals I've read about trail cams I've never seen one that suggested leaving it 2-4 days. Most say a week or more.
 
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