Summer is halfway over and the season is getting closer and closer! #velvetfest is almost here, and it is time to deploy cameras to start getting inventory for this years bucks. In today's video, we cover a few tips to help you be more efficient with hanging summertime trail cameras!
Get Your New Cameras Out Now! Summertime is in full swing and bucks are putting on inches by the day at this point. Get your cameras out now so that you can work out all of the kinks and learn how to use it if its your first time using the Exodus Render. Remember to format your SD cards, update your firmware and make sure that you have enough signal where the camera is so that you actually get the status reports and pictures from your cellular trail camera.
Summer is all about Inventory! Focus your efforts on food, bucks are trying to get as many calories in their system right now as they can to build their racks. Don't forget about minerals though, supplemental feeding is huge this time of year! The most important part though is to limit your footprint. Human pressure changes the behavior of whitetails, plain and simple. Pressure in the summer is no different than pressure during the season. Whitetails don’t have calendars, they don’t know season dates, the only thing they know is their instinct to stay alive.
Keep your non cellular and short term cameras out of areas that are high impact. These locations look like inside corners of ag fields with easy access, they could be mineral site locations, creek crossings, any place where you won’t be a major disturbance.
Eliminate False Triggers We all hate false triggers. It’s one of the most frustrating experience you can have as a trail camera user and often times summer months are the worst because of the harsh lighting contrasts, summer storms, and the explosion of vegetation.
So to combat false triggers you can do the following items - Avoid harsh lighting contrast. Point your cameras North when it’s applicable. - Clear vegetation in the cameras detection area - Keep your camera above ground vegetation - Lower the PIR sensitivity on your camera Learn More about False Triggers: https://bit.ly/FalseTriggers
Avoid Harsh Lighting for Better Photos Personally photo quality isn’t that big of deal for me but in the same breath I do get frustrating if I have to look at photo or video and try to guess on what the buck actually is. And I also know photo and video quality is something that a lot of people do care about. The fact of the matter is” general speaking” there isn’t that big of a gap in photo quality between cameras. Yes some are definitely better than others but how you set the camera up has more to do with the outcome than you think.
For better day photos avoid direct sunlight at the camera and those harsh lighting contrasts. At nighttime look for opportunities for camera sets that provide a background for retro reflection. Better Nighttime Photos: https://bit.ly/BetterNightTimePhotos
Insect repellant One of the biggest reasons why some folks do not run cameras through the summer is worry of damaged cameras. This can come from flash flood events if you have cameras in or around creeks and other low lying areas and then the big one is insect infestation. While the concern is definitely valid, there are some really easy precautions to eliminate this worry.
In flood prone areas you can elevate your sets to give you some additional insurance and then the obvious is to just watch the weather for any major rain events.
When it comes to insects, the easiest solution and something we’ve preached over the last several years, is the use of permethrin. You can spray your camera straps and even spray it on the tree around the camera. Permethrin will last well over a month on fabric. When you are out pulling cards or changing batteries you can reapply once throughout the summer and be good until fall.
