Trail cameras are undoubtedly the greatest assets to modern deer hunters since the invention of binoculars -- that 24-hour-a-day eye peeking into the deer’s world that the hunter would otherwise never be able to see or know. Trail cams make getting pictures of wildlife a sport unto itself. They extend the hunting season by months each year and tell hunters what they need to know about where and when they need to hunt. There is that rush of anticipation every time we upload our latest trail cam photos. The simple entertainment value is immense.
From a trophy hunting point of view trailcams are the greatest thing since sliced bread. Many an average buck’s life has been spared thanks to trailcams. Why? Because the hunter knew there was a better buck in the area, even though he might have never seen him other than on his trailcam photos.
There is also the aspect of learning more about the social order of bucks. If your trail cam is set up near a food source during late summer when the bucks are still in bachelor herds, trailcams allow you to see which buck is the boss (dominant) buck. We tend to think antler size equates to dominance but that is not always true. If you are hunting “the dominant buck” in an area you might be surprised to know that the buck with the biggest rack isn’t necessarily the boss. I was able to observe social behavior among a group of bucks this past summer, and to my surprise, a stubby-racked 10-point with short tines dominated several significantly larger-racked bucks of the same age class. From the photos I gleaned of the bucks’ behavior when they were together, it appeared that attitude had more to do with dominance than antler size or age. One such incident was captured well on one of my trailcams:
Photo No. 1 shows an encounter between the 10-point buck (still in velvet) and a 9-point with a larger rack, already stripped out of velvet. Note the dominant posture displayed by the buck in velvet.
Photo No. 2 shows the 10-point buck aggressively clashing antlers with the 9-point. Usually a buck will not spar while still in velvet, but this was an exception, further illustrating the 10-point buck’s determination to dominate.
Photo No. 3 shows the larger-racked 9-point buck retreating with his tail between his legs – a sign of his submission to the other buck.
There might be more to the story than meets the eye but this insignificant 10-point ruled the roost. What I learned was that I wasn’t at all interested in shooting the dominant buck in that group.
My friend John Bott of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, Canada, makes ultimate use of numerous trailcams in his preseason scouting, and judging from the pile of antlers in his back yard, the benefits are obvious. I whole heartedly agree with his following comment on the use of trailcams:
“I must say - since Dad and I invested in trail cams - the average score of our archery bucks went UP markedly, and immediately. What was once considered "likely the biggest buck around here" was being passed up because we had a hit list of bucks we KNEW were bigger. If I was to point at the single most beneficial tool in my hunting tool kit to come out in the last few years - digital trail cameras would be right at NO. 1.”
Post Script
On the evening of November 8, 2009, John Bott finally bagged the buck shown in the trailcam photo at the top of this article after hunting him for three years, lending even more credence to the value of trail cameras! Below is the photo of one happy John Bott at the end of a long challenging 3-year hunt.
Comments