A thick nasty bedding area adjacent to a larger river. There had
to be deer using this during the fall. As we finished up the day,
we had found trails full of deer tracks, multiple scrapes, and
multiple rubs. We knew come June we were going to have to
risk it and put trail cameras out on this piece of public ground.
Next June finally rolled around and a trail camera was put out.
After viewing the pictures we were excited to see several good
deer. The decision was made to take the camera back and leave
it for another month. Getting the camera back for a second
time, we were excited to see what deer were on the camera
again. After putting the memory card in the computer, we were
not as excited to see that we had no pictures. It wasn’t because
no deer had walked by, because I am sure they had. It was
because the memory card somehow got locked. The
disappointment was horrible. It is funny now, but when it
happened, funny was the farthest thing from our minds.
Hunters and managers love trail cameras because they get to
see what deer are using their property and are also able to track
those deer over several years. For most, it is like Christmas
morning when we get to pull cards from our trail cameras.
Keeping an inventory of bucks using your property is fun, but
trail cameras can be used for something a little more important,
estimating deer population characteristics.
This might not sound like fun to some, but I assure you it is not
as bad as it sounds. Essentially it means using your trail camera
to see how many deer are using your property. This is extremely
important and for deer managers it’s invaluable knowledge. You
don’t have to be a biologist to do a trail camera survey, the math
is pretty simple and it can really help you improve your property.
Population Characteristics
There are many characteristics of a deer populations, these
characteristics can help you or a biologist make
recommendations about harvest rates, habitat changes, and
much more. The first thing a trail camera survey can tell you is
buck to doe ratio. We mentioned this in the second part of our
October web series and also in the last issue of the Whitetail
Instinct Mag