I don't use a trail camera because I only hunt public land. After February I pretty much weather the hot months by going to the range and daydreaming about autumn. Starting in August I begin scouting in earnest, looking for dove flights in the morning and deer sign as I hike. After the dove season starts, I combine AM dove hunting with more deer scouting after the dove have all roosted up. And although it will still be rather hot in September, it's all good because hunting season will again be upon the land.

I do welding and fabrication for a living, so I've spent my time building ladder and hang on stands, painting them, and waiting for a nice evening to go hang them up. I don't want to hang them too early for fear of someone stealing them. I've been trying to shoot alot more also, but you can only check the accuracy of your rifle so many times, needless to say my season doesn't start till october but I"m gonna make the squirrles fear me by then so maybe they'll leave me alone in my stands!

Jim,

It also depends on what the deer get used to and if they consider you a life threatening intruder.

I run a half dozen cams on my place and check them about every 4 days. I also run them like a trap line using my Polaris Ranger. I don't get too far off the beaten path so to speak, but the deer consider my activity very routine. Kind of like farming activity which goes on around them every day. I would agree that stomping around in there core bedding area is not a great idea.

But I ride in on my Ranger right up the gut of my property and run my camera line and continue to get some great buck pictures.

The word "habituation" come to mind.

By habituating to less important signals, an animal can focus its attention on the most important features of its environment. A good example of this is species that rely on alarm calls to convey information about predators. In this case animals stop giving alarm calls when they become familiar with other species in their environment that turn out not to be predators.

In this case, my bi-weekly trail camera run is not being viewed as a threat to the deer.

Glad to know I'm not the only one counting the days. I've been spending my weekends cutting and plowing foodplots, checking existing stands (for wasp nests), dodging BIG rattlesnakes, and putting up some more stands (in a couple of pretty sweet spots). Our Archery Season in SC comes in Sept. 15 and it can't get here quick enough. Sadly, it goes by too quick and it's Jan 2 and time to wait again. Reading these posts helps pass the time and keeps the fresh, cool, clean autumn air just around the corner.

Call me old-fashioned, but I still like good 'ole sit and wait scouting. Of course, I've been fortunate to hunt the same land for many years and the wife likes to get me out of the house. Probably have over twenty stands throughout, so just go from tree to tree.

We will be killing bear in our killing time before deer season here in Maine,lol..headed up near Canada to spot & stalk hunt a few bruins:-)

" Pull out your Clothing & check
to make sure it still fits , check , your Stand{s} for Servicability, & safety, check your, Bow, Rifle, & Trail Camera
thats how I spend time getting
ready,

P.S. don't forget to put in for
time off from work for opening
season ,

James

i like to go out whenever i get the chance to scout the bucks when they are still in their batchler groups when they fead alot in the summer. the mosquitos can be a reall pain though. also whenever i can i read north american whitetail. it has great stories just about big bucks that avg hunters like us shoot. and i spend prolly way to much time watching deer hunting dvds lol