Trail Camera problem

[Gbro]

I have a Cuddyback digital(bought just before the IR ones came out) that takes ok pictures, but date and time stamps wrong. I have reset date and time 3 times this fall and it never holds.

I caught a small buck at a scrape location but I think the camera spooked him as he never returned.
I placed the camera 12 ft. from a spot that for years would be a scrape. I got a small disturbance at the spot like he was going to make the annual rut mark and that's the last picture I got.
What I am questioning is distance placements of cameras. I would have (should have) put it further back, but there wasn't a good tree at that location.
Anyone have camera placements mastered to help this beginner?

 

[Hog Buster]

I can't help you with your time/date problem and your deer may be camera shy, but here they sure aren't. I get 30 to 90 pictures a night. Not only deer. Foxes, coons, rabbits, hogs, coyotes, possums, skunks, dogs, cats, even an occasional bear.

Mine is an old one with a bright flash and it doesn't seem to bother any of my local wildlife. I have a 5 minute delay between pictures when something is moving around in its view. Most times I get repeated pictures of the same animal while they feed, fight or just hang around. Deer are some times so close to the camera that they are washed out by the flash. None of the critters that I have captured digitally seem bothered by the flash, no matter how close.

As a matter of fact last night I got 67 pictures of 5 different bucks, 8 to 10 different does and 4 yearlings and fawns. All of the pictures had repeated shots of the same animals, none seemed be alarmed by the flash.

Of course it goes without saying that you have to have something to draw them into camera range, food, water, salt lick, forage plot, deer trail, something to interest them.

 

[Gbro]

Mine was as I posted, a spot along a game trail that has been the exact spot of a scrape for years. Each year I chastise myself for not getting out early enough with that $400.00 trail camera I just had to have.
The deer in my(this) area are what the DNR/USFWS might call an enhanced herd. The Gray Wolf has put this herd on heightened alert. One dose not often get a second chance on a deer around here. Its been 12 years since I have taken one, granted I do not put in the time I used to but things are different today.
When I swapped the chip out in the camera to view this picture I was within 5 ft of the camera before I stepped in front of it and the flash as always startles me, and there is that pop/poof that accompanies the flash.
If you look at the hind leg of that little buck you will see a small disturbance on the ground. I believe he was just about to start the scrape and the camera spooked him.
But then as new to this as I am, what do I know??

 

[Hog Buster]

Gbro

Sounds like you have a problem with a lack of deer in your area. No pictures means no deer. Few pictures mean few deer. Many pictures,........well you get the idea. If functioning properly trail cameras don't lie.

 

[Gbro]

With the carrying capacity nessesary for this area, I wouldn't say lac of deer. Its just that the deer we have are survivors, therefore they do not take chances. Anything out of the ordinary and they are gone.
Geese here are on alert about the same way. If i don't ease the storm door on the shack closed slowly the geese will leave the back side of the lake 1/2 mile (200 acre lake)away before i even get to the dock.

 

[Hog Buster]

I find it hard to believe that the deer are spotting the camera, especially at night, before the flash. If not, how are they avoiding getting their picture taken?

Maybe your deer have some very acute visual traits, but I don't think so. Check out the sequence from my camera last night, paying particular attention to the date/time stamp. Same deer every 5 minutes. Like I said, no pictures, no deer.

 

[Gbro]

I wouldn't say spotting the camera is an issue. The flash and the pooooof of it going off is very noticeable.
Anything that wildlife gets used to without any harm to them is going to be ignored.
That little buck pictured probably never heard a camera flash and was spooked. Now the flash alone probably wasn't alarming as lightning is common to him.
It looks like your camera was quite a distance from those deer, and I am sure they are quite used to everything.
By that I mean your smell also. I know that deer wasn't used to human odor, I would think any time it comes across odor its going to be alert, then the poof and that settles it.

I have witnessed a deer on alert for 45 min from the stand.
Long story, but it is background for my suspicions.
I had a doe and 2 fawns bed down under the tree I was in (bucks only season 12+ years ago) I could have spit on her, and could hear her chewing her cud. Here ears were scanning at all times, and the fawns ears were down, not a care in the world. A small fork horn came in and the doe never once focused on the sound of him. Then she winded him and jumped up and went to him. I watched for a while and then dropped the little buck in his tracks. The doe ran a short ways and then started browsing. I sat still and didn't even bolt my rifle until she was out about 40-50 yards. About 45 min. later I heard 1 twig snap. She heard it also, and up her tail went and away she went full tilt. gone!
I thought, wow what is this coming. It was an 8 pointer on the same trail as the fork and her earlier.
She was on alert and didn't know what way to go until that one snap that we both heard.
I got the 8 pointer also. That was my Two for Tuesday Buck(s)
These deer have to be alerted after anything unusual.
I will be placing that camera back in that same spot again next year. Its still out now and tomorrow is muzzle loader opener and I will be there just in case, who knows? That's hunting