Welcome to TheOhioOutdoors
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Login or sign up today!
Login / Join

No shooters known in your area. . . What do you do?

JMHO trail cameras should be thought of for entertainment and scouting purposes. I enjoy the time of looking through cards and see what happens to roam by but I also am smart enough to know that deer can come and go as they please. I tried to see how deer come and go past the cameras rather than just watch shows up in front of it. This is a perfect example exposing how they use this pinch point.
1572526485899.jpeg

1572526518208.jpeg
 
Last edited:

Sgt Fury

Sgt. Spellchecker
I use cams simply because I’d like to know what “local” deer are around. If I had a booner in the area and a 140’s came in...I’d pass...waiting on the booner. I realize that he could relocate miles away during the rut, and conversely another could wander into my area...one ive never seen before. There are pros and cons to each but for me, I just like to know what’s around. It’s also fun to compare the racks from year to year. Here’s an example of bucks roaming into my area that I never had any pics of but they only stayed a day or two then were gone.
E6D16A14-987F-4086-80A3-A06DE9E49314.jpeg
FFE578BA-545A-418E-AE9C-8CCF1D6D5702.jpeg
8B709CA7-3A10-4FA1-992B-90C312E78B01.jpeg
017E2F91-5C7A-4E01-A20B-BDA25BCDC27A.jpeg
9C9A2B7A-EA32-4FE3-BEBF-8E3639ADBF60.jpeg
E5CB65E8-7604-4B0F-B640-2D9DE3A30C0E.jpeg
 

Dannmann801

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
10,819
205
Springboro
Phil, here’s an out of the box thought for you – change your paradigm and go south to the big hills of southern Ohio and hunt public.
If what you’re seeing is the same old/same old, take a trip to Wayne or Zaleski and look for a deer there – shoot the first buck you see, and it’ll be a better trophy than a 150” from your regular stands, guaranteed.
The challenge of climbing those hills, figuring out a good spot, then seeing a deer is captivating, even exhilarating, and watching a sunset from a Southern Ohio ridgetop is much sweeter (because you’ve earned it) than a flatland sunset.

Don’t let it get stale. Stale-ness leads to grumpypants-ness.
 

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,396
191
Ross County
I have enough knowledge at this point from the use of trail cameras on the property I've hunted over the past two seasons. I'm fairly confident of when and where to be for this season.

Trust me, I'll know when to reach for my bow when that shooter walks into my area. I just hope my heart can take it when he does :LOL:
 

Chass

Active Member
2,172
52
The Hills
I could see that this was a joke, I think everyone could see that it was a joke. It seems you have an idea of what you want to hear from us and were not meeting your standards?
Short just hunt and stop with the bs plans can and will help some folks. Plenty of guys dont even go out in the woods because all their buddies say you gotta go make elaborate plans. You gotta get your stuff set up 4 months before the season. If you dont do all this garbage no point in even going. You will ruin everything and everyone else's hunts. So these short handed responses do help some get off the couch and get out there completely blind because you do not need a plan to go kill a deer or just have a good time.
Joking and having fun will also help, so they dont think everytime they go out and hunt some tight ass hunter isnt going to ruin their day because they didnt do something "the right way" or stumbled upon their spot cause they havent spent months scouting. Cause again. None of that is necessary.
Just get out and hunt, stop being petty b*tches.
 

Tipmoose

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
3,034
97
Grove City
@big
JMHO trail cameras should be thought of for entertainment and scouting purposes. I enjoy the time of looking through cards and see what happens to roam by but I also am smart enough to know that deer can come and go as they please. I tried to see how deer come and go past the cameras rather than just watch shows up in front of it. This is a perfect example exposing how they use this pinch point.
View attachment 88910
View attachment 88911

Thank you for the additional info!!! This is the exact sort of thing I use my cams for...when they're not getting stolen. lol. I like to see what direction the deer are coming/going and what times they are there.
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
49,379
288
Appalachia
I still run cams because I love the process and I love getting pictures and videos of wildlife. Much like Joe, I've stopped letting my cameras dictate what I shoot, or influence the enjoyment of my hunts/season. This is arguably the worst season I've had since 2005 on the farm for getting bucks on cam. But I'm not discouraged and I'm certainly not doing anything drastic because I don't have a shooter on cam. I've evolved past that mentality, thankfully. But there was definitely a day and time where I'd have been frantic about the lack of shooters. Falling back in love with exploring nature and simply being thankful to be outside has remedied the ailment that cameras can give a feller.
 

Dannmann801

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
10,819
205
Springboro
Phil, a postscript to my previous post: I have memories just as vivid and enjoyable of deer that I saw on public and didn't have a shot at or let pass, maybe even better than other deer from "regular" properties. My guess is that you know your properties in and out, like the back of your hand. Hunting public stuff is exciting because you're always wondering "what's over that next hill?"

It ain't about the deer, it's about the hunt.

Bullshit, who am I kidding? it's about shooting a big deer.

SHUT UP! IT'S ABOUT THE HUNT.

(this message brought to you by Bipolar Dann)

<pssst - it's about doing something new>
 

Redhunter1012

Senior Member
Supporting Member
Sell some of your assets and buy your own ground. Manage it how you want and make it attractive for multiple "shooters".

Maybe try branching out. Even some of those heavily hunted neighboring properties, despite the pressure, hold multiple shooters. Most of my areas are trampled with other hunters, but still, the big bucks are there. Cameras be damned, there are shooters that never get seen by one. Smart deer require different thinking. Sorta piggy backing on Jesse's post: hunt harder and smarter. If if don't happen, learn and adjust for the following season.

Imagine this: I killed a nice buck on Friday of gun season last year. I was on a 3 year quest for that buck, but had never seen him, heard about him, or knew he existed. And that might have been his first time there for all I know. But I bow hunted that property, gun hunted sitting, pushing, still hunting. I knew eventually I'd take a shooter there if given the opportunity. For me, there are too many variables involved for me to worry about certain caliber of deer on my property in a given year. Hunt the ground, hunt the species, hunt for your sanity and enjoyment.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
39,068
274
I could see that this was a joke, I think everyone could see that it was a joke. It seems you have an idea of what you want to hear from us and were not meeting your standards?
Short just hunt and stop with the bs plans can and will help some folks. Plenty of guys dont even go out in the woods because all their buddies say you gotta go make elaborate plans. You gotta get your stuff set up 4 months before the season. If you dont do all this garbage no point in even going. You will ruin everything and everyone else's hunts. So these short handed responses do help some get off the couch and get out there completely blind because you do not need a plan to go kill a deer or just have a good time.
Joking and having fun will also help, so they dont think everytime they go out and hunt some tight ass hunter isnt going to ruin their day because they didnt do something "the right way" or stumbled upon their spot cause they havent spent months scouting. Cause again. None of that is necessary.
Just get out and hunt, stop being petty b*tches.

I used to be the poster child for the person you're talking about. Scheming, planning, the right way vs the wrong way cam tactics, bait tactics etc. I would start running cams after turkey season and keep a log of what was seen where, when, temp, wind direction etc. Then i realized that these are wild animals and not robots. They only care about eating, screwing, and staying alive. Other than that they wander around. Far too often i have seen people do the exact opposite of all that strategic BS and shoot big deer. Hunting is 90% the quality of the property, on a good property any goober can shoot big deer. It when the property lacks quality that we start to believe we can make up for it with tactics and tricks.
 

angelzd28

Junior Member
All these points are correct especially running cams which I have ran about 4-6 the last 3 years. Guess how many bucks Ive shot the last 3 years................0,zilch, nada, and i've had some bruisers that never showed themselves. Before that I hunted from 2013-2015 with no cams and killed 3 nice bucks because I had no clue and they got me excited. Now I will say like Jesse, I enjoy getting pics of wildlife and last year had my first bobcat on cam, which was pretty cool. Well next week me and my old man are headed to Missouri to try our hand at some public, and the first buck that gets me excited is getting an Easton Axis flung at it. Also Ill be sitting all day which at home never happens with 3 small kids and a crazy schedule. Im just excited to do something new and have 0 expectations other then spending time in the field with my dad. Good luck everyone!
 

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
40,282
288
Ohio
I could see that this was a joke, I think everyone could see that it was a joke. It seems you have an idea of what you want to hear from us and were not meeting your standards?
Short just hunt and stop with the bs plans can and will help some folks. Plenty of guys dont even go out in the woods because all their buddies say you gotta go make elaborate plans. You gotta get your stuff set up 4 months before the season. If you dont do all this garbage no point in even going. You will ruin everything and everyone else's hunts. So these short handed responses do help some get off the couch and get out there completely blind because you do not need a plan to go kill a deer or just have a good time.
Joking and having fun will also help, so they dont think everytime they go out and hunt some tight ass hunter isnt going to ruin their day because they didnt do something "the right way" or stumbled upon their spot cause they havent spent months scouting. Cause again. None of that is necessary.
Just get out and hunt, stop being petty b*tches.

Never intended to be a joke. My standards? Who cares what my standards are? Nobody should but myself. I thought by sharing some personal observations of what is happening in my hunting areas, it would make it personal and people could relate. Nope. Get called negative. Get called a whiny bitch. Get told to blow it out my ass. That is okay. I have thick skin. Now go back and read this thread from where it went sideways. . . There has been some quality stuff posted. I'm serious.

Things getting "stale". . . Try expanding areas I hunt. . . . Try dropping cameras and changing things up. . . Hunt the heavily pressured areas in locations you normally wouldn't. . . .Think like a hungry, horny, and scared for his life buck.

You know what? This is solid input. There are multiple opinions here that are pretty sound. If you can ignore the keyboard butt whooping I just took, there are some valuable trinkets in this thread. To a new hunter or someone lurking in the shadows and reading, I hope they can take a nugget of knowledge out of this.
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
I can’t stand them and this is one of the reasons why. Same as the pattern I can see from posters. From what I gather, I’d say trail cams have saved more deer than killed. Reason being either you blew them out of the area by using a cam or you passed deer you’d normally killed. All because of a damn picture! It also makes you feel like the deer is yours. Because you have 112 picture of the deer in one month, somehow it makes you feel like it’s your deer and you somehow deserve it. We even name the deer like fucking pets! Call him Stickers...oh look honey, High Tower is back. Stupid #fucktrailcams
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,965
177
Ohio
so let me get this straight; It actually IS still possible to kill a good buck WITHOUT hundreds of trail camera pictures of the antlered deer on your hunting spot? LMAO!
 
  • Like
Reactions: JOHNROHIO

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
39,068
274
Never intended to be a joke. My standards? Who cares what my standards are? Nobody should but myself. I thought by sharing some personal observations of what is happening in my hunting areas, it would make it personal and people could relate. Nope. Get called negative. Get called a whiny bitch. Get told to blow it out my ass. That is okay. I have thick skin. Now go back and read this thread from where it went sideways. . . There has been some quality stuff posted. I'm serious.

Things getting "stale". . . Try expanding areas I hunt. . . . Try dropping cameras and changing things up. . . Hunt the heavily pressured areas in locations you normally wouldn't. . . .Think like a hungry, horny, and scared for his life buck.

You know what? This is solid input. There are multiple opinions here that are pretty sound. If you can ignore the keyboard butt whooping I just took, there are some valuable trinkets in this thread. To a new hunter or someone lurking in the shadows and reading, I hope they can take a nugget of knowledge out of this.


Maybe next time everyone can respond with cold sterile responses in North American Whitetail article format. Or we could heavily moderate all posts that don't meet strict community response guidelines that provide extreme positive value.

Or

We could have an open discussion where you're going to get a multitude of responses and opinions to your question, shockingly you might not like them all, and some of them will be to quit bitching and go hunt. Why? Because that how some people honestly feel and act when they don't have a shooter around. If you then choose to play victim and whine about those responses, then you should also know what's likely to happen after that in response.

Forums responses are like a doughnut shop. Ask the girl behind the counter her opinion and a smorgasbord of options will be presented, pick out the one's you like, skip over the one's you don't, take away what you came to find. If she mentions Boston Creme filled and you don't like those, she doesn't care about your tirade about how they shouldn't exist, or take away from the other options, or how other bakeries don't have them, you asked her opinion and got an answer, instead of getting all butthurt that they exist just keep looking and pick a different response that you like.