Wireless Trail Cams: How To Use Them for Mid-Season Success

During the mid-season, wireless trail cams empower hunters to track movement patterns, rut behavior, and shifting deer activity in real time without disturbing the area. This real-time tracking feature keeps you in control, enhancing your hunting experience.

Today, with insights from our own Quinn Badder, we're looking at the benefits of wireless trail cams during the mid-season period and diving into some critical strategies to help you unlock the full potential of this hunting tool. 

Why Use Trail Cams Mid-Season?

Deer behavior changes drastically throughout the year, influenced by weather, mating habits, food availability, and more. Therefore, your trail camera usage should reflect this fact. If you only use your camera to confirm deer presence, you're missing essential knowledge and insights to serve you for the coming season. 

Along with the right gear for your hunt, a mid-season trail camera setup provides insight into the changing nature of deer, especially the unpredictability of bucks as they search for does at the onset of the rut. During the mid-season, a hunter's presence and pressure may also impact deer behavior, meaning past behavior may not always indicate current patterns. 

A trail camera will provide a much more targeted approach, especially during the rut. It will allow you to monitor movement without disturbing the area and stay updated remotely, especially in hard-to-reach hunting spots, allowing you to plan a well-timed hunt.

Wireless trail cameras may also uncover new deer hotspots that you hadn't previously considered due to the mid-season movement of the deer. 

Camera Placement Strategies for Mid-Season Success 

As deer patterns change, so should your camera placement.

During the mid-season, bucks move actively between bedding areas and food sources, often utilizing the same travel route. Make sure you establish a camera along one of these corridors, focusing on funnels or pinch points where there's a higher likelihood of a deer passing through on its search for a doe.

Additionally, consider the change in food availability targeting late-season crops and how the weather impacts foliage such as oak trees.

For a more targeted approach that can be implemented after a physical scouting session, consider setting up cams near scrapes and rubs left by deers marking their territory and attempting to attract does during the rut.

By establishing trail cams near these "active" areas, you can track movement, size, frequency of visiting, and hours of movement patterns. 

Remember that water sources are year-round hotspots and can deliver excellent deer imagery, especially during the rut when deer are active and will often travel further distances. 

How a HuntWise Hunter Uses Wireless Trail Cams Mid-Season

Quinn Badder, an experienced hunter and one of our HuntWise team members, shares how he uses trail cams for mid-season hunts.

He says:

When it comes to mid-season whitetail hunting, a few things stand out in my mind: cool crisp autumn mornings, combined running in the distance, and the frenzy of deer activity that most hunters call the rut. 

The rut completely changes the whitetail woods and brings all the bucks on their feet, constantly searching for a hot doe. And, with that change, it also brings on a whole new strategy for whitetail hunting. I'm no longer focusing on evening food sources that bring so much success to early season sits and switching gears to bedding areas.

This is where I really get interested in doe bedding. That's because as we get closer to peak breeding, more and more bucks will be on their feet during those daylight hours, moving from one bedding area to the next, scent checking for a hot doe. This time period, which is usually late October to mid-November, depending on where you are located, is when I turn to both trail cam intel and RutCast inside the HuntWise App.

For trail cameras, I'm a big fan of using wireless or cell cameras. They allow me to keep tabs in spots I know I don't want to enter throughout the entire season. I have a number of these setups just on the outskirts of bedding or overlooking a hidden food source.

For these hidden setups, there are a few things I always do.

1. Power source: First, I'm always going to have these cameras running off a constant power source like a solar panel. There is nothing worse than putting a camera out only to have the batteries die on you when you need it the most, like that first week of November. 
    
2. Storage: Two, I make sure to use the largest SD card that the camera allows. This ensures that I won't run into an issue with running out of storage and putting a camera out of order during those peak weeks as well.
    
3. Point it in the right direction: Third, for cameras I know I will have throughout the entire season, I always make sure to point that camera in a northern direction. This eliminates sun glare once the leaves drop, and that sun gets lower and lower in the southern sky. This will also produce the best image quality because the sun is being used as a more direct light source, and the cameras don't have to figure out how to expose extremely dark shadows or a super bright sky.

Just think of using your binoculars early morning or late evening; if you have to glass a deer with the sun at its back, it's a lot harder for your eyes to make out detail than if that sun was at your back and lighting the deer up.

Cam Features to Optimize For Mid-Season

Quinn's strategy helps him tag bucks mid-season. In addition to what he shared above, here are a few more insights into features to optimize when using wireless trail cams to monitor deer activity heading into the rut.

Make sure you have real-time alerts for instant notifications. These insights will allow you to adjust your setup, whether this be a blind or tree stand, quickly to ensure you are actively hunting the zones. 

As the weather cools down and the days become shorter, night vision is essential to capture deer activity in these low-light conditions, especially since this is when they are most active.

The weather may also impact battery life, draining them quicker and leaving you without essential data and imagery during the season. When selecting a trail camera, use energy-efficient features such as intervals between captures, extended battery packs, or solar panels to boost these cams. 

Colder mid- and late-season temperatures can drain camera batteries quickly, leaving you without essential data during prime hunting. Opt for trail cameras with energy-efficient settings, such as longer intervals between image captures or motion sensitivity adjustments. You can also extend battery life using external battery packs or solar panels, allowing extended deployment without frequent camera maintenance.

Using The Data 

Receiving images of a big buck rolling straight past your wireless camera onto your phone is an excitement that only hunters will understand. To ensure that you use these insights to the best of your capabilities, take note of the times, frequency, and direction of deer movement patterns.

Don't be afraid to move stands and blinds to meet these changing patterns, and make a note of the times of heightened activity. However, if you're on a hotspot, you'll likely want to minimize disruption in these areas, so ensure you set up cameras in locations with minimal disruption, such as hanging them near your stand or blinding them.

Camera Maintenance 

Monitor battery life and function regularly to ensure the camera's optimal performance. You'll also want to clean the lenses to avoid interference from moisture or debris, which can start to build up.

Finally, secure your camera to prevent theft or animal tampering and apply additional natural camouflage. 

Rut Hunting with RutCast 

Rut hunting can be intense and immensely rewarding when done correctly. If you've picked up some deer signs on your trail cam and are ready to head out into the field, download the HuntWise app to access the RutCast feature.

The application measures intensity, weather patterning, and barometric pressure and provides additional insights to offer windows for peak hunting activity during the rut. With carefully placed trail cams and RutCast, you're on your way to tagging out the next deer season. 

About RutCast, Quinn says:

"RutCast inside the HuntCast App really dives into the different phases of the rut. There are written articles and videos with Jeff Sturgis inside the app that go over where and why you should be hunting different stand locations.

It also lets me know what phase of the rut I am in based on my location. This really helps me figure out what days I really want to get out into the woods and not burn out those best locations before those magical days even get here."

Maximize Your Hunting Success With HuntWise and Wireless Trail Cams This Season

Are you utilizing your trail cameras effectively? Wireless trail cams can be a year-round tool for becoming a more informed, insightful, and targeted hunter. Combine those insights with the HuntWise app and RutCast, and you're in for a successful mid-season hunt!

If you don't have the app yet, there's no better time to download it and gain access to maps with multiple layering options, features like HuntCast and WindCast to help you pinpoint the best day and times to get out in the field, and access to discounts on the best gear used by hunters.

Download the HuntWise app to explore new hunting locations and trail camera positions today. It's free for your first week!

To explore RutCast, upgrade to Elite.