Questions on location set up

[Smokinbenelli]

Let me start off by saying I am brand new to the trail cam community. I finally bought two moultrie cameras and put them out at my cabin a month ago. Last week I finally made it back up to my place for some field work. Anyway, went and pulled the cards. Apparently I didn't set them right as I had 8 pics on one and 11 on the other. On little buck on it. There was definite deer traffic as I could see the trail being with fresh tracks. So I believe I got that straightened out in the settings.
My question to guys that set a lot of cams up, how high off the ground is your standard? Also, how much distance do you like to have between active trails and the camera itself? What do most of you
Keep your picture quality set at?
How bout your time in between pics and time lapse setting.
I'm just curious on all this because I can only get to the cabin ever now and again. If I set them up with settings that are tried and true, it will save me some aggravation. Thanks

 

[Native Hunter]

For height, I like about waist high, but do have a couple up in trees that I drive the truck up to and stand on the truck bed and check. In either case, just make sure the camera angle is right for where you want to capture pictures.

For trails, I would set for a fast time between pictures with very little lapse. Deer are generally moving along and not stopping on trails and even if you take the max number of pics, it shouldn't fill the card that quickly. However, on places where they stop and mingle around (like a mineral lick) you need to space the pictures out more or you will end up with a blue million pictures quickly.

Also for trails, I like to set the camera where it is looking down part of the trail - like at a curve. If you set it at a 90 degree angle, you will get a lot of rear end pictures, because the deer are moving as the camera is reacting. The closer to the trail, the more this will happen.

Basically, it just depends on the spot and the number of deer around. You have to get a feel for it by trial and error.

I set a Reconyx camera up once on what I considered to be just a trail and set it up for the max number of pics. I went back a week later expecting maybe 200 pics but found the card almost full. I didn't really consider the 2 white oaks overhanging the trail and dropping acorns, because there were lots of other oaks in the vicinity. Lesson learned.

Good luck.

 

[Blizzard Ridge]

Native is spot on. If you are looking to acquire more pictures you might try finding a good edge to set camera up on. Deer will be more reliable to travel a good edge more often than a random trail within the timber. Unless you find that right trail in the timber. Food sources are great or if mineral is legal it is a perfect way to get a good inventory of what is running your woods.

 

[Smokinbenelli]

Native is spot on. If you are looking to acquire more pictures you might try finding a good edge to set camera up on. Deer will be more reliable to travel a good edge more often than a random trail within the timber. Unless you find that right trail in the timber. Food sources are great or if mineral is legal it is a perfect way to get a good inventory of what is running your woods.

I put two out. Neither are on just random trails. They are on trails to get to and from bedding to food areas. The area I set them up kinda opens up from thicker area they are coming from. I did set some mineral blocks up to see if they would hit them. I plan on getting at least two more cameras to get out, but would like to make sure I can set them up right. Do most guys do a custom setting on them? My moultrie cameras have a quick set feature but seems like I would have a couple thousand pics real quick

 

[Blizzard Ridge]

I set my camera's on 3 picture bursts on 20 second intervals. I get a ton of pictures usually will fill up an 8 gb card in 2-3 weeks. You might want to set yours on longer intervals if it is an area they will be standing around much but I am guessing in the woods this same setting would work for you. I have all of mine set the same whether in woods or on food source.

 

[TreeDaddy]

you may want to check out the book:" Deer Cameras:The Science of Scouting"

I enjoyed it and learned a lot

bill