Ripple Outdoors Hunting and Fishing Podcasts

Ontario Whitetail bow hunters need to get closer than firearm hunters for obvious reasons.

One way to get closer to deer when bow hunting in Ontario is to know where they travel during peak times of the day. Often first and last light are considered the best time of course. As deer are slaves to their  stomachs they can easily be monitored. During  the “RUT”  deer traveling anytime.

With the popularity of trail cameras knowing where & when deer move has made this a whole lot easier. Simply by placing a few trail cameras at funnels or forest/field edges has often paid off big during the hunting season. Food plots always draw deer in night and day but with a trail camera that displays time and date you know a deer habits of munching on afternoon snacks before prime time.

Where the Does go so go the Bucks is often mentioned. Believe it. You can verify this easily with a trail camera positioned on your food plot. You can place trail cameras at trail intersections about 100 yards from a food plot. Often the Big Boys hang up there while waiting for night to darken the forest. Again if you know where and when  a tree stand or ground blind may make all the difference in filling a tag.

I use a Spy-Point Pro-X series of trail camera for the  quality of photos and video it can produce. Size does matter where game cameras are concerned and the Pro-X is compact and easily hidden. A rechargeable Li Ion Polymer battery lasts a long time before recharging is required.

You  a strap or bungee cord to attach to a tree but I often use my BowNear mini camera holder for its ease and versatility of use.

You can place it up high or low at any angle to get some great photos.

My Pro-X take awesome photos both far and near in all sorts of weather.

High-speed trail cameras used now make it lot easier to find that ideal tree to secure your trail camera to.

Most of the higher quality trail camera can be tested and aimed with accurate precision on most well traveled deer trail. You of course need some openings through the bush that won’t hinder your trail camera from being triggered.

Getting out in the forest after that first fresh snow will often pay big dividends when you find crisp tracks cutting across the main trail. I head out after a leisurely breakfast with some comfortable hiking boots and a few layers of clothes to shed as I hike.

Most times I after walking into a forest for ten or twenty minutes I’m far enough away from the road and the deer are more at ease wandering back and forth from bedding area to find feed. Of course if there is a farm near crown land I will walk in that direction if the trail permits.

Snowmobile and ATV trails are great to travel along to dissect a forest in sections and find those deer tracks if they haven’t been used by anyone yet. I find more wolf or coyote tracks traveling down the main trail with deer tracks crossing perpendicular.

My daypack carries one of my Spy-Point Pro X   scouting camera with a set of fresh batteries and a locking cable. Also packed away are my Navionics GPS, plastic gloves and set of clippers.

I will set up my Pro-X camera about 100 meters deeper in the forest often where it opens up.  As mentioned earlier today’s high-speed cameras will trigger less than two seconds so getting that buck or doe in the frame is easier. Depending on how you set up your camera is also important. Keep it facing north to avoid false detections. I have found if you just want a photo for information on what deer are traveling down that trail set your camera at a lower setting to get as many photos as possible.

Myself I like a full resolution photo that my Spy-Point Pro X provides (12 MB) as often they may be published in magazines. With a one and half second trigger video or photos are easily captured.  Also the camera’s case small size is easily concealed when attached to a tree.

Do a test walk by, then lock it up and leave. I usually wait for at least three days before returning to check for activity. Wait longer if you don’t plan to hunt that area.

Keep it simple, get in and out and you may find that trophy buck you’re hoping to find looking for. At the very least your photos will make you smile.

Using a quality scouting trail camera just adds another dimension to your hunt, It’s also a great way to scout 24 hours a day year round.