Whitetail Concepts:

Who Made It?
Late-season trail camera use

By Craig Dougherty

Scouting cameras in December? Are you crazy, man? Scouting cameras are for pre-season scouting and monitoring the rut not for taking pictures of the snow!

Not so fast, friend. Don’t put those cameras in the closet quite yet. You have one more job to do as a serious deer hunter and whitetail manager. Leave your scouting cameras out for another couple of weeks after hunting season ends. 

Why you ask? Well post-season cameras will give you a good idea of those who made it through the season and who didn’t. Last year we photographed 46 unique bucks through the course of the hunting season. Two weeks after season’s end we were able to capture 22 bucks on our cameras. All but three had been photographed sometime during the season. Needless to say we were delighted to have seen so many bucks make it through the season. 

We were on a first-name basis with many of them, having seen them repeatedly through the season. And of course we were really thrilled to see a few older deer make it through. Now if only they can stay away from the highways and severe winters and coyotes and the dozens of other things that can kill a buck in the off-season.

To view more articles from the premier issue of Whitetails Only, pick up a copy of Outdoors Magazine today or Subscribe Now!