Trail cameras change hunting tactics

Mike Seamster of the Caswell community of Providence, considers himself a “general” whitetail deer hunter who isn’t enamored of trophy antlers.

“Most of the time, I’m not a trophy hunter,” he said, “but every so often, I’ve hunted a specific deer.”

He admits that trail cameras have changed his approach. He restricts himself to one camera — “But I know some guys use dozens of them” — and sometimes, his trail cam captures an image of a buck with jaw-dropping headgear.

“I tell you, trail cameras have ruined me,” said Seamster, a former biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. “I’ve always been kind of an old-fashioned guy; I like to hunt areas, not specific deer. But the cameras, well, I’ve got one trail camera, and I do use it at times.”Seamster said trail cams have allowed him to pattern whitetails more quickly and easily than spending lots of time in stands.

“There’s one place I hunted a lot in the past, and it had plenty of deer,” he said. “I put the trail camera up and noticed about five days after gun season started, the deer stopped coming during the day and only came at night. Without the trail-cam pictures, I could’ve gone there and seen plenty of deer sign, hunted it every day and never seen a deer.”

Trail cameras also provide more positive results.

“If I see a nice buck, I may try to pattern him with a trail camera,” he said. “But I’ve only got the one right now, and I move it around.”

Seamster hopes he didn’t become a hunter who sits in his home and looks at trail camera photos on a laptop computer by using a remote signal.

“Some people sit at home and watch deer on a live feed,” he said. “(Deer hunting) has become so much more high-tech, but I’m more old school. If I see sign, I may put up one camera to see what shows up.”

After he put a trail camera near a scrape, Seamster discovered they were visited almost exclusively at night.

“In the pre-rut, the camera helps me get a time frame and gauge when and where to hunt,” he said. “That’s different from the past, so yeah, it’s ruined me.”