Cam placement for Blacktail bucks

[fishnfur]

Can anyone give me a few pointer for cam placement that will specifically target BT bucks?  I hang all my cams in valley floor and low foothill areas and have tried everything I can think of.

I have no problem getting tons of elk, BT does and a few BT buck yearlings, but never ever get any good pics of mature BT bucks.  I hate using bait, but when I have, it just brings bears and elk, salt is almost ineffectual.  There seems to be so much good browse here in SW WA that the bucks just have no need to pursue bait.

Any help from you pros?
Thanks!

[DOsborn]

I have had poor results with blacktail Bucks as well, my best results have been up high in steep areas on the edge of clear cuts. But once they go hard horn they have disappeared until the rut. This last November I had one 3 point show up on about five cameras, looking for does, but the rest of the year not much luck for me.

[trophyhunt]

I am glad to hear I'm not the only one who can't seem to get the big guys on camera, much less in my cross hairs!  I've tried to get them on a cam in probably the best place possible, in a urban area, thicker treed on the edge of a clear cut.  Even put wet cob down and had a cover over it to keep it from getting wet.  I've seen them with my own eye's in the same spot, just can't get them in front of the camera.  Apples are the best for attracting but they always bring in the elk or bears.  The big guys are ghost in the darkness!

[hogslayer]

The bigger black tail coastal bucks aren't going to spend there free time roaming the edges of clear cuts.  Usually that is where I will find 2 points and does.  The bigger ones stay pretty hunkered down when they are not in the rut.  Even though you are only getting does and 2 points on your camera with bait, that is what will bring the bigger bucks in during the rut.  I would scout around and find a rub line that is from a few months ago and put the cameras there with apples in September and keep it up tell the last day of extended buck.  The bucks live outside of the rut in different areas than in the rut.  So you can spend all the time in the world getting them on camera now, but they will be gone during the rut and back to there rub line from last year.  I learned this the hard way.  But once you get some does and 2 points coming in, the bigger bucks will smell that and follow them into your bait pile.  They will most likely show up during the night time.  But there will be a few days that during the day they will stop by and look for those does. 

[fishnfur]

I thought it was just me that couldn't find those bucks.  The guys down in Oregon seem to get great buck pictures all year long, that's what has always had me scratching my head.  It makes sense that the mature bucks clear out of those breeding areas after the rut.  I've too have moved the cams up to higher, steeper ground.  It has never been productive.

A couple of years ago, a big cedar tree came down on our timber property in February.  I noticed that the branches were pretty heavily browsed.  I foolishly left my a hundred yards away on a trail thinking that I would catch them coming and going - of course I got nothing.  As soon as I pointed it directly at the tree, I got several bucks w/o headgear.  Not quite what I was hoping for.  The deer and elk eventually ate every last available bite of that cedar tree though.  That is a great wintertime bait to put in your back pocket.  Even a pile of cedar boughs will bring them into an area that is lacking in cedar trees.

[The scout]

your on the right track, process and elimination. the best way for me to scout is find some big rubs, not just a single rub but multiple in the same area. then find the biggest draw or canyon, swamp, thick re prod in that area and work it over. for me recently I've found the big bucks living on the edges of the big draws so they can bail into them if threatened. I think they move very little this time of year so getting them on cam is not easy. I probably scouted 200 hrs last year looking for one particular buck and couldn't find. if you don't find yourself atleast once a day while scouting saying to yourself what the hell am  I doing in this thick crap your not in the right area. by far the hardest trophy deer to kill. good luck

[Firedogg]

 I get pictures and see the bigger blacktail bucks all the time with my DSLR around the house and yard,but with my cams set out they hardly if ever catch the big guys. For some odd reason I can't explain they manage to avoid them even when I move them around.
  Away from home have never gotten a bigger one on cam. They are sneaky and hard to pattern. They like to hang in the thick stuff and don't seem to follow game trails like elk and younger deer do.

[fishnfur]

Crazy deer.  Scott Haugen says in his book that the bucks will hang with the does after they loose their antlers - a safety in numbers defense that makes good sense.  I think the older ones just get tight in their core zones and as The Scout pointed out, they just don't move much in winter and are almost impossible to get on cam. 

Trying to place a cam in the really thick stuff is an iffy bet because the deer use so many trails that your chosen spot may not even get used in a month's time, and often, in those spots, the field of view is so short that a deer may pass by before the cam wakes up to take the shot.  I've got a lot of those photos - nothing but brush.  I'm thinking that trails leading in/out of the suspected brushy area may be the better bet, but with weeks spent on each soak, it's hard to get a clear picture of what is really going on, especially when my results are generally negative.
.
Anybody try an elevated camera trying to catch a larger area below? Perhaps on the field view setting that takes a photo every 15 minutes or so, whether the motion detector was tripped or not.

I keep thinking I understand these deer better all the time, but deep down, I think it is only the deer that understand each other.  I'm just best guessing it.

[bobcat]

I have a very hard time as well, with getting pictures of mature blacktail bucks. The best luck I've had was when I set up on an old rub, and the first week of November got several bucks coming in and rubbing trees that had been used in previous years. The second week of November had some action as well, but by the end of that week, the bucks vanished. That was two years ago, and that spot has now been logged. The trees the bucks were rubbing on are still there, but the edge of the clearcut is only about 50 feet away, so I don't know if they're going to continue using that spot or not. I'll have to try to find the time to set up a camera on it again this fall.


http://vid1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/bdan68/ONeill%20East%202012/WGI_0032c.mp4

http://vid1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/bdan68/ONeill%20East%202012/WGI_0031.mp4

http://vid1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/bdan68/ONeill%20East%202012/WGI_0030.mp4

http://vid1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/bdan68/ONeill%20East%202012/WGI_0036c.mp4

http://vid1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/bdan68/ONeill%20East%202012/WGI_0032.mp4

http://vid1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/bdan68/ONeill%20East%202012/WGI_0023.mp4

http://vid1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/bdan68/ONeill%20East%202012/WGI_0050.mp4

[hogslayer]

Nice videos bobcat.  Looks a lot like the area I hunt.  But most likely isn't.  I can just picture myself having that happen to me while the season is open and putting the hammer down.

[soccerftw123]

I had a camera up for months with the biggest buck being a 2 point, I found a 4pt shed 100 yards away from it this year. Thick nasty stuff out of the way from the rest of the deer herd, but not too far. Just my beginners idea

[fishnfur]

Bobcat: those are by far the coolest vids I've seen of blacktail bucks rubbing.  I saved them all.  Thanks for sharing.  Amazing stuff. 

I have a spot just like yours which I plan to put cams on in late October.  I could only hope to get shots like yours.  I think a tree stand  or two close by is coming as well.

In the mean time, I know they are out there and doing day-to-day things that I want to figure out.  I'm down to the last few hairs on my head trying to find an intelligent cam placement spot.  I'm trying to understand my prey, but failing more often than not.