How long before you pull trail cam.

[hunter399]

I recently put a cam out ,pulled it 5 days later.
Not one pic of anything.
Bait is just salt block.
New spot ,never put cam there before.

So........
How long is too long,how short is too short?
Should I have left it longer.
Or I am I just looking for results too quick?

[huntnfmly]

5 days is not enough time I leave mine up for months at a time and will be putting out a cellular one in a couple weeks

[hunter399]

I leave most of mine out till fall.
I guess what I'm asking is.
How long from setup to first picture of big game animal?

Like if you go a month without a pic is that a bad spot?

I'm trying to setup productive spots,so I pulled it at 5 days without a big game animal pic.

Too soon to pull?

[Mfowl]

When scouting new spots I will usually do a 2 week soak and determine by how many pics I have in that time whether I want to leave the cam or not. If I am not seeing sign while going to check or getting many pics in that 2 weeks I move the cam. Some spots just don't get much traffic, even if they look good. No point in hunting there if the animals don't use it. Likewise, if I get a lot of traffic I may deploy other cams nearby to try to figure the travel routes or gain as much intel as possible.

[Naches Sportsman]

Unless mine are right near roads, I put them out and check them during/after hunting season and put new batteries in them if the cameras are in wintering grounds/areas of interest for trapping.

It seems to always be a few days before any salt licks get hit unless they’re on heavily used game trails.

[emac]

3 weeks to a month.  Depends on how many cameras I currently have sitting at home compared to any spots I wanna try.   If I have extra cameras laying around and no new spots I wanna try I will leave it up longer.  I have one camera that had no big game on it for over 2 months but I left it up cause I had no new spots to try.   Now it's one of my most productive cameras.

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[pickardjw]

Yeah I leave mine at least 2-4 weeks before checking. 

[hunter399]

Thanks for the replays.
You guys are most likely correct.

Well I'm done,every SD card and camara I own is soaking.
I've had some stuff pop up ,won't be posting alot of pics this year.
So I will check or pull cams in September while bear hunting.
I can't afford the gas and time this year,to check them.
3 month soak ,one and done.

[TripleB]

I didn’t put any out this year, but last year, I’d set them Saturday check them following Saturday. (Back when gas prices were affordable to spend every weekend in the woods) I’d use the screen to check the number of videos, if it only had a couple, I’d watch them and leave it for one more week, if same results, I’d pull it and move it. For cameras that had piles of activity, I’d just swap out cards. Two SD cards per camera so I could easily swap and move on to the next.

[jstone]

Cameras have been up high sense last august.
Going to check June 24th. Fingers crossed it is still where I put it

[huntnfmly]

I leave most of mine out till fall.
I guess what I'm asking is.
How long from setup to first picture of big game animal?

Like if you go a month without a pic is that a bad spot?

I'm trying to setup productive spots,so I pulled it at 5 days without a big game animal pic.

Too soon to pull?

Aww gotcha I misunderstood the question
I have one that gets  the most action right before and during early archery for elk 👍

[cjjcb]

Great question.
Been working a new spot and thinking the same thing.
It looks good so I don’t wanna go in and disturb it. However, I do want to know if the critters are using it… I was planning to leave it until mid to late August before checking… but now I’m thinking I should probably get in there sooner than later and possibly move depending on usage…

[emac]

Great question.
Been working a new spot and thinking the same thing.
It looks good so I don’t wanna go in and disturb it. However, I do want to know if the critters are using it… I was planning to leave it until mid to late August before checking… but now I’m thinking I should probably get in there sooner than later and possibly move depending on usage…

Go check it.  Going in one time isn't going to disturb the animals very much. Just get in and get out. I check most of my cams every 3 weeks to a month and it doesn't change the critters patterns.

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[Skyvalhunter]

has to be over 30 days so when the cougars come by on their monthly route you can catch them on cam. Wont be any deer but you will get some nice cougar pictures.

[huntnnw]

Lotta factors on how long I’ll leave a cam, but a bare minimum would be a month or 2 with salt. Right now lotta deer are still transitioning into summer patterns , some places it takes a while for animals to find salt .