By: Heath Wood
In the fall of 2020, Smalltown Hunting TV’s Cody Kelly was pursuing a buck that he had nicknamed ‘Stickers.’ After setting up his Stealth Cam cellular camera in a four-hundred-acre section of WRP where the buck spent most of his time, Kelly acquired many night pictures of the Mississippi buck over five days. When the buck finally began showing up on camera during daylight hours, Kelly planned to go after his target buck. Unfortunately, after receiving a daylight picture, the buck disappeared for four days.
Because the buck lived near public land and also due to the recent muzzleloader season, Kelly was unsure if the buck was still alive or had been pushed out of the area. However, on December 15th, as Kelly and his field producer were walking to their stand site, Kelly felt his phone vibrate with a game camera notification. The hitlist buck was in the next food plot over from where they were headed. “At that point, we knew we were between Stickers and where he bedded,” recalled Kelly. He then added that they hurried as fast as possible to get into their stand and ready. Kelly’s field producer whispered two to three minutes after the legal shooting light, “a buck just walked across the road up above.” After seeing the silhouette of a mature buck, Kelly made two to three grunts on his deer call. A short time after grunting, the buck popped out behind Kelly’s game camera, Kelly made a successful shot on the 182” giant buck that they had named Stickers.
Kelly says that they would not have harvested the monster Mississippi buck if it wasn’t for their Stealth Cam cellular camera, giving them the advantage of hurrying to the tree and getting ready before the buck arrived at the field they were hunting.
Why Cellular Cameras
Sitting down recently with Cody Kelly, we discussed the recent advantages of cellular cameras and how they are sometimes viewed as giving too much of an advantage when hunting mature bucks. “Cellular cameras can sometimes get people talking negatively about gaining too much of an advantage as hunters,” Kelly explained, adding, “Yes, cellular cameras have given hunters huge advantages. However, you never hear people bring up the positives of cell cameras” He then mentioned that there are more deer hunters today that are passing up deer that they would have never passed on five to six years ago. Now, hunters are waiting on that specific mature buck because of MRI that cellular cameras can provide. “Cellular cameras are real-time; hunters do not have to wait weeks to check their memory cards to know what bucks went through,” says Kelly. “Hunters know when a mature buck is on their property, seconds after walking in front of their camera.” With this knowledge, hunters pass three and four-year-old bucks more often because they know a more mature buck is near, instead of wondering if a mature buck is still in the area when checking memory cards weeks later.
Camera Placement During The Rut
Often, hunters use their cellular cameras placed in front of mock scrapes during late October. Kelly agrees that scrape camera setups work excellent to inventory mature bucks in the area and to monitor the phases of the rut. However, as the seeking and chasing phases of the rut progress, scrapes can often go dormant for several days while bucks are actively pursuing does. After bucks leave the scrapes to begin seeking estrus does, hunters often wonder where to put their cameras to catch bucks in their hunting area.
As the rut progresses, Kelly says he begins playing a numbers game with his Stealth Cam cellular cameras. “We usually have several different cell cameras in place in food sources and areas where we know deer will hang out naturally,” says Kelly. “When one or two cameras begin lighting up with more deer activity, we home in on that specific area because we know that area is hot.” Whenever there is a rise in deer activity, Kelly explains that there will be bucks nearby because that is where most deer are moving. Increased activity can also mean a hot doe is nearby.
It is often referenced that mature bucks put all their necessities to the side when rutting, going as far as choosing not to eat. Even though rutting bucks may not eat as often, Kelly echoes that bucks know that does will be found near crop fields, turnip fields, or food plots where the food is plentiful. Because of does being near food sources, Kelly advises keeping cellular cameras running to monitor mature buck movement and rut progress. Kelly says these camera setups will not produce those up-close pictures of bucks to study. However, the cameras will catch a wide area of deer passing by, which could often include a buck cruising for estrus does. When daylight deer activity increases and bucks are seen, it is time to spend as much time hunting as possible. “When scrape activity halts and bucks are being seen during daylight hours, you should take every opportunity off work, on weekends, and other available time you have, and hunt. All times of the day are good during those two weeks of rutting activity when all a hunter can do, is hunt.”