Camera Lights Scare Deer?

I have two Wildgame Innovations cameras. Because of a recommendation, I switched my cameras to video instead of pics so that I could better see their movements and manor.

I noticed that they seemed very cautious when they would notice the light, resulting on me not getting many reoccurring visitors.

Well, since putting mud over the lights, I have not seen one video of them looking cautious and they keep coming back. Just wanted to share with you guys in case you have a camera with lights.

I'm assuming you don't get night shots now??

Cab hang the camera about 5 to 6 foot up angling down. Different things from cameras scare deer whether its the flash or IR red blink or sounds the camera makes.. There is also scent on them.. You will have much better results with the cam high angled downward.. Some deer are very spooky about them and will avoid the area others don't care.. I build my own trail cameras and can tell for sure it doesn't matter whether is white flash or IR you put a new object on a tree eye level with them and they are gonna have a nervous reaction to it...

Cuda, I get night shots. The sensor and IR lights are not covered, just the red and green indicator lights that let me know if it's taking a picture.

Brian, I currently have them at about 5' angled down. I want to get some tree bark and glue it to the front. Do you have any pictures of your cameras like this and how you did it? Because I know you probably have.

They will react to the camera even if it isn't working. There was a study put on here just a week or so ago about just this. The deer would react to the OBJECT new to their area more than the fact that a light or sound went off.
http://themanagementadvantage.com/home/trail-cameras-whos-watching-who/

Here is the only down side to doing that cab.. It will void your warranty if your have one.. Here is how you do it. Go and get some pine bark or whatever kind of bark you want on it.. Get you some pl375 adhesive from Home Depot or where ever squirt the 375 all over the area that you want the bark to stick to..piece the bark all over like it would be on a tree I break pieces and place I'm all the areas. Push it down in it pretty good once your are done let it dry for about 48 hours take some black and white craft paint and a small paint brush and mix the paint to get close to what it would look like on the tree paint all the excess that you can see this is what it will look like..

GTHunter007 said:

They will react to the camera even if it isn't working. There was a study put on here just a week or so ago about just this. The deer would react to the OBJECT new to their area more than the fact that a light or sound went off.
http://themanagementadvantage.com/home/trail-cameras-whos-watching-who/

Click to expand...

That's what I was looking for.. I have had the same results.. Also it's better to stay away from the camera as much as possible and not check them every day or week..

As far as the lights go unless its a sensor to see light etc just tape them up

This is red oak



This is white oak tree bark



This is another pine bark before painting the pl375

Impressive.

I have a system I've been using. I have two stand locations on two different properties. Both stands are set up 30-40 yds from main trails. I have a camera on each property on each trail. I'll alternate hunts between the two every week. So the camera are watching my hunting spots while I'm not there. I check them when I go in so every other week. If I decide to move my stands then I will move my camera.

GTHunter007 said:

They will react to the camera even if it isn't working. There was a study put on here just a week or so ago about just this. The deer would react to the OBJECT new to their area more than the fact that a light or sound went off.
http://themanagementadvantage.com/home/trail-cameras-whos-watching-who/

Click to expand...

I no longer put up cameras anywhere close to my stands after seeing that study!

nope, they dont bother my deer. i killed a 145" 20 yards from my trail cam, and a 130" this year 50 yards from my trail cam.

Here is a discussion of No Glow or Black Flash IR game cameras - http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php?t=712326 I have been making videos up to 30 seconds at night and the deer haven't detected the No Glow game camera. I had a real nice buck work a scrap at 1:45 AM and he was back working the scrape an hour later. Some deer definitely detect the glow of a regular IR camera - proved by taking a series of 3 photos.

The deer on my property must love me because they could care less about any camera flash. It flashes and they continue right on doing what they were doing. I still have 6 cameras out in the woods now and I average getting 2000-2500 photos each week. When I pull the cards and install new ones, the deer will pass by the cameras within a couple of hours afterwards. I don't hide my scent when I change the cards either. They are apparently used to me somewhat, and several times, they have watched me as I have walked across the pasture or into the woods to change the card on another camera. Recently, after pulling the cards, I had a nice buck watch me as I walked back out to my truck parked at my gate. This was in the middle of the day as I had left my stand and walked the road back to my truck. He stood in a scrape right along the road watching me leave.

The deer on my property also travel over 4-5 different surrounding properties but the same deer will show up about every other day at least. There are a couple of new bucks that have visited my property in the last two weeks during this rutting activity. I am worried about the beautiful piebald doe with two fawns that didn't show back up this past week. Hopefully, she is still surviving but only her two fawns showed up during the past week. I will not shoot any does on my property because that is why the bucks are there to begin with.

In regards to deer getting spooked by the cameras, the only thing that I have done is to put a small piece of black electrical tape over the lens of the "red light" that indicates that the camera has sensed an object and it is taking a photo. This small red light is what spooks the deer. Well, it doesn't really spook them outright but it makes them look at the camera a lot more now than in the past. I noticed that fact several times before I made the changes. After making these changes, the deer don't have any problem with flashes from three different cameras at one of my locations. On probably 2000 thousand photos, now I have the deer lighted up from one of the other angled cameras and they look like they are on the stage with background lighting. Some of these photos look real cool as such. I set this up originally just to see what directions that the deer were coming from. I have over 40,000 photos in the past year that have proved that to me. This has made the biggest difference in not making the deer get spooked.

I just love being in the woods and if I kill a deer, then fine, but if not, no big deal. I still enjoy the experience of being in the woods. I still have plenty of deer meat in the freezer from one buck last year and also one buck this year.

Man I am getting 10000'pics a week on 17 cameras I have every trail you can think of I take a dump everywhere pee on all my trees ride my dirt bike with loud exhaust I bet I have 12 bucks from 140 to 190 follow me around and wait for me to leave them corn

I think the flashing light intrigues them, they come closer and stop for the photo-op.

It is my opinion that although mature deer are aware of the cameras presence, it will not "spook" them from the area. However, human scent left on the camera or human scent around the camera from checking it too often most certainly will. While in a tree stand I have witnessed mature bucks being flashed by a camera. If it is the first time they have been flashed they may jump back but then move towards the camera to inspect/smell it. If there is no human scent they return to what they were doing and subsequent flashes do not bother them.