What am I doing wrong???

[swede]

Good thread here and I agree with alot of whats been said. It seems for me that the bucks I get in Sept. are never around when the rut starts and in Sept. the big boys come around every 10 to 15 days.

I believe in your case the amount of foot traffic in the area is keeping the bigger bucks away. I dont think many people realize that when more people are in the area, whether illegals or other hunters, that the bucks respond accordingly. I have watched this on my cameras for 2 years now and they seem to move within the day of increased traffic. You may see one by glassing but I would wager he would not be in that area again for a week or so.

One thing that I have found out is they are timely. If you have them on your cam at 10 am to 1200 pm, they will be consistent especially in the early fall.

As was said before I would move those cams away from the well used trails. Anyway, sounds like your learning alot like the rest of us and it will be sweet when it comes together this fall. Good luck.

 

Here is the Houdini I am after.

[loco4coues]

Great buck! He is mocking you with his tongue sticking out!

 

Good thread here and I agree with alot of whats been said. It seems for me that the bucks I get in Sept. are never around when the rut starts and in Sept. the big boys come around every 10 to 15 days.

I believe in your case the amount of foot traffic in the area is keeping the bigger bucks away. I dont think many people realize that when more people are in the area, whether illegals or other hunters, that the bucks respond accordingly. I have watched this on my cameras for 2 years now and they seem to move within the day of increased traffic. You may see one by glassing but I would wager he would not be in that area again for a week or so.

One thing that I have found out is they are timely. If you have them on your cam at 10 am to 1200 pm, they will be consistent especially in the early fall.

As was said before I would move those cams away from the well used trails. Anyway, sounds like your learning alot like the rest of us and it will be sweet when it comes together this fall. Good luck.

 

Here is the Houdini I am after.

 

[CouesBuckhunter]

Good thread here and I agree with alot of whats been said. It seems for me that the bucks I get in Sept. are never around when the rut starts and in Sept. the big boys come around every 10 to 15 days.

I believe in your case the amount of foot traffic in the area is keeping the bigger bucks away. I dont think many people realize that when more people are in the area, whether illegals or other hunters, that the bucks respond accordingly. I have watched this on my cameras for 2 years now and they seem to move within the day of increased traffic. You may see one by glassing but I would wager he would not be in that area again for a week or so.

One thing that I have found out is they are timely. If you have them on your cam at 10 am to 1200 pm, they will be consistent especially in the early fall.

As was said before I would move those cams away from the well used trails. Anyway, sounds like your learning alot like the rest of us and it will be sweet when it comes together this fall. Good luck.

 

Here is the Houdini I am after.

 

+1 and nice buck

[swede]

Great buck! He is mocking you with his tongue sticking out!

 

Good thread here and I agree with alot of whats been said. It seems for me that the bucks I get in Sept. are never around when the rut starts and in Sept. the big boys come around every 10 to 15 days.

I believe in your case the amount of foot traffic in the area is keeping the bigger bucks away. I dont think many people realize that when more people are in the area, whether illegals or other hunters, that the bucks respond accordingly. I have watched this on my cameras for 2 years now and they seem to move within the day of increased traffic. You may see one by glassing but I would wager he would not be in that area again for a week or so.

One thing that I have found out is they are timely. If you have them on your cam at 10 am to 1200 pm, they will be consistent especially in the early fall.

As was said before I would move those cams away from the well used trails. Anyway, sounds like your learning alot like the rest of us and it will be sweet when it comes together this fall. Good luck.

 

Here is the Houdini I am after.

 

Yeah, he knows I am not there!

[catclaw]

I have had good luck making my own mineral licks. Plain salt is not as good for WT as for elk. It took about a month for the bucks to start hitting this spot. I have a 50# trace mineral block to keep it going over time but they mostly eat the ground. The elk will lick the block itself! Salt works a lot better in June and July than it does in Aug and Sept. I don't count on it after they are hard-horned but out of habit, they will still come by. This spot is on a natural route to water so it helps. Your spot might not be any good until next May or so depending. I think you just started a little late is all.

 

 

 

 

Here is the same lick with hard-horned bucks.

 

 

 

 

I guess this guy wanted in on the action too!!!

 

 

 

Cows, on the other hand, will flat camp on your licks and just about eat them up!!!

 

 

 

[joeybari]

I hope you get it figured out soon, because I want to see some of those 100 inchers!!

 

 

This was my first year hanging cameras in coues country and I did fairly well. I did, however, hang most of mine on water sources. Most were springs in the bottoms of nasty canyons that I knew no one would hike into. I hung a camera on one tank only and I did get great pictures. I chain up all my cameras and so far haven't had any stolen.

 

I also tried a salt lick for the first time this year and man did it work!! I bought a bag of rock salt from Home Depot for $4 or so. I found a good spot not far from a well used tank. I picked a spot under a really big cedar tree so the lick itself would be shaded most of the day. I had to do some branch cutting/trimming but it seemed to work well. Dug a 2 foot hole, mixed the salt with the dirt and then filled the hole back up. Then I hiked over to the tank and filled up a bucket full of water. I poured the water over the salt just to get it going. Don't know if that did anything, but I did it anyway. It took a few buckets of water to get the ground nice and saturated.

 

Here are the results!

 

 

 

 

 

I also have lion, elk, bear, bobcat fox and coyote pictures from this exact same spot, along with lots of coues and muley does.

 

This camera has been out for months now and these two bucks and a spike are the only 3 bucks that have hit this salt the entire time!!

what the heck did you find a spring with Arnold Schwarzenegger juice or something