It’s late summer and big bucks just aren’t appearing on your trail cameras like you’d hoped. You put the effort into setting mineral sites, making mock scrapes, and planting your plots with high hopes, but all you’re getting are pictures of does, raccoons, and a rising level of frustration. But what does it mean and is there something you can do to get on bucks before the season hits? Yes there is – don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
What It Means
The biggest thing to remember this time of year is that summer deer in many locations are highly concentrated on food sources and don’t need to travel far – having contracted home ranges compared to fall. If you don’t have the exact food they are craving, you may miss them entirely on your cameras. This will change as these food sources shift closer to fall and buck bachelor groups breakup, and is a good reason not to fret just yet. The flip side of this coin is the hunters getting all the bucks on camera now may have them disappear in a month or so – maybe coming right to you.
What To Do
It’s hard to exactly determine why bucks aren’t showing on your camera in late summer, but here are a few scenarios you may relate to and what you can do in each situation.
Scenario 1: Focused Food Source.
For mineral sites or feeders, if a buck is currently in the area they will usually show at them. This means if you aren’t getting pictures, he’s not there right now. If you have habitat that provides quality food and cover nearby, however, a good buck may move in soon enough. Just keep monitoring and don’t worry, but realize the location may not be an early season hotspot. In the future, make sure to analyze that particular area for proper cover and food sources, and make improvements if possible. It may just be a better haunt for a mid or late-season buck and you just haven’t figured that out yet, so keeps tabs on it.
Scenario 2: Field-Edge Food Source.
Deer are usually attracted to green bean fields and similar ag like magnets in the summer. So no bucks means there’s something they like better elsewhere or that food source is not prime for eating at the moment. I personally would try to locate a better field through glassing and move cameras to this area, as non-active food sources probably will not improve as the summer ends. An often overlooked detail to consider is timing of planting – maybe you’re just missing when your ag field hits prime palatability due to factors like timing of the planting. You may be early, or late, so try to determine this and place trail cameras accordingly to maximize your intel gathering.
Scenario 3: Scrapes.
Mock scrapes, believe it or not, can be a great summer draw. You can create them to get buck inventory, or habituate bucks to a huntable location for when season arrives. If bucks are turning up their nose at your scrapes, there are possibly several reasons why. If you’ve followed poor methods when establishing them, the bucks may find your scrapes unnatural and avoid them. I’ve found most social media influencers use poor practices which should not be mimicked – kicking out scrapes with leather boots or shoes and putting bare hands all over licking branches. Natural setups that are free of human scent are the best practice, and a big reason mature bucks don’t take them over. Location is another factor, and from my experience, close proximity to dense cover elicits more visits. So analyze location, and your method of placement to increase visits at your whitetail social hubs (for in-depth details on how to get bucks to take over your scrapes read our article here).
Scenario 4 – Travel Hubs.
Finding a good crossing to and from food sources should get good triggers for your camera this time of year. But if a particular buck or bachelor group isn’t using that exact trail, you’ll miss them – maybe by just a few yards. As said, this time of year bucks can be very predictable and this means you may have just chosen the wrong trail or hub to set up on. If there is a lot of fresh sign in the area, try moving the camera to another hub or trail nearby. That may be enough. If this still doesn’t work, check for hotter food sources by glassing, as your timing for that area may be off.
Lastly, do a self-check of your methods for hanging cameras, because as great as these spy devices can be, they can also blow your chances just as easily if hung poorly and the bucks we’re after catch on (see in-depth tips to do that here ).
If your cameras aren’t sending troves of snapshots of fuzzy-antlered giants right now, don’t worry. These tricks can help you dial in on some good bucks before bow season hits so you can hopefully plan a strategic strike on day one.
