Deer hunters love using trail cameras. As a whitetail hunter in 2025, this goes without saying, right? They are a great tool and effectively aid in our scouting and inventory efforts.Â
I can attribute several harvests to the use of my trail cameras as evidence to this. I scatter nearly a dozen of them every season, and I have no plans of stopping. But as with any good thing, there are some drawbacks. Trail cameras are not perfect.
I’ve gone through a personal evolution with trail cameras, and I’m sure this is true for many of you as well. I can remember getting my first trail camera when I was 13 years old.Â
The over-sized hunk of plastic, with a white camera flash, was far from where trail camera technology would end up in 2025, but it was my first look into a whole new world of scouting.Â
The camera was there to do the work for me and capture images of bucks that I didn’t even know existed. This was only the beginning of what would become a lifelong trail camera obsession, for better or worse.
Since that time, my relationship with trail cameras has changed, and I’ve learned several hard hunting lessons. They aren’t this magic scouting tool like I originally believed. I would even go as far to say that they can hinder your hunting success if used inappropriately. Don’t believe me? Let me explain what I mean.
They Can Create False ConfidenceÂ
There is no doubt that big buck pictures flooding your camera can get you excited. I remember when I first started using game cameras back in the late 2000’s. I basically labeled every antlered deer that got his picture taken as killable. Â
That first season humbled me quickly, considering I harvested zero of the deer that I had on camera. My trail cameras had created a false sense of confidence. As a novice hunter, I really thought having a picture of a buck meant he was around all the time and would more than likely walk in front of me. If you’ve hunted for some time, you know this is not true.
The heightened since of confidence you feel when you first get that buck picture needs to be tempered with analysis. What time of day or night was the picture taken? Is this a new buck? Does he appear to be following a doe?Â
All of the answers to these questions could give you a clue to the buck’s proximity and potential visit frequency. It’s okay to get excited at the prospect of a shooter buck on your hunting property. But don’t base your hunting off this feeling, because often times you are missing other pieces of the puzzle that are needed for success.
They Can Create a Lack of ConfidenceÂ
In the same way that your cameras can create a false sense of confidence, they can also ruin your confidence. I’ve found this to be a more prominent feeling as I progressed in my hunting career.Â
Getting pictures of big bucks invokes big feelings, obviously, but not as big as going weeks without getting any buck pictures at all. I’ve been through this several times, and at one time, it made me not want to even go to the woods.Â
When you put so much stock into your trail camera pictures that you don’t even want to hunt, your scouting/hunting balance is out of whack.
I received a trail camera revelation in 2018 regarding this problem. It was mid-November, and the trail camera inventory was incredibly slim. I decided to hunt that property anyway and set up in the perfect morning transition area.Â
After seeing a few does and calling at a small buck in the distance, I heard crunching leaves behind me. I turned to notice a large bodied, mature buck heading right for my tree. I ended up arrowing the deer that morning and recognized him immediately.
I had dozens of pictures of this buck on that property but hadn’t had any pictures of him since September. He was a total surprise, and it turned out that I harvested him only 30 yards away from that specific camera. Cameras don’t always tell the whole story.
They Can Keep You from Scouting Efficiently
Trail cameras are incredibly useful and have single-handedly changed a large sector of the outdoor industry, but they can make hunters lazy. Too many guys throw a handful of cameras out and call it scouting.Â
Trail cameras are indeed a great scouting tool but aren’t meant to be used alone. They are best utilized as part of a multi-faceted scouting approach.
Boots-on-the-ground scouting should still be the basis of all whitetail scouting. You wouldn’t even know where to set your cameras without it. Taking a walk, and diving into your hunting area can reveal so much more than what your trail camera can.Â
While trail cameras help reveal the age and quality of the bucks living in your area, if used wrong, they won’t tell you anything else about them. Don’t be lazy. Get out there, and find where they bed, feed, and travel. Then you can tie together the rest of the puzzle with trail cameras.
They Can Malfunction
A trail camera, especially a cellular trail camera, is a complex piece of equipment, and like other complex pieces of equipment, there is a possibility for malfunction. Having a camera malfunction doesn’t inherently make you a bad hunter, but losing out on weeks of valuable intel could make it harder to make appropriate hunting decisions.Â
This is especially true if you’ve skipped out on your boots-on-the-ground scouting that we discussed earlier.
I’ve had all sorts of camera malfunctions and user errors in my hunting career. I’ve forgotten to put SD cards back in, I’ve had cell antennas break, I’ve forgotten to turn them on, and I’ve even had them just flat out stop working.Â
Any of these failures can happen at any time, and trust me, there is nothing worse than letting a camera soak for weeks, just to find out that it hasn’t taken a single picture. Being diligent with your scouting and running multiple cameras can help you hedge your bet in this situation.
Conclusion
On the surface, this article may appear to paint a negative picture of trail cameras. However, my intention was to warn hunters about how easy it is to develop bad trail camera habits and attitudes.
They really can make you a better hunter, but because of the scenarios listed above, many hunters’ cameras hurt their growth. This doesn’t have to be the case though; you can indeed have a healthy relationship with trail cameras and be a better hunter because of them.
A healthy relationship with trail cameras entails multiple aspects. You have to realize that trail cameras have limitations. They can’t cover every inch of your hunting property, and they can’t always tell you the whole story.
Also, you have to realize that cameras are just a tool in the arsenal, not the end-all-be-all to harvesting big bucks. For sure, you should let trail cameras have influence over your hunting, but you should in no way let them be your full-time guide.
You should be hunting and scouting more than checking cameras. Like I said, we need a healthy relationship with trail cameras.
