I killed my biggest buck back in Jan. 2014. This buck was estimated at a minimum of 5 1/2 years old. Had one guy say 7+. Anyway, our biologist has a lot of cameras out all over the place, and he told me he had NEVER seen my buck before. Never. My thought at that time was "If he's never seen this buck before, how many more are out there that have never stepped in front a camera?"

3F, with the situation you described, I'd guess they are still there for the most part. Like others have said, the deer just know how to avoid the cameras, etc. Might be interesting if you set up a camera watching a camera you've had out for a while that the deer may already know of. Those old bucks get old for a reason.