Originally Posted by Nightwatchman
This is incredible information. Thanks Matt. Good Discussions as well.

The only thing I cannot get past is the way to ascertain how many does you have on your property. Sometimes I get picks of like 7 or 8 in one picture, sometimes I get pics of 1 or 2. Are these the same does in every pick? Are they different deer? I do not know.

From an observational standpoint....How do I know if I am seeing the same deer over and over again or if it is different doe groups. Sometimes I sit in the stand and see 10, sometimes I see zero....Just seems like so much guess work


Your property might differ from mine, but for me it's pretty easy to determine an answer. We have five feeders on approximately 700 acres. In sits where a feeder can be seen (they're on food plots) and through trail cam picts, the "doe group" that ends up using it becomes very apparent by early in the season. For instance, on one particular site this year, we consistently had 7 does coming to one particular feeder/plot and in the next closest plot we had 9 does there. In light of your post, how do I know those 7 from site #1 didn't visit site #2 some days?

There are two ways I know an answer to that question. The first is that we'd always see the same number of does (or close to it) at each feeder/plot on our sits. How did I know they weren't swapping back and forth? EVERY time out we'd see 7 at the one plot and 9 at the other. That likely isn't coincidental. But... there's a second and even easier way to determine the answer. Check your the date/time stamps on your trail cam photos for a 5-6 day period in the two plots. If it's 5 PM and you have 7 does at site #1 and 9 does at site #2, then you know you have 16 total does in the area.

There's two other things that help with it from my end. One is the fact we use spincast feeders. Within 5 minutes of the feeder going off every afternoon, EVERY doe that eats there regularly shows up at the feeder - so I'll end up having all those does in numerous camera shots (might not be that way if food is available 24/7). Two is the fact my iPhone now categorizes my pictures by date/time rather than by the date I transferred them from an SD card. It's really cool to (without sorting through it yourself) be able to see a pic from site #1 at 5PM that has 7 does in it and then see a pic from site #2 at the same time that has 9 in it.

It's not an exact science. For instance, are there any does on your property that don't come to your feeders... and are there deer that actually bed inside your border but feed on your neighbors (and vice-versa)? However, it'll get you close.