17.09

That’s about it. I hope this was informative.

17.03

Can you check cams more often on a working farm where deer are used to seeing people and equipment?

Deer get wise to changes. Do what ever you can do to avoid disturbing them.

(**Please note, unless a response is in quotation marks, it is not a direct quote but a paraphrase of Dr. Woods’ response.)

17.00

What size cards do you use?

I get 4,000 photos on a 2GB card. That works fine. Three bursts or five bursts. Deer show different angles, and it’s hard to judge age. So three or five bursts help make a good decision on whether to pattern a deer.

16.57

Why do you put a stick behind the top of the back of the cam?

That helps the cam point down so you don’t get horizon. Grant puts time-lapse cams high. he used a 10-foot step ladder to mount the cams.

16.55

What cam is best for security?

Something with IR flash. Grant likes Reconyx. He has others that cost less, but he doesn’t get as many years of service out of them.

16.53

Questions:

In the image of the cameras (the Reconyx patterning software), are all those cams used all the time?

No. He will move the cameras around, so you do not need all those cameras.

Grant owns about 19 cameras.

16.50

Grant will be in the Lincoln Room E at the Opryland Resort and Convention Center tomorrow, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2011. If you’re around, show him your trail cam photos, or stop by to say hi. He is a wealth of knowledge about patterning deer, and is a friendly bowhunter who love his deer.

16.48

Grant drew a Kansas tag last year. He put his tactics to work and this was his result…

16.45

5 steps to harvest a mature deer:

Growing, scouting, patterning, hunting and killing.

Hunting and killing take planning, too. For example, don’t use your best stand on marginal days.

16.40

It seems deer don’t like change. Brushing in a ground blind might look good to humans, but to deer, it’s something new. Grant thinks things like this will spook big deer. Put them up a minimum of two weeks before the hunt.

Turkey could care less, but deer might think, “That wasn’t here yesterday. I might have to think about that for a few weeks.”

16.38

Grant’s definition of patterning: Patterning is identifying a limited resource that deer do not associate with fear.

16.33

This software is a free download from Reconyx.

Very cool survey of where one big has been on Grant’s property. The “25″ refers to 25 photos of that one deer. Now he know’s where to hunt. Nice.

I want to hunt with Grant!

Can you see the image OK?

16.28

Here’s a plot with fencing over part of it. You can see the outside has been eaten up, and the inside is still ready to go.

16.25

Grant put electric gates over part of some of his plots to prevent overforage. That way, he can take the fence down later in the season to attract deer then as well.

16.22

A time-lapse cam can take a photo of a deer 200 yards away. Can a motion-trigger cam do that? Nope. But check this out: a motion-trigger cam will give you much more information on a deer because you can see what the deer might be doing when he is closer to the cam.

16.18

Time lapse is great because deer running through are not “patternable.” They’re being chased by a dog or passing through, as opposed to those that are feeding in a field, off in the distance. Good point Grant.

16.17

Grant is talking about time-lapse photography and how it helps pattern big deer.

Can you see this slide? Grants talking about it now. He’s a big fan of time-lapse images. (But I know he also like motion-trigger cams, too. A cam that does both is the best.)

16.14

Trail cams must not disturb of the game. Infrared and cams that make no sound are the best.

Grant uses cams to 1) Monitor food use  and 2) Pattern big bucks.

Trail cam surveys are an excellent way to find out what’s out there.

16.11

16.08

4:07 CT

Grant is on the podium, talking about how much fun it is to have a big deer in front of you. I can related to that.

15.55

Dr. Grant Woods is in the room and is about to tell us about using our game cams to pattern the biggest bucks. This is one of the many Mossy Oak True North Seminars today and tomorrow here at Opryland.

Here’s a little background on Grant. He is a wildlife biologist and consultant who specializes in deer management. A QDMA pioneer researcher, Grant has been involved in research and management projects in 25 states. Grant has a pretty good handle on managing deer all over the U.S.

At some point — not right now — you’ll have to check his site, growingdeer.tv. Grant is a workaholic and produces a new web episode each week. He’s also a long time hunter.

But right stay here. Dr. Wood will be at the podium in a few minutes.

Grab a cool beverage, and come right back for our live blog…

13.46

Check back at 3:45 CT for the start of the live blog with Dr. Grant Woods.