Odd Placements: Get Weird with Your Game Cameras in the Whitetail Woods

Game cameras are an incredible resource for whitetail hunters. Capturing action passively means the woods are largely left undisturbed while still you garner the benefits of scouting.  
 
You won't find any shortage of productive strategies for capturing whitetails, elk, turkey, black bears and more on camera. Let’s focus on the long-shots and oddball places that might catch that unique, elusive whitetail buck. Try these trail camera tips to see what you've been missing this hunting season.

We all know the most likely places to find game and typically center placement strategies around the most productive zones. These are the obvious camera locations that will capture the majority of the action. You are likely honed into these places already but they are worth a quick mention. 
 
Water Holes - Find the water and you'll find signs of life. Placing game cameras over wallows, ponds, seeps and springs will reveal deer (and much more) in many cases. In places where water is scarce, this becomes increasingly true as more animals rely on specific water sources. This is no secret and water is a go-to game camera location for many hunters.

Game Trails - Reliable trails connect bedding sites to food and water sources. Deer use them regularly and they are prime locations for cameras. You can walk the woods or glass to find routes being used by deer before setting up cameras. Either way, game trails are a win for camera placements. 
 
Food Sources - Setting cameras over food is no secret. Ideally, you can recess the cameras a bit to catch deer at the entry points and not just directly over food. Feeders are obvious setup locations but you will also find value over natural sources like fruit trees, acorns, etc. Like water, deer will gravitate towards food. They also change food sources through the seasons so build a strategy to rotate cameras as the food available shifts. 
 
Scrapes - This is a great way to hone in your focus on bucks. Look for current individual and community scrapes and setup to catch and pattern a buck that is using them regularly. If you get the rubline figured out, the odds of finding that buck on opening day are much higher. 

Now that your primary locations are set, it's time to invest in a few extra cameras for those low odd encounters. These are the places that are used more infrequently. They are your hunches and best guesses where you may or may not capture anything at all. Essentially, you are rolling the dice but that extra effort can pay off with a sneaky buck. 
 
One-Time Sighting - Think about the random deer you see while driving down the road. Or, maybe you caught a glimpse of a buck slipping away while walking your dog early in the morning. Every so often, we see deer in the places we aren't hunting and scouting. We also write these off as chance encounters. Go back to these places, even if they aren't on a game trail or any logical position and throw up a camera. You never know what it will produce.  
 
Limited Tracks - Every so often while walking through the woods, we encounter that random, solitary set of tracks. They aren't on a trail and don't quite fit the patterns of deer movement in the area. Rather than categorizing these tracks as random, set up a camera. You might find an elusive buck that is operating against logic and not adhering to the game trails. 
 
Water Crossings - Some deer make daily water crossings. When a river or body of water divides food and bed areas, crossings can really become important. Bigger water sources have more specific crossing points as well. I hunt one specific river in Montana where deer cross like clockwork every morning and evening, swimming from alfalfa fields to the cover of timber for bedding. 
 
When it comes to water crossings, look for the shallow riffles and easy wading zones. Deer generally avoid the heavy currents and deep swims. High bluffs are also good features to find. They funnel deer towards lower elevations where they can cross and you may even find the trails leading to crossings below a bluff or high bank. Setup the camera to capture a view of the bank just before the crossing point. Luckily, most rivers and ponds have great trees for trail camera setups. 
 
Natural Funnels - These areas often have game trails but sometimes they are subtle or easy to miss in heavy brush. Still, look for the natural features in the landscape that guide movements. Draws, funnels and pinch points are all out there, waiting to be discovered. After finding the obvious ones and setting cameras, start looking for the sneaky spots where a deer can slip through narrow slots and small features in the landscape unnoticed. 
 
Thick Growth Zones - Nobody wants to go bush-whacking through a thicket of stinging nettle and poison oak. We especially don't want to visit these nasty areas repeatedly to retrieve SD cards. Cell connected cameras create a unique opportunity to monitor the gnarliest areas. If there's a particular draw or nasty spot where you'll find water, food or beds, consider a placement. Look for trees offering higher viewpoints that look down and cover a broad area if possible. 

Your go-to spots are covered now and you have a few of the lower probability locations covered. Now, it's time to really get weird and look for deer in oddball places. These locations are especially important when hunting season opens and deer change behavior as a response to hunting pressure.  
 
Being cell connected means you can focus on the primary targets while keeping an eye out for deer moving into surprising locations. It's an efficient use of time and helps you cover off the wall places when the prime locations aren't producing. 
 
Behind Structures - Think old barns, abandoned buildings, grain bins and structures that see little use during the hunting season. For whatever reason, the occasional big buck will bed down and ride out the season behind structures of this nature. One of the biggest mule deer I've ever seen would spend the entire hunting season behind an abandoned barn, year after year. If you have access to places of this nature, throw up a camera to see if a smart buck is laying low during peak hunting season. 
 
Edge of Private - There's no shortage of deer using both private and public lands to their advantage. Some will bed on private land and sneak onto public at last light to feed. If you have a sneaking suspicion this is the case, look to the fence lines for camera angles. Be respectful of private landowners in this scenario as well. If a residence is nearby, ask for permission to avoid conflict. 
 
Man Made Trails - In areas with dense timber and brush, deer won't hesitate to use trail systems built for people. The trick is finding camera locations and angles that are hidden from the public view and focused on deer rather than people using trail systems. Ideally, you can find the intersection of a game trail and constructed trail to catch the action.  
 
Canals, Ditches and Logging Roads - All great options that are often overlooked. Look for logging roads that are closed and overgrown. Places in the mountain west with whitetail populations are perfect for their abundance of closed roads. If they are overgrown and long out of service, it also means human traffic is minimized.  
 
Canals are a sleeper in dry regions. Irrigation systems deliver water across long distances. Developed canals are often adjacent to public lands from places like the Bureau of Reclamation. As an added bonus, they typically have a road that parallels some of the system. Walk the road where it's allowed and look for tracks that may be using the canal for water. 
 
Ditches are another odd spot to look for deer. After a harvest, the uncut ditches can become especially popular for deer seeking forage. This strategy can coincide with the private/public boundaries as well.  
 
In the Wide Open - Find a lone tree or even stick a post in the ground to cover open spaces. Wide open fields can produce, especially at night when deer move freely. Setup a camera around prime feed in the fields and see what happens. 
 
Urban Parks - In a few special places, archery hunters can target urban whitetails. Look to the parks and setup cameras well out of sight where the public will not find them. Get off the primary trails and take advantage of ponds and camera angles focused on pinch points.   
 
Where will you experiment with game cameras this season? 
 
Try some funky setups this year and see what happens. You might be surprised to find the occasional big buck passing through urban parks or hunkering down behind that old barn. Do you have a weird camera location that has paid off?