Sponsored by: The Physically Challenged Bowhunters of America
I have been using trail cameras to monitor the deer in my hunting area for about ten years but was only getting marginal results. I would hang my cameras on trails, field edges and over food sources. All good places but I was still not getting the big picture but I was using low quality cameras and was getting only parts of deer due to low trigger speed. The batteries only lasted about two weeks and with each camera taking six D cell batteries this was getting quite expensive.
About five years ago I finally decided to update my camera arsenal. I had seen a lot of good reviews on the Spypoint brand, did a lot of research and decided on the Spypoint IR-6. Spypoint produces a very tough and durable camera that is fast, takes quality images day or night and what also impressed me was the long battery life. In the past I was changing batteries every two weeks but with Spypoint, eight Double A batteries might last over a year. I also felt that if this camera could stand up to our harsh Minnesota winters than this is the camera for me. As a testimonial to the IR-6, last fall I hung a camera on a deer feeder in my yard. I was feeding the deer for a while until we started getting snow and that year we had lots of snow. So much snow that I could not get to the feeder in my wheelchair. We also had brutal cold with week long stretches of 30 below zero. Of course I forgot about the camera still hanging on the tree.
Next spring when the snow finally melted, I went out to check on the feeder and discovered the camera. I figured it had to be ruined. I took it down and pulled out the SD card and plugged in to my computer just to see what was on it. To my disbelief it was still working and even had a picture of me getting the camera. Now that’s quality number one in my book.
So with new cameras in my hands I set out to try a different approach. While looking at the bowhunting.net web site I notice an article for In Sights Nutrition. Now the wheels started turning. What if I placed bait piles at strategic spots and hung a camera on them? Would this get more deer to come in? With more deer to look at I could better evaluate the quality of the deer in my hunting spots. I called Insights, told them of my plan and ordered the products they recommended. A short week later my products arrived; Buck Draw, Buck Nut and Buck Strut. I couldn’t wait to get to the area to lay these products down.
In Sights Nutrition is run by a knowledgeable group of people with decades experience in animal nutrition, who have made a study out of knowing and formulating nutritional products that will bring in game animals like deer, bear, wild hogs and turkey and keep them coming back. They also have a whole line of products that provide all the nutrition deer need to grow stronger, healthier, with larger antlers on the bucks and does to have stronger fawns and remain healthier after dropping their fawns.
Buck Draw is a peanut based product that is high in protein and loaded with carbohydrates with a taste that deer can’t resist. Buck Nut is a blend of peanuts, proteins, sugar and grain by products. It promotes antler growth and provides an important supplement for deer to maintain good health and helps does with fawn reproduction. Buck Strut is an attractant syrup that deer can’t resist. It is used as a compliment to the Buck Draw and Buck Nut and puts out a strong, sweet aroma that draws the deer in and a taste that keeps them coming back again and again. Now I could bring in the deer where I wanted and ensure they would come back time after time, provide them with nutrition that would help them grow strong and healthy and help me know what I had in my area. So armed with my Spypoint cameras and In Sights Nutrition I went out and set up two different sites.
It didn’t take much time at all before the critters found the food source. I was getting amazing pictures of animals I had never seen before. It just wasn’t deer; I had pictures of bear, sand hill cranes, coyotes. bobcats. timber wolves and the usual small rodents squirrels, raccoons, chipmunks and even a hawk. In the past I would get maybe 30 to 40 pictures every other week. With the In Sight stations I was getting 150 to 170 pictures and some of the pictures were of nice bucks that I had not seen before. This got me real excited with bow season coming up and knowing I had quality bucks in the area. Baiting is illegal in Minnesota but feeding deer is not. I just had to make sure that the entire food source was gone 10 days before opener. With all the animals that were coming in to sample the bait this was not going to be a problem.
The In Sights Nutrition I put out worked extremely well. I got all the information I needed for the season and had the opportunity of helping the deer herd’s overall health. With the enriched In Sights I was helping the deer produce better and bigger antlers and having healthy does with healthy fawns.
Using In Sights products was a great way to see more deer on my hunting spots. I know I may not have seen all of the deer on my area but saw many quality bucks along with many does and fawns that I never saw in years past. I also had many unique pictures of other game and birds. So if you like to view wildlife in a natural setting, get a Spypoint camera, lay out some of the incredible products from In Sights Nutrition and get ready to really see what is happening in your hunting area.
For more information please go to: In Sights Nutrition, Spypoint Cameras
For more from Doug please go to: The Disabled Archer
