Dr. Grant Woods on How to Use Trail Cam Artificial Intelligence to Improve Your Deer Hunting

Before trail cameras, Dr. Grant Woods (Growing Deer TV) conducted wildlife research by sitting in a treestand and taking notes. As a young researcher, he monitored whitetail behavior around scrapes, but by hanging out in the area, he was spooking some deer. Eventually, Woods began using trail cameras, which ran on film, and he conducted an interesting study on whitetail scrapes. Among other findings, he discovered that does use scrapes as frequently as bucks, and yearling bucks are the most frequent visitors of scrapes.

Woods has extensive experience with using trail cameras to understand deer behavior. Cellular trail cameras, which send photos or videos to an app, provide everyday hunters with valuable data that was once envied by wildlife researchers. However, to make the most of trail camera images, it’s crucial to filter and sort them effectively.

Today, trail cam apps use artificial intelligence to solve this problem. Here’s how to execute a cellular trail camera strategy that leverages these advancements based on Woods’ experience.

Using AI to “Hunt Like a Bobcat”

Trail cam apps that can identify species and differentiate between bucks and does are game-changers. With multiple cameras on a property, apps like Moultrie Mobile Edge can gather data from different locations simultaneously. You can then filter the data to see only buck photos and track each individual buck’s activity based on time of day, temperature, and moon phase.

Woods says, “I use the Moultrie Mobile Edge app daily. I’ll look at an hour-by-hour breakdown and track each individual buck. The app’s artificial intelligence allows me to narrow my photos to just bucks.”

While there are other prediction software applications for deer behavior, Woods personally finds that reviewing the last two days of camera data is the most accurate way to predict deer movement. If the weather is consistent, he may review data from three days. Deer behavior can change rapidly based on conditions, so focusing on recent data is key.

Keep in mind that this approach is not a guaranteed method for tagging your target buck. Instead, it provides directional data that indicates where the best activity is and when the hottest times will be.

“It’s not about knowing exactly where to kill one buck,” explains Woods. “But it’s about gaining knowledge on general deer behavior.”

When analyzing camera data, if Woods sees that bucks are only moving during the last few minutes of legal light, he won’t sit in his stand at 3 p.m. This would increase the time for his scent to spread and potentially spook deer.

“I call it hunting like a bobcat,” Woods says. “If deer are only moving the last 15 minutes, I’ll get there 30 minutes before the end of legal light. I don’t want my scent to disperse any more than that. And if they’re hardly moving at all, I know I have to either crowd that bedding area or not hunt.”

“Cellular trail cameras allow us to be better students of deer behavior,” Woods says. “They refine our hunting techniques, making them more enjoyable and helping us achieve better results. They don’t give us an exact location to kill the big buck, but they enable smarter scouting.”

How Many Trail Cameras Do You Need?

The number of trail cameras you run depends on your budget. Good cellular trail cams cost about the same as non-transmitting cameras, and they eliminate the need to check them in person. Woods suggests having at least four cameras on a typical 200-acre deer hunting property in the Midwest or South.

“I would place one on the back of the beanfield or the primary food source in the area,” Woods advises. “I would place one in a travel corridor, and if it’s the acorn-falling season, I would place one near acorns. The goal is to understand where and when deer are using different resources. If deer aren’t coming to the beanfield because of an abundance of acorns, I’ll remove that camera quickly.”

Minimizing Pressure

Even with cellular trail cameras, minimizing disturbance is crucial. Woods doesn’t charge into the heart of a core area for fear of spooking deer.

“It’s easiest to hunt deer that aren’t alert,” explains Woods. “So, even with trail cameras, I want to limit disturbance in the area. If there’s a big scrape in the middle of a white oak field, I won’t just barge in. I’ll place a camera near the trail leading to that point to avoid risking disturbance. I want to understand when deer feed on these white oaks and the direction they’re coming from.”

Surprisingly, Woods rarely places his treestand or blind where his trail camera is located. He uses trail cams to scout an area and then moves in accordingly. By analyzing trail cam information, he determines when deer are active at a specific location and adjusts his positioning accordingly.

Local Intel

While various methods can predict deer movement, such as articles on the best times to hunt and personal instinct, trail cam data trumps them all. Trail cam data provides real-time information from the exact area where you hunt.

“The last two or three days’ data from the property where you hunt is incredibly valuable,” says Woods. “You can learn valuable insights like ‘it’s getting colder, and they’re moving a little bit earlier.’ If the weather is excellent, and you’re not seeing anything, you can question what caused that. You know something is going on there.”

Collect trail camera data on your property season after season, and you’ll accumulate a powerful resource that helps you understand deer behavior in the long run. You can compare your hunches and those of your friends with hard data.

The Moultrie Mobile Edge Camera

The Moultrie Mobile Edge trail camera is an excellent and affordable cellular cam on the market. Woods highly recommends it for its features and the fact that it only costs $100. However, what makes this camera truly remarkable is the Moultrie Mobile app. The camera automatically connects to the strongest network in the area, without requiring sim card switches, and promptly sends photos. Here’s the exciting part: The Moultrie Mobile app uses image recognition to identify deer, turkeys, vehicles, and humans in photos. You can sort your photos based on species. For example, if you set the camera in summertime and accumulate a few thousand photos by November, including shooter bucks, does, squirrels, and coyotes, the app allows you to filter images and view only the buck photos. The app also provides activity data, showing when bucks pass by the camera most frequently. By using multiple cameras over several seasons, you’ll build a powerful data set that reveals when bucks are active based on the season, time of day, temperature, and moon phase. This camera does more than help pattern a specific buck; it assists in understanding deer activity in your area for long-term successful hunting.