Leave the camera alone or check again??

[adamds22]

Hey everyone,

New to the whole game camera thing but got a few now, I set one out two weeks ago in a new area I saw elk last bow season. The camera is pretty close to roads but fairly hidden and has a pretty nice active wallow. Anyway, I went to check it last weekend just to make sure that I had it set up correctly and got about 700 pictures of a tree branch blowing in the wind along with one cow. The question I have is when I was heading out to check it which happened to be at dusk (only time I had) I ended up kicking up some elk above the camera bedded down in the thick cover. I couldn't get a good number or even see if they were bulls or cows but I don't want to send the elk running out of the area. So do I check the camera again next weekend or just leave it till opener? This is my option A area for opening weekend, its on the edge of a meadow with an active spring surrounded by thick cover so its a great elk area.

I really want to go check it again but part of me says just leave it since I know there are elk in the area now.

[the weasel]

Sounds like you have a fairly decent spot, personally I would leave it. Sounds like you have elk coming through regularly so even if they don't show opening morning... as long as they don't get pushed a lot they should be coming through. Plus as you stated it's close to some roads? So if you park there too much people will pick up on your spot... unless people already are watching this spot also!! Just my thoughts. Your camera your spot do as you wish.

[Lefty]

I like checking my camera as often as possible that were on water . In the past preseason I was checking 17 of the days in August

During season I was checking each of the nights I was hunting

[elkaholic]

During the off season I let them set at least 2 weeks. During my hunts I will check them amost every day.

[mjblowers]

My opinion is to not let them go for more than 2 weeks if you are using them for objective purposes (other than just for fun). 9/10 times mine have been bear swatted, elk poked or fox licked to inoperable.

[Smokepoler63]

What mjblowers said! Pre-season I check mine every 2-3 weeks, that way if something is wrong with the camera, (tree branch blowing in wind, camera pointed in wrong direction after bear encounter, dumbass forgot to move switch from "setup" to "operate"), I learn about it sooner than later, after loosing all of that time.

[adamds22]

Yeah I think if I have some time I'm going to go check it again this weekend and then leave it until the season. I picked up a couple more cameras off CamoFire this week though so I gotta find some more spots to put those out as well!