we setup my feeders and game cams on Oklahoma lease Saturday, so it has been 5 days. 4 feeders and 3 game cams. Not a single animal on camera! Pics of me leaving, some grass blowing, and then me coming back. We have seen a few Deer moving around when driving the lease. Game cams and feeders are close to well worn trails. not just the Deer, but plenty of hog sign and none of them showed up on camera either. Corn has piled up and no sign they were in there at all.

Southern Oklahoma, so still the same 104 temps we've been having. Being optimistic I just don't think they're moving at all, even at night. If they knew the corn was there they might go out of their way and effort to eat, but they haven't found it yet probably because they aren't looking too much in the heat. Thoughts? thanks.

Too hot is what I'm guessing,it is going to get better.Do you have water Rob?

yes, one pond still has water, some of the only water within miles. water had dropped a few inches since Saturday giving a fresh mud border, just a couple Deer tracks, not many.

Rob - I put up a post about two weeks ago on here asking/concerned about the same thing. Consensus was the heat has them moving very little. Amount of water you have on your place is another factor. in the last 8 weeks I have only three pics of deer 2 at night and only on days and the other was last week of a little 4 point during the day. Rest of the pics are of hogs. I have yet to see one doe or a fawn on any pics which is really stressing me out.

Something else you may want to consider is that game cams are doing some crazy stuff rigt now in the heat. I have been very surpised at the lack of pics I have had in general.

Another factor is if you arent feeding all year, with new feeders and deer moving very little - it will take a little while for them to be found.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that things for all of us who dont have pics that things will change and some rain will be coming our way soon.

Rob, I got on a new lease this year and put a camera up on a fenced feeder. Like you I was concerned that after two weeks, no sign of any animals, corn was piling up. I went back two weeks later and the corn pile had dwindled some. When I checked the camera this time I had at least a dozen pictures of 3 bucks inside the fence. They have been coming back night after night even since.

encouraging, maybe I should be less or more concerned that we've eyeballed several Deer including does, fawns, and shooter bucks. that was several weeks ago though and corn just going for 5 days now. I'm sure they'll start coming in, just scary and disappointing to put time and money into a new promising lease just to be zeroed first camera check.

Bonner, you just mentioned something in your reply that made me sit up. Our game cam hasn't been working right either. I have it set up by our cattle trough and I know animals are coming to it because all the scraps I put out are gone the next morning and there's a ton of tracks but no pics. The heat affecting the cams makes sense. Thanks for bringing that up. I thought I was losing my mind.

As has been mentioned, probably the heat and short amount of time you have been feeding. They will come. I would setup a camera right over close to that water hole you have. I bet you'll get some pics from it.

Picked out a place earlier in the year for a protein site. Set up a corn feeder and camera for awhile to test the site and had deer coming almost instantly but realized that I was going to have a problem getting to the location in bad weather. Moved the site 100 yards to the west, set up the protein feeder, added a water trough, fenced it off, restarted the corn.... not a sign of a deer. Nothing coming to the feed, corn or water. Frustrating.

just checked mine too a couple hours ago, no pics on cam, but no corn on the ground, doe eating when I showed up, buck and doe in the pasture as I was leaving....

I think I forgot to turn my cam on

It ain't too hot for em

I talked with a guy this morning who said he was getting only a few deer pics, lots of hogs, and a horse! Seems that there are reports of people turning horses loose because of the grass/hay shortage.

If there are no pictures there must be no deer.

don't know bout the too hot thing i've seen a lot of deer eatin on alfalfa at about 4pm and even walked up on a doe in the feed pen at lunch yesterday

they probably just haven't found the feed yet cameras sometimes don't work so just check the corn left and look for tracks that's the best sign you for sure have deer

How far away are you placing the cameras from the bait and what brand of cameras are you useing ??

10 yards, Moultrie I-45. Camera easily caught me leaving and coming even not directly inline of feeder.

got lots of deer on my cam till it craped out wensday but the ones i am seein are not in good shape from the drought i think the corn an protien mix is about all they have to eat

You also have to remember these cameras are PIR (passive infrared). If the air temps are about the same as body temp then you are virtually invisable to the camera. It generally takes a lot of motion and/or being close to the camera to trigger it.

On hot evenings my motion detector light on the front of the house doesn't "see" me until I'm right up on it, if then. Same thing after being out in the winter if wearing enough insulation. Outside layer is at air temp so there is no heat (or little) to detect.

There are a lot of varibles that come into play at these temperatures. Different backgrounds, latent heat, time of day, and maybe camera temperature all play a part.

Whitetails have a body temp of around 104 (not quite sure how the hair would affect this temp.). If the outside temp is about the same they could actually walk through the detection field and never be "seen".

This may not be all or even any of the causes for the weird things going on with gamecams but it might account for some abnormalities.

Are these "new spots"? Has a "running" feeder been there for a while? If these are new spots, it will take the deer a while to find the feeders and start appearing regularly.

On the heat and cameras topic - yes, high heat will affect a game camera's performance.

Where at in southern Oklahoma is your lease? I also hunt in OK and hunt 2 different ranches in so ok.

I had my camera set for 3 weeks no pics other than me leaving and coming back. I set it up in the exact same spot for one week and came back with 385 pics

I have the same issues. Game cam pictures of grass moving. Hogs at night. Squirrels an coins. All at night. Some months no pics even battery's dead. Animal prints an no corn. I even put battery packs with two 6volt battery's. Think about it. Electronics in this 100 degree weather.
Any how...I have my fingers crossed too. Everytime I go into camp I see at lease four doe crossing me while driving in.