Scouting Upland Birds Using Trail Cameras

The idea of scouting with modern game cameras started one fall during college when an unexpected event triggered a need for a change of tactics. Earlier that same year, a heavy hailstorm had ravaged our prime opening morning pheasant field. The thick golden CRP grasses we were accustomed to hunting had been mowed to golf-course height by the storm. As we walked the field opening morning later that fall, there was no cover in sight, and the grim discovery of scattered feathers was all that remained of a once thriving pheasant population. We had obviously lost our main honey hole for the season. I suddenly found myself wishing I had done some pre-season scouting.