All right...Let me straighten this out.
I used a trail cam a ton last year and actually watched it as deer ate out of my feeder. The camera made all the deer at the feeder much more cautious coming in. I'm guessing that maybe had something to do with the scent I left behind. Now when the light got low and the flash started going off it startled the deer. Heck, it also startled them when it was light out and no flash! Did it scare them? I like the word startle better because eventually they would come in after that corn and they would get comfortable.
Here is a pic with a startled deer. It was light out and it still spooked him:
This camera barely makes any noise. It is the Moulrie 4.0. I guess it makes enough noise because they knew it was there. Now these deer are also metro deer and it spooks them so what Pat said about "metro" deer is being dissproved right here. Is that a word?? Anyways, I don't believe for a minute that deer are not spooked, startled, curious or unaware of these cameras. Different deer do act different though so I don't think we can generalize.
Here is another interesting thing I noticed. Anytime one of my monsters would come in all I would get is a shot of them staring right at the camera and then one of them either gone or walking away. They did not stick around to let that flash go off again. I think I was set on 5 minute delalys with 2 shot bursts. So...The deer that you want to shoot are acting completely different than the younger bucks and does who push and push and finally find a comfort zone with the flash.
All this behavior was the same no matter where I fed them and put the camera. In the woods, on the edge of the woods and in my front yard.
This guy would not come in and eat....but you would always get pic of him like this in the distance looking right at the camera.
And this guy looking right at the camera..next shot he is gone!
Same with this guy. Never would stick around to get another shot.
Does a flash scare the deer? I guess the answer is yes and no. If you are hunting a giant trophy deer I know I would not put a camera in his bedroom. I would be more apt to put a cuddeback in there just because of what I have read and heard from other but my moulrie is not going in there.
Also, when placing these cameras use scent control and protection! I was talking to Superstar about this and he takes a lot of pictures of big deer and has had a lot of experience. Another thing he does is puts a lot of his cameras in bear safe boxes. Maybe this is also containg and noises better as well. I will let him chime in on this if he wishes.
Thats all for now..